X-Special ed
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Free Music Notes for X-Special ed
Free Music Review: Is The Tenth Time The Charm?
Hit: 4 Stars
While Kylie is pretty much unknown in the US outside of die-hard pop music fans, around the world she's right up there with Madonna, popularity-wise. After bursting on the scene in 1988 with her self-titled debut album and first single "Locomotion" (You remember the song, "C'mon baby do the locomotion..." "Vanessa Huxtable" [actress Tempestt Bledsoe] and her friends danced to it in skimpy outfits on that episode of "The Cosby Show" and her mother "Claire Huxtable" [actress Phylicia Rashad] got really pissed, remember?) she's released eight more albums, done nine tours, and sold over 37 million records worldwide.
The next and last time that the US has heard from Kylie is 2001's fever, her eighth album and her highest selling ever at over 9 million copies worldwide. It peaked on the US chart at number three and spawned the oft played on MTV hits "Can't Get You Outta My Head", "Love At First Sight", and "Come Into My World" while the rest of the album burned up dancefloors worldwide.
Hot off the success of "Fever" Kylie released 2003's "Body Language", her ninth album. "...Language" could be described as mixture of Kylie's standard disco-europop sound with a strong contemporary R&B edge, a more American sound than that of her more European sounding previous recordings. The album's first single, the dark, europoppy "Slow" being the only song virtually unaffected by the shift in sound. "Slow" in my opinion was a poor choice for a first single, especially for release in the US. As I predicted, the song didn't perform very well here and as a result the subsequent singles weren't released here. In an effort to make Kylie sound even more American, preliminary versions of her third single from "...Language", "Chocolate" (my absolute favorite Kylie song ever) featured rapper Ludacris, Kylie (thankfully) scrapped his contribution from the final version that ended up on the album. Even with all the drama surrounding it, the album was a favorite among US critics, with Rolling Stone magazine and All Music Guide giving it shining reviews. The album is also a Kylie fan favorite, receiving many favorable reviews on websites such as Amazon.com. "...Language" is a favorite of mine as well, beyond it being my favorite Kylie Minogue album, it is one of my favorite pop albums by any artist ever. With me, this, her tenth album "X" (which as of right now has a US release date scheduled for February 12th, 2008 but has been prominently displayed in US music stores since the day of it's international release, November 27th, 2007) has a hard act to follow. Let's see how it fares.
"X" starts off with, the first single "2 Hearts", a catchy, glam-rock flavored number with a chorus whose first line:
"Two hearts are beating togethaaaaa
I'm in love, whoo, I'm in love whoo..."
you will have to have surgically removed from your brain. The europop is back with songs like "Like A Drug", the Calvin Harris produced "In My Arms", and the slower but still sizzling Bloodshy & Avant produced "Speakerphone", these hot dance tracks are sure to continue Kylie's record of dancefloor arson. "Sensitized", produced by Cathy Dennis is one of the most interesting Kylie songs I've ever heard. It starts off with Dixie Chick-esque honky tonk strings before the dance beat drops in, making it an irresistible pop song, definitely a contender for single release, especially for the US. "Heart Beat Rock", my favorite song on the album, also produced by Harris sounds like it was ripped right off the top of the US pop charts. This Fergie-esque, pop number is Kylie's best chance at impacting the US charts again as she did in 2001.
Other standouts on the album include, "The One", produced by the Freemasons, is a very 90's sounding europop song and even though it sounds like we've all been here before it's vintage Kylie. The boring, "No More Rain" is a song that Kylie says that she had to "...fight to get on the album." Personally, I wish she had lost the fight. "All I See" is another Kylie stab at R&B, it's okay, it's sweet, though teetering on dull at times and is nothing compared to any of the great R&B-ish tracks from "Body Language". "Nu-di-ty" is a naughty little chopped and screwed dance number in which Kylie coos for her lover to:
"Do your own thing, with your own thing.
Shake a hint, get it in full swing..."
and let's him know that:
"It's time to strip down, time to strip down.
Just pull that zipper for me and then work that thing out..."
I like it, nasty but not parental advisory sticker nasty. The album ends with the reflective ballad "Cosmic".
So is "X" better than "Body Language", no, but what is? Is it worth the purchase, even though right now it's an expensive import? Yes.
If you must download, download: "2 Hearts", "Like A Drug", "Sensitized", "Heart Beat Rock", "Nu-di-ty
Free Music Review: X-ed the right spots
Hit: 5 Stars
Kylie - X
Kylie Minogue's 10th long player, aptly titled X is a celebrated affair, her first record after recovery from breast cancer and reportedly her last album before retirement. There's a lot going on. Kylie delivers her best record since Fever. X is a pompous mixture of glam electronica and dance. The very Goldfrapp-meets-Blondie first single Two Hearts takes a slow but steady trip into your head with its "two hearts beating together...I'm in love...ooh" chorus. The One unabashedly pays tribute to 80's dance, Giorgio Moroder style. Sensitized and Stars sound like well-constructed continuation of Fever. All I See is probably the most telling tribute to Janet in the early 90's with its "get together-have fun-while-the-DJ-is-spinning-that-song" lyrics. That's also Speakerphone which I foresee would be used by one of the major phone manufacturers as their next funky ad tune.
Bonus tracks like Rippin' up the Dancefloor and White Diamond (Film Version) could have fitted on the main disc. Two excellent Mylo-produced tracks In The Mood for Love and Spell of Desire are mysteriously left out.
Well there's too much of X to write about, but the record moves fluidly from one track to another, creating a segue of great dance pop. The lyrics might just be inanely fun at times but then again, besides her shifting styles, that's one of Kylie's biggest assets.
[Special Edition includes snippets of White Diamond documentary with commentary and peek at several unreleased tracks.]
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