If Not for You (album)

If Not for You
Studio album by Olivia Newton-John
Released	November 1971
Recorded	1971; London, England
Genre	Country pop, folk
Length	35:54
Label	Festival
Producer	John Farrar, Bruce Welch
Olivia Newton-John chronology
If Not for You (1971) Olivia (1972)
Singles from If Not for You
"If Not for You" Released: March 1971 "Banks of the Ohio" Released: October 1971

If Not for You is the debut studio album by Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, released in November 1971 by Festival Records. The album was released on the Pye International label in the UK as Olivia Newton-John, with slightly different covers. As a covers album, If Not for You features mostly songs previously recorded from contemporary artists of 1960s and early 1970s. She made several performances to promote If Not for You and her follow-up album, Olivia, including an international tour with British singer Cliff Richard. It was her first album released by Festival Records, which would release all her albums in Australia until its dissolution in 2005. It also has Newton-John's first works with her long-time musical partner, John Farrar.

Background and development

Bruce Welch (right), with Cliff Richard (center) and Hank Marvin (left) in 2009. Welch produced Newton-John's first two albums.

In 1966, Newton-John released her debut single, "Till You Say You'll Be Mine" (with "For Ever" as B-side), by Decca Records.^[1] Later, she integrated the band Toomorrow, which released a film and its soundtrack in 1970. After these failed attempts to launch her career, she signed with Festival Records to release an album. If Not for You was titled after its successful lead single of the same name and was recorded in London, where Newton-John resided at the time. She later stated that she didn't like the song, but praised its production.^[2] The majority of musicians who played on If Not for You were linked with the music group Marvin, Welch & Farrar. The group members John Farrar and Bruce Welch produced the album.^[3] Welch was her boyfriend at the time and Farrar is the husband of Australian singer Pat Carroll, which is an Olivia's personal friend and toured with her in England at clubs and bars as "Pat and Olivia" in 1966. Farrar would establish a partnership with Newton-John, producing all her studios albums from If Not for You until Soul Kiss, released in 1985. He also composed, played and did background vocals on several Newton-John songs.^[4] Three additional songs were recorded by Newton-John, but were discarded during the album creation process: "The Biggest Clown", "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye" and "Would You Follow Me". The first was released on "If Not for You" single, the second was released on "Love Song" promo single and later on 48 Original Tracks compilation album and the third was released on some pressings of "Banks of the Ohio" single and also on 48 Original Tracks.^[5][6][7]

The album features covers of Roger Miller ("Me and Bobby McGee"), Bread ("If"), The Band ("In a Station"), Lesley Duncan ("Love Song" and "Lullaby"), Kris Kristofferson ("Help Me Make It Through the Night"), Bob Dylan ("If Not for You"), Brotherhood of Man ("Where Are You Going to My Love"), Gordon Lightfoot ("If You Could Read My Mind") and Tom Rush ("No Regrets"). "Banks of the Ohio" is a traditional song that had an arrangement made by Farrar and Welch.^[3]

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]

Joe Viglione from Allmusic made a positive review from the album, giving it four out five stars. He commented that "it would be a mistake to think these [songs] are all mere 'covers.' The production and arrangements by Bruce Welch and John Farrar are innovative and worthwhile." Viglione also praised Newton-John performance, stating: After all her own hit records, hearing this superstar sing so many familiar tunes, and performing them so well, is utterly charming."^[8]

Commercial performance

In Newton-John's native country Australia, the album debuted at number sixteen on the week of 22 January 1972.^[9] If Not for You later peaked at number fourteen on the next week, staying four weeks on the chart and earning a platinum certification.^[10][11] Despite the lack of promotion in the country the album made a little impact in the United States, peaking at number one hundred fifty-eight on the Billboard 200.^[8] In the United Kingdom, where the album hit two singles on the top ten, If Not for You failed to chart.

Singles

	"If Not for You" "If Not for You" was the album lead single. It's the first hit record by Newton-John, entering the top ten on UK Singles Charts.
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"If Not for You", the album title track, was released as lead single. The song peaked at number six on the UK Singles Charts and number fourteen on Australia's Go-Set singles chart.^[12][13] It also was an unexpected hit in North America, peaking at number twenty-five on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number eighteen on Canada's RPM top singles.^[14] The single was Newton-John's first number one on the US Top Easy Listening (now Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks).^[8] The second and last single, "Banks of the Ohio", was another success in the United Kingdom (peaking at number six)^[12] and Australia (giving Olivia's first number one hit in the country),^[15] but failed to reach the top forty in Canada and United States, peaking at number sixty-six and ninety-four, respectively.^[8][16]

To promote the album and Newton-John's image, the promotional singles "If You Could Read My Mind" (with "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye" as B-side)^[17] and "Love Song" (with "If" as B-side)^[6] where released in selected European countries. A german language version of "Banks of the Ohio", titled "Unten Am Fluss, Der Ohio Heisst", also was released.^[18]

Promotion

Newton-John made several appearances on television programs across Europe and her homeland Australia between 1971–72. She also made an appearance on The Dean Martin Show, singing "If" and a medley featuring "Just a Little Lovin'" / "True Love" with Dean Martin, which became her first performance in the United States.^[2][19] In 1972, she embarked on a tour across Europe and Japan with Cliff Richard to promote If Not for You and Olivia, known as The Cliff Richard Show / If Not for You Tour. Olivia performed some songs and also made the background vocals of Cliff's songs, with Pat Carroll.^[20] Richard performances where released on Cliff Richard Live! album.^[21] She also made performances on Richard's program It's Cliff Richard and starred with him the special Getaway with Cliff and the film The Case, all broadcast on BBC.^[22]

Releases

The album was originally released on cassette and LP.^[23] The American edition, released by Uni Records prior its merger with Decca and Kapp labels to form MCA Records, went out of print following the release of Newton-John's 1973 album, Let Me Be There, and became a rare collectors item. However, the original American edition of Let Me Be There features six tracks from If Not for You.^[24] The album was first released on CD in Japan in 1990 as part of the EMI PASTMASTERS series (Cat.# CP21-6074). The album was simply called "OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN", which was the full title of the original vinyl / cassette release in England in 1971. {It was initially released as "Olivia Newton-John" in England, and "If Not For You" in foreign territories, including the US and Australia.} This EMI 1990 CD release did not feature any of the original album artwork. Instead, the front cover photo is a "live" picture of Olivia from a 1977 appearance in Japan. The packaging included a [Japanese-language] OBI, and a folded white paper insert, containing all the song lyrics in English on 1 side, and in Japanese on the other. In Australia, Festival Records re-released the album on CD in 1993 and also in a digitally remastered edition along with other albums of Newton-John's discography in 1998. In this latter case, at least the first run of the remastered CD release (Festival Cat.# D34320 / D19809) was seriously botched. The first track on the album, "Me And Bobby McGee", was missing entirely from the CD; thus the CD started with the BREAD cover, "If", and contained only 11 of the 12 songs. Further, 3 of the latter songs on this release were mis-sequenced. However, the CD labeling lists all 12 original songs, in their original sequence / order. This was only one of the most offensive and obvious flaws by which many of Festival's 1998 Re-Masters can be characterized. However, the overall sonic quality of the 1998 remastered edition is quite good.^[23]

Track listing

All songs produced by John Farrar and Bruce Welch.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[3]

Charts and certifications

Singles

References

External links

• Newton-John's official site > Discography > If Not for You