First Listen: Kylie Minogue, 'Aphrodite' : NPR
dyfl:
Full album streaming on NPR’s site if you haven’t heard it yet, which is a pretty good PR coup for Kylie’s American label, considering NPR’s market force these days!
My early impressions of the album: it’s good, but not great. They made the baffling decision to put the weakest tracks in at 4 and 5; it’s a huge trough after a run of three sharp, single-worthy tracks up front. It’s quickly followed by the title track, though, which is kind of an awesome monster and which will hopefully soundtrack every single ladies’ razor commercial made from this point on.
The second half is pretty strong, but never quite jaw-dropping — “Better Than Today” has that great signature Kylie happy-bounce, and “Can’t Beat The Feeling” is like 2010 Stock-Aitken-Waterman meets French disco. It’s not a home run, but it’s a Kylie album, and we love Kylie albums, yes we do.
Agreed with pretty much all of the above. It’s not Light Years 2 or Fever 2, but it’s thankfully not Body Language 2, either, so that’s a good thing. I can already feel several tracks growing on me, though, and I think “All the Lovers” is still a beautiful, beautiful song.
(I feel like I should add that I love the first half of Body Language, especially “Slow,” “Secret (Take You Home)” and “Sweet Music,” but much of the second half bores me to tears, making the overall album a disappointment for me.)
Notes