Perhaps the hardest part of maintaining a successful career as an artist is the quest for the right sound at the right time. This is nowhere more true than with Kylie Minogue, who once ruled the globe outside of the US in the waning days of the 80s teen-pop boom. As it turned out, the 90s weren't nearly as kind to dance-pop, and this hit some sort of culmination in 1997's "Impossible Princess". Many deemed that her dwindling career would finally wither into obscurity, at least, until Kylie released "Light Years" at the turn of the millennium. While it may not have been a fully realized comeback, it put her on the right track, and back on the map. Soon after, there came "Can't Get You Out of My Head", a ridiculously catchy club track with the most indelible "la la la" hook ever recorded. This was the true indicator that Kylie was a superstar again, and its airplay and sales proved it. With a single that big, there really was no need to tie it with an album filled with songs of any more or less production gloss. But Kylie realizes a bigger picture with "Fever", and instead of an album of fluff, she continued to work with Cathy Dennis to create a fleshed-out, 12-song set of fashionable dance tracks. This is stylish, feel-good music, most suited for runways, malls, and glitzy discos. Doubly impressive, is that there's also a pop foundation that prevents this whole confection to be a faceless wash of sound. Unlike Madonna's "Music", Kylie's voice isn't stitched into the electronic tapestry, it stands on its own to make this a progressive retro-disco record, while remaining radio-friendly. Besides "Can't Get You Out of My Head", there's another pop gem that comes right before: "Love at First Sight". It dutifully keeps the balance between strong hooks and style, a feat that is tried and true throughout the rest of the record, but no other song past this really stands out as a unique song. The problem with "Fever", is that it often gets too tied up in fashion, with some of the songs sounding inaccessible or less catchy than they are, all in favor of maintaining the glitzy sheen of the production. This may be daunting upon the first listen, and indeed there are songs that take quite a few spins to start standing out individually. But unlike most fashion, Kylie isn't so much tied up in every single trend of the current year, so she structured "Fever" well enough to withstand more than a few months on the charts. The closing track, "Burning Up", while not a Madonna cover (though Kylie could very well pull it off) is definitely one of the most appealing disco updates in recent memory, and it ends the record on a completely different note than the sultry opener "More More More". This means that this album doesn't work like a 'piece' as "Light Years" did, but that doesn't matter; "Fever" succeeds in being the better comeback record. It's worth a listen, and would be even without Kylie's big single.
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. More More More 2. Love at First Sight 3. Can’t Get You Out of My Head
4. Fever 5. Give It to Me 6. Fragile
7. Come into My World 8. In
Your Eyes 9. Dancefloor
10. Love Affair 11. Your Love 12. Burning Up
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