Olivia Newton-John

Totally Hot

Totally Awesome!

Review Score:

(10/10)
This album comes between the international sucess of the movie "Grease" when Olivia was transformed from pristine, pop, princess to a sexy, seductive, songtress. The sexy cover and inside flap may mislead the buyer into believing that the entire contents of the album are in the aggressive rock stance. However, this album provides an eclectic mixture of styles from pop to country to rock n roll and Olivia pulls it out with flying colors!

The albums opener "Please Don't Keep Me Waiting" is a fun uptempto start that results in Olivia experimenting with her voice. It shrieks, soothes, beguiles and demonstrates to the listener that Olivia can do vocal gymnastics with the best of them! "Dancin' Round And Round" is her last country chart hit(#29) and is a beautiful ballad about looking for love. This is followed by a jazzy, upbeat, Olivia penned "Talk To Me" with a fabulous horn section, which beautifully segues into "Deeper Than The Night," I consider to be a lost classic. This song she has utilized in numerous concerts and on the TV special "Hollywood Nights," but curiously is omitted on her greatest hits compilations. This is followed by another Olivia original "Borrowed Time" which beautifully and simply entices the listener.

The next track, "A Little More Love" is the bonafide hit single on the album peaking at #3 on the pop charts. This song solidifies that Olivia's "Grease" personna was in no way a fluke! "Where did my innocence go" Olivia sings with convinction that serves as a foreshadowing that this album is a marked transition towards a more uptempto sound and image. "Never Enough" is a pretty ballad done in the classic ONJ style. "Totally Hot" has the presence of some very fine musicians, yet the lyrics are a bit repetitive. This is my least favorite track on the album. This is followed by the vocally stunning rendition of Eric Carmen's "Boats Against The Current," clearly the best ballad on the collection. This classic album ends with a rendition of the Spencer Davis "Gimmie Some Lovin," a perfect closer to an extremely cohesive set of songs during Olivia's peak in her career.

For pop purists, this is a stunning collection of songs that is worth the import price. It is obvious from repeated listenings that you can tell that Olivia is having a blast experimenting with many different styles and formats. This resulted in the listeners embracing the product(The album peaked at #7 and went platinum selling over a million copies).

More Reviews: