Alta Madrugada - Olivia Hime

Advantages: That long-forgotten rollerskatefest Xanadu!
Disadvantages: The Grease megamix... *shudder*

...So this is Miss Olivia's Definitive Collection. Definitive indeed. The lovely lady who seems to know mainly be known as Sandy from Grease, presents us with a gathering of all her best songs. Yes Hopelessly Devoted, Summer Nights and You're The One That I Want are all on here, but as great as they are in context, I've never felt they did Miss ONJ's extensive vocal range full justice. As an (obsessive) fan of the film of Xanadu, I almost wet my pants at the idea of all her 'hits' from that film's soundtrack on here too. Most agree the film was really quite terrible (and to be honest, I'm with them on that one - but I still love it) but the soundtrack divides. In terms of sales it was huuuuge, but I guess it depends on your views of ELO who contributed to the half that John Farrar didn't write (but also wrote the four songs in Grease... Read review

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Advantages: Unusual, highly talented flat picking guitarist
Disadvantages: Not any that I know of

...heard of until 3 years ago?His music was introduced to me by a French colleague, who had been taught guitar by him, and said that I just had to listen to this boy play guitar. I was absolutely stunned by Marcel's techical guitar skills and the absolute simplicity that he appeared to be giving to his music. Although he faithfully followed the instrumental styles of Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Jerry Reed, he was in many ways a much more varied musician too and played renderings of Vivaldi and Mozart, Nashville Rumba as well as his own country compositions. So I bought two of his CDs, there are many available but mainly on French labels. The ones I bought were La Guitare à Dadi Vols 1 & 2. Three of my favourite tracks are La Madrugada (the dawn), the Third Man Theme from the classic movie of the same name, (originally played on zither... Read review

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Advantages: Consistently lovely like Olivia herself, with an uplifting positive spirit to the lyrics. Wonderful easy-listening pop for a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Disadvantages: Nothing negative is allowed here.

...I was twelve when I queued round the block to see "Grease", and fifteen when the video to "Physical" came out. So when I saw an Olivia Newton-John CD on sale in a Barnardos shop for £1 how could I say no? What a bargain it turned out to be. Gaia (or Gaea) was the Greek goddess of the Earth, and more recently the name given by author William Golding to the theory that planet Earth behaves as a single complex organism.* On the cover is a picture of Olivia barefoot, cuddling planet Earth, and inside these words explain the album's genesis: I was diagnosed with breast cancer on July 3rd, 1992. Not only am I a survivor, but I have never felt stronger physically or spiritually...this is my journey. Along with the lyrics there are short explanations of how each song came about. For example, of the title track she says... Read review

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