Being a die hard fan, I bought this album when it was first released. At first, I thought it was a bit slow, and it is a slow album, but Olivia's vocals are spectacular on this album. After a while, I found that this was a great piece for winding down. If I'm feeling a little melancholy, it's still my first choice to play. Like so many, IF LOVE IS REAL and DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA are probably my favorite songs on MAKING A GOOD THING BETTER. Both songs are hauntingly beautiful. Listen, listen again and enjoy.

I can never get enough of this album. Slush, smooth, emotive and powerful all at the same time. The title track, "Making A Good Thing Better" has a rousing tinge of carousel and "feel-good sunshine" to it. The other songs like "Sad Songs" and "You Won't See Me Cry" then throws you off balance with it's deep and painful dive into what heartbreaks and betrayal are all about, BUT this time with a powerful twist that leaves you actually gripping with sympathy for the "victims" in the songs. "Don't Ask A Friend" examines the sensitivity of putting friendship on the line. If you really want to feel truly alive and experience the "blues" done in contemporary style at its best, GET this CD!!! If you love ballads and don't like this album, I'll personally refund you. It's that GOOD.

I can never get enough of this album. Slush, smooth, emotive and powerful all at the same time. The title track, "Making A Good Thing Better" has a rousing tinge of carousel and "feel-good sunshine" to it. The other songs like "Sad Songs" and "You Won't See Me Cry" then throws you off balance with it's deep and painful dive into what heartbreaks and betrayal are all about, BUT this time with a powerful twist that leaves you actually gripping with sympathy for the "victims" in the songs. "Don't Ask A Friend" examines the sensitivity of putting friendship on the line. If you really want to feel truly alive and experience the "blues" done in contemporary style at its best, GET this CD! If you love ballads and don't like this album, I'll personally refund you. It's that GOOD.

When most Olivia Newton-John fans are asked about this album, their response in unanimous.

'Umm. The cover is really pretty'.

And indeed it is. In fact it's probably not out of order to say that 'Making A Good Thing Better', Olivia's 9th studio album, boasts the nicest cover art of her career. That flowing blonde hair and so-seventies-it-hurts fringe with the flick around her shoulders, the cute-but-flirty flower tucked behind her left ear, the piercing blue eyes, and of course those freakishly white teeth - it doesn't take a genius to work out why John Travolta said that in the seventies every man on the planet was in love with her. Critics as well as fans noted this, Robin Smith in his review of the LP for Record Mirror said 'the pictures on the cover are almost worth the price of the album alone!' Unfortunately, focusing on the cover art doesn't give this album the dues it deserves.

I, like most of Olivia's fans it would seem going from the reviews listed below, initally wasn't too impressed with the album. It is quite slow, and compared to the burning eclecticism of her next album ('Totally Hot'), certainly has more of a 'mellow' effect on the listener. That's not to discount its merit though, because on closer inspection the album is probably a lot closer to 'Totally Hot' than you'd first think. Comprised mostly of pop ballads and silky mid-tempos, 'Making A Good Thing Better' epitomises the gorgeous American feel of the late seventies. Although the effect of the growing disco phase hadn't fully registered with Olivia yet, at least half of this record is exactly what most seventies disco divas were putting out as their B-sides, or songs Studio 54 was playing for the 'slow dance' sections of their evening fiascos.

The album builds on and succeeds in reaching the sound that her last record, 'Don't Stop Believin'', was aiming for but never quite achieved: a dreamy, often ethereal sound which compliments Olivia's singing style perfectly. Her voice is divine with, for the most part, her own multi-tracked backing vocals - sublime! The title track as Robin Smith put it is 'an average song turned into a specialty, her voice sounding like twelve vestal virgins'. The final track in the Grand Mellow Trio (the other two being 'Have You Never Been Mellow' and 'Don't Stop Believin''), except slightly more aggressive with a pop / gospel feel going on. Definitely one of her most underrated singles, just piercing the US and Australian Top 100. One can't help but feel that the gorgeous 'Slow Dancing' was the intentional pre-cursor to 'Totally Hot's 'Dancin' 'Round And 'Round', whilst 'Coolin' Down' as one US rock review said uses the 'tearful quality in her voice' to best effect.

These three gems come spliced between two songs which create a rather jarring effect on the first 'side' (yes, I still love the old LP!) of this record. Her cover of 'Ring Of Fire' was not the best choice of song to record - in fact, next to 'I'll Bet You A Kangaroo', it's probably one of the worst songs of her early career - and 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' is spine-tinglingly beautiful but is distracting on the album to say the least. The second side is a much smoother ride than the first, opening with the single-that-should-have-been, 'Sad Songs'. A catchy uptempo melody, this remains one of her best tunes of the seventies. So well-received was the tune that it actually warranted a single release in Japan, whereas the poor performance of the record and the title track ended the album's chart career elsewhere. 'You Won't See Me Cry', 'So Easy To Begin', and the critically-acclaimed 'If Love Is Real' make for a fantastic selection of seventies-sounding ballads which should rate a lot higher with fans in Olivia's back category. 'I Think I'll Say Goodbye' recalls the more country-esque tunes of Olivia's earlier career, whilst 'Don't Ask A Friend' is a self-penned mid-tempo with a lot of electric guitar and some interesting lyrical ideas from Olivia ('I'm your lonely hearts club friend'). Of course the best was yet to come from Olivia in terms of songwriting, but it was great to hear her try her hand at it in this comparitively early stage of her career.

This album has got a lashing from both fans and the record-buying public at the time it seems, charting at the rather dismal #34 in the US and becoming her first US album not to go gold. One can only speculate, but there is no doubt in my mind that over-exposure played a defining role. In the space of two years she released three studio albums as well as a 'Greatest Hits' record. 'Excessive' is probably too kind a word!! Add to the fact that as wonderful as this record is, it's not the cutting-edge sound Olivia needed. Her career had been stable, for want of a better word, for the past three years, and she needed 'Grease' and its subsequent 'sex-up' to progress to a new, more exciting period of her career.

'Making A Good Thing Better' remains a joy from start to finish, minus a couple of temporary aberrations which make it slightly less cohesive than it should have been. In essence, it's not far away from 'Dancin 'Round And 'Round' or the 'Boats Against The Current' on her next record, and my only concern for the album is the fact that so many people don't seem willing to give it a chance.

If you would listen to the words of the songs,you just might understand Olivia.She has been through alot in her lifetime.So just sit back and listen to the messages in the songs.She is the greatest singer of all time!Making a good thing better is one of the best!ENJOY!