Kylie's 11 album, out July

[YRBB]

So that means more of the squiggly washy tou rou rou music? Yay!

[EricMontreal22]

Ew.com's music blog weighs in:

Dance. It’s all I wanna do. So won’t you dance?”

With pleasure, Kylie. Except it’s not entirely clear that “All the Lovers”, the just-leaked first single off the down-under pop diva’s upcoming album Aphrodite (out July 5), is actually a full-on dance track, musically speaking. Despite Minogue’s enticing lyrical invitations to get down, the song’s sound is less in line with the urgent robo-rhythms of her 2007 hit “Speakerphone” than with the earnest dreampop of 2004′s “I Believe in You,” right down to their copycat basslines. Translation for the non Minogue-ophiles out there: it’s a head-bopper, not a hip-shaker.

Of course, both of those older songs reached near-ubiquity in gyms, gay clubs, and clothing stores, and “All the Lovers” likely will, too. It’s got an addictive groove, those famously breathy vocals, and a climax of soaring, tangled synths that would’ve been the perfect main-menu soundtrack for an Atari game of Studio 54. The dance floor can wait; we’re too busy enjoying this to get up right now.

Check out the song below, and let us know what you think: Is Kylie’s latest a summer smash? Or are you not feeling the love?

http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/05/14/kylie-minogues-all-the-lovers/

[YRBB]

Times I've listened to this yesterday: 39.

[EricMontreal22]

Ha we could be twins.

[Soapsuds]

I came in here to see what all the fuss is about. Hmmm...I like the song! I'll be downloading it once it hits Itunes. I hope there is a faster club version released. I think the song would sound even better with a faster beat.

[EricMontreal22]

The feeling's mutual. Aren't we great In all seriousness, I know that opinions on music are so personal that it can cause problems online--I've seen far worse fights on the pop music forums I belong to, than on here, I guess because what someone likes or doesn't like with music is somehow even more... Instinctual? Hard to define anyway.

HA I like the drums! But I know you don't like those synth drums. I also like her lower, breathy delivery particularly in the verses, it's much closer to the register she largely sings in when I've seen her live (Kylie is no great vocalist, but I do think she puts her vocal stamp, love or hate it, on her material--and to be fair to her she's become a very accomplished live vocalist, after much work in the past 15 years or so on her part. She certainly sounds FAR better live than the likes of Madonna--I won't even mention Britney, and now surprisingly can pretty much recreate her album vocals, live).

To be fair many of his older tracks will sound relatively cheap--he was working with very basic synths (however, something you may appreciate and few realize, he LOATHED drum machines and never used them--of course part of the reason he could do this was he worked with master drummer Keith Forsey who later went on to produce Billy Idol, Simple Minds, etc--yep all that killer drumming which is spot on to the milisecond in I Feel Love, is live--the only "live" instrument in the soundscape of that song). I mentioned Cat People, because I think his soundtrack work could win you over--or not lol. Certainly it often was surprisingly experimental and very different from writing traditionally structured pop/disco numbers. Another interesting track is his moody, meandering (in a good way) disco instrumental "Evolution" which was the bside to a Battlestar Gallactica tie in disco album he did. I'm sure it's on youtube.

I was exagerating--I don't mind his vocals too much in that song. It's other times I want him to shut up (this is one big prob I have with Madonna's lackluster, but fun enough, Hard Candy album--both him and Pharrell Williams spend so much time singing along, throwing in "baby girl" comments, etc, I wanna rip my ears out. I know this is a standard HipHop/R&B thing but I hate it--almost as much as shout outs to the producer at the start of a song "Darkchild", "RedOne", etc--it's TACKY. Would Donna Summer's MacArthur Park be improved if she shouted out "Giorgio Moroder!" at the start of the first verse?) Sorry, rant.

I think I've gone on about my personal issues with Nelly before on here, but she went to the same junior high as my twin sis and I. She was a year older and largely outside of my orbit, but she wsa a mean, mean girl who was part of a group of "tough" girls. A guy she had been dating (drama!) got interested in my sister and Nelly orchestrated my sister to get beat up after school by this group of girls, because of it. She was *not* a nice person--now people change, junior high is hard for anyone, but I still hold that baggage with her. (and she's an outright liar--in one interview she said she was a raver as a teen so hasa history with dance culture. Yet she used to mock my sister and some of her friends--who were ravers--for being ravers lol). She also memorably sang Hero at an assembly, fucked up some notes and ran off in tears before it was over (how I wish I had had a video camera...)

YAY!

This is Kylie--you can be sure there will be dancier club versions released.

