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(More customer reviews)In October 1981, Olivia Newton-John released "Physical"
BEFORE:
The poster-girl of sweet wholesome pop music, Olivia began changing her image in Grease and the "Totally Hot" album which followed suit. She also had appeared in the movie Xanadu, which flopped but had a hit soundtrack. This was to be her first studio album in three years.
AFTER:
The title track was a #1 hit for ten weeks (making it the #1 song of the 1980's), the album went double platinum and peaked at #6. The album had another top five hit with "Make A Move On Me". Olivia was on top of the world at the moment. Hosting SNL, preparing to open Koala Blue, and embarking on a wildly successful 1982 tour. This was the peak of Olivia's popularity.While Physical, the track, has been overplayed to the extent that the song is a caricature instead of an actual record, the album as a whole retains as the strongest album of Livvy's career.
1. Landslide (5/5) is the perfect leadoff single. The song is fast, dancy and sets the pace for the record.
2. Stranger's Touch (5/5) is even better (a shame it wound up on a b-side). The sexiest moment off the album.
3. Make A Move On Me (5/5) is a classic and is catchy as hell. The video was terrible but the song makes up for it.
4. Falling (5/5) is a beautiful acoustic haunting ballad about falling in love.
5. Love Make Me Strong (3.5/5) is a good song but probably the worst track.
6. Physical (5/5), what needs to be said about it? everyone knows this song.
7. Silvery Rain (5/5). Olivia was caring about the environment back when most of the "environmentalist" rock stars weren't even signed yet. The song rocks and is one of the best of the album. Starts out like a mellow 70's ONJ rock song and then becomes a rocker during the chorus. Even though Cliff Richard did the song a decade before Livvy, you can tell she deeply cares about the lyrics.
8. Carried Away (4.5/5). A pretty Gibb ballad that was originally written but then rejected for Barbra Streisand's "Guilty" album, and it probably wouldn't have fit there because it's structured a little too much like "Woman In Love". A soothing upbeat early 80's ballad you could listen to in the tub.
9. Recovery (4/5) kinda reminds me of "(Want You) Back In My Life" by The Carpenters. Kind of a tropical sounding sound with very audible John Farrar background vocals.
10. The Promise (4.5/5). Another environmentalist ballad. Very beautiful and Olivia sings about her love for dolphins (you can hear dolphins in the background). A beautiful song.
I would love Universal to remaster this (I know there's an import) and add some bonus tracks from the period... I heard Olivia recorded a demo of "I Paralyse" around this album, which ended up being recorded by Cher the next year (which was produced by Farrar too)
Click Here to see more reviews about: Physical
Reissue of Olivia's top 10, double platinum 1981 album for MCA. 10 tracks, including the smash title song that spent 10consecutive weeks at #1 in the U.S., plus the top five 'MakeA Move On Me' and the chart hit 'Landslide'. All tracks are digitally remastered. 1998 Festival Records release. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.
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