Addicted To Vinyl Musical thoughts from the open road, with headphones on

Stuff People Buy: Olivia Newton-John

Written by: Matt Wardlaw

It's dirty secret reveal time here at ATV:

Actually, we might have talked about this before, but my brain is currently frozen from the lemon ice I just ate towards the end of the work day. We're about to say goodbye to our summer interns (hooray!) as we approach the end of summer, and our great bosses had the most excellent idea yesterday to hire one of those old-fashioned ice cream trucks to come by the office. It was pretty much the best day ever.

Until today. You've probably noticed the Amazon product links that pop up from time to time within the various blog posts here on ATV. Now here's the dirty little secret: When you purchase anything from Amazon, if the purchase click originates from one of our links, we make money!

For example, let's say that you click on the link for a Bruce Hornsby CD, and then actually purchase a copy of Reign In Blood by Slayer, ATV still wins!

We've made $4.41 in referral fees so far this month, so as much as I love my day job, I'm thinking that it's about time to go put in notice, because I think I've accumulated enough scratch to purchase a couple of chili-cheese burgers from Rally's.

Now we have arrived at the point of this post:

It's not the ATV recommended purchases that grab our eye, when we're looking through the reports, it is the items that are off the beaten path a bit, the ones that we didn't suggest, that are fun.

For example: I was all set to make fun of the purchase of Captivating: Unveiling The Mystery of a Woman's Soul, but then I realized a couple of things.

1. I actually want to go behind that curtain. Will I find answers that I don't already get by reading Narm's blog? Does Mel's post on 10 Really Stupid Things about Women cover it all, or do I still need to know more?

related question: did I just lose all of my female readership with parts of this question?

I thought about that for a second (Why hell-o, sly reference to The Men,) and then moved on to the next thing on my mind as I pondered making fun of the book:

2. Problem: I found out that the above book is actually Cleveland Bachelor's selection for our next book to read for book club. I can't knock CB's choice, because if I do, he'll start making fun of the stuff I post here on ATV.

So I kept looking at the report, and the perfect topic for today hit me right in the face, almost as if I had been punched in the face by a chick, actually.

Can you even believe that? We've talked about this before, but suddenly I had a new topic for a blog post that was a gift from God himself, way up there in the heavens. For one moment, he had stopped thinking about finding another sleazy club owner to send to Cleveland, and instead, thought about how he could help this little blog out.

Thanks God.

I wasn't even aware that this piece of video history was available for purchase!

First, let's look at the product description:

Olivia Newton-John dazzles the crowd with her high-energy performance live at Weber State University (Utah) October 12-13 1982, including such memorable hits as Xanadu, Physical, Deeper than the Night, and I Honestly Love You. A must have DVD for Olivia Newton-John fans everywhere! TRACKS: 1) Deeper than the Night; 2) Let Me Be There; 3) Please Mister Please; 4) If You Love Me, Let Me Know; 5) Jolene; 6) Sam; 7) Xanadu; Magic; 9) Suddenly; 10) A Little More Love; 11) Silvery Rain; 12) Falling; 13) Heart Attack; 14) Make a Move on Me; 15) Hopelessly Devoted to You; 16) You're the One that I Wanted; 17) Physical; 18) I Honestly Love You. ++++ DVD FEATURES: This officially licensed release from South Korea is NTSC Code 0 (will play worldwide) with 4:3 Full Screen display, both DTS 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound in ENGLISH with optional (removable) English or Korean subtitles.

Man, I am ordering this DVD today! Be forewarned, when this baby shows up, I will be blasting "Xanadu" at top volume with the Korean subtitles turned up really loud. Can you turn up subtitles? Never mind.

Let's look at a few reviews of this puppy. First, let's find the inevitable "this really sucks" review, and oh yeah, here it is!

This DVD ended up being a BOOTLEG and had a horrible picture and NO sound!!! Beware of this seller - I got ripped off!

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get to some serious fan reviews. And by "serious fan reviews," I actually mean reviews from fans that might be as obsessive, or slightly more obsessive than Duran Duran fans. I won't link the DD post - you all know the one I'm talking about now.

Bill sez:

this is my #2 newton-john dvd. #1 is xanadu. this dvd was of a college campus performance, and therefore not up to the recording standards of b spears las vegas concert. but it is newton-john of xanadu and greease time-frame.

Keep this in mind folks - if it was recorded live at a college campus, it sucks. But also remember, that we're talking about Olivia Newton-John of "Greease time-frame."

Now, let's check out some trivia about this particular performance, courtesy of William:

An interesting side note is that Olivia was on a national tour and the stop in Ogden Utah was not long after most of the radio stations in Salt Lake City had banned "Lets Get Physical." Part of the opening sequence of the show projected newspaper headlines about the ban on a giant walk through screen. When she stepped through that scene her fans showed the stations what they thought of the record ban and cheered her on.

Yeah man, you should have seen the moment when future Chart Attack king Jason Hare and his fellow ONJ worshippers stood up to give the hot pink headband wearing Jazzercise doin' number one salute to those radio stations. It was a moment that until now, hasn't ever been recreated. But on Friday in fact, many of those very same people will pay tribute to this special night described above, by attending a 2009 concert performance by 80s heartthrob Jack Wagner.

Fun fact: Dude has Heather Locklear staying at his house. Respect.

William goes on to reveal some technical specifications about this DVD:

Be aware that this is a Korean produced DVD and the quality is not as good as it could be. One reviewer commented on the sound reflecting the acoustic quality of the 80's. Actually I think the quality of the sound is more of a manufacturing issue than the live recording. This concert recording was done by Home Box Office and shown on their cable network soon after the concert. The sound was great in that version. Too bad they don't release a DVD themselves (are you listening HBO?)

No.

Another issue with the Korean version is that they cut out the entire opening sequence for the show. But don't let that stop you from buying. Since this is the only version of this concert available I recommend going for it. It's great fun and seeing Olivia sing most of her hits is enjoyable. By the way, she had a bad sore throat that night but you would never know it from her performance.

I totally understand what he's getting at above. That's a total professional, one that can battle through even a mild case of malaria to deliver the goods to an audience of overly adoring fans. For some reason, moments like this always makes me remember how surprised I was to find out that Paul McCartney's "Ode to a Koala Bear" was not a number one single.

So how about some video, huh?

Let's get to it!

If I were to re-shoot the above video today, the entire band would be playing keytars.

Okay, one more review bit, this time from Bubbles:

I saw this concert on tv when I was in my teens and as a huge ONJ, I loved it. As an adult, watching this DVD, I still love it. I felt as though I was in my teens again. The songs are great, Olivia looked and sounded fantastic. The only thing that I was disappointed about then and now is that when she sings You're the One that I Want (from Grease), it is not with John Travolta. The guy that she sings it with is just ok but I don't care for him too much. Specifically, not for that song. He's talented but he's not John. This is a great DVD, however, the subtitles can get a bit annoying. Fortunately, I have been able to look past them.

Whoa. Hold the chalupa.

You're telling me that Travolta didn't show up for every ONJ tour date in the 80s?

That is a damn outrage.

I might just watch old Donny Osmond videos instead.

Sing it with me!

Like a thief in the night, who can't get enough,
I am willing to fight,
'cause I'm a soldier of love.
Like a shot in the dark when the going gets rough,
I'ts a state of the heart
when you're a soldier of love.

I feel rejuvenated and ready to take a chance again.

I'm going to buy this DVD, and watch it this weekend as a double header back to back with Stevie Nicks: Live at Red Rocks.

Who's with me?

Hey, where are you guys going?