[Soapsuds]

I was listening to The Locomotion today

Shush Eric

[EricMontreal22]

Oh I still adore her cheezetastic first CD, so no worries (Turn it Into Love and I Should Be So Lucky are aces over that dire Locomotion cover though--which even I dislike, though I like the slinky burlesque version she does in live shows)

Speaking of those four, cheezetastic albums Kylie cranked out when she was part of the Stock/Aitken/Waterman hit factory (along with such "classics" as Rick Astley, Bananarama, Dead or Alive and Kylie's then boyfriend and fellow ex star of Aussie soap Jason Donovan), DigitalSpy has their third retrospective on her albums, reviewing her third CD Rhythm of Love which is something of a classic, and by far the best album she did with SAW (who stepped up to the plate with better material, when Kylie threatened to leave). Ironcaly SAW only did a bit more than half the album, the rest was with American outside producers Kylie went to, including Madonna's Steve Bray--I say ironic because those tracks are by far the worst on the album, because SAW stepped up their game so much. It was also the first time Kylie started dressing sexy, and not like your little sister. And Better the Devil You Know is, to most of us Kylie fans, Kylie's definitive track (even if Steps tried to ruin that with a cover).

After yesterday's Aphrodite bonanza, we appreciate that it might be difficult to get quite so excited about a 20-year-old Kylie LP, but Rhythm Of Love is well worth another listen, as your Kylie: Revisited investigators discovered this week.

Release date: November 12, 1990

Songwriting/production cast: Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Stephen Bray, Keith Cohen, Michael Jay, Mark Leggett, Willie Wilcox... and Kylie Minogue

Chart performance: Rhythm Of Love peaked at #9 on the UK albums countdown - somewhat disappointing following a pair of chart-toppers. However, it did earn itself a platinum disc after spawning four top ten singles: 'Better The Devil You Know', 'Step Back In Time', 'What Do I Have To Do?' and 'Shocked'.

The sound: It's still perky early Kylie pop, but there's a definite progression here: a slightly dancier sound, more sax, guitars and rapping, and – gasp! – tracks produced by people other than Stock Aitken Waterman.

Standout track: Each of the four singles is a corker, but 'What Do I Have To Do?' clinches it thanks to that whooooooooosh! of an intro.

Hidden gem: We're partial to Secrets, on which our hitherto innocent heroine plays the philanderer. "I was so afraid if I told you," Kylie confesses, "Your broken heart would force you to leave..." Aww... You just want to give her a big old hug, don't you?

Lyrical nugget: On 'Shocked', is she... would she... could she be singing "I was f**ked to my very foundations"?

Fascinating fact: The video for 'What Do I Have To Do?' features a cameo from a certain Danielle Jane Minogue.

Our verdict: It's got the odd dud - stand up, 'One Boy Girl' - and the pop rush fades towards the end, but this is definitely KM's best effort yet, thanks largely to the continued brilliance of those singles. If you can't find something to bop to here, you need to get yourself on the NHS waiting list for a new pair of Dancing Feet.

Star rating: **** (out of five)

Next week: Kylie continues to break away from bubblegum on 1991's Let's Get To It, her last album for PWL.

[Soapsuds]

I should be so lucky is a good song as well. I have other favorites but I am drawing a blank. I dont know what it is about The Locomotion but its my fav.....LOL.

[cct]

For me, it's the stutter at the beginning. And the "Do-the-loc, do-the-loc, do-the-loc-the-loc-o-motion-ocean" stutter in the middle.

Ain't nothing wrong with cheese. 'specially when you tip your head back and squeeze the nozzle for all it's worth.

[EricMontreal22]

Ha those are both cliched, overused hallmarks of the Stock Aitken Waterman production factory lol

[Chris B]

There is something so romantic and wistful about this song. I cant get enough of the vocal! I can't wait for the video and the performances and to hear this in the club. It'll also be interested to see how this performs. In the Europe and the UK it'll be huge, Aus too, but what about the US? They seem to want this album to make it here so I am VERY curious. All I know is that i'll 110% be there if she tours. US/CAN or not. Now that I work at a hotel at least I don't have to worry about paying for a room. Just need my ticket and I'm saving up my PTO exclusively for Kylie!

[YRBB]

I'm up to 90

Word.

[Sylph]

I presume it'll flop. The production is dated and the melody is not a big, whopping BANG! that just takes you in.

[Chris B]

Flop where? You know Kylie varies by the market! Press is excellent for this album. I think she'll get lots of support in her important territories. But funny they said she was going back to dance Kylie, but this *does* seem like a risky track.