Kylie's 11 album, out July

[EricMontreal22]

I love it (big surprise) though it is awfully short for a modern dance album, at 43 mins (oddly so is the Scissor Sisters one just out produced also by Stuart Price, as well as some past albums like Goldfrapp--is this a trend?). Rumour is the released version is, as Price said, more "segued" between tracks, this was a reviewer's copy. But I think it's one of her strongest albums, period. Being so short and consisten as soon as it's over, you wanna play it again. It is very much an album for fans, however (I read one negative review which basically got mad that it was mainlya collection of breathy/high female vocal, synth heavy dance pop. Umm, what did they expect?), but has some better lyrics than I usually expect from Kylie's pop dance--or more interesting anyway.

Everything is Beautiful is the one co written by Keane, that has people mixed--I like it, but it's not an early fave. OTOH everyone seems to love Aphrodite--and I agree. Closer with its gorgeous Moroder style synths plus harpsichord is another fave of mine. I had heard Better than Today when she premiered it on the Canada/US tour last Fall and liked it, but they've made it more synthy (to fit the album) and I prefer it this way.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think the first 4 tracks are very good, but the album looses steam somewhere in the middle. It picks up a little bit with the title song Aphrodite, but llusion followed by Better Than Today are pretty meh, IMO. I found the remaining tracks on the album pretty bland, but the album ends nicely with Can't Beat The Feeling.

While I think it's a more cohesive effort than X, I still prefer X strangely. The good tracks on that album are far more stellar than the good tracks on Aphrodite, IMO. Though, maybe I need more time to grow into the album as a whole.

[EricMontreal22]

At this stage I might be in agreement that X has higher highs (and lower lows) but Aphrodite is more consistant. And Illusion is so far the low point for me, but I think it picks up with the great Too Much and doesn't really let go (Cupid Boy;'s production is stunning).

[Sylph]

[YRBB]

I'm gonna try not to listen to it until I buy it Although I am going to listen to Aphrodite.

[EricMontreal22]

Yep, I said it

It's amazing the reaction this is getting on popjustice and other forums--nearly everyone seems to have vastly differing fave and least fave tracks. Many think it's backloaded--the second half is better, etc.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I kind of wish Get Out of My Way was the first single off the album and not the second. I think it does a better job of setting the mood for the album than All The Lovers.

[EricMontreal22]

BBC's music critic has a ridiculously positive review--don't get me wrong, I love the album, but it reads more like a a fan review, especially odd as Ian is a pretty harsh critic...

BBC Review

Pure Kylie magic, Aphrodite is an astonishing return to form.

Ian Wade 2010-06-25

Kylie Minogue. You may have heard of her. You probably have a favourite era or phase: perhaps when she was Indie Kylie and hanging with Nick Cave and the Manics; or Dance Kylie, when she minxed up in the mid-90s. Maybe you like the tinny early SAW efforts that launched her from a soap being onto a trajectory of superstardom, and breathed a sigh of relief when she rediscovered her pop mojo in the early 00s. Whatever the time or place, there’s no denying that in the 23 years since I Should Be So Lucky, Kylie has briefly tickled, illuminated or completely absorbed an area of your life.

For her followers Aphrodite is the Kylie of Fever and Light Years: frothy, intensely hummable dance pop. The sort of thing she does with such effortlessness and grace. Lead single All the Lovers emits everything that X – her ‘comeback’ album from 2007 which spectacularly bungled its single releases, and in turn wasn’t really what her fans were expecting – didn’t. With most of the production handed to Stuart Price, who has provided magic in the past for Madonna and helmed the new Scissor Sisters album (among numerous other impressive credits), this is a return to form so astonishing that one’s life can only be enhanced with repeated plays.

There are treats galore to be heard here: next single Get Outta My Way should destroy every dancefloor between here and the furthest reaches of the universe; the Jake Shears/Calvin Harris-penned Too Much is a rave monster; and the tech-country strut of Better Than Today throws up imagery of line-dancing cyborgs. The title-track is a military-drummed happy-clappy back, Back, BACK moment, which will be the moment of her live set when she actually explodes. Contrasting that track, the Tim Rice-Oxley-written number Everything Is Beautiful is about the mellowest thing here, but welcome after the tremendous onslaught of the opening quartet. Concluding with the cowbell-assisted frisky Daft-ness of Can’t Beat the Feeling, this stunning album is an all-killer, flags-aloft amazing triumph

Aphrodite is pure Kylie magic. Everything that made you fall in love with her all over again before is present and correct here. Not liking this would be like not being keen on breathing. All hail!

[EricMontreal22]

I admit I don't quite feel the Get Out of My Way love. It's fun (even if the lyrics are... odd--so she's flirting with a guy to prove to her lover that she could leave him if he doesn't keep up? or?) and will be great live, but it's a bit Kylie-by-numbers for me. Of course, in many ways I suspect that woulda made it do really well on the charts (as a second single, I bet it still will). I like All The Lovers as a set up for the full album--I wish the original plans of keeping the album a full mix woulda happened, Sonically the flow from track to track makes a lot of sense.

[Sylph]

Stunning production?!

On what planet?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think All The Lovers would have been good as the third single or something. Listening to this album, I don't think it really does it justice to be the lead single.

Looking For an Angel has grown on me...

[EricMontreal22]

Planet Eric--I don't think you'd like it there Sylph. I dunno the Sweidsh DJ who co did the track, but I love all the layers, each time I play it in headphones I hear diff synth squiggles.

Angel has grown on me too--it's a good album track and sorta nice tohave a slower track right near the end.

[EricMontreal22]

While I don't really agree, this would make it typical of Team Kylie as a lead single, considering Slow really didn't represent Body Language well at all, nor did 2 Hearts with X...

[Huntress]

"All the Lovers" entered the German Top 100 at #10 – even better than I expected

Katy Perry however entered at #4 with Shakira climbing to #1.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

All the Lovers slips to #6 on the UK singles chart.