Yes, it's a mystery to me too. I think the gun version was only ever screened in the UK, if memory serves me correctly. x
Thanks for the replies! When I got the Video Gold DVD, I knew as soon as I saw Silvery Rain that it wasn’t quite as I remembered from the TV broadcast. She must have had fun playing all those different characters.
Have watched this many a time, Olivia looking back on a selection of her most famous 80s music videos with director Brian Grant-Silvery Rain being amongst those selected.
Brilliant, thanks @WhatKindOfKylie? for posting that. I saw that a few years ago and was going to try and look it up again but couldn’t remember what it was called. I’ve always loved the fact that her video director was English.
You're welcome. And yes, Brian Grant was a great director, directed alot of the great Diva music videos, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Jody Watley and Kim Wilde being other key examples. Love the rapport he has her with Olivia too, can tell they got on well I think.
Just looking at the BBC Genome website. The Utah concert that’s on the deluxe Physical release actually got three showings on BBC TV (think it was edited though, and not the full VHS version): BBC 2 Tues 21 Dec 1982 19:10 BBC 1 Tues 11 Oct 1983 23:05 BBC 1 Wed 18 Jan 1984 19:05 The last of these we taped off the TV. Meanwhile, the Let’s Get Physical TV version of the video album was shown twice: BBC 1 Wed 3 Feb 1982 20:10 BBC 1 Sun 4 Sept 1983 15:35 The second of these we taped off the TV so consequently watched many times. The BBC seems to have been quite supportive of Olivia over the years. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=Olivia+newton+john#top
That's one of my favourite television specials and interviews Olivia has done in the last decade or so. It's so rare to hear her speak at length about her music (largely because nobody asks her). I get a thrill out of hearing her mention songs like 'Stranger's Touch' that never get brought up. Listening to all these 'Physical' songs back to back in the first half of the special is a reminder how unique that glistening guitar sound John Farrar created was. Olivia has always given credit to Farrar for his contribution to her career. She does the same here with Briant Grant; despite her humility about her own talents, she is quick to compliment Brian Grant for being ahead of his time when he is gently self-deprecating about what they achieved. Speaking of interviews, AXS have recently uploaded the full 50-minute Olivia episode of The Big Interview with Don Rather from 2016 when she was in the third year of her Vegas residency. It's a good career-spanning interview if you haven't seen it before. Although it's full of her usual responses to things, it does touch briefly on albums like 'Soul Kiss' and 'Gaia' as well as the 'Toomorrow' movie. x
I remember buying the VHS video of both. The Physical VHS video came out the week before the first TV screening. It cost £35 which was a staggering amount of money for 1982. I still have it. I taped the concert on the first showing. I remember that being a really snowy day here. The video wasn’t actually released until mid-1983. Oddly for the U.K., we got the first TV screening of the Ohio show.. It wasn’t shown in America until early 1983.
Not quite. The U.K. one was a bit different. It was packaged in a black plastic case too. I’ll try and find a picture of it.
If Wikipedia is correct, it appears we also got the first showing of the video album too. If the BBC showed it on 3 Feb 1982, Wikipedia claims it was shown on 8 Feb in the US on ABC. However, BBC Genome can only cover when programmes were scheduled. We won’t know if they were postponed for any reason.
The first screenings you mentioned were definitely correct. I about wrote them in my diary both nights!
That is so sweet. It was syndicated a few times on Channel 7 here and my father had the foresight to record it onto VHS (a man of excellent taste). I wore that out as a kid, along with the 'Album Flash' specials for 'Two Of A Kind' and 'Soul Kiss', the Utah concert, the '78 ABC special and 'Hollywood Nights'. They were such formative parts of my understanding of the music and the performing arts, two of my great loves. x
Can certainly tell that’s a first issue one, it doesn’t have a barcode! There’s a later version showing on Amazon that has both a barcode and EMI’s Picture Music International birds logo.
Yes, I got it the day it came out. My local record shop phoned to tell me. They must have been sick of me repeatedly going in and asking if they had it for about 6 weeks before it actually did get released!
