Back with a Heart is the sixteenth studio album by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John. It was released by MCA Nashville on 12 May 1998 in the United States. Her first album in four years, it marked her return to country music after two decades. The album peaked in the Top Ten Country charts in both the U.S. and U.K. In America, it was her first album to crack the Billboard Top Country Albums charts since Totally Hot in 1978.

Production and release

Back with a Heart was recorded in Nashville and marked Newton-John's return to the US Country chart after an absence of almost twenty years. "When I decided I wanted to record again, the kind of music I was listening to was country, and I thought I wanted to go back to my roots. It seems like all the good melodies and the good songs are on country radio," Newton-John said in an interview with Billboard. "I started going to Nashville and meeting people, and I really liked [MCA Nashville president] Tony Brown," she says. "I met everybody, and everyone was wonderful, but also I'd been with MCA a long time, and they have my catalog. So it makes sense for me to be there."

Singles

Back with a Heart was preceded by the single "I Honestly Love You", a re-recording of Newton-John's 1974 number-one hit. MCA Nashville initially intended to release "Precious Love" as the album's lead single to country radio but eventually settled on the updated version of "I Honestly Love You". Selected by Newton-John, David Foster agreed to produce the remake, who in turn asked Babyface to contribute backing vocals to the song. "I Honestly Love You" was released in two versions; the album version for pop and adult contemporary radio, and a remix for country radio. "Precious Love" was eventually released as the album's second single, while title track "Back with a Heart" was issued as a vinyl 45 RPM single in the United States. Album cut "Love Is a Gift" won a 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song after appearing on the American television soap opera As the World Turns.

Critical reception

AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album three stars out of five and found that Newton-John "put a great deal of effort into the making of Back with a Heart – the record is her best in years. It's much slicker than even her polished country-pop from the '70s, but a team of producers [...] have created an appealingly smooth sound that gives her a platform to showcase her mature craftsmanship. None of the songs immediately stand out, but the album has a consistent quality that is thoroughly winning." In their review of "I Honestly Love You", Billboard noted that "rerecording a classic is risky business, especially when the artist doing the cover is the original hitmaker. However, in re-cutting 'I Honestly Love You' for her new album, Back With A Heart, Newton-John tackles the challenge head-on and wins. As charming as the original was, on this new version, 49 year old Newton-John sounds like a woman who has experienced life and fully conveys the depth of emotion in the lyric. Her vocal performance com-bines passion and vulnerability in a heady emotional cocktail."

Track listing

Personnel

Performers and musicians Technical

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history