Rest in Peace Olivia Newton-John

The world is morning the passing of Olivia Newton-John. She was a great singer, actress, entertainer and few other things rolled into one. Back in the 1970s, her music was more country leaning, crossing over to mellow out rock. In 1978, she made her film debut as Sandra in the film “Grease,” one of the top grossing films of all time. It’s not my favourite film but I fully applauded her in it. It was after “Grease” that she caught my attention with her album, “Totally Hot.” Olivia decided to shed her goody two shoes image and this album went more rock. It’s the only album of hers I posted here and you can read it below.

Great Rock Albums of 1979: Olivia Newton John- Totally Hot

If you read the comments in the post, you will see that I was accused of being misogynist because I went back to my then 17 year old self when the album came out and remembered that Olivia had put on a little weight after “Grease” and looked good for it. I did apologize to the commenter for my crystal ball not working. If I had known when I wrote the post in 2012 that I would cause offense in 2021, I wouldn’t have commented on her weight. Whatever the case, a true musical legend has left us and gone to the great gig in the sky and let us remember her for that. This is my all time favourite ONJ song.

Great Rock Albums of 1979: Olivia Newton John- Totally Hot

Everybody reading this must be probably think that I’ve totally lost the plot here. Okay, I lost it many years ago but posting about an Olivia Newton John album, I must be totally bonkers. I mean she was the girl who played along side of John Travolta in “Grease.” We won’t go into some of the songs that were on that soundtrack. Even before “Grease,” ONJ was more of a country singer whose more mellower songs made the cross over into the rock charts. What I can say is that as a result of “Grease,” she wanted to shed her goody-two shoes image and so she went with a more rockier sound and “Totally Hot” was the result.

I’m not going to kid anyone into thinking this album is a total rock out, it’s not. In the rock stakes, Debbie Harry and Pat Benatar by far blow her away but I have to give her credit where it’s due, she tried. “Totally Hot” has both of my favourite ONJ songs of all time on it, “A Little More Love” and “Deeper Than the Night.” The first song does have some good rock guitar in it and of the two mentioned, it takes the number one spot. While I don’t shoot the devil horns in the air and start headbanging away to it, it is still a good song. The rest of the album is in my view more of an attempt at prog rock without the classy musicianship. Still, it is pretty good and that’s why after a long mull in the mind, I have decided to visit it here.

Track Listing:

1. Please Don’t Keep Me Waiting

2. Dancin’ Round and Round

3. Talk to Me

4. Deeper Than the Night

5. Borrowed Time

6. A Little More Love

7.  Never Enough

8. Totally Hot

9. Boats Against the Current

10. Gimme Some Lovin’

Olivia Newton John

Olivia Newton John- vocals

Mike Botts, Ed Greene- drums

David McDaniels, David Hungate- bass

Jai Winding, David Foster- piano

John Farrar, Steve Lukather- drums

Michael Boddicker- synthesiser

Steve Modaio- trumpet

Marty Grebb- alto sax

Chuck Finley- trombone

Gerald Peterson- tenor sax

Lenny Castro- percussion

The other thing I like about this album is that before it, I thought Olivia Newton John was on the skinny side for my personal tastes. But she put on some weight as well for this album and was looking good for the leather shot on the album cover. The album itself is still a decent listen.

Next post: The Jam- Setting Sons

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