Have You Never Been Mellow album review
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN: Have You Never Been Mellow. Olivia Newton-John, vocals; John Fiddy arr, Loving Arms; Follow Me, Water Under the Bridge, eight more. Producer John Farrar. MCA 2133, $6.98. Tape: C2133, $7.98 T 2133, $7.98.
Now here is a curious case, in terms of career decisions. Olivia Newton-John, from Australia and then London, has had an almost steady stream of hits in this country for the past year or two. All of them sounded alike, all had the same midday midrange mid-1.Q. beat and smooth cliché lyrics (“Let Me Be There” et al.). Everybody remembered Ms. Newton-John, but nobody remembered one song over another - or really cared. This presented the ideal situation from which a young artist could step out:
The public was ready to share a deeper, more personal side of Ms. Newton-John. That is exactly what she provided with a brilliant and sensitive song entitled “I Honestly Love You.” written by Peter Allen and Jeff Barry. The record was an immediate hit and even was the winning Grammy contender.
Thus she established herself as a prestige artist as well as a sales singer. In the recording business, this position is where the real fun lies, because you can do anything you please, as creatively as you please.
Now comes the curious part. Ms. Newton-John followed up “I Honestly Love You” with a song called “Have You Never Been Mellow,” written by producer John Farrar, as were most of the others except the good one. It is an almost guaranteed hit, thereby triumphantly relocating her as queen of clichés.
The album is designed around the new single and features the least imaginative, most stock arrangements possible (by John Farrar). It also has one track that would have been almost worthy of following up “I Honestly Love You.” a sweet-sad, country-oriented ballad called “I Never Did Sing You a Love Song” by D. Nichtern, on which Ms. Newton-John does the most sensitive singing she has ever given us on an album and the only good work on this set.
How does one account for it? Most women have within them both a princess and a waitress. What surprises me is that with Olivia Newton-John it doesn’t seem to matter. Μ.Α.