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MUSIC: ultimate Kylie
This double disc album is, as its title suggests, the ultimate retrospective of the Australian pop pixie formerly known as Charlene from Neighbours. Containing all her single releases to date, from her early years to her current status as undisputed queen of the dance floor, ‘Ultimate Kylie’ covers the extract of her sixteen-year pop career and still manages to find room for the obligatory couple of new tracks.
There’s no getting round the fact that disc one is pretty much pure processed cheese. The Locomotion, Better, The Devil You Know are all here in their tinny, synthy, ever-so-80s glory. What’s most surprising is the speed with which they topped the musical scene. In just two years from first number one I Should Be So Lucky in 1988 through to the iffy cover of 1958’s Tears On My Pillow in 1990, Kylie had nine singles in the upper end of the top five, back when that actually meant something.
While disc one is likely to appeal only to diehard Kylie worshippers, the second CD is a different prospect. Her voice has not exactly matured, but it’s become a more polished instrument, and it’s easy to underestimate just how many hits she’s amassed over the years until you hear them grouped together. Disc 2 mostly contains her new numbers. The breezy On A Night Like This is a gem. Confide in Me is a sexy, sitar-peppered track. Spinning Around and the Cathy Dennis penned Can’t Get You Out Of My Head are hugely catchy tracks. It’s in your eyes is a real groovy offering while Where the Wild Roses Grow is a warped, breathy ballad with fellow Australian Nick Cave. Kylie also join voices with Robbie Williams in the smash hit “Kids”.
Recent releases Chocolate and Red Blooded Woman have a rather anonymous feel but the new track, I Believe in You, co-written with The Scissor Sisters’, provides the sultry disco strut you would expect from such a collaboration. Giving You Up, the second new song, isn’t quite up to the same standards but it won’t do her any harm chart-wise.
Ultimate Kylie is an awesome compilation of the hits by this gorgeous pop star. Bravo Kylie! Buy it and hear the signs!
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