Kylie Minogue - Let's Get to It
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Kylie MinogueEdition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1998-06-30
Music Label: Mushroom Records
Soundtracks:
- Word Is Out
- Give Me Just a Little More Time
- Too Much of a Good Thing
- Finer Feelings
- If You Were With Me Now
- Let's Get to It
- Right Here, Right Now
- Live and Learn
- No World Without You
- I Guess I Like It Like That
Free Music Notes for Let's Get to It
Free Music Review: Though a slow starter, this could end up my desert island CD
Hit: 5 Stars
My suggestion would be to listen to this entire CD a minimum of 8-10 times before attempting to form a firm opinion about it, as there is a lot going on here; there's plenty of depth and dimension that did not reveal itself immediately to the at-first casual listener, (namely myself).
And it took me a while to get used to what began to seem like the underlying idea that Kylie was more (as if) the featured artist in a greater/group endeavor, rather than THE solo performer that the producers were building tracks for/around. I'd already thought the "old' Kylie was phenomenal, and so was having trouble fathoming what the shift meant exactly, and it was making me angry (how dare they!) - I was being sort of shaken to the core, if you can see what I mean. But after a couple of weeks hearing this over and over, this seemed to me in some ways even better than what came before.
It's as if Stock-Aitken-Waterman 'decided' to make another great album, but this time freed themselves from the paradigm of building it solely around Kylie - it ended up with a much more collective or even tribal flavor, like this was some phenomenal variety show/musical, wherein she seemed more like the main lead singer/actress, part of the extended cast, rather than being a mere soloist. Herein, the back-up singers are more prominent on several tracks than on previous Kylie CD's; and Kylie BLENDS into that sort of thing more than before. There are times that her voice is layered with the earthier tones of the main back-up singer (like was done with Michelle and Cass of the Mamas and the Papas way back in the day, or like how a shimmering string section and an acoustic piano sound are layered together in a multi-timbral synthesizer/sampler). And there really are times you can't even tell if it's Kylie that's singing, layered or not. Once I got over being disturbed about this, it made my listening experience very interesting, and the overall sonic experience very fertile.
As for the songs, there is a lot of variety - every track shines very well on its own - and the sequence of the tracks is phenomenal. (Once one gets accustomed to it, the thing stacks up very well next to what used to be called the concept album, especially given the fact that there are absolutely no filler tracks. I also like the idea of comparing it to a segment of the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre and Dance's annual Collage Concert in Hill Auditorium - all high quality, stunningly inspirational, emotionally engaging material, in a resonant acoustic space that shimmers like the Buddhist Nirvana.)
Here are a few thoughts/notes regarding THE SONGS:
1. "Word is Out": The influence of Stevie Wonder (writing and singing) is all over the verse section of this track. And the multiple recurring choruses will hook listeners until the end of time. There's great emotional color, and intense fervor all the way through. After I conquered the learning curve on this one - it became anthem-like! You can check out the video of this track on Kylie's 'Greatest Hits 87-97' DVD.
5++++ stars
2. "Give Me Just a Little More Time": this might actually be better than the original, at least on certain days. The video is to die for (on the either the 'Greatest Hits 87-97', or `Ultimate Kylie' DVD's): they're in a club scene, sunlight streaming in the large windows - though it seemed to me like it had to be New Orleans, the club is actually somewhere in London. Everybody's dancing - it's dreamy, really.
5+++ stars
3. "Too Much of a Good Thing": pays profuse homage, perhaps subconsciously, to the somewhat spare sound of [Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler, here of course without Caron Wheeler]. Stock-Aitken-Waterman keep things more florid (as only they are capable of), but the punchy accents, the vocal phrasing, and rhythm all seem to owe lots to Jazzy B and his team. All in all, it's so unbelievably soulful, that I hardly notice that it's somewhat repetitious towards the end.
5++++ stars.
