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Kylie Minogue – X
I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m going to get my Gay Licence endorsed for this, I can tell, but?¢‚Ǩ¬¶
I must confess I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve found it hard to get excited by Kylie albums for a few years now. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve long considered that the singles off Light Years were by far the weakest parts of the album, but I was generally dismayed to find that they provided the template for the successors Fever and Body Language which both largely failed to deliver much beyond cool beats and polished production.
The most I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve sat up and taken notice of late was with the simple but soaring melody of “I Believe In You” or the hypnotic and buzzing “Giving You Up” which made me think that Kylie might deliver the goods from now on, but sadly X really is a dispiritingly hit-and-miss collection of tracks which either promise much but fall at the last hurdle, or else spend their time in a seemingly hopeless search for a melody.
It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s an amazingly soulless album all told, and Kylie has never seemed more of an anonymous guest vocalist on other people?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s tracks. Even on “2 Hearts” where the original Kish Mauve version just has the vocal wiped and redone with no other changes whatsoever to give it a bit of Kylie sparkle. (I mean… yes it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a solid enough track, but let?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s face it: it was three years ago.)
Most of the other songs are upsettingly melody-light, attempts to compensate for their anaemia made with jitteringly beat-heavy productions or slices of by-numbers-electro. “Like a Drug” is one of the few occasions when these styles and the song actually work properly and make a satisfyingly uplifting little groover. By contrast, on “In My Arms” these production styles cripplingly overwhelm what could have been quite a nice song. A lot of the time it just seems to be achingly hip, with a few Fever-lite tracks thrown on as a token bit of fun.
It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s not all bad though, and despite showcasing some of the most appallingly spiky or lacklustre offenders X still also has some of Kylie’s best work in years such as the stunningly beautiful track as “No More Rain” which is a definite highlight. “Sensitized” too has more than a little character and feels oddly like an Impossible Princess throwback (which is no bad thing).
Of the others “The One”’s chorus feels vaguely phoned in to start with, but it soon builds up to be a wildly superior and satisfying moment on the album. Only slightly less successful is “Wow” which is a deliberate nod towards “Love at First Sight” from Fever but holds its head above water accordingly.
So, for me it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s basically all about: “Like a Drug”, “2 Hearts”, “No More Rain”, “Sensitized”, “The One” and ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú if you got it on iTunes – “Magnetic Electric” which is a baffling omission from the final tracklist considering what did make it.
If I were you I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d take these six tracks, hit the internet and bolster them up with some of the leaked tracks from early in the year which are far superior to the remainder of the official release.
Then if you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re still feeling a bit empty go and get Rachel Stevens’ Come and Get It to see how a stunning pop album with an anonymous vocalist should be done.
Posted on November 26, 2007 | Filed Under Pop Music
Comments
Response left by The Pirate King on December 9th, 2007
Hard to say right now – the 5HTP hasn’t kicked in yet so combined with the gloomy morning I have difficulty remembering what excitement is like.
I remember being vaguely excited about the new Girls Aloud album (and rightly so) and I will yield to no-one in promoting Dragonette’s album “Galore” which is, frankly, superb.
Kind of looking forward to Voyage of the Damned on Christmas Day, too, but that currently seems a long way off.
Response left by Rob on December 10th, 2007
Got something to say?
So what has got you excited lately?