Kylie Minogue - Body Language

By Joshua O'Connell
Posted Sunday, February 22, 2004

It's been two years since Kylie last stormed the stage with "Fever," an album that returned her to the US after a gap of over a decade. Her new effort, "Body Language," has since been released.

Kylie Minogue was able to successfully revive her career in 2000 with the overseas release of "Light Years." "Fever," her follow-up in 2002, brought with it her biggest accomplishments in years, including charting for the first time since the late 80s on the Billboard charts with her worldwide hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head," as well as scoring two Grammy nominations for Best Dance Recording ("Love at First Sight" and "Come Into My World"). With "Body Language," the formula has been changed a bit, but it's still Kylie pop as we've come to expect, only more potent than ever.

Unlike her previous two albums, where they were straight-ahead pure pop albums, this is a more diverse effort, equally well-crafted, but which feels deeper. Some tracks actually require a second or third listen before you catch on. While she isn't reinventing the wheel, she's taking the quality of music up a notch and varying things more, making this one of her strongest albums to date.

First single "Slow" is a prime example. An insistent groove that keeps building throughout the song, and staying on a tension-filled chord throughout the entire song, the groove is persistent, and the beat is as catchy as anything she's done in the past few years. Yet while the single fits well with her previous catalog, there's something hinted at that's much more evident in the rest of the album.

Just listen to the next track, "Still Standing," to get a better idea. The beat is more sparse than "Slow," and more staccato (although not nearly Destiny's Child staccato), yet this latest mantra of still being around today, after all this time (a theme visited in her comeback hit, "Spinning Around," from Light Years) is extremely catchy, with lush backing vocals adding a punch into the song that latches onto you very quickly.

Kylie pushes the envelope musically for herself, attempting to rap in "Secret (Take You Home)." Her efforts are a bit more successful than Madonna's attempt, but obviously she's no Ludacris.

Once again, she avoids outright ballads here, which keep the album moving, and ultimately help, not hinder the album. There are slower tracks, and "Slow" really doesn't count. "Promises," is another track with a good use of backing vocals. Kylie's voice isn't exactly the power or richness of Aretha Franklin, but this album is probably makes a better use of the type of voice she has than any she's released yet.

There is a mis-step or two here; there almost always is. "Red Blooded Woman" sounds like a poor attempt to do something akin to Destiny's Child. It's slated to be a single; it's no surprise, since with all the sparse beats and so forth comparisons are likely to be made. But considering how original the album is overall, it's a damn shame to use such a blatantly commercial track as a way to nail sales here in America. You'd hope American listeners would latch onto something more original.

It would also seem that Kylie is following in the footsteps of the person most known for dance-pop in the US, Madonna. She's been doing it for 20 years, and barring a couple of missteps, has been able to successfully reinvent herself a number of times. But while Madonna succeeds with the music for the most part, she's kept her profile up by shock value - MTV VMA kisses, anyone? Meanwhile, Kylie has pretty much kept with what got her there - sexy, but not blatantly shocking. There's no boobage like Janet at the Super Bowl - and that's allowing the music to take center stage.

The album, when put center stage, simply works. It pushes Kylie up a few more notches credibility-wise. There's more substance here, while the style remains intact. Much is to be said about the producers of her album; obviously she's chosen her collaborators well, although she also has had an even bigger hand in songwriting - the most since her "indie" period (for lack of a better term). She obviously has figured out how to stick to her roots, while avoiding "I Should Be So Lucky" cheese and opting for something a little more substantial.

For fans, this is an obvious must-have. But for those who are a little shy about this kind of music, you can't do much better than this CD - this is about as good as it gets for dance-pop - sit back, listen and enjoy.

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