Track Listing

1. Toughen Up
2. Soul Kiss
3. Queen of the Publication
4. Emotional Tangle
5. Culture Shock
6. Moth to a Flame
7. Overnight Observation
8. You Were Great, How Was I? - Olivia Newton-John, Carl Wilson
9. Driving Music
10. Right Moment

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159352 in Music
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

Knee trembler?
Soul Kiss is a bit of a disappointment. On board are many of the same ingriedients that made hit album Physical such a success. Longtime ONJ producer, John Farrar once again takes the helm, so why does Soul Kiss Fall short? There are winning tracks of course, the title track is a strong, soulful, sexy number, The Right Moment and Emotional Tangle are superb ballads. However, tracks like You Were Great, How Was I? and Driving Music are weak and easily forgotten. If you are an Olivia fan, then I expect you will want this album. There is enough here to keep you happy but it is not her best work. The cover photography by Helmut Newton, known for his cold, sexual imagery also offers an awkward and rather embarassing attempt by the record company or her creative advisors to give Olivia an 'edge' she doesn't need. ONJ was always best served warm, tanned and tight, not pale, primped and preened.

What's a Soul Kiss, Olivia?
After the hugely successful Physical, Olivia Newton-John, for some reason, took 4 years to do a follow up studio album. By this time, she was 37 and very much out of fashion. She was never really comfortable with the Queen Of Slut-Rock tag either. Physical rather backed her into a corner, forcing her to take ever more sexual songs into her half-hearted repertoire. So, on Soul Kiss we have the dodgy title track ("I'll get down on my knees and thank you baby!"), the menage a trois themed Culture Shock along with other suggestive titles like You Were Great, How Was I? As you can imagine, bland old Olivia making Marie Osmond sound like Courteney Love, none of this is very convincing. Her choir girl voice doesn't have the body to give these songs the fire and raunch they require either. She sqeaks and squeals a bit, but is generally out of her depth.
Typical ONJ sleaze free ballads like Emotional Tangle and The Right Moment don't save the day as you'd expect. The heavy 80's style synths render them dated and a bit annoying. Even the sleeve artwork is a letdown. She looked wildly uncomfortable on the back, appearing topless (or rather backless) with an unflattering white light adorning her face. Get the woman a cardigan, fast!
So, Soul Kiss flopped badly upon it's release. Did it deserve it? Well, the songs are mostly bright and poppy and had it come out a couple of (pre-Madonna) years earlier, I'm sure it would have done very well. Sadly, bad timing and lack of promotion were to dog ONJ for the rest of her career...

Olivia at her 'modern' best
'Soulkiss' and 'Physical' both represented quite a leap forward from the country and folksy past for Olivia.
'Soulkiss' is an album with a 'tough' Olivia in pieces like 'Toughen up', and a daring Olivia in 'Culture Shock'.

There is not a track here in which this artist's raw emotion is hidden. I guess that is why I have been a fan from her earliest days. !
But it is not all hard-bitten feelings - there is the typical Olivia warmth of 'Emotional triangle' and ' You were great, how was I?'.

I find this album particularly interesting for its handling of pretty unusual themes. 'Queen of the publication', 'Culture shock', and 'Overnight observation', are all unusual and thought-provoking themes for even in 2002 - let alone in 1981 !

I admit to being such a fan that I am far from objective ! However, I reckon this really is one of those albums that has something to please all of Olivia's admirers.

I have this album on cassette and the singles on video tape, but this CD is crystal clear audio adding to the enjoyment, and well worth being added to a collection.

T Brock