Warm and Tender album review
Best CD of the Month
10 PERFORMANCE
10 SOUND QUALITY
Olivia Newton-John: Warm & Tender, Geffen 24257-2 (ADD) 1989 (89)
Disc time: 41:46
“This album was born with my daughter. She has changed my life and these songs are for her and all the other children and parents who feel as I do.”
These words sum up the motivation behind Olivia Newton-John’s Warm and Tender, an album of pop standards, nursery rhymes, and new songs that she hopes will help make the world a better place for children of all ages. Warm and Tender is executed with so much thought and precision that it’s hard to resist. Packaging, song selection and sequence, and performance are spectacular. The simple string and dreamy synthesizer arrangements suit Newton-John’s light, airy vocals perfectly. This is one analog recording that can stand on its own against digital.
Her interpretations of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “Over the Rainbow,” “The Twelfth of Never,” “They Way You Look Tonight,” and “When You Wish Upon a Star” follow the traditional route, but they rely on un adorned, rather than full-blown, arrangements. This approach gives these frequently heard songs new life. Her heart-felt vocal on “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” for example, shines brighter than most of the bombastic, over-orchestrated versions out there.
Of the four newer songs, “Reach Out for Me” and “The Flower That Shattered the Stone” stand out, mainly because they’re so appropriate to the theme of the disc. While it’s unlikely that these songs will make the Top 40, they’re two of the best ballads Newton-John has ever recorded.
And let’s not forget the seven nursery rhymes that are interspersed between the songs. You might ask, “Who would want to listen to nursery rhymes?” Newton-John answers that by performing the tunes with sincerity and sensitivity.
From beginning to end, it’s obvious that a lot of work-and love-went into creating this dise. Warm and Tender is a concept album that’s moving and entertaining. Like the songs it contains, it has lasting quality.
By Lou Waryncia