Stylie Minnow

Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10

Now that the SAW team isn't holding her hand, she has some room to express her artistic independence. That doesn't explain why she only co-writes one of the tracks ("Automatic Love") but she has the ability to choose what goes on the album and I assume a say about the production. Along with it, SAW staples such as "Better the Devil You Know" and "The Word is Out" are unfortunately no more. The good side of the deal is SAW's wasteful throwaway songs are out the door, too. We got a small taste of that already in Let's Get To it when Kylie was allowed to co-write most of the songs, but this is where her "artistic freedom" was really given the test.

Unfortunately, I don't have real great news about the quality of songwriting. The songs, from outside composers, mostly are completely devoid of hooks. The big exception is the hit track, "Confide in Me," which is by far the album's strongest point. (Oh, if she only had been able to keep that up.......) This shows why she wanted to move away from SAW. It's atmospheric complete with thoughtful and "artistic" instrumentation and even a good melody to boot.

Even though no other song comes close to matching it, they usually have nice enough instrumentation to keep it interesting. "Where Has the Love Gone?" is a good example of that; it has a nice 'trance' beat and the instrumentation contains a few goodies to keep it from growing dull. Unfortunately, there's also the occasion where the instrumentation is desperately dull, and the song suffers greatly as a result. "Surrender" is so bland that it reminds me of Madonna, and "Falling" (despite that the Pet Shop Boys wrote it) is like a barren trance wasteland.

I do greatly appreciate Minogues' willingness to break out of SAW's grasp, and I applaud her attempt to put some art in her music, but the quality of the album just wasn't up to that challenge. At the same time, this is still a notch above most of her SAW albums.

It's also worth mentioning that Minogue's vocals have a more difficult time being meaningful here. Minogue thrives when she's singing party-time or feel-good material, but most of these tracks aren't meant to enact such passions. She was always good for singing loudly over the SAW music, but it's showing weakness here with this new 'artsy' style. Oh well!

Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10 (The mythical great album seems to elude dear Kylie. Her artistic expansion was a nice idea, but it helps if you have the material to support it. This could have been much worse, though.)

Average Song Score: 7.3 (One very nice hit, a bunch of mediocrely good tracks and a couple real lapses.)

Album Tilt: 7.0 (The bad songs really get at me, but there's enough good material that it's not an altogether bad experience.)

Artist Rating: 7.0 (The creativity in the instrumentation alone saved this one from the depths!!! Unfortunately there isn't much in terms of melodic creativity.)

Track Reviews

Confide in Me 10/10

Ooo! The song starts up and it's like art-Kylie! (That wasn't one of her personalities, was it?) The beginning is very atmospheric and rather tasteful ... with a twinkly piano, violins and synthesizers slowly fade in and out ........ nothing like we would have heard on those SAW albums. The violins begin to organize themselves. Naturally, she doesn't abandon her fanbase, because the trusty programmed drum beat pipes up. Fortunately, what Kylie sings isn't unhooky. Usually the song trudges along without much instrumental interuptions, but there's the occasional orchestral build-up that gives it good character. The instrumental interlude with the violin solo seems like the weak spot because of the synthesizers we're hearing in the lower register. Well, I like this. It seems like Madonna tried to do songs like this before, but it wasn't nearly this enjoyable.

Surrender 5/10

Really bland here, which disappoints me! OH NO! THIS ALMOST AS SERIOUS, BLOATED AND BORING AS MADONNA!!!! I'm now going to close my ears and pretend this doesn't exist. ... There's no hooks in the melody at all. The instrumentation is bland as well. It's adult contemporary sludge. How do they get away with it?

If I Was Your Lover 8.5/10

I like this pretty well, though. Its running length is kept comfortably under five minutes. The adult contemporary beat is a little too usual (but ... remember the fan base!). There are some pretty OK chord progressions at times here, and the melody is alright.

Where's the Feeling? 7/10

Where's the songs with reasonable time lengths? It could have been worse, but ... this is a real difficult thing to sit through sometimes. The melody isn't the best, but at least she throws in a few instrumentals to keep my ear engaged. The synth and drum rhythms change around every once in awhile, and there's even a nice jazzy piano introduced mid-way though (but, for some reason, it doesn't play long enough). It's not a bad effort, but it seems like there could have been a lot more to make it more rewarding.

Put Yourself in My Place 6.5/10

This song is off and on. I don't find the melody hooky at all, and the instrumentation is too usual. I love that a lot of these songs have interesting uses of instrumentation, but if there aren't going to be any hooks, then what else can there be? Granted, I don't find it offensive, but I'm also not getting much out of it. You need a melody!! A MELODY!!!!!

Dangerous Game 8/10

This is a quiet ballad. I love the instrumentation; it's a lot more graceful than the SAW albums. The advanced strings, especially are nice. The melody, however, is an almost generic affair except with the occasional flare of creativity. This song threatens to turn into a Whitney Houston song at times, but it doesn't quite seem to get there. (I think that's a good thing by the way.) The creativity in the instrumentation saved what would have been a boringly average pop ballad.

Automatic Love 8/10

This is the only song Minogue co-wrote. OK, she was one in four credited songwriters, but ... let's humor her! This is one of the album's nicer songs. Even though I'd describe this song as quiet, some of it seems a little excessive, such as that moment where Kylie sings a sustained note for an ungodly period of time. But the soft-rock chorus of "Automatic Love" turned out rather nice, though. The hooks aren't exceptional here, but the melody works fine. The ending is surprisingly tasteful as it turns into a twinkly orchestral passion.

Where Has the Love Gone? 8/10

These trancey overextended songs sure are a tough pill to swallow sometimes. The whole point of them is to get you in a trance and then, hopefully, throw in some interesting pieces of instrumentation or sound effects to make the experience exciting. But if it completely fails to get you in a trance, then it's a real chore to sit through. Fortunately, this one actually works. The instrumentals are a little too stationary for taste. It has awhile to go before I can award it a nicer score.

Falling 5/10

I'm sure Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from The Pet Shop Boys are nice guys, but was he anybody in 1994? At any rate, his song sure is boring ......... It wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll overstays its welcome and it does absolutely nothing. Kylie just chants the same old things over and over amidst a drum loop. Yawn. It doesn't even work in the atmospheric/hypnotic sense.

Time Will Pass You By 7/10

OK it's better here, thank goodness. The song begins with a synth sequence that manages to catch my ear. The instrumentation is OK as well, although Minogue does get carried away with that 'clapping' drum. The hooks in the song are fine, but the chorus is a little dull. (The song carries on for about a minute too long.)

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