Let Me Be There

Loved this women growing up & her music as well ❤️

This was the first Olivia Newton-John album I ever bought. Fourty Nine years later and I am still a huge Olivia Newton-john fan. Thank you for all the music you gave us over the years. Thank you Primary Wave for getting this out to us.

This album, released towards the end of 1973, was basically a re-launch of Olivia’s career here in the United States. She released an album, “If Not For You”, on the UNI label back in ‘71 on the heels the success of her debut single of the Bob Dylan tune. Follow up singles in ‘71 and ‘72 didn’t set the charts on fire until she released the country-pop tune, “Let Me Be There” in the fall of ‘73. That tune became her first Top Ten hit here in the US peaking at #6 on the Hot 100 while also hitting the Top Ten on the country charts as well (#7.) The song also won Olivia a Grammy award for Best Female Country Performance. By this time, MCA Records had absorbed the old UNI label and they sought to capitalize on the success of her current hit by showcasing it with this LP which in effect sort of re-booted her recording career in the US by marketing her as a country singer. MCA took her 1971 LP out of print and then took half of the songs from it to help make up the bulk of this album. Her cover of Bob Dylan’s “If Not For You” had been a big hit for her back in ‘71 reaching #25 on the Pop charts and going all the way to #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts. The old folk murder ballad, “Banks of the Ohio” had been the follow up single but didn’t really make much of an impact on the charts and neither did her cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” in late ‘72/early ‘73. “Country Roads” was a big hit over in the UK though. You can tell the rest of the material was chosen to help solidify MCA’s attempt to brand Olivia as a country act. She covers Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and “Me and Bobby McGee”, and Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind.” On her take of “Angel of the Morning” we get a glimpse of the pop superstar that would eventually emerge at the end of the decade. This album peaked at #54 on the Billboard album chart and was the #1 album for two weeks on the country charts. It went out of print towards the end of the ‘80s but was still a highly sought-after album by fans and collectors. When CD copies would turn up on the second-hand market, the selling prices were usually unholy! So it’s nice to see Primary Wave Music making this classic album available again along with the rest of Olivia’s back catalog.