«Dance, it’s all I wanna do» spins in many people’s minds when it comes to Kylie Minogue and her music. Known as a Goddess of Pop, a Dancing Queen, she’s been delivering the best and most famous
dance tunes through the years, to be exact - 25! Although, as interesting as it sounds, Kylie is very good at ballads and acoustic songs, as her recent single,
Flower, from The Abbey Road Sessions album, proves.
When it comes to questions like «what else can she do» and «how can she top that», she definitely finds best answers to those and does something completely new and unexpected. Just take the
AntiTour earlier this year, which was a «stripped-down» style performance of the b-sides and unreleased tracks over the years, however all dates became sell-out hits.
This time, Ms Minogue and team decided to release not just another Greatest Hits album - but to work on it... quite a bit! And instead of the «mix-tape» of old and new, we got something completely
new, and it’s called
«The Abbey Road Sessions». It is more confident Kylie explaining the meaning of Pop, showing its purpose and taking it to the new level, not being afraid to break its «standards» and paving an exciting,
yet unfamiliar way.
From her oldest hits, The Locomotion, I Should Be So Lucky and Never Too Late reworked into the unrecognizable ballads to the mysterious, never-getting-old, Confide In Me and string heaven of Can’t
Get You Out Of My Head, to the latest, full orchestra, All The Lovers, - there’s definitely something to please anyone’s taste.
Thus, once a «declaration» of freedom, now completely different
Better The Devil You Know transforms into a monologue of a hopeless and uncertain lover, a happy poppy
I Should Be So Lucky gets a full
new meaning thanks to string accompaniment and Kylie’s sweet voice, a piano version of
Never Too Late becomes a melodic ballad, an anthem of forgiveness and hope, and when one would think the lyrical
Finer Feelings could
not get any more dramatic, the combination of the orchestra and Kylie’s vocals makes it even more powerful.
On the other hand, there is the selection of masterpieces that show the other side of what an orchestral album can sound like. First of all, the «rock meets softness» version of
Can’t Get You Out
Of My Head, that is for sure one mind-blowing recreation of Kylie’s biggest hit. The string elements in this version make this pop song more unique. The effortless performance of
All The Lovers shows the beauty and potential
of Kylie’s voice, which is hard to fully uncover in a typical pop song. The acoustic
Love At First Sight remained a very bright song as it is supposed to be, only it got a new life in it, becoming simplier and even more
lovable «fairytale»-comes-true tune. The team also «breathed new life in»
Come Into My World - Kylie is accompanied only by a piano makes the song sound more personal and gentle, as if it is a call out to the soul-mate.
If there was a great song about love, that would have to be
Hand On Your Heart. But The Abbey Road Sessions interpretation of it is the PERFECT song about that state and all the feelings which go with
it. This version has a sense of mystery in it at the end, a riddle we have to solve, a story we have to write our own ending to.
Confide In Me seems to never get old - after dozens of interesting arrangements, the 1994 hit
still got it. This song perfectly shows Kylie’s vocal abilities and how she can charm listeners using her voice changes. The quiet whispers of the iconic «confide in me and you will see what we can be» leave us wanting
more.
On A Night Like This, once a dance tune, reincarnates into a powerful love message, and
I Believe In You becomes anyone's quiet lullaby for any time.
Did you know that the sexiest song could be even sexier? Apparently - yes, if it’s Kylie singing
Slow in a slower way combined with the sexy breathy voice. The most anticipated «reunion» collaboration
of Light and Darkness finally happened -
Where The Wild Roses Grow was remastered and re-recorded for this LP by Kylie and Nick Cave himself.
The new single, Flower, has been long awaited for - the beautiful ballad about a «distant child», written by Kylie and her musical producer, Steve Anderson, not long after the breast cancer diagnosis,
sends shivers down the spine.
And finally, the Locomotion - a stand out track from the album, which takes back in time, to the happy 60’s. Its addictive happy tune makes one «jump up» and «do the Locomotion».
Kylie’s stylist and friend, William Baker, once said: «Kylie is annoyingly good at everything she turns her hand to». It might sound unusual, but if Kylie’s ever to hang her hot pants and put
her microphone down for good, «The Abbey Road Sessions» is one of the albums that will not be forgotten, for it is a masterpiece not everyone can make, and it’s done in a way that it will be very hard to forget about.
Thank you for reading!
xo K
