SOUND JUDGEMENT

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

STEP BACK IN TIME: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION KYLIE MINOGUE

ADOPTED national treasure Kylie couldn’t have imagined in her wildest dreams when she released Step Back In Time as a single in 1990, that it would one day be a very apt title for this collection.

From I Should Be So Lucky to Dancing, her pop career has spanned an incredible four decades (so far) and this 42-track collection is breathtaking. It includes her seven UK number ones and the majority of her singles, along with fan favourite Your Disco Needs You and new track New York City.

With a long-awaited appearance at Glastonbury today, in the Legends slot, this is perfect timing for an updated compilation and an important reminder of how Kylie earned her pop princess status.

LET’S ROCK THE BLACK KEYS

THE title says it all. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have fired up their amps again, hitting their stride immediately on album opener Shine A Little Light.

The riff-heavy but lyrically uninspiring Lo/Hi provided the pair with their first number one hit on America’s billboard mainstream rock chart but is probably the weakest of the three singles here, surpassed by Eagle Birds and Go.

It may be an album aimed more at returning fans glad to have the duo back, rather than bringing new admirers on board, but fans of 2011’s El Camino will lap it up.

ANIMA THOM YORKE

ANIMA is a heavily electronic affair – think Boiler Room rather than The Bends.

But a record that begins with mid-tempo Modeselektor-esque grooves also has a series of, frankly, bangers.

The brooding electronica of Not The News, like many of Yorke’s greatest songs, is at first bewildering but rewards the listener with a little more of itself on each listen. It’s dark, epic and absolutely thrilling.

Yorke’s lyrics document anxiety over societal changes we have no control over – perhaps more relevant now than ever before.