Olivia Newton John In Memoriam 1948-2022 : Voice of a Generation, Queen of Hearts

Beyond the two Soundtracks - Grease and Xanadu, my most played Olivia album is her Definitive Collection compilation - the only compilation album which features all my favourite Olivia tracks (albeit in a weird running order!) - which are as follows in chronological order! :

• 1978 - You're the One That I Want
• 1978 - Hopelessly Devoted To You
• 1978 - Summer Nights
• 1978 - A Little More Love
• 1979 - Deeper Than The Night
• 1980 - Magic
• 1980 - Xanadu
• 1980 - Suddenly
• 1981 - Physical
• 1982 - Make a Move on Me
• 1982 - Landslide
• 1982 - Heart Attack
• 1992 - I Need Love

I don't mind the earlier country stuff - but it's Olivia's output over those formative years that made the most impact. Olivia's wholesome goodness was somewhat edged out by the raunch of Madonna, Prince and Michael through the 80's - while her voice is wholly timeless.

I Need Love from 1992 was Olivia's last track of note for me - deserved to do better than it did - but mainstream music had already moved on by then.

It's funny how relatively brief periods in time can be so impacting. Even though Olivia's legacy for me is mostly made up of a couple of films and a handful of singles really - it's nonetheless held fast and properly stood the test of time - I often find myself shuffling the order and playing back the salient parts of her Definitive Collection - and while Grease is pretty much a once a year recap - Xanadu is more like once every few years. There's much to like in Xanadu but the narrative is a bit of a mess. It was briefly revived as an off-Broadway musical - and I feel that's the best path for it. It needs someone to re-write the script into something a touch more consequential - while all the musical numbers and choreography are already pretty much spot on - just the rambling and inconsequential nature of the narrative needs to be sorted.

I think it fitting to leave you with Olivia's biggest hit Physical - which is about as 80's as you can get - the hair, the headband and leotard - couldn't be more 80's! :

Actually - I think we need a proper slowy here too - where the go-to-choice has to be Hopelessly Devoted To You - to be played when you're feeling sentimental!