— Sophie Lawrence
So, a minor request, though one I don't see being fulfilled: I'd quite like to write about a Kylie Minogue record that I genuinely like.
The Australian sensation was first awarded a Smash Hits Single of the Fortnight back in the spring of 1988 when Richard Lowe gave the nod to "Got to Be Certain", the follow-up to Kylie's number one smash "I Should Be So Lucky". It's a song that has its fans (it had a four week stay at number two, a chart position she'd become very familiar with) but I'm not one of them. It isn't horrible, just nothing special. The song crops up as the last track on the first side of her debut album Kylie and falls a bit flat next to its companions. (It always seemed like the glorious "It's No Secret", a North America-only release, merited being a single more)
Hits reviewers would pass on Kylie's stuff for a while in spite of the fact that everything from "Je ne sais pas pourquoi" through to "Never Too Late" a year later is superior to "Got to Be Certain". (Incidentally, it must be said that Minogue's run of singles in the late eighties and early nineties is pretty impressive, making for one of the finer greatest hits albums of the era this side of Pet Shop Boys) It was only with her dramatic 1990 reinvention that Mike Soutar felt the need to give his due to "Better the Devil You Know", the lead off track from her third album Rhythm of Love. The ninth of her last ten singles to reach either number one or two, it also proved to be the end of Kylie playing the role of close friend or older sister offering sound advice to a love lorn youngster. Both "Certain" and "Devil" were about making the right choices; from here on out, the choice became simple: it was all about desiring Kylie or wanting to be just like her.
The fact that Minogue had by then put out three LP's, along with ten singles, in such a short time is impressive, especially since this was the start of an era in which artists would go longer and longer between albums. But where both Kylie and Enjoy Yourself were number ones, Rhythm entered at a disappointing number nine and dropped steadily from there. (Fourth LP Let's Get to It only got to number fifteen which only goes to show that the better the photo of Kylie on the cover, the worse the chart performance) She still had a few more Top 10 singles in her but clearly interest in Kylie was becoming more selective.
The British public had grown weary of the Aussie and they took out their newfound disinterest on "Word Is Out", a brand new single that was expected to keep her streak of Top 10 hits going. Instead, it entered at eighteen, rose two spots the following week and then tumbled down to thirty-three during its final spell of Top 40 action. A shockingly poor performance from such a reliable hit maker. Word Is Out That Kylie's Heading Down the Dumper, the headlines amazingly didn't say.
It's nice to think that ver kids had missed out on a gem as they clamoured for Mariah Carey or Dannii Minogue instead but they were right to give it a miss. Like "Got to Be Certain" and "Better the Devil You Know" it is just so plain; unlike them, however, Kylie's vocal doesn't stand out. Comparisons were constantly being made around this time to Madonna but Madge on her worst day wasn't nearly this generic. Fellow actress-turned-wannabe-pop-starlet Sophie Lawrence thinks it sounds a bit like "La Isla Bonita" but all I can hear is Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit single "I Wish" from his classic double album Songs in the Key of Life. Either way, it's not enough to pull Kylie out of mediocrity.
"Word Is Out" also marks the departure of Matt Aitken from the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting/production empire. Kylie was by now their last remaining star and the now duo of Stock Waterman poured their energies into their cash cow. Unfortunately, they were in a no win situation: complaints that their work had become too formulaic were in abundance but there was little interest when they did try to depart from what had made them so big. Minogue going R&B was obviously the next logical step but it proved to be one that no one else wished for her to take. (The Let's Get to It album only ended up producing one big hit and — huh! — it ended up being her final stab at pure pop for quite some time...but we'll get to that soon)
Meanwhile, I continue to wait for a potential Kylie Minogue SOTF that I genuinely like. I was a big fan then and I continue to have some regard for her now; she did some great songs prior to "Word Is Out" and she'd put out quite a few more in the years to come. I'll just have to keep waiting.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Tin Machine: "You Belong in Rock n' Roll"
Response to the first Tin Machine album must have been so encouraging that David Bowie and his buddies just had to get together again for Tin Machine II. Lawrence suspects a guaranteed hit only because of Dame David which would be true but for a) Bowie lacked the commercial clout he once enjoyed and b) this hard rock side project of his had yet to yield a single Top 40 entry. Tin Machine II is the end of Bowie at his absolute suckiest but there are signs that he would soon pull himself up to being "all right, I suppose" before long. Still, this "you" in "You Belong in Rock n' Roll" can't possibly be about Bowie himself: I'd take him playing keyboards, sax and "Chamberlin" (whatever that is) over all these damn guitars. Mind you, there's some mad fret work on Ziggy and Heroes and even a bit on Low and that was Bowie at his seventies paradigm best so there you go.