4. "Finer Feelings": more Soul II Soul vamping, though it's subtler. Stock-Aitken-Waterman makes magic all over the place with this one - every detail of sound presents itself as if full of wonderment. It grows on you, then continues to grow on you, and then keeps growing on you some more. But upon reflection, that seems to be the nature of the entire album. You can check out the video of this track on Kylie's 'Greatest Hits 87-97' DVD.
5++++ stars
5. "If You Were With Me Now": Is a terrific duet with Keith Washington: the singers' voices both soar - they are astounding here - things couldn't be any better! You can check out the cool video on Kylie's 'Greatest Hits 87-97' DVD - it's also very moving.
5++++ stars
6. "Let's Get To It": is an original-sounding, easy going dance track, with a great warm organ groove and punchy percussion accents. Kylie's lead vocal is a featured plus during the sparer mix of the melody of the verse section, which is obliquely-related to that of the chorus, dovetailing to perfection with that chorus's hook. I hope I don't seem too partisan with my effusive efflorescence when I say that this is one of those supremely fine good-vibe songs.
5++++ stars
7. "Right Here, Right Now": is immediately recognizable for the congas and (later on) the re-triggered vocal samples in its intro. The song displays a telling major-minor mode interplay throughout its melodic/harmonic texture, and emphasizes intense chorus work - that wonderful, magical old gospel influence is going to jump you and knock your boots off - folks, this one is way gone!
5++++ stars
8. "Live and Learn": This has more very intense chorus work. Sixteenth-note groups in the verse melody and in the rhythm track (there and elsewhere) - and subsequent 16th-note based syncopations yield a relaxed, flowing funk rhythm that only somewhat belies the song's intensity. Iconographically speaking (if I may borrow from a visual arts term) the lyric and overall tone heads into similar territory as "Things Can Only Get Better" from the `Rhythm of Love' CD; and it's placed in a similar position in the sequence of tracks.
5++++ stars
9. "No World Without You": Is Kylie's intense and skillfully-sung solo ballad. The accompaniment is spare: clean guitar probably mixed with a warm clav, and what sounds like a stick bass on occasion - all triggered from a keyboard sampler (per the liner notes no `actual' instruments are used on this CD other than brass on a few numbers).
5++++ stars.
10. "I Guess I Like It Like That": is a very long tribal-club-dance tune that totally funks it up. And does Kylie ever go wild when she leans and soars into those long, improvised melismas near the beginning of the track - you just gotta hear this!
5++++ stars
We already know how almost unfailingly great Stock-Aitken-Waterman were as songwriters, arrangers, and style jockeys, and that their recording/mixing/mastering engineering team has vaulted into contention for being judged as one of the best ever on the planet!
In answer to the criticisms that SAW copied various styles of American R&B [without actually stealing melodies, of course] - Waterman answered (in an interview/article viewable on the unofficial SAW website) that they in fact did it much better than the Americans, whose music he said sounds watered down by comparison. Though this may seem arrogant and presumptuous on his part, I had already come to this conclusion before having read his statement/interview. SAW not only wrote great music - they managed to get their singers/artists to perform better than usual, and, seemingly, better than everyone else around at the time.
N.B. I haven't heard it stated anywhere that Kylie was angry at her producers, and that's why she changed labels. It may just have been she was ready for something different, to see what she could do outside the influence of the marveled machinations and ethos of SAW's 'Hit Factory'. One of the other reviewers stated that SAW spent 3 times as long in the studio for this record than their usual, which contradicts a couple of others' seemingly baseless assertions that it was a rush job. If those folks had taken more time to listen, it might have dawned on them how much painstaking and ultimately rewarding work went into the songs and the production of `Let's Get to It'. All this attention to detail, reminiscent of what was done with, for instance, the Mamas and the Papas' Dunhill sessions, and for Roy Orbison's greatest sides with Monument, certainly seems to have paid off for this, Kylie's swan song with the label.
Let's Get to It Poster
Fourth album for the Aussie dance/pop diva, originally released in 1991. 10 tracks including the singles, 'Word Is Out' and 'If You Were With Me Now' (Duet with Keith Washington). Standard Jewelcase.Dance & DJ Music CDs
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