Warm and Tender review

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN: WARM AND TENDER Mercury B42 145.1

This one’s not for you and me. Not unless you happen to be about four years old, that is. Livvy fashioned Warm And Ten-der with her young daughter Chloe in mind and it’s really yah boo sucks to the pop world on this occasion.

The album starts convincingly enough with a beautiful, fragile interpretation of Carol Hall’s 1964 “Jenny Rebecca”. But from there on in, it’s pure Julie Andrews, with straightforward readings of ever-greens, like ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ and ‘Over The Rainbow’ plus various lullabies and ‘The Flower That Shattered The Stone’ a melodic plea to keep the world clean and green, and a final Reach Out For Me’ that’s carworthy enough until one remembers how Dionne Warwick tore hearts out in ‘63.

By Fred Dellar