With the huge success of Have You Never Been Mellow, Olivia Newton-John joins Helen Reddy and Karen Carpenter as one of the decade's three white female MOR superstars. All three women specialize in packaged television music, most of it aesthetically worthless. Its commercial value, however, cannot be dismissed as accidental. Each artist embodies a distinguishable, if bland, female archetype with wide demographic appeal. Their albums are organized around simple, catchy tunes and produced with emphasis on the middle and upper ranges that carry best on portable radio. Production is streamlined to make the tunes move quickly ("Have You Never Been Mellow" plays at exactly two beats per second).

Newton-John's records combine standard MOR production with instrumentation borrowed from country music, and Newton-John, who is British born, affects a country-girl personality convincingly enough to sell to the country as well as the pop market. Her voice is very pretty, especially in the upper register ("And in the Morning"). She looks and sounds like a breathlessly innocent real-life doll. The smash title cut of her new album is its most ingenuous. Three other songs — "It's So Easy," "Please Mr. Please" and Rick Nelson's "Life-stream"—are possible follow-ups, with "Please" the likeliest contender. Newton-John's version of "I Honestly Love You" recently won a Grammy for record of the year. Though "Honestly" is an above average MOR single, it can't, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered a recording achievement. Which only goes to show that the Grammy, like the Oscar, rewards commercial success more often than creativity. (RS 185)

STEPHEN HOLDEN