Olivia Newton John
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My CD and Vinyl edition of Greatest Hits Volume 2 arrived earlier and are things of beauty! Officially my first music purchases for 2023 too!
In my Apple Music playlist I swapped out The Promise (The Dolphin Song) for Summer Nights and now it's perfect.
Yes, an oddity that was must admit, but guess Olivia and or the label, had her or their reasons.
It’s mad that they’d include The Promise, which was a B-side, and omit Summer Nights which was a huge hit worldwide!
Was there any reason for the omission of Summer Nights, given that Hopelessly Devoted To You and You're The One That I Want are present and correct? I think they should have added Summer Nights in on this reissue personally.
Didn't Olivia write The Promise? Maybe included for that reason.
"Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery" - how times have changed! If it's not here the next day we get annoyed!
I’ve no idea. Unless they didn’t want to include 3 songs from Grease. Or maybe because the ‘cast’ members would have to be paid too!
Yes, Olivia wrote The Dolphin Song. It’s on the album solely to make her more money. This was a trick they repeatedly used on B-sides. An Olivia written song would often be put on the B-side so she’d get a bigger cut of the profits. As The Dolphin Song was the flip side to Physical, I imagine she did quite well out of that one!
I’d say there’s definitely something in the suggestion that it could be a contractual clause that meant any compilation had to include a self-penned track.
The first Greatest Hits had Changes, the second (in some countries) had The Promise, and the UK/EMI 1982 hybrid had both Changes and Rosewater. None of the three songs had been A-sides. All fair enough really, and I love the fact that she had a lot of control.
Summer Nights was already a part of Grease, whereas You’re The One That I Want and Hopelessly Devoted To You were much more hers as they were written for the film by John Farrar. Whether that had any bearing is anyone’s guess. I’d agree that as other cast members appeared on Summer Nights, it might have made things more complicated, though it was included on that UK version (with 20 tracks, its exclusion would have seemed even more odd!).
One thing that’s interesting about the singles from Grease is that You’re The One That I Want came first. We saw Sandy 2 before Sandy 1. And by extension, two different versions of Olivia. No one batted an eyelid, which is credit to Olivia’s ability to transform herself so convincingly.
I do remember the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles reminding us that John and Olivia as a duo were the most successful chart act in that both their first and second singles were number one, their first and last singles were number one, and they reached the top with every single they ever released. These chart statistics were spoilt by the release of the Grease Megamix in 1990.
The first Greatest Hits had Changes, the second (in some countries) had The Promise, and the UK/EMI 1982 hybrid had both Changes and Rosewater. None of the three songs had been A-sides. All fair enough really, and I love the fact that she had a lot of control.
Summer Nights was already a part of Grease, whereas You’re The One That I Want and Hopelessly Devoted To You were much more hers as they were written for the film by John Farrar. Whether that had any bearing is anyone’s guess. I’d agree that as other cast members appeared on Summer Nights, it might have made things more complicated, though it was included on that UK version (with 20 tracks, its exclusion would have seemed even more odd!).
One thing that’s interesting about the singles from Grease is that You’re The One That I Want came first. We saw Sandy 2 before Sandy 1. And by extension, two different versions of Olivia. No one batted an eyelid, which is credit to Olivia’s ability to transform herself so convincingly.
I do remember the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles reminding us that John and Olivia as a duo were the most successful chart act in that both their first and second singles were number one, their first and last singles were number one, and they reached the top with every single they ever released. These chart statistics were spoilt by the release of the Grease Megamix in 1990.
i think Summer Nights not being included is probably due to the original Grease stage show writers or contracts. When these shows are staged at schools or part of community productions or touring shows, I think there are legalities they must go through and I wonder if there was a fee for Olivia and the label to pay if they wanted to include it, even though Olivia is one of the singers on the song.
This is one of the reasons I wish I took Entertainment Law. I find these kinds of things fascinating and complicated.
This is one of the reasons I wish I took Entertainment Law. I find these kinds of things fascinating and complicated.
I am so glad Olivia's work and legacy is finally accessible after being absent from digital from all these years. Was long overdue.
Rumour is the next release is a duets album. No tracklisting yet, but it should contain Olivia’s final recording. Her duet with Dolly Parton on Jolene.
Thanks for the info there @Tommy Johnson , I wonder if it will include duets old and new then?
That’s the idea. So I suppose we’ll get the Travolta/Cliff/Andy Gibb duets at the very least.
Suddenly, is my favourite Olivia duet these days. The remaster of it on the new Greatest Hits Volume 2 re issue is excellent as well.
Same version as the one on the Physical deluxe. Has a dropout at the start. It’s also the wrong version as the original GHV2 had the single mix as opposed to the album version that’s on the new one.
Tied Up is the single mix as opposed to the album version on the original. The times on the sleeve for both are wrong if you check.
It’s almost unknown for these Primary Wave releases not to have mistakes on them unfortunately
Thanks. I haven’t ordered it yet. I’m waiting to see if the price comes down a bit as the cheapest I can see for the CD is about £15. It’s not an essential purchase as I have all the tracks elsewhere many times over (most of them are on Gold). The first Greatest Hits was different as there was the odd track (such as Jolene) that I didn’t actually have on CD.
I didn’t bother with the 1976 Christmas Broadcast CD either. I knew it was unofficial, but the Amazon reviews saying about the poor sound quality put me off.
One example: “I was looking forward to hearing this but the sound quality is awful. I know that this is a Japanese broadcast but it sounds like it has been recorded straight from the radio with a very dodgy cassette recorder. You even get the adverts (in Japanese) with the radio host translating every time Olivia speaks. One for die hard fans only.”
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