Olivia Newton-John

Incredible though it seems - it certainly does to me - Olivia Newton-John is 60 years old on Friday 26th September!!!

Not to put too fine a point on it, I absolutely adore Olivia and have done ever since I was in junior school.

I couldn't let this occasion pass without celebrating the life and music of the ever-beautiful Livvy!

A Little More Love - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IME0Ch7WAF0

"A fabulous John Farrar song and production from 1978. This was a top five hit on both sides of the Atlantic"

Magic - ONJ (Midnight Special 1980)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=r7WPwH8Rd6g

"Another excellent John Farrar song taken from the 'Xanadu' soundtrack which was a # 1 hit in America. Olivia looks absolutely breathtaking in this clip!"

Silvery Rain - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C0_a06cZ_PI

"Now this is an interesting one. This song (written by Hank Marvin) originally appeared on the debut album by Marvin Welch & Farrar in 1971. Cliff Richard covered it a few months later and took it to # 27 in the UK charts. This version - my favourite of the three - is from 1981 and is taken from Olivia's 'Physical' album.

Although it looks somewhat dated now this was an excellent video for its time and was an environmentally conscious song WAY before such things became fashionable"

Xanadu - ONJ & ELO (Film Version)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7m1UWSD-FaA

"Back in 1980 some people were critical of Jeff Lynne for taking ELO in a more 'pop' direction with their 'Discovery' album (1979) and then for making a record with Olivia a year later.

Personally speaking I never saw it that way. For me the fact that ELO could come up with masterpieces of their own like 'Mr Blue Sky'. 'Wild West Hero', 'Sweet Talkin' Woman', 'Shine A Little Love' and 'Don't Bring Me Down' and then go on to make a great record with the utterly gorgeous Olivia as well just made them even more cool in my book!"

Deeper Than The Night - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fTTjfUwpU1k

"A track from Olivia's 'Totally Hot' album that reached # 11 in the USA"

Have You Never Been Mellow - ONJ (Midnight Special 1975)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0eojCUqMnyU

"Another # 1 hit in America. One of John Farrar's most beautiful songs with a lyric I'm trying to take personally these days"

Twist Of Fate - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_2hawbp5XT4

"This track, produced by David Foster, is from 1983 and is taken from the soundtrack to a film called 'Two Of A Kind' in which Olivia also starred. "

Tied Up - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CRgkYZQZSEg

"An excellent track from 1982, that also featured on Olivia's Greatest Hits album released in 1982 (which I got for Christmas that year!)"

Let Me Be There - ONJ (Midnight Special 1974)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I89lfJsW3bE

"A # 6 hit in the USA in 1973. This track was produced by John Farrar and written by John Rostill - bass player in The Shadows - who sadly died in the same month as the song chartedin the U.S."

Suspended In Time - ONJ (Midnight Special 1980)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WV_jb1flp5k

"This clip always makes me cry. The song is a beautiful ballad, (John Farrar again!) taken from the 'Xanadu' soundtrack. Watch carefully though at the end of this clip. I have no idea what Olivia was thinking or feeling as she sang this song but if you notice at the end of the song she is crying. Watching this one chokes me up every time..."

Dancin' - ONJ & The Tubes (Midnight Special 1980)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HoYXq-tK1M8

"Another one from the Xanadu soundtrack, this time performed with The Tubes. A lot of fun this one...!"

The Rumour - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jKDDq5RTu0A

"A 1988 single written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Should have been a much bigger hit than it was..."

Totally Hot - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aN_FF_hcwFA

"Title track of Olivia's 1978 album."

Living In Desperate Times - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gWNPNIx_23M&feature=related

"An underrated track co-written by Tom Snow (who also co-wrote 'Deeper Than The Night' ). I like the video to this one too"

Falling - ONJ (Promotional Video)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo-yLQ8MV4U

"One of Olivia's own personal favourites. This song originally appeared on John Farrar's self-titled solo album in 1980. This version is from Olivia's 'Physical' album a year later. It wasn't until I fell hopelessly in love with someone myself many years later that I realised how true these lyrics are..."

You're The One That I Want - ONJ & John Travolta (Film Version)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vY8nRfEnWtc

"I couldn't get away without including this one! An iconic moment in film history. The movie 'Grease' was adapted from a stage play but this song was one of two that John Farrar wrote especially for the movie (the other was 'Hopelessly Devoted To You')"

Jeff Lynne & Olivia Newton John

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XXPYwbP9LDA

"A clip from a 30 minute special on the 'Making of Xanadu' from 1980. Too cool for words...!"

