72 Cinderella Still at The Ball
Look, nobody’s perfect. I mean I enjoyed Olivia Newton-John’s soft, willowy version of Bob Dylan’s “If Not for You” as much as anyone else in 1972.
Sure, she had a voice with an obviously limited range and almost no hint of the personal vision it takes to make a vocal interpretation convincing, but there didn’t seem to be any reason to dwell on the shortcomings at this time.
The record-featuring the kind of innocence and nervous breathlessness that one might find charming in a local high school talent winner’s vocal performance - was even gently affecting in a sort of underdog way; the center, if you will, of a Cinderella story in which a beautiful young woman was getting a chance, at least temporarily, to fulfill her dreams. So why begrudge her a brief chance at success? After all, it seemed clear she wouldn’t be around long.
But the 26-year-old singer resurfaced last year with two more disarming, cream puff hits (“Let Me Be There” and “If You Love Me, Let Me Know”) and then an oh-so-melodramatic rendition of “I Honestly Love You” that has not only made her a star but has led some people to start taking her seriously. She was nominated for the top Grammy award (record of the year), won an armful of honors at last week’s American Music Awards show and was on the cover of People magazine with a caption that read “hot-test new pipes in pop.” It’s enough to make one shudder.
But I suppose it just goes to show pop fans are as soft as anyone else. Everyone, in short, loves a Cinderella. But don’t let the awards and magazine cover mislead you.
Olivia Newton-John remains a borderline talent whose vocals are often so lacking in character she makes the Carpenters sound like they have soul. Her new album is one of two considered in today’s installment of the YES/NO test (is the album worth special attention?).
Olivia Newton-John's "Have You Never Been Mellow" (MCA 2133)
The trouble with making sweet but modestly talented Cinderellas into stars is that sooner or later the weaknesses outweigh the charms and you have to pay the price of listening to her records over and over on the radio.
This album’s title song, a Top 10 single that is getting much airplay, is a case in point.
Newton-John has a very narrow vocal range. When she seeks special emphasis or shading, she generally tries to lower it, ending up with a semiwhisper as if she were singing in a library or hospital zone. On the new single, she tries to stretch her voice at times to a higher register and ends up only awkward and ineffective.
She and producer John Farrar have chosen some worthy material (particularly Tom Jans’ “Loving Arms” and John Denver’s “Follow Me”), but the busy arrangement on the latter works against the intimacy of the song and her colorless vocal on the former fails to convey the urgency of the lyrics. The same faults, to varying degrees, are reflected throughout the album. Totally forgettable. NO.