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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
'Soulkiss' and 'Physical' both represented quite a leap forward from the country and folksy past for Olivia.
'Soulkiss' is an album with a 'tough' Olivia in pieces like 'Toughen up', and a daring Olivia in 'Culture Shock'.
'Soulkiss' is an album with a 'tough' Olivia in pieces like 'Toughen up', and a daring Olivia in 'Culture Shock'.
There is not a track here in which this artist's raw emotion is hidden. I guess that is why I have been a fan from her earliest days. !
But it is not all hard-bitten feelings - there is the typical Olivia warmth of 'Emotional triangle' and ' You were great, how was I?'.
I find this album particularly interesting for its handling of pretty unusual themes. 'Queen of the publication', 'Culture shock', and 'Overnight observation', are all unusual and thought-provoking themes for even in 2002 - let alone in 1981 !
I admit to being such a fan that I am far from objective ! However, I reckon this really is one of those albums that has something to please all of Olivia's admirers.
I have this album on cassette and the singles on video tape, but this CD is crystal clear audio adding to the enjoyment, and well worth being added to a collection.
T Brock
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
...or an album for that matter as the saucy pics on the back are credited with it's bombing in that beacon of personal morality, the good ol U.S. of A... The saucy theme is carried over into some of the lyrics for example Culture Shock is about a ménage à trois and Overnight Observation a Doctor overstepping his ethical boundaries. So the critics hated it too. But of course critics only deal in the superficial so strip away all these fripperies and what have we got? Well, some stunning musicianship (remember that?) with Olivia giving a fiery spark vocally. The songs are all imaginative and different - which is of course a bad thing as people only want more of the same. The arrangements are complex (which of course confuses people) and the lush production is distinctive and unusual but a trifle synthetic (ditto) - yet provides a continuity strengthening the album as a whole. It's an album that grows on me all the time, but unlike the seeming majority I like to be surprised, not cossetted in the same old familiar sounds that prove to the world what good musical taste I am supposed to have.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Poor Olivia. After her huge 'Physical' album in 1981, she rather lost her way. Instead of following up the aforementioned album sharpish, the dear thing waited 4 years before unleashing 'Soul Kiss' to a (then) mostly uninterested world. She'd worked inbetween, of course, a US (where else?!) tour in 82, the criminally bad Travolta reteaming in 83's 'Two Of A Kind' movie, but it was pretty half-hearted, sporadic stuff and to make it worse, 'Soul Kiss' was released when Olivia was 6 months pregnant and unable to promote it!
No matter, in the US, always her biggest market, her fanbase had been severely hit by the likes of Madonna, Tina Turner and Cyndi Lauper, who'd all had ample time to establish themselves in Olivia's absense. Further hampered by the damp squib of a lead single, the snoozesome title track, the album soon fell off the charts.
What the album really lacks is good songs. None of Olivia's albums are perfect throughout, of course, but 'Soul Kiss' is a synthy, over-produced, shrill mess. If you've heard, say, 'Moth To A Flame', you've also pretty much heard the rest, 'Queen Of The Publication', 'Driving Music', 'Culture Shock' etc, are all cut from the same cloth.
Mostly written by O's long-standing (and off form) main songwriters, John Farrar and Steve Kipner, 'Soul Kiss' harks back to 1981's 'Physical' set which struggled to convince an unsuspecting world that Olivia was some kind of sex goddess. She wasn't of course.The 'Physical' single caught people off guard but the illusion only worked once. Always happier singing 'I Honestly Love You' than 'Make A Move On Me', Olivia's facade crumbled with the more highly-charged, obviously sexual approach of the 'Soul Kiss' album. Madonna, who'd released 2 albums during Olivia's break, had showed a more natural sexuality than Olivia could ever manage and the game was pretty much up.
With sleeve artwork by Herb Ritts and Helmut Newton failing to conjure up any spark, Olivia took another break, just 3 years this time, mind, before a screeching reversal with 1988's largely lame 'The Rumour' album. Known mainly for it being the one that cost Olivia her 15 year US record deal.
In 2010, most fans would kill for an album with even half as much effort put into it as this one, however. 'Soul Kiss' may have brought to an end her popular career, but the future was even more bleak... Although only 37 when this album came out, Olivia pretty much made 'old lady' albums from then on and never regained her fame.
I've given it 3 stars because it's her last true pop effort. Had it been released in 1983, I'm sure it would have fared better, though it would never be a world beater, but's it's worth 10 of the likes of 'Warm And Tender', 'Gaia' (affectionately known as 'Dire' to myself) and 2002's appalling duets album, '(2)'.
No matter, in the US, always her biggest market, her fanbase had been severely hit by the likes of Madonna, Tina Turner and Cyndi Lauper, who'd all had ample time to establish themselves in Olivia's absense. Further hampered by the damp squib of a lead single, the snoozesome title track, the album soon fell off the charts.
What the album really lacks is good songs. None of Olivia's albums are perfect throughout, of course, but 'Soul Kiss' is a synthy, over-produced, shrill mess. If you've heard, say, 'Moth To A Flame', you've also pretty much heard the rest, 'Queen Of The Publication', 'Driving Music', 'Culture Shock' etc, are all cut from the same cloth.
Mostly written by O's long-standing (and off form) main songwriters, John Farrar and Steve Kipner, 'Soul Kiss' harks back to 1981's 'Physical' set which struggled to convince an unsuspecting world that Olivia was some kind of sex goddess. She wasn't of course.The 'Physical' single caught people off guard but the illusion only worked once. Always happier singing 'I Honestly Love You' than 'Make A Move On Me', Olivia's facade crumbled with the more highly-charged, obviously sexual approach of the 'Soul Kiss' album. Madonna, who'd released 2 albums during Olivia's break, had showed a more natural sexuality than Olivia could ever manage and the game was pretty much up.
With sleeve artwork by Herb Ritts and Helmut Newton failing to conjure up any spark, Olivia took another break, just 3 years this time, mind, before a screeching reversal with 1988's largely lame 'The Rumour' album. Known mainly for it being the one that cost Olivia her 15 year US record deal.
In 2010, most fans would kill for an album with even half as much effort put into it as this one, however. 'Soul Kiss' may have brought to an end her popular career, but the future was even more bleak... Although only 37 when this album came out, Olivia pretty much made 'old lady' albums from then on and never regained her fame.
I've given it 3 stars because it's her last true pop effort. Had it been released in 1983, I'm sure it would have fared better, though it would never be a world beater, but's it's worth 10 of the likes of 'Warm And Tender', 'Gaia' (affectionately known as 'Dire' to myself) and 2002's appalling duets album, '(2)'.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Oh dear...
I remember I bought this album on its first release back in late 1985.To put it short: the only word that can describe "Soul Kiss" is DREADFUL. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2010 by Efthivoulos E. Nielsen
Knee trembler?
Soul Kiss is a bit of a disappointment. On board are many of the same ingriedients that made hit album Physical such a success. Read more
Published on 27 April 2008 by Michael Monaghan
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