Kylie finally goes full diva on Disco
Written and created entirely during lockdown in her London home studio, Disco from Kylie Minogue, finds the seemingly ageless singer shooting for something timeless and largely succeeding.
Growing up idolising Olivia Newton John, Donna Summer and ABBA’s Agnetha Faltskog, Kylie always wanted to be a disco diva and now, at 52, she’s living that dream.
A disco dancefloor is no place for deep contemplation and Kylie sticks to a script that splashes in the shallows. First kisses and first dances, waking without regrets on weekends, infatuations, heartbeats, having a hot body, and using that hot body for all the right moves: this is a record swept up in getting swept away.
The hardest question confronted here is track nine, which poses the utter conundrum: Where Does The DJ Go? You know, when the party’s over?
She just has to know (Kylie does not, in fact, adequately provide an answer to this question but, by the end of the song, you really don’t care).
Not everything is perfect. Supernova pushes the Daft Punk robot-backing vocal a little too hard, but is quickly redeemed by the brilliant, uplifting and optimistic Say Something.
Well supported by her long-time cowriting and production team, the sonic aesthetic is deep, funky grooves and glittery guitar, with an occasional conga.
Incongruous as it may seem, it’s not the first top-shelf disco record of 2020.
Dua Lipa and Roisin Murphy both hit home runs, but this is Kylie, and her 15th studio album does exactly what you want a record called Disco to do – make you lose yourself to dance.
While many of her peers disappeared into their own ego-swollen bubbles, Kylie remains an unpretentious personality and performer, impossible not to admire and enjoy.
Ten years after his death, a and b the c of d is the delightfully revealing posthumous album from Ian Morris.
As a founding member of Th’ Dudes, as Tex Pistol, or as the producer responsible for ‘‘that snare sound’’ on Hello Sailor’s Gutter Black, Morris’ legacy is that of a vital, influential and belovedmusician.
These songs aren’t knock-you-over-thehead obvious, they’re authentic and grounded, subtle and sophisticated, like refined sketches.
The man really knew how to write the hell out of a three-minute pop song, with swift, seamless switches from verse to bridge to chorus – and back again.
With melodies for days, this amalgamation of gentle rock ’n’ roll and soft sentiment is steeped in love, memory and fantasy. Tunes telling his daughter to believe anything is possible ( Maude), tunes about being on the road and dreaming of home (
The Distance Between You and Me)
– these songs are personal, specific and presented without pretence.
A lovingly curated collection that remains in tune with his highly valued engineer’s ear, this sounds absolutely spot on. Just lovely.