If You Love Me, Let Me Know

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If You Love Me, Let Me Know
If You Love Me, Let Me Know.png
Compilation album by
Released28 May 1974
Recorded1974
Studio Abbey Road Studios and CSS, London
Genre Country pop [1]
Length31:08
Label EMI / MCA (US)
Producer John Farrar, Bruce Welch
Olivia Newton-John North American chronology
Let Me Be There
(1973)
If You Love Me, Let Me Know
(1974)
Have You Never Been Mellow
(1975)
Singles from If You Love Me, Let Me Know
  1. "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)"
    Released: April 2, 1974
  2. "I Honestly Love You"
    Released: August 6, 1974

If You Love Me, Let Me Know is the third North American album by singer Olivia Newton-John, released on 28 May 1974. Other than the title track, 3 songs were from her previous two international albums, Olivia (1972), Music Makes My Day (1973) and 6 were released just 1 month later on her international album, Long Live Love (1974). It was her first album to top the Billboard 200.

Contents

Two hit singles were released from the album, the title song and "I Honestly Love You", the latter of which became Newton-John's first number-one US single, and her signature song as well. Furthermore, the song earned Olivia her 2nd and 3rd Grammy Awards on March 1, 1975 at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards.

Background

Six of the tracks on the album are from her European and Australian release, Long Live Love , two are tracks from Olivia and one from Music Makes My Day. The title song has the distinction of not have been released on any of Olivia's international studio albums, although it did show up on her first international hits collection, "First Impressions", and was slapped onto the end of her next studio album, "Have You Never Been Mellow", when that was released in Australia in early 1975.

Reception

It was the first of two Newton-John albums to top the Billboard 200 pop albums chart, [2] the second being Have You Never Been Mellow the following year. Two hit singles were culled from the LP in the US: the title song (No. 5) and "I Honestly Love You", which became Newton-John's first number-one single in the US after listener requests for the song prompted MCA to release it as a single, much to Newton-John's delight after she originally pleaded with the label to release it as such. [2] Both songs reached the top 10 of the US Pop, Adult Contemporary and Country charts, [2] affirming Newton-John's status as the top female country-crossover star of the day and continuing the chart hot streak begun with the Grammy-winning "Let Me Be There" the previous year.

The title track ranks as Newton-John's highest-charting single on the country charts, reaching No. 2, [2] although she would have more top 10 hits.

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

The album was nominated for the Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year in 1974 and was the first album by a non-American artist to be nominated. [4]

Reviews

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [5]

Billboard noted "though she has scored heavily in recent months as a singer of country flavored tune, Olivia Newton-John began her career as a pop and folk singer and this LP is her best showcase yet of her all around abilities. The country material is here, but so are folky tunes, soft rock cuts and straight ballads. While the artist does not have the most powerful voice in the world, she makes superb use of the range she does have and the production of John Farrar and Bruce Welch help." [6]

AllMusic editor Joe Viglione wrote in his retrospective review that "If You Love Me Let Me Know works on many levels, and is a strong chapter in Olivia's catalog....The album is beautifully produced by John Farrar with his friend Bruce Welch of Marvin, Welch & Farrar fame helping out with the production on two of the tracks, Gerry Rafferty's "Mary Skeffington" and Olivia Newton-John's sole composition, the acoustic "Changes." The singer is a very good songwriter, and why she didn't put more songs together, or cover some of the wonderful material her mentor was releasing elsewhere, is something to speculate. [7]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (John Rostill) (1974)
  2. "Mary Skeffington" (Gerry Rafferty) from Olivia (1972)
  3. "Country Girl" (Alan Hawkshaw, Peter Gosling) from Long Live Love (1974)
  4. "I Honestly Love You" (Peter Allen, Jeff Barry) from Long Live Love (1974)
  5. "Free the People" (Barbara Keith) from Long Live Love (1974)

Side two

  1. "The River's Too Wide" (Bob Morrison) from Long Live Love (1974)
  2. "Home Ain't Home Anymore" (John Farrar, Peter Robinson) from Long Live Love (1974)
  3. "God Only Knows" (Brian Wilson, Tony Asher) from Long Live Love (1974)
  4. "Changes" (Olivia Newton-John) from Olivia (1972)
  5. "You Ain't Got the Right" (Dennis Locorriere, Ray Sawyer, Ron Haffkine, Jay David) from Music Makes My Day (1973)

Charts

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [14] 2× Platinum200,000^
United States (RIAA) [15] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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Dame Olivia Newton-John was a British and Australian singer and actress. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included fifteen top-ten singles, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Eleven of her singles and fourteen of her albums have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Honestly Love You</span> 1974 single by Olivia Newton-John

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<i>Let Me Be There</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Olivia Newton-John

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">If You Love Me (Let Me Know)</span> 1974 single by Olivia Newton-John

"If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" is a song written by John Rostill that was a 1974 hit single for Olivia Newton-John. It was her second release to hit the top 10 in the United States, reaching number 5 on the pop chart and number 2 on the Easy Listening chart. It also reached number 2 on the Billboard country chart. As with her single "Let Me Be There", Mike Sammes sings a bass harmony. It was nominated for the 1974 Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Newton-John singles discography</span> Singles discography

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"Ode to Olivia" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Stella Parton. It appears on Parton's debut solo album, I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight, released in 1975. Written by Parton and Bob G. Dean, "Ode to Olivia" is a response to the criticism Australian singer Olivia Newton-John was receiving at the time by some artists of the American country music community for allegedly not being a "true" country singer. The song contains references to a number of Newton-John songs.

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