Have You Never Been Mellow

Have You Never Been Mellow
Studio album by Olivia Newton-John
Released	February 12, 1975
Recorded	1974
Genre	Country adult contemporary
Length	39:29
Label	MCA
Producer	John Farrar
Olivia Newton-John chronology
If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) Have You Never Been Mellow (1975) Clearly Love (1975)
Singles from Bedtime Stories
"Have You Never Been Mellow" Released: January 21, 1975 "Please Mr. Please" Released: 1975

Have You Never Been Mellow is the sixth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Olivia Newton-John, released on February 12, 1975 by MCA Records.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	D+[2]

Both the title single and the album rose to the top of their respective U.S. charts (the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts and the Billboard 200 albums charts). The title song and its follow-up, "Please Mr. Please," were both top 10 on three Billboard charts: the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Country.

Outside the United States, the album was released with the single "If You Love Me, Let Me Know," as the single was only released in the United States on the album of the same name.

Unlike in the U.S., Have You Never Been Mellow was not much of a success in many countries, and in many notable cases (such as the United Kingdom), the title single failed to chart. However, the title song was Newton-John's first single to chart in Japan, where it reached #26 on the Oricon singles chart, a respectable showing for a non-Japanese artist.

Newton-John received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her work on the song "Have You Never Been Mellow," but lost to "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian.

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

Both the title single and the album also topped the chart in the Netherlands, as did the second single, "Please Mr. Please".

Track listings

Side One
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Publisher	Length
1.	"Have You Never Been Mellow"	John Farrar		3:33
2.	"Loving Arms"	Tom Jans		2:56
3.	"Lifestream"	Ricky Nelson		2:38
4.	"Goodbye Again"	John Denver		3:59
5.	"Water Under the Bridge"	Petrina Lordan		3:05
6.	"I Never Did Sing You A Love Song"	David Nichtern		2:47

Side Two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Publisher	Length
7.	"It's So Easy"	Hank Marvin, Farrar		3:10
8.	"And in the Morning"	Graeme Hall		4:36
9.	"Follow Me"	Denver		3:03
10.	"The Air That I Breathe"	Albert Hammond, Mike Hazelwood		3:52
11.	"Please Mr. Please"	Bruce Welch, John Rostill		3:22
12.	"I Honestly Love You*"	Peter Allen, Jeff Barry		3:22

• JAPAN EDITION* Track 12

Releases

The album was originally released on vinyl LP and audio cassette on 12 February 1975, on MCA Records (Cat.# MCA-2133). MCA released it on CD in the mid-1980s. In 1990, it was released in Japan on EMI as part of their PASTMASTERS series (Cat.# CP21-6075). This was a much superior release in terms of sonic quality over the MCA release, and contained all the original album artwork (front & back cover photos). Included was a (Japanese language) OBI, and a simple, folded white paper insert with all the song lyrics in English on one side, and Japanese on the other. (Not even the original LP release included lyrics). Note: Whereas the original U.S. album contained 11 tracks, in Japan it included a 12th song, "I Honestly Love You", included on this CD. In 1998, Festival Records Pty Ltd (Australia) released the album on CD as part of their "Digitally Remastered" series (Cat.# D35465 / D21046). This release featured the complete original artwork, and no lyrics insert. General sonic quality was good. However, as with many of these Festival releases, there was one offensive botch: The first drum downbeat of track 7, "It's So Easy", was cut off in error. Also note: This CD contained 12 tracks, in this case the 12th being "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)", which is how the original LP was released in Australia. That is because the song "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" was first released in the U.S. only, in 1974, as the only newly issued song on Olivia's 1974 U.S. LP of the same name. In the wake of the single's big U.S. success, many non-U.S. territories opted to include the song on the next Newton-John album, which turned out to be "Have You Never Been Mellow".

Charts

Album — Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1975	The Billboard 200	1 (1 week)

Singles — Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1975	"Have You Never Been Mellow"	Billboard Hot 100	1 (1 week)
1975	"Have You Never Been Mellow"	Billboard Adult Contemporary	1 (1 week)
1975	"Have You Never Been Mellow"	Billboard Country Singles	3
1975	"Please Mr. Please"	Billboard Hot 100	3
1975	"Please Mr. Please"	Billboard Adult Contemporary	1 (3 weeks)
1975	"Please Mr. Please"	Country Singles	1

Singles — Canadian Singles Charts

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1975	"Have You Never Been Mellow"	Canadian Singles Charts	1 (2 weeks)

UK Charts

• Have You Never Been Mellow LP: #37 (no charted singles)

Japanese Charts (Oricon)

• Have You Never Been Mellow LP: charted 20 April 1975; peaked at #4
• "Have You Never Been Mellow" single: charted 5 April 1975; peaked at #26

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Christgau, Robert (17 March 1975). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved 28 April 2013.
3. "American album certifications – Olivia Newton-John – Have You Never Been Mellow". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH