Track Listing

1. Don't Stop Believin'
2. Thousand Conversations
3. Compassionate Man
4. New Born Babe
5. Hey Mr. Dreammaker
6. Every Face Tells a Story
7. Sam
8. Love You Hold the Key
9. I'll Bet You a Kangaroo
10. Last Time You Loved

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55820 in Music
• Released on: 1998-10-05
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Classic Olivia album!

A truly superb album from Olivia here with that distinctive voice; her first after making the move from Pye Records to EMI, and probably her best work to date - though ironically, and indeed incredibly did not chart! This is from the period when she was the quiet shy girl that would appear seated upon a stool on Top Of The Pops to perform her chart hits. This was before the dizzy days of her tremendous success starring in movie greats such as 'Grease' and 'Xanadu' which would go on to change her forever. A fabulous collection of ten beautiful songs - penned by the likes of John Farrar (who would go on to write regularly for Olivia) plus Hank Marvin, and including one from herself! This marvellous track listing includes the record that sold this album; the hauntingly beautiful and melancholic 'Sam' which captures the innocence of the unique 70s ballad, and was her massive hit from 1977. We are even treated to a (very, very) slightly extended version of this, where the yearnings for her much needed Sam go on and on... This track is nicely placed as the second song on side B of the vinyl LP. This album captures Olivia in a classic period; both in her career and popular music.

average ONJ ablum
If you like Olivia then you'll like this, not outstanding, but the tunes are catchy, includes her hit from '77 Sam.

Great original songs
1976 yielded two of Olivia’s finest albums. The other, Come on over, was dominated by covers but contained a few original songs. This one is made up exclusively of original material.

The album includes the British top ten hit Sam, which also happens to be the best track on the album – but not by much. Every face tells a story (how true that is) and Hey Mr Dream-maker are brilliant upbeat songs. There are superb ballads including Don’t stop believing, Love you hold the key (which Olivia co-wrote), The last one you loved and A thousand conversations. I’ll bet you a kangaroo is a slightly silly title but the song works well.

Everybody has their own opinions about Olivia’s music. I love all the early music up to 1977 and I also enjoy some of her later music, but this is definitely one of my favorites.