Physical Turns 40
The Multi-Platinum Hit Album by Olivia Newton-John Celebrates its 40th Anniversary
Olivia Newton-John 's Physical album turns 40! On this very date (October 13th) in 1981, MCA Records released the Physical album performed by Olivia Newton-John and produced by John Farrar. The album earned multiple awards and started an entire ERA wherein the Olivia Newton-John feather hairstyle became a major fashion rage, and the title song itself was banned in Utah. Olivia herself said she worried about her image and the message the song sent, but accepted that she had created a major hit that would become a classic even four decades later. Olivia even tried to stop the release of the song, but it was already too late and had charted in the top ten.
While the song "Physical" has a decidedly adult tone and intent, the gym and exercise theme was a perfect match. Olivia would use the original Physical gym theme in the major music video release to advocate not just for health, but for the acceptance of the natural spectrum of human sexuality. The final scene of the music video showed gay male couples holding hands as they exited the gym, leaving her to match with a heavy-set guy trying to lose weight. This was perhaps a testament to Olivia’s cconsistent message that she always wanted her fellow human beings to love and accept one another where they’re at.
White headbands, white gym shoes, white shorts and white shirts with physical in pink lettering became a fashion trend alongside the popular Olivia hairstyle. Beyond the Physical song, Olivia performed a few love songs on this multi-platinum (6x platinum) album such as "Landslide", "Stranger's Touch", "Make a Move on Me", "Love Make Me Strong, "Falling", and "Carried Away". "Recovery" can easily be interpreted as the story of someone attempting to self-soothe and heal after a particularly wounded, and broken relationship.
The exact track list in order was:
Landslide
Stranger’s Touch
Make a Move on Me
Falling
Love Make Me Strong
Physical
Silvery Rain
Carried Away
Recovery
The Promise (The Dolphin Song)
"Silvery Rain" is a song about the health & well-being of our environment, a topic very close to Olivia’s core humanity. Silvery Rain talks about the environment and the consequences from use of pesticide chemicals sprayed from aircraft onto farm crops.
“Fly away, Peter, fly away, Paul
Before there's nothing left to fly at all
Take to the sky, higher than high
Before the silvery rain begins to fall”
The Promise (The Dolphin Song) was written by Olivia Newton-John. This song reflects her love of animals and nature as she sings of how loving and intelligent these creatures are with no room for hatred.
“If I can only help to right a wrong with my dolphin song, then I’ll have done what I set out to do. If I can only make one man aware, one person care, then I’ll have done what I promised you”
Songwriters for this album were: John Farrar, Steve Kipner, Tom Snow, Terry Britten, Sue Shifrin, Terry Shaddick, Hank Marvin, Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten, Paul Bliss, Lee Ritenour
Technical Production staff:
David J. Holman – recording, mixing
William Bowden – engineer
Doug Sax and Mike Reese - Mastering
On September 24th, 2021, Olivia Newton-John’s website was updated to show that a 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the hit Physical album was being released.
The website stated “The CD/DVD collection will be released via Green Hill Productions, a subsidiary of Primary Wave, on October 22 and will be available for pre-order today, September 24. In addition, a limited-edition vinyl release of the original album set for release in Spring 2022 will also be available for pre-order today, September 24.”
The website went on to give more details:
”In addition, it will feature the iconic pop star’s two video collections – the Physical video album – which won the Grammy Award for Video of the Year – showcasing music videos for each of the album’s timeless tracks – a first for of its kind, as well as the full Olivia: Live in Concert Grammy-nominated television special which features exclusive heart-pumping footage of the star performing her hits.”
Olivia herself released the following statement:
“It’s hard to believe that it has been 40 years since Physical was first released and I am thrilled that it’s getting this beautiful 40th anniversary Deluxe Edition,” said Olivia Newton-John. “I am so proud of this record as it not only allowed me to try new things musically, but it became such a part of pop-culture history. It also gave me the chance to work (again) with fellow Aussies – my amazing friend, songwriter and producer John Farrar and Steve Kipner, who co-wrote ‘Physical’. I remember being so nervous that I had ‘gone too far’ with the title song’s ‘cheekiness’ that I told my manager at the time, Roger Davies, to pull it off the album. He laughed and said ‘luv, it’s too late it’s gone to radio and is climbing the charts!”
Newton-John fans will be disappointed to know that if they are Spotify users, they will not find the complete Physical album there as they usually would, but instead will only find the Physical song itself. This makes sense, given the massive 40th Anniversary special release stated here.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine has been quoted as saying, "'Physical' became such a monster hit – not just a hit, but a pop-culture phenomenon that was impossible to escape – that it became difficult to view its accompanying album as anything other than a conduit for the single".
One year after the Physical album release, there was a television special that included footage one won’t see in the VHS version of the “Olivia - In Concert” video. Youtube user bogika98 released a short snippet of the intro to the TV special and VHS video.
I hope you enjoyed this celebration and tribute to a truly great artist who also happens to be a woman with the biggest heart in the world, and the creative work that touched the lives of countless people across the globe, and cemented her place in 80s music history.