Long Live Love album review
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN’S election as the country singer of the year or something in Nashville, USA, and her topping of country hit charts in America should tell the local country music scene something.
Anyresemblance between “Long Live Love” (Interfusion L 35230), the latest LP by Miss Newton-John and LPs by girl country singers in this country is just not on.
The involvement which Olivia Newton-John achieves on “I Honestly Love You,” for instance, is just not present on the local product.
Why call it country? Miss Newton-John’s voice has the timbre, the directness which country singer, marks a country singer.
She uses the device of wavering slightly on a held note which country singers, somewhat self-consciously, have employed for years.
Down home plano, wailing dobro and a hefty 12-string guitar are part of her accompaniments.
It’s country music all right, bold and confident.
Among the tracks, “Country Girl” is an outstanding performance; so too, is “Home Ain’t Home Any More.”