There were two versions of it. The actual video album (Olivia Physical) released on VHS in 1982 matched the order on Video Gold, included Falling and Love Make Me Strong, but didn’t feature that Rolling sequence you mention or any of her spoken links. Apparently they were done especially for the ABC TV special (Let’s Get Physical) which I don’t think has ever been commercially released? It was broadcast in the UK in 1983 on the BBC. I watched that TV special so many times (my brother video’d it off the TV) that I can probably recall all her links word-for-word! “If you have any reservations about sand, or the 80s, or me, you better hold onto your hat”. I think they were on YouTube or somewhere a few years ago but just looked and can’t find anything. Hopefully they will be on the DVD of this release. I would be disappointed if they aren’t. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Physical Also found the Rolling sequence:
I remember them all too! 'I even do windows...' This was the version I became familiar with rather than the home video release, so I will be thrilled to see it again if it's included on the DVD. I do hope it is because Olivia's gently wry humour comes through nicely in the little interludes. x
You'll love it. It's of its time, but still so impressive. I think people forget how much Olivia paved the way for many of the things we expect in pop today and much of that came from the 'Physical' era - televised concert specials, 'video albums' with a music video for every song, thematic approaches to an album campaign 'era'... Her humility as well as her music career being seen as comfortably MOR has written Olivia out of popular consciousness but she was very much an innovator in a pre-Madonna world. I'm hoping that all her videos from 'Physical' get put on her official YouTube page next month for some extra streams/revenue. They're all great, but the surreal one for 'Recovery' is a personal favourite. x
That’s the best I’ve ever seen it look. Recovery was always a highlight on the Physical album. Whenever I see these videos, I always think that the handsome young guys used throughout will all be in their sixties (at least) by now. If they’ve even still around at all!
She's the queen of good lighting and flattering angles! Also, that CMA Awards outfit from 2016 was an absolute slay. x
Can’t go wrong with the multiple Olivias in the Recovery video. Her link to that video in the TV special was her with her horse, Judge. They even had Judge saying “Good Afternoon” in quite a camp voice. Her talk here was about girls being crazy about horses, then they grow up and it’s boys, and they forget all about their four-legged friends. Olivia then joked “I’m gonna do it later” and it was left to the viewer to decide if she meant growing up or boys! And then she said to the horse that they have a reservation at the Nag’s Head, which led in to the video.
Olivia is an hugely underrated artist I think, especially from her achievements and breaking ground in the early 80s. A visual album before the term had even been invented.
Yes, I think Blondie were the first act to do it. This is from the exceptional PopMatters retrospective on 'Physical': It's worth noting that one of Olivia's Grammys is for 'Video Of The Year' for the Physical home video release. x
There was also a video album (of sorts) for Two of A Kind. All four of the songs she recorded for that soundtrack got a video, and I think the home video release also added Heart Attack and Tied Up. There was also a version of the four Two of A Kind videos without the two 1982 songs, but adding an interview with both John Travolta and Olivia between each promo. Memorably from that, John Travolta said about Grease, “the three-year-olds that weren’t born when the film came out are now six” and they both cracked up laughing after realising what he’d said! Again, this version was shown on UK TV (I think ITV in 1984) and duly video recorded by my brother, so I watched it many times. I imagine this would fit better with Physical than with Soul Kiss? Same for the audio on the CD. The full Two of A Kind soundtrack is definitely worth a listen though. David Foster’s instrumental “Night Music” is beautiful.
I've been a massive Madonna fan for almost 40 years, but I think it's true that many people forget what a huge star Olivia was pre-Madonna and Olivia herself was one of the biggest pop stars in the world. Even in 1983, I remember Grease being a pop-culture phenomenon. Although Xanadu was a flop in cinemas, everybody knew it and the film's music because of Olivia. I went to see Two of a Kind in cinemas based on the fact that Olivia was in it, and, of course, Twist of Fate was such a bop. I agree with @Alan that Two of a Kind is a great soundtrack. I love David Foster-produced soundtracks. And Olivia was doing what contemporary stars do nowadays - videos, concerts, tv specials, video albums. Physical was such a massive single. It's kind of weird (at least it is for me) to think that she would only have a few more top ten hits in North America. And the video for Physical was so massive, one of the first videos to have a huge impact. And then Michael Jackson and Madonna came and redefined the video generation, but we should never forget Olivia's contributions.
