Posts Tagged ‘Olivia Newton-John’

Discussion: Recommend a Track

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Earlier this week, I’d planned on talking about an Iris Dement track for this weekly discussion thread.  Then some poking around on iTunes led me to discover something else entirely.

I love iTunes because it helps me find random tracks by my favorite artists that I had no idea existed.  One of the names I throw in the search engine from time to time is Olivia Newton-John, the first artist that I remember actually liking as a young child.   Little did I know she’s been recording country music again, apparently for a television version of the Sordid Lives movie she was in a decade ago.

I’ve never seen the flick, but I picked up the movie soundtrack a while back.  It included a stunning and heartfelt acoustic performance of the Carter Family classic “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Tonight’s recommendation comes from the television show’s soundtrack, and while this song may not be a country classic yet, it certainly deserves to be.    In fact, I’d like to see Carrie Underwood cut it for her next album.

I present to you Olivia Newton-John, “You Look Like a Dick to Me.”

Top that, Country Universians.

100 Greatest Women, #49: Olivia Newton-John

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

100 Greatest Women

#49

Olivia Newton-John

One of the biggest female country stars of the seventies became one quite accidentally. Her mere presence in country music infuriated traditionalists, but her pop-flavored country foreshadowed the boundary blurring recordings of future genre straddling stars like Dolly Parton, Shania Twain and Faith Hill.

Olivia Newton-John was born in England, and raised in Australia. A talent show win down under earned her a ticket back to England, where she made inroads in the music industry in the sixties. After a solo single went nowhere in 1966, she earned a slot in a manufactured band called Toomorrow, and co-starred in a movie of the same name. When the group disbanded, she earned her big break as a cast member of It’s Cliff, a television variety show starring Cliff Richard. This led to a deal with Uni Records.

(more…)

Writers

Follow CU

Latest Comments

Most Popular

Worth Reading

View Older Posts