Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John
April 17, 2018 2:12 PM   Subscribe

A Little More Love is a standout track from Juliana Hatfield's new album of Olivia Newton-John covers. I Honestly Love You and Please Mr. Please also kick ass. And I mean, Xanadu, geez. Come on.

I have never not loved Olivia Newton-John. Her music has brought me so much pure joy throughout my life. I loved her when I was a child and I love her still. Her voice and her positive energy and her melodies have stood the test of time and they give me as much pleasure now as they ever did. Listening to her is an escape into a beautiful place. She has inspired me so much personally and I just wanted to give something back; to share some of these tremendous songs, reinterpreted, with love, by me. -Juliana Hatfield

One dollar from the sale of every album will be donated to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre (ONJ Centre), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing patients with cancer access to leading medical treatment, breakthrough research, and the best in wellness and supportive care.
posted by chococat (28 comments total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
I have had "A Little More Love" running through my head off and on for the last couple of weeks. Now I know why.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 2:29 PM on April 17, 2018


Xanadu sounds like the perfect middle ground between the ELO version and the ONJ version. Nice.
posted by rednikki at 2:55 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Scud Mt Boys do my favorite cover of Please Mr Please.
posted by dobbs at 3:02 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


This song is 40 years old, yet I've never clocked how ominous the lyrics are...
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:21 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Hm. I don't know.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:24 PM on April 17, 2018


I needed to tap into my pre-teen happy place and this album brought me back there immediately. Love it!
posted by narancia at 3:25 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


This is so my jam! Juliana slays like an Olivia Neutron Bomb!
posted by otherchaz at 3:29 PM on April 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


At first I thought it was going to be a weird random-youtuber-singing-this-in-the-style-of-that video but it's as advertised and I'm delighted!
posted by kimberussell at 3:43 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


My go-to Karaoke song is "Hopelessly Devoted To You," so I went straight to that and I was not disappointed. Excellent track selection and Hatfield makes all of the ones I listened to into the rock songs I always hoped they could be.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:16 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ooooh these are nice.

Maybe it's just the way Ms Hatfield's voice is mixed, but I suddenly just realized the world needs for her to team up with Neko Case for some duets. These would make a nice start, ladies, if you read this!
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 4:37 PM on April 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


Oh wow, the local radio station has a show dedicated to covers and the DJ has been working his way through this. I was really curious to know what the story was behind it. Favourite for me so far is Physical.

Guess I’ll have to go buy the album now.
posted by arha at 4:52 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


This is so good!
posted by mochapickle at 4:55 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Thanks so much for posting this! Love it.
posted by danabanana at 4:59 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


I love Juliana Hatfield. Gonna give this a listen on my walk home.
posted by Annika Cicada at 5:15 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


These are great.
posted by COD at 5:17 PM on April 17, 2018


I loooove both Juliana Hatfield and ONJ, so I preordered this on vinyl ages ago and it arrived last week surprise-signed by JH! Now I just have to track down ONJ and ask her to sign it too.
posted by outfielder at 6:26 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


I love Juliana Hatfield and my wife loves ONJ. This is a nice mix of the two.
posted by 4ster at 7:06 PM on April 17, 2018


I approve of this young woman’s musical predilictions.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:12 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Xanadu sounds like the perfect middle ground between the ELO version and the ONJ version.

There are two versions of Xanadu?

Looking it up on YouTube, I am appalled to see it is true. I like ELO...I dislike their version of the song. It doesn't sparkle like hers, or even like any of their other songs from the movie.

Ms. Hatfield's version is fine, but I won't trade it for ONJ's version. As bad as the movie is (according to some people, at least), I love it and ONJ's songs are some of her best work. It's gratifying to see so many Xanadu tracks on this album.
posted by lhauser at 7:37 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Looking forward to hearing this.

My favorite cover of "Magic" was in a promo for Olive Kitteridge by Martha Wainwright. Never found it released anywhere.
posted by MrGuilt at 8:49 PM on April 17, 2018


Anne Litt has been playing this on KCRW. It’s superb.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:13 AM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Juliana Hatfield is great and I like her music, but I'm not a fan of Olivia Newton John at all (I can still remember how inescapable the "Let's get physical" song was when it came out, for example), so as a project this is not speaking to me. That people who like the original music are liking this is great, though -- it sounds like she has done good by the original songs.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:09 AM on April 18, 2018


Her 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' is wonderful!
posted by DanCall at 7:50 AM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


This does two things to me: 1) makes me realize how much I've grown to understand the lyrics, and 2) makes me realize them clearly as adult songs.
posted by filtergik at 8:37 AM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


She put out a record with Paul Westerberg not so long ago as the "I Don't Cares." This is probably the best power pop song ever written about needing to urinate.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:44 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


No no no no, I'm sorry, not even close to ONJ. I feel very strongly about this.
posted by soakimbo at 10:20 PM on April 18, 2018


DirtyOldTown, that song shines out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.
posted by whuppy at 6:58 AM on April 19, 2018


Looks like choco beat me to it. Always dug ONJ. I give Ms. Hatfield a huge A for effort; some of them work pretty well. Some, not so much I think because her upper range is really not anywhere as strong as ONJ's top end.

Still, if you want your sorta indie-rock ONJ, here you go. : )
posted by bitterkitten at 7:43 AM on April 28, 2018


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