poptimists | X Marks The Thread

tis alright. her third best/second worst Parlo album imo.

GREBT:
2 Hearts
The One
No More Rain
In Your Arms

GOOD:
Wow
Cosmic (despite rub opening)
All I See

OK:
Sensitized
Like A Drug
Stars
White Diamond

EH:
Heart Beat Rock
Speakerphone
Rippin Up The Disco
Magnetic Electric

RUB:
Nu-Di-Ty

16 tracks is WAY TOO LONG for a pop album!

Chaff, people! CHAFF.

I don't know what the status of the bonus tracks is rly - "White Diamond" and "Magnetic Electric" are bonuses, whether the UK gets them or not I don't know but they weren't on my review copy, I got them off a torrent. "Rippin Up The Disco" is a free download from iTunes once you verify that you've bought the album, or something ridiculous like that. It was on the torrent too.

I think it's nearly entirely crap, apart from 'The One', and even then the chorus is just laaaame.

Kylie is kind of...proof that whenever people talk about "blankness" and "ciphers" in pop, it's rarely ever actually accurate, because even compared to detached singers like Rachel Stevens/Hilary Duff, Kylie is just...completely unable to give her songs any personality at all. She's entirely dependent on how strong the melodies and beats are, and on X they're weak as fuck. I mean, she herself isn't doing anything different to what she's always done, but whereas most pop stars can at least carry subpar material - because regardless of what people say about "blankness" and "ciphers" most pop stars have tonnes of personality in their voice - Kylie just falls flat if the songs aren't good enough.

Also it's so bloody tentative and safe: of all people making music in 2007 Kylie could have done ANYTHING SHE WANTED and it would have been received with goodwill - why then has she opted for a collection of Rachel Stevens b-sides and demos?

although bear in mind I have never actually liked any Kylie album, as an album. I don't think the woman has ever made a notable album track in her life.

I mean, I'm disappointed by the Girls Aloud album and its almost total lack of surprises, but next to X it sounds like a pinnacle of pop music.

I pretty much agree about the Kylie album syndrome - in that light X is actually pretty good!

I might agree with your "tentative and safe" except for the fact that I don't WANT KM to produce way-out cutting edge pop because she doesn't have the voice to sell it or do it justice. What I want is for her to stick to her strengths by and large, which is why "The One" is the best track on here.

She has the voice to do a certain type of cutting-edge pop justice! (ie, I think 'Slow' is pretty much the best thing she's ever recorded.) Though yeah I see what you mean about sticking to her strengths, it's just that X seems like such a pale, listless rehash of her strengths.

NB if you haven't read it the popjustice article on The Marketing of People's Leona deserves your time!

I actually think the problem with X is too MUCH trying to be up-to-date and cutting-edge (though you're right about "Slow") - there are tracks aching to be Gwen, or nu-Britney, or taking their cues from Justice or Daft Punk, and she can't pull most of it off.

If it's trying to be up-to-date it's not succeeding very well considering how little any of the beats jumped out at me!

I have just read it! V interesting reading.

I'm unsure whether to get X or not. 2 Hearts was lovely but the album isn't a 'must buy' for me. I think I'd have to give it a listen first - I've splashed out too much cash on only-50%-good albums this year!

"2 Hearts" is very Supernature-era Goldfrapp, even down to the video. Luckily GF seem to have changed direction for their next CD.

It's a good case study in creating the impression of premium-ness.

However the talk around her - and the boringness of Bleeding Love - has made me assume her album's a yawn. Mind you I'm not in the target market - this really is textboox "if you buy only 1 [item] this year..." stuff.

Apparently Blackout's dropped out of the US album charts already. Now there's a case for some heavy marketing :(

Blackout is the pop album of the year altho I have not heard X yet.

I dunno I think it's done its job with us as well - neither you nor I are going to rush out to buy...what is Leona's album called, come to think of it? I have no idea...and nor am I really interested in hearing it, but it's kept our (well, mine at least) goodwill towards her as a Great Pop Star firmly in place - much more than for any other reality TV winner whose comeback single was merely as OK as 'Bleeding Love' is. ie, I still think she can make great music in the future.

'the boringness of Bleeding Love'

oh you are SO wrong.

Blackout dropped from 7 to 23 in its third week, which is not very good at all, but is by no means off the charts.

Kylie has done some great album tracks (and indeed b-sides). Much of 'Impossible Princess' and 'Light Years'. 'Time Will Pass You By'. 'Made Of Glass'. 'Tightrope'. 'Fragile'. 'Secret (Take You Home)'.

I agree there is nothing daring about 'X', but surely with Kylie the thing is whether it's good or not and nothing else? She's never been daring and she never will be. Taken entirely on its own merits 'X' has a few very good pop songs, and alas a lot of filler.

