She's back.\xA0 The woman who brought American audiences that terribly rigid version of "The Locomotion" in the late 80s has risen from the dead (or massive overseas popularity, depending on how you look at it) to sock it to the red, white and blue just like she did 15 summers ago.\xA0 Okay, so that may not have been Kylie Minogue's primary motivation behind Fever, her ninth album overall, but it's probably going to be the subject of the most of the press she gets in the U.S.\xA0 In fact, this is hardly her "comeback," since during the time she last made the Top 10 here, she was the most popular female pop singer in Europe and Australia.
Perhaps a re-introduction is due. \v\v33-year-old Minogue first achieved fame as a child actress in several dramas, most notably the soap opera "Neighbors." When the soap began airing in the UK, Minogue's popularity soared. In 1987, she recorded a demo version of Little Eva's 60s pop hit "The Locomotion" for charity, and actually submitted the recording to the UK label Mushroom. Mushroom was fairly keen to release something by the young star, though weren't necessarily impressed by the recording.\xA0 The label decided to turn the Minogue situation over to a team of producers they'd just entered into a partnership with: Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who were fresh of producing major hits for Bananarama, Rick Astley and Dead or Alive. Of course, Stock, Aitken and Waterman wanted to work with Minogue, but didn't take her very seriously, and didn't even have material for her on the day she showed up to their studios.\xA0 Legend has it, they came up with the tune "I Should Be So Lucky"\xA0in ten minutes, which became Minogue's second #1 single in Australia and England. Perhaps due to the relatively haphazard experience of recording under the SAW blade, Minogue gradually took matters into her own hands throughout the 90s.\xA0 The team continued to work with her in the early 90s, as Minogue scored more hits, and even began contributing her own lyrics.
Her work ethic has been similar to Madonna's, in that she makes it a habit to produce interesting videos for her songs (usually opting for the role of seductress rather than clean cut girl-next-door), and always keeps her sound current. She also worked with many different collaborating producers after leaving the SAW team in 1991.\xA0 Her relationship with the late INXS singer Michael Hutchence resulted in further musical experimentation, going so far as to work with Nick Cave for the tune "Where the Wild Flowers Grow," in addition to working with members of Manic Street Preachers for her 1997 release Impossible Princess.
It wasn't all good times for Minogue, though, as her jaunts outside the dance-pop realm weren't received very well, critically or popularly.\xA0 She was actually dropped by her label after Impossible Princess (the gall!), only to resurface in 2000 with the back-to-basics, disco-drenched Light Years LP. She received co-writing credits on about half the tunes, and managed to retain control of her career while simultaneously jumping back into the limelight. Fever continues in this vein, adding a touch of adult-contemporary soft-groove in amongst the dancefloor escapades. \v\vMinogue brought in former dance-pop star Cathy Dennis to collaborate this time around, resulting in three songs: "Can't Get You Out of My Head," "Come Into My World" and "Dancefloor."\xA0 The first song launched Minogue back into relevance in the U.S., with its very dry arrangement, straightforward disco pulse and breezy, Xanadu-esque bridge.\xA0 The song exudes a catchiness that belies its inherent simplicity, so reassuring during an era when chart acts sound increasingly baroque and producers race to see who can ape electronic music trends first. And with the tag "set me free," perhaps Minogue is saying something about her relationship to trends in modern pop.
The album initially brings to mind the sound of younger acts like N'Sync or Britney Spears, but where they tend to favor more aggressively spectacular production, Minogue seems comfortable with a basic groove, minimal backing, and vocals bared up in front. "Come Into My World" is a more traditionally disco-oriented track, reminiscent of Eumir Deodato's fantasy soundscapes, and with the alluring refrain, "Come, come, come into my world." "Dancefloor" is straight club music, along the lines of old-school Lisa Stansfield or the Real McCoy's eurodisco standards.
Songs that don't quite succeed on that level are the title track, which is punchy but sounds a little too clean cut for someone who's asking if "you feel the fever like I do." The production isn't quite as current as the rest of the album, as if Minogue suddenly had an 80s flashback. "Fragile" is nicely atmospheric, but verges on being indistinct if you're not paying close attention.\xA0 Conversely, "Give It to Me" attempts a more aggressive posture, though I think at this point Minogue is better at being straightforward and smooth than down and dirty.\xA0 As a whole, Fever works well as an icebreaker for grown-up parties and the Sunday mornings after. It's a mature sound from a mature artist, and one that may very well re-establish Minogue for the VH1 generation.
