Have You Never Been Mellow

Have You Never Been Mellow
Studio album by Olivia Newton-John
Released 12 February 1975
Recorded 1974
Genre
Length 39:29
Label MCA
Producer John Farrar
Olivia Newton-John chronology
If You Love Me, Let Me Know
(1974)		 Have You Never Been Mellow
(1975)		 Clearly Love
(1975)
Singles from Have You Never Been Mellow
  1. "Have You Never Been Mellow"
    Released: 21 January 1975
  2. "Please Mr. Please"
    Released: 1975

Have You Never Been Mellow is the sixth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Olivia Newton-John, released on 12 February 1975 by MCA Records.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert ChristgauD+[2]

Both the title single and the album rose to the top of their respective US charts (the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the Billboard 200 albums chart). The title song and its follow-up, "Please Mr. Please", were both top 10 on three Billboard charts: the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Country.

Outside the United States, the album was released with the single "If You Love Me, Let Me Know", as the single was only released in the United States on the album of the same name.

Unlike in the US, Have You Never Been Mellow was not much of a success in many countries, and in many notable cases (such as the United Kingdom), the title single failed to chart. However, the title song was Newton-John's first single to chart in Japan, where it reached number 26 on the Oricon singles chart, a respectable showing for a non-Japanese artist.

Newton-John received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her work on the song "Have You Never Been Mellow", but lost to "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian.

The album was certified Gold in the US.[3]

The title single also topped the chart in 1996 in the Netherlands as a happy hardcore cover version by a group named Party Animals, called "Have You Ever Been Mellow", using a sample of Newton-John's version.

Track listings

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Have You Never Been Mellow"  John Farrar 3:33
2. "Loving Arms"  Tom Jans 2:56
3. "Lifestream"  Ricky Nelson 2:38
4. "Goodbye Again"  John Denver 3:59
5. "Water Under the Bridge"  Petrina Lordan 3:05
6. "I Never Did Sing You a Love Song"  David Nichtern 2:47
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s)Publisher Length
7. "It's So Easy"  Hank Marvin, Farrar  3:10
8. "And in the Morning"  Graeme Hall  4:36
9. "Follow Me"  Denver  3:03
10. "The Air That I Breathe"  
  3:52
11. "Please Mr. Please"  
  3:22
12. "I Honestly Love You" (Japanese bonus track)
  3:22

Releases

The album was originally released on vinyl LP and audio cassette on 12 February 1975, on MCA Records (Cat. no. MCA-2133). MCA released it on CD in the mid-1980s. In 1990, it was released in Japan on EMI as part of their PASTMASTERS series (Cat. no. CP21-6075). This was a superior release in terms of sonic quality over the MCA release, and contained all the original album artwork (front and back cover photos). Included was an obi, and a simple, folded white paper insert with all the song lyrics in English on one side, and Japanese on the other. (The original LP release did not include lyrics). Note: Whereas the original US album contained 11 tracks, in Japan it included a 12th song, "I Honestly Love You", included on the CD. In 1998, Festival Records in Australia released the album on CD as part of their "Digitally Remastered" series (Cat. no. D35465 / D21046). This release featured the complete original artwork, and no lyrics insert. General sonic quality was good. However, as with several other Festival releases, there was an error, as the first drum downbeat of track 7, "It's So Easy", was cut off. Also note: The CD contains 12 tracks, in this case the 12th being "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)", which is how the original LP was released in Australia. That is because the song "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" was first released in the US only, in 1974, as the only newly-issued song on Olivia's 1974 US LP of the same name. In the wake of the single's big US success, many non-US territories opted to include the song on the next Newton-John album, which turned out to be Have You Never Been Mellow.

Charts

Album — Billboard (North America)

Chart (1975) Position
The Billboard 200 1 (1 week)

Singles — Billboard (North America)

Single Chart (1975) Position
"Have You Never Been Mellow" Billboard Hot 100 1 (1 week)
"Have You Never Been Mellow" Billboard Adult Contemporary 1 (1 week)
"Have You Never Been Mellow" Billboard Country Singles 3
"Please Mr. Please" Billboard Hot 100 3
"Please Mr. Please" Billboard Adult Contemporary 1 (3 weeks)
"Please Mr. Please" Country Singles 1

Singles — Canadian Singles Chart

Single Chart (1975) Position
"Have You Never Been Mellow" Canadian Singles Chart 1 (2 weeks)

UK Singles Chart

Japanese Oricon charts

Preceded by
Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan		 Billboard 200 number-one album
15–21 March 1975 		Succeeded by
Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (17 March 1975). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "American album certifications – Olivia Newton-John – Have You Never Been Mellow". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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