Have You Never Been Mellow album review
HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton John, MCA 2133
Granted, Olivia Newton-John makes millions of dollars each year, affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of persons with her work and is competent in what she does. But so is the Mafia.
Competence does not guarantee an enjoyable album nor does it make Olivia Newton-John a singer.
Olivia Newton-John is an entertainer. Entertainers make sweet, noncontroversial, middle-of-the-road music and can usually be found performing in the casinos along the glitter row of Las Vegas.
The album is full of soft, lush string arrangements which mute any contrast between the backup musicians. Olivia Newton-John’s voice is so completely neuter throughout the album each song seems to melt into the next.
You can discern a spark of life growing on “Water Under The Bridge,” in which the string section has been pushed to the background and the singer almost allows some emotion to creep into her voice.
Overall, this is a bland, lifeless album suitable for use as background music when filling in cross-word puzzles.
If you have never been mellow, this isn’t the way to start.
By Hugh O’Gara