Kylie Minogue’s ‘Kiss Me Once’ album, her first on Jay Z’s Roc Nation label, has entered the Australian charts in the number one position. Making Kylie the first Australian artist to earn a number one in 2014.
Meanwhile in the UK, the top spot has been taken out by George Michael with his live ‘Symphonica’ album. The live collection of Michael’s tunes, and many covers, is his first album in a decade.
Kylie slipped in to the number two position in the UK charts. George Michael hasn’t done as well in Australia with his album debuting at number 11 on the ARIA charts. New releases from Foster the People, Skillrex and Kate Miller-Heidke that were also released last week entered higher on the charts.
A Closer Look at ‘Kiss Me Once’
Kylie’s album is not a huge change in style. Many thought when she moved to a US label Kylie would come out with an album that would sound more like Beyonce. The album is actually very reminiscent of her 2001 ‘Fever’ album and has very similar crisp production.
Kylie opens with lead single ‘Into the Blue’ and while this tune didn’t get me excited when it was first released it is certainly growing on me. The dance remixes which can be downloaded off iTunes are great.
‘Million Miles’ is a catchy dance song, things get interesting with ‘I Was Going to Cancel’ which was written and produced with Pharrell Williams, the production taps into Daft Disco and has an odd but effective Opera singer in the background.
‘Sexy Love’ is a super pop party tune with Kylie singing about what she likes to do on the 4th of July, this song is ready made for pool parties and summer fun. Staying on the ‘sexy’ theme is the Sia penned second single ‘Sexercise’. It’s sexy sultry and quite adult. It;s also very short – less than 3 minutes, a real pop song. Someone has to mash this up with Kylie’s recording of ‘Physical’ – they’re made to me smashed together.
‘Feels So Good’ is a sweet tune, but nothing amazing. I really didn’t like ‘If Only’ the first half a dozen times I listened to the album, but now it’s one of my favourites, if it get performed live it’ll be quite dramatic.
‘Les Sex’ is another dance floor ready tune, filled with crisp vocals and a catchy chorus. ‘Kiss Me Once’ is a bit of an anthem with a massive chorus. ‘Beautiful’ with Enrico Iglesias is a wonderful ballad – not sure why they decided to swap it in vodocoders – but it still sounds great.
The final track ‘Fine’ is also drowsed in vodocoders but has some cool cut up vocals that make it sound like a track from Disclosure or an underground UK electro DJ. A very cool song.
The special edition CD comes with two more tracks. ‘Mr President’ is one of the albums highlights, the song sounds like it was stolen from Azealia Banks. This should not have been an optional extra – it’s a great song. The second bonus song ‘Sleeping With the Enemy’ is fairly forgettable.
A Closer Look at Symphonica
George Michael is a frustrating artist. Since he first entered the music scene in 1981 he’s released only seven full albums. Yet he has recorded a mountain of material spread over half albums, ‘best of’ compilations, one off singles and he has never been afraid of putting out a live recording. He’s appeared on records with Mary J Blige, Whitney Houston, Jody Whatley, Aretha Franklin, Elton John and many other well known artists. Plus he’s often turning up singing backing vocals on his mates records. George Michael is also a very accomplished songwriter, yet his discography is filled with covers of other people’s songs.
Symphonica is his first live recording and he’s backed by a full orchestra. Well it’s billed as his first live recording so we’ll just turn a blind eye to that live EP he put out with Queen, the huge live duet he had with Elton John and live b-side tracks scattered across his career.
The album features just six of his own compositions; ‘Through’ from his most recent album 2004’s ‘Patience’, the subtle and beautiful ‘A Different Corner’, which was a stand alone solo single in 1986, and ‘John and Elvis Are Dead’, also from ‘Patience’ are performed flawlessly.
“Praying for Time’ from 1991’s ‘Listen Without Prejudice’ has been given some new lyrics, and while they update the song for today’s world, it sounds odd to have different words.
‘One More Try’ from the mega-selling ‘Faith’ album is given a fantastic gospel treatment and the simple songwriting beauty of ‘Cowboys and Angels’ does not differ greatly from the original.
The rest of the album is filled with other people’s tunes, Michael belts out ‘Feelin’ Good’ as good as Michael Buble, but did he need to? Seven tracks from 1999’s ‘Songs of the Last Century’ are included and while that is a great album – a live version of it – is not a great stretch.
Where the album does get interesting is a cover of Terrence Trent D’arby’s ‘Let Her Down Easy’. In this, Michael has found a great under appreciated tune and brought it to light. A cover of Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Going to a Town’ is dramatic, but you can’t help wonder if this was the best tune from Wainwright’s significant output to highlight.
Also included is a lesser known Elton John song ‘Idol’. There’s no doubt Michael loves Elton John’s work having recorded duets with him twice, and he’s previously covered several Elton John tunes.
Overall the album is flawless, but maybe not overly adventurous. It would have been great to see a Symphonic version of one Michael’s many dance music hits or even a new song.
Head to the Giveaways Page for your chance to win a copy of George Michael’s album.
