Burning The Ground Exclusive 1986
NEW Meticulous 2023 Transfer!
NEW Audio Restoration!
“Toughen Up” was the second single taken from the thirteenth studio album “Soul Kiss” by Australian singer Olivia Newton-John on MCA Records. Written by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten (What’s Love Got To Do With It) “Toughen Up” had originally been offered to Tina Turner but was rejected.
“Toughen Up” failed to make a dent on the U.S. Billboard charts but was quite popular in dance clubs due in part to a 12″ dance remix by John “Jellybean” Benitez. “Toughen Up” did chart in Australia peaking at #69. The song includes a guitar solo by Grammy-winning guitarist Lee Ritenour.
The music video opens showing a topless Olivia wearing riding pants and holding a riding crop. In the video directed by David Mallet Olivia plays the part of a headmistress for a girl’s school where she teaches her female students to “Toughen Up” against the men that have done them wrong.
Neither track has appeared on CD or digitally.
SIDE A:
Toughen Up (Dance Remix) 8:04
SIDE B:
Toughen Up (Instrumental Remix) 5:16
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – MCA-23606
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Style: Reggae, Synth-pop
CREDITS:
- Design [Designed By] – Norman Moore
- Engineer [Remix] – Michael Hutchinson
- Management – Roger Davies Management Inc.
- Photography By – Sam Emerson
- Producer – John Farrar
- Remix – John “Jellybean” Benitez
- Written-By – G. Lyle*, T. Britten*
NOTES:
Management By Roger Davies Management Inc.
From The Olivia Newton-John LP “SOUL KISS”
Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS
VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!
Password: burningtheground
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Thank you Paul for this new transfer!! I love this underrated ONJ album. I think you’re right about her being pregnant at the time, which severely limited her promoting the album and/or touring. But it was a great continuation of her “Physical” image and sensuality/innuendos in her music.
You’re welcome, Retro Hound 🙂
Thanks a lot for this one – a new song to me! I know you love ONJ, as I do too.
You’re welcome, Grant 🙂
I know Olivia Newton-John is your absolute favorite, so it’s an extra special occasion whenever you post/re-post something by her! Oh, Paul, thank you for this twelve! I can’t wait to hear this new rip. You really get better and better each time you visit the vinyl grooves!!
Loved this past week of records!! Just, FABULOUS!!! Hope you have a great weekend, Paul!! You too Song And Dance, Retro Hound, Fred, Daniel and all of you tremendous people who follow Paul’s blog!! I feel like I’m in great company!!
Cheers!!!
Jeff
One of my favorite ONJ twelves Jellybean did a fab job especially love the Vox vocal on the instrumental remix. Also, be sure to check out the video.
(12) Olivia Newton-John – Toughen Up (4K Upscaled) – YouTube
Thank you Jeff, I’m honored to be in such fine company!
I live for these ONJ rips. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Richard 🙂
Paul, what a great start to the weekend. I’m going to replace your original transfer with this new one. I love this remix and still regret the ambivalent radio/sales response to what was such a good album. The one-two punch of “Soul Kiss” and “Toughen Up” should have resulted in back to back Top 10 hits. Not sure what the best third single choice should have been. “Emotional Tangle” did not quite rise to the level of Olivia’s hit ballads in my view. Your thoughts?
Thank you, Jon. I always loved “Culture Shock” and since there was already a video filmed for it I think it would have made a great third single. On the other hand, I really like “Moth To A Flame” as well. Have a great weekend 🙂
I agree Paul, especially with “Moth to a Flame.” I wonder if part of the trouble here was that this studio album probably represented John Farrar’s weakest songwriting output? And I still day dream about Olivia recording “I Paralyze” instead of Cher. I think she would have made it a hit!
I think another part of the LP’s failure to generate more hits is that ONJ was pregnant during this time and did not do a lot of promotion or tour with the album. They tried to hide her pregnancy in some of the videos. I agree Olivia would have been excellent on “I Paralyze”.
I remember when this video was released! Man do I feel old… of course I have your previous post of this so it will be interesting to compare!
Waiting anxiously for the next ONJ reissue from Primary Wave….!!!
You might be waiting a while the only release I know of is the second volume of her new duets package. I would love to know your thoughts on the new transfer. 🙂
This transfer is an improvement for sure over the other one! Hard to believe as your transfers are always amazing, but this one is a bit clearer with this one spot of sibilance completely gone! Awesome -thanks again! As for the performance of this track, the musicality of it is such that I think it was a couple years late for the trends happening. Not the remix, but just the song in general. Listening to it after all these years I just love it, but see how a couple years sooner would’ve probably been a bigger hit for her. Primary… Read more »