The only one of those I remember is 'Made Of Glass' - I thought it was just a leaked demo! I didn't really like it.

'Slow' and 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' and 'Confide In Me' were all pretty daring - but yeah, with Kylie it's ONLY about whether the songs are good because she can't sustain anything less than that, and the songs on X just seem a bit lazy. There doesn't seem to have been much effort put into any of it.

'Made Of Glass' was a b-side, written with Xenomania. It's one of the best things Kylie has ever done imo, and if Girls Aloud had done it people would have been ecstatic.

'Confide In Me' has always sounded like a 'Justify My Love' knock off to me (albeit a very good one) and I don't think 'Head' was daring at all. 'Slow' certainly was (in the context of her career).

I think 'The One' is certainly one of the best songs Kylie has ever done, and there are a few other good ones. There IS a sense of anti-climax cos most of the good ones sound like they could have come from any of her albums in the past 10 years, but I think once you get past that they are worthy of appreciation. But as I said, the album as a whole isn't very good.

'The One' sounds gorgeous (that New Order sound will never not work for female pop artists), my only problem with it is the chorus. "Love me, love me, love me, love me" - don't PLEAD so much, woman!

haha...i think that's kind of the point though...

all I can think is that people who are national institutions should not have to plead for anyone to love them, save that for the up-and-comers and attention-seekers...

Perhaps she means Oliver.

Poor Kylie.

Oh dear I never thought of that :( Poor Kylie indeed.

It sounds commanding not pleading to me - imperious in a very unKylieish way!

Come to think of it the problem is that it doesn't sound ANYTHING so I have to take the lyrics at face value.

(off topic: I have just realised, is 'Early Winter' actually eligible for any polls this year? never a single, album track from 06...)

Isn't it a single now?

I thought they dumped it in favour of 'Now That You Got It'! Not that that ever made an appearance either. ffs it's the third single off the album, it should not be subject to such indecision b/c the hard promo work has been done already.

or you know fourth, whatever, '4 In The Morning' is very easy to forget innit

Yes, here's the vid, added by the record co. just 11 days ago, so they could well be gearing to push the song, except it's not getting any Top 40 play, so obviously they're not pushing it to radio, at least not successfully. I'd say the fact that the video's been posted by the record company means that by my own idiosyncratic rules I can count it as a single if I want (and it may well make my top ten), except if I think it's actually going to be pushed next year then I may decide to wait. (Billboard says it was released as a single on October 1, but for all I know it was withdrawn after that. Who knows?) But it has gone Top 40 in Bulgaria and Top 60 in the Czech Republic and Top 80 in Slovakia, so on the basis of that you certainly can vote for it if you want to. Maybe we should hold a poptimist colloquy a week before the Idolator ballots are due and decide what we want to count as eligible.

(Really, if enough people - critics or fans or radio - treat a track as a single, then it is one. E.g., Miley Cyrus's "See You Again" is right now outselling any other Cyrus/Hannah track on iTunes, this despite its not yet getting a radio or video promotional push and no physical single. On the basis of online sales alone, it's a single, as far as I'm concerned.)

Er, it's "Early Winter" I'm talking about, not "4 In The Morning."

There's definitely a video for 'Early Winter' out now.

I'd say Made of Glass is one of the best things Xenomania has ever done, let alone Kylie!

I remember all of this talk at the time. Maybe I just downloaded the wrong mp3 or anything because I thought it was just weak!

'In Your Arms' still sounds like it samples 'I Aint Saying My Goodbyes' by Tom Vek. I like it a lot, quite possibly for that reason.

I think it's a pretty sterling pop album, actually- it's not pushing a huge number of envelopes but it sounds reasonably up-to-date and aside from the ballads there's nothing I'd be averse to repeat listening to and a lot that I've very deliberately repeat listened to. 'In Your Arms' and 'Wow' are the highlights for me but there's a lot of stuff I really like- it's reasonably varied and doesn't sit totally cohesively, which is a bit of a shame but it's got some really lovely moments, too. I'm looking forward to buying it and getting to hear it in good quality, since the pirate copy I've got is pretty awful and actually contains Jo Whiley at the end of 'No More Rain,' which freaked me out to no end and reaffirmed that Piracy Is Bad.

I had been thinking 'blimey - sounds like Kylie's jacking Luna underneath Sensitized'. Quick google points reminds me that the original Bonny and Clyde is Serge...

Speakerphone is best thing on here by miles, but would have been a million x better if Fannypack had done it.

X Marks The Thread

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My Verdict (roughly)

Oh bloody hell

Re: Oh bloody hell

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ha ha