Portraits: A Tribute to Great Women of Song

 (10 customer reviews)

Prime Cuts: Rainy Days and Mondays, Love Me or Leave Me, Send in the Clowns

"Portraits" was initially released in Australia in 2004 under a different monikor "Indigo." This album finds the Aussie bred chanteuse reaching back into the vaults for 11 songs (all ballads) often associated with female singers. To flaunt her versatility, Newton-John has chosen songs from artists as diverse as Barbara Streisand to Doris Day to Karen Carpenter to Julie London to Joan Baez to Dionne Warwick. Indubitably, comparisons are bound to be made with the originals. However, being a vocalist nonpareil, Newton-John's signature vocals is what sets this album apart. After all these years, her voice is still visceral and she still has a poignant élan.

Veteran producer Phil Ramone (who has also helmed the latest albums by Tony Bennett and Barry Manilow) is to be congratulated for not confining these songs to a specific style of production. In fact, each cut almost bears its own...Read more

I have been an ONJ fan for a long time. I enjoyed hearing her songs on the radio from the country tracks to Grease and then her 80's hits. Since her hits period she has come back from time to time with excellent tracks like "Deeper Than a River", "Back with a Heart" and her music for Sordid Lives plus her covers of her own "I Honestly Love You" and "Physical". Her voice has never lost its pristine, youthful quality so she is in prime condition for new pop music. But she has recorded such a beautiful collection of standards that keeps these chestnuts fresh and alive.

She first showed for me her talent for covers on her 1989 collection of lullabies, Warm and Tender. "Reach Out for Me" was a highlight of that album. Now with Portraits, she pays tribute to the women who originally recorded the songs so its great she explains her devotion in liner notes. We find out Anyone Who Had a Heart won her a talent contest in 1964, she learned to play the guitar with Where Have All the...Read more

It's great to see -in perspective- how Olivia Newton-John has proved to be a great, skillful singer with the capacity to cover a wide range of different musical styles from pop/country to jazz and new age. This album of covers, produced by Phil Ramone, is a good example of the amazing voice and musical charisma of Olivia Newton-John. It's a tribute album so she, wisely, has not tried to overshadow any of the singers she's honoring but what she does is amazing, she makes the songs believable, touching and beautiful in her own way and style. It's a really good album and a great thing that it has been finally released in the U.S.