Enjoy Thyself

Overall Album Score: 6.9 out of 10

The title of this album is Enjoy Yourself. That's quite an unprentious goal for a dance-pop album, and Stock Aiken and Waterman (SAW) always aim very low on the artistic spectrum. However, even though I would like to make fun of SAW very much for doing nothing but create songs for the mass population, one does have to admit that they can come up with a very good pop song when they feel up to it.

This is Kylie Minogue's second album and SAW doesn't fail to give her another hit. The hit this time was "Hand On Your Heart." Much unlike Kylie's previous big hit, "I Would Be So Lucky," this one doesn't have an infectious melody. But people still bought it because, after all, SAW has great PR people working for them.

Nonetheless, SAW still delivers a fine pop song in the album appropriately called "Never Too Late," which is the third song of the album. With slight disco undertones amidst a techno beat, the song is yet another happy-go-lucky, infectiously catchy pop song in which Kylie delivers another highly spirited vocal performance. Like that song very much, I do.

The title track, "Enjoy Yourself" isn't bad, but it's almost light years away from matching "Never Too Late" despite the fact that they are only one notch apart from each other. (Well, "Never Too Late" is a high A- and "Enjoy Yourself" is a low B+.) Naturally, since SAW was creating music for corporate profit, they fill the rest of the album with a lot of mediocre nonsense. Songs like the dance-pop "Wouldn't Change a Thing" and "Heaven and Earth" are nothing but half-hearted probes for radio hits. Likewise, the ballad "Especially For You" is especially awful!

All in all, this is about the same quality of Kylie's debut album. There's nothing quite as catchy as the song "I Should Be So Lucky," but one comes kind of close. That's nothing to feel sad about.

Overall Album Score: 6.9 out of 10 (There's one excellent pop song, and another's not too horrible. The rest range from pleasantly mediocre to blowing-snot-bubbles-at-thee mediocre.)

Average Song Score: 7.2 (A few good songs ... mostly slightly enjoyable blandness.)

Album Tilt: 7.0 (It's not a bad experience but not a great one.)

Artist Rating: 6.5 (Cry to SAW about this.)

Track Reviews

Hand On Your Heart 6.5/10

If Stock Aiken and Waterman were hoping for another hit like "I Should Be So Lucky," they were sorely mistaken. I almost want to wonder exactly what they were thinking with this. Although, I can imagine that this song is their first foray into techno, which was the music-of-choice in the early '90s. Keeping ahead of the times! Greet the incessant thump-thump-thump of the times! Well, the song is lacking the one primary thing that had "I Should Be So Lucky" in their favor: The infectious melody. So what good is it, then?

Wouldn't Change a Thing 7/10

Kind of a mediocre song, but in SAW's defense, this song is OK, but it doesn't work at all as an infectious pop song. The chord progressions are actually pretty good (especially for a pop song), but the melody just isn't sinfully catchy. The song production sounds almost like techno, which means these guys were catching up to the times. It's not a badly produced song although way too mainstream, and so the song is dated. But you were expecting that, right?

Never Too Late 9/10

Oh, I was wondering where they put the great pop songs! "Never Too Late" is sinfully infectious! Call it a guilty pleasure, if you want to feel guilty. But the melody is catchy and Kylie's vocals are carefree. That's why this song works so well. SAW's productive instrumental arrangements makes this a relative joy out of all pop music. OK, so Kylie doesn't suck.

Nothing to Lose 6/10

This is almost catchy in an ABBA way, but SAW doesn't quite bring in the hooks. But an almost-catchy song cannot reel in the fish! So, this song is a big flop that happens to be heavily produced with a techno beat.

Tell-Tale Signs 7.5/10

I would have advised SAW to forgo having Kylie sing a corny jazz song. But I ended up welcoming this song, because I was getting sick of all that techno! "Tell Tale Signs" is strictly OK but I think SAW well overdid it with the lush production. The harps were OK, but were the cheesy background "oooohs" that neccessary? I'll answer that. NO. ... But that was kind of a neat chord they had in the fade-out at the end. Hey, SAW's not totally worthless.

Especially for You 6/10

This is a corny love song! Ew! Now, where is my vomit bucket? The melody is merely decent, which isn't enough to make up for the fact that this song is cheesy and makes me want to vomit! The guitar strums in here are bossa-nova esque, but this is clearly a Madonna-esque pop song. The "ooohs" in the background were dopey. SAW shouldn't do that. Seriously.

My Secret Heart 7/10

This is an interesting attempt to combine classical music and corny late '80s pop music although it ultimately fails. The song starts OK with some choppily played synth violins. Then Kylie begins to sing giving a fine performance, but she's not singing anything catchy. There's no type of joy to be found in the instrumentation, so the catchy melody is all we have. Where is it? Oh well, I'll give this song a "7" just for being different.

I'm Over Dreaming (Over You 7.5/10

This sees the return of the techno beat! Oddly enough, I'm almost ready for that to return. The song sounds so much like "I Will Be So Lucky" that it was probably a rip off. It was certainly lesser, but it's catchy enough to be considered a pretty decent club dance song. It's nowhere near as good as "Never Too Late," but this is pretty fun. The chorus is repeated way too much by the end.

Tears on My Pillow 8/10

Oh no!!! I also would have advised strongly against "Tears on My Pillow," which is an obvious take-off of a '50s pop ballad fully equipped with the chord progression and even the "bum-bum-bums" vocals in the background. But this isn't bad at all. I have an extreme prejudice against songs like this, because I don't like sucky music. The fact that I am not only refraining from wanting to vomit, but I'm actually enjoying this is almost making me want to respect SAW.

Heaven and Earth 6/10

This isn't a bad pop ballad with a country flavor, but the hooks are weak. (What's Kylie doing singing country, anyway? I guess she was trying to penetrate the U.S. market.) That said, the song does have some hooks but nothing that makes the melody memorable in any fashion. It's not a bad listen, but it's just one ear and out the other. It's basically worthless but not painful.

Enjoy Yourself 8.5/10

The techno beat is brought to an extreme with "Enjoy Yourself," but if you're going to listen to techno pop you'd might as well be "Enjoying Yourself." It's difficult to not enjoy this song! Sure, it's club music made for idiots who like to dance at clubs, which is obviously something I never do, but I do admit to enjoying this song quite a bit. The melody is pretty good although not good enough to warrant this song anything above a B+. Still, this is a very nice pop song!

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