Spotlight 45: Stella Parton: "Ode to Olivia" b/w "I Want to Hold You in My Dreams"
Country Soul: CS-333
Produced by Bob Dean
The "Olivia" in question here is Olivia Newton John. This is Stella's attempt to make the Australian singer feel welcome in the country music world of Nashville. Shortly, of course, before Olivia went to "Grease" and "Xanadu," and left the country circuit behind. Hopefully it wasn't because of this song. There's a reason why not many people heard of this song. Stella sounds a little like her sister, Dolly, but didnt seem to have the edge (Porter?). The back side will put you to sleep. Not because its a lullaby, but it will just put you to sleep, though I don't think it was intended to do so.
This is actually a country version of the Lennon-Mccartney song. But it is pretty good. It came off of a Pickwick compilation of Beatles songs called "Seargeant Pepper," so it is hard to say what kind of actual interest it got except for diehard Beatles fans who couldnt afford the real stuff. This record is worth the listen, though. Without the "psychodelia" of the Beatles version, this is actually a very pretty song.
Spotlight 45: The Traveling Wilburys: "End of the Line" b/w "Congratulations"
Wilbury records. 7-27637
Produced by Otis and Nelson Wilbury
"End of the Line" is a song from The Traveling Wilburys first album, Volume 1, released in 1989. It's riding-on-the-rails rhythm suggests its theme and the implied on-the-move nature of the group. It features all of the Wilburys as lead singers, alternating on verses.
It was released as the second single from the album. The sleeve cover of the original 45 rpm single, photographed four days after the death of Roy Orbison in December 1988, featured a guitar in a rocking chair. The same image appeared in the video for the single, with the camera focusing on the guitar during Orbison's solo vocal parts.
The song was used to great effect over the end credits of the final episode ("Things Aren't Simple Anymore") of One Foot in the Grave, the popular British sitcom that ran from 1990 to 2000 and starred Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie.