Beginnings

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nqOmWNHHKRE

"Where it all began. A few rare clips from Australian TV in the sixties..."

And finally some links to investigate

http://www.olivianewton-john.com/

http://morethanphysical.blogspot.com/

http://www.onlyolivia.com/

Oh, Hang On...

The Yes saga rumbles on! I had assumed that Jon Anderson had supported the decision for the "In The Present" tour in November and given his blessing to it. It seems not.

Jon posted this message on his website and his myspace site earlier this week.

"Disappointed, and very Disrespected.

Disappointed that, with the exception of one phone call from Alan, none of the guys have been in touch since my illness, just to find out how I am doing, and how we will foresee the future for YES. And disappointed that they were not willing to wait till 2009 when I'm fully recovered.

And I feel very disrespected, having spent most of this year creating songs and constant ideas for the band, spending time with Roger Dean creating a stage design, also working with VH1 and Sirius and XM Radio to help promote the welfare of YES.

Getting sick was not "on my radar", and I thank my own angel Janeee and my family for helping me through this difficult time, and the many well wishers, friends and fans alike, for understanding that ''things happen''.

Of course I wish the guys all the best in their 'solo' work, but I just wish this could have been done in a more gentlemanly fashion. After all YES is a precious musical band.

This is not YES on tour...

I send best wishes to one and all,

Jon AndersonSeptember 2008"

I'm not one of those people who insist that it can't be Yes without Jon Anderson. "Drama" (with Trevor Horn on vocals) was an excellent album; "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe" (with no Chris Squire) had some fine moments but neither were quite Yes as they were meant to be.

I was on the Yes fans internet forum last night until the early hours and there is every shade of opinion imaginable on this one. Oh dear...

Yes - The Next Generation

The wibbly-wobbly world of Yes just keeps on getting stranger!

Yes have announced that they are touring America later this year after all. The "In The Present" tour starts in November and sees Alan White, Chris Squire & Steve Howe link up with Rick Wakeman's son Oliver Wakeman on keyboards & Benoit David (of Canadian Yes tribute band Close To The Edge) who will take on vocal duties for Jon Anderson who was diagnosed with acute respiratory failure earlier this year.

I'm not sure what I think about all this yet! However I did find a clip of Benoit David with Close To The Edge on You Tube

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=c3BFuxBayxg

The official press statement can be viewed here:

http://www.yesworld.com/ywtour-REVISED.html

And an interview with Oliver Wakeman can be viewed here:

http://nfte.org/interviews/OW307.html

By the way, Oliver Wakeman is my friend on myspace, so if you get chance check out his site here:

http://www.myspace.com/oliverwakemanband

Trouble In Shangri-La

This week Wolverhampton Council locked itself into a 10 year "transformation programme" with private company Axon. This aims to make the council more "customer focused and efficient" over time. 300 jobs are due to go by March 2009.

In addition to - and entirely separate from - any changes or savings identified as part of the transformation programme, Wolverhampton Council needs to save £10 million on its budget this year and a further £15 million per year between now and 2011. Neither of these will come without further job losses.

I'm choosing my words very carefully here. There is much I could say and want to say, but this is neither the time nor the place.

Speaking personally though, as it stands, I fully expect to be redeployed or made redundant within two years and I'm budgeting now for that eventuality. If it's the latter then it will be my cue to go off and do something radical...

Watch this space!

http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/09/18/jobs-cull-in-place-for-year-end/#continue

"Where Am I...?"

Last weekend Colin, Nigel, Dave & myself were abducted and taken to "The Village" where very silly Prisoner-inspired fun was had by all!

We blew up Rover (literally!) and escaped to bring you these pictures. Be Seeing You...

Go Rachel!!!!

I'm absolutely doing cartwheels that Rachel Rice was crowned winner of Big Brother 2008 on Friday night. It couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

Rachel is a beautiful young woman who has shown herself to be a kind, considerate, thoughtful, selfless, bubbly, positive and genuinely lovely person who remained true to herself throughout -despite all the negativity aimed at her. I'm chuffed! See, nice people do sometimes win after all!

It's also restored my faith in the British voting public who, in the end, voted for someone who genuinely deserved to win.

Fabulous - though I'm not looking forward to my phone bill this month!