ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS: Kylie Minogue was headliner at marathon British Summertime Festival in London’s Hyde Park. Photo: Courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk

KYLIE
Opening Acts: Years & Years, Mika, Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers, & Grace Jones
Barclaycard Presents British Summertime at Hyde Park
London, United Kingdom
Sunday, June 21, 2015
www.Kylie.com

By Scott Harrah

It was a long day’s wait to see the Princess of Pop, Kylie Minogue, and her headlining live act in London’s Hyde Park as part of the British Summertime festival back on June 21, 2015. An estimated 60,000 fans started filling the park around 1pm (those with premium or VIP entry were let in at noon), but “Her Royal Ky-ness” (as one British newspaper nicknamed her) didn’t start her show until 8:30pm. Still, for Kylie fans, it was well worth the wait.

For this reviewer, seeing Kylie live in the U.K. (where fans appreciate her the most) was always a dream. I’ve seen her twice in New York, but I’d always wanted to see Our Kyles in London, a place where she’s bigger than Madonna (according to two guys from Manchester that were camped out next to us all day). British fans are indeed the maddest of all for La Minogue because, as a middle-aged man (there with his daughter, sporting a “Kylie and Jason” T-shirt) next to us explained, Australian native Kylie is considered an “honorary Brit” because her mother is from Wales, and the pint-sized Princess of Pop has been a superstar in the British Isles ever since the TV soap “Neighbours” started airing several times a day there in the late 1980s.

Kylie isn’t known for doing outdoor events much, other than a previous Hyde Park concert, “Proms in the Park,” and she was supposedly going to perform at the famous outdoor Glastonbury Festival 10 years ago, but had to cancel after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Glastonbury this wasn’t (thank God). It was more like “Kyliestock.” Our Kyles entered the stage sporting a rose-covered crown that looked similar to the official “Hyde Park” logo, and an ermine-trimmed robe, with a sparkly mini-dress underneath. She launched right into one of her biggest early hits, “Better the Devil You Know.” It was just what the crowd had been waiting for, and this was essentially a Kylie “greatest hits” package, a nonstop, energetic evening of the infectious songs that made her a legend.

WONDER FROM DOWN UNDER: Kylie in full Pop Princess regalia at Hyde Park concert. Photo: www.digitalspy.co.uk

The concert had all the usual touches of a live Kylie show: Dancers dressed as some type of power rangers, backup singers, a band, multimedia projections of the singer, with Jumbotrons so everyone could see the beloved singer. Those who caught her two North American tours, “KylieUSA2009” and “Aphrodite 2011” will remember the countless dancers, acrobats and other distractions. Although this was no scaled-down show, Kylie performed with a refreshing level of intimacy and crowd participation. Of course, this being fashion icon Kylie, there were numerous costume changes, and at one point she sashayed around in red thigh-high boots (with her trademark killer stiletto heels) and a matching sparkly dress.

THE LADY IN RED: Kylie sports some fabulous boots on stage. Photo: Pinterest/Instagram

Kylie performed most but not all of her golden oldies, from “In Your Eyes” to “On a Night Like This” to “Your Disco Needs You,” “Spinning Around,” “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” “In My Arms” to more recent tracks like “Get Outta My Way” and such early hits such as “Step Back in Time” and “The Loco-Motion.” When she sang “I Should Be So Lucky,” she was hoisted onto the shoulders of two security guys and went out into the crowd to greet her screaming fans.

CROWD-PLEASER: Kylie, hoisted by security staff, ventures out into the audience at Hyde Park. Photo: Scott Harrah

Whether Kylie was doing “Slow” or “Kids,” she was in fine voice, and her bubbly banter was a crowd-pleaser at all times. She also did her hit cover of Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration,” plus a new version of Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes.”

STEP BACK IN TIME: Kylie performed nearly all her classic pop hits. Photo: www.VisitLondon.com

Toward the end of the show, Kylie apologized that she wouldn’t be able to perform too late because of a 10pm Hyde Park curfew due to “the neighbors.” This started a bit of crowd reaction in our section near the front of the stage as fans sang the theme song from “Neighbours” in unison, and eventually Kylie joined in the fun.

She ended the show with the anthemic “All the Lovers,” complete with projections of lovers of all types and phrases about marriage equality. For the encore, she performed “Into the Blue,” the hit single from the Kiss Me Once album. It’s easy to see why this multi-talented woman has been on top for nearly three decades. For her fans, we all hope Our Kyles will keep “Spinning Around” for years to come and, oh yes—do a North American tour. Kylie, your disco needs you—and so do your fans on the other side of the Atlantic, too.

Opening Acts Years & Years, Chic & Grace Jones

The highlights of the earlier opening acts included Mika (who is best known in the U.S. for a duet with Ariana Grande). One of the best of the newer acts was Years and Years, fronted by the golden-voiced Olly Armstrong. Years and Years has already had hits in the U.K. with “King” and “Desire” and the new album “Communion,” just released in the USA, has received rave reviews and is climbing up the charts. Years and Years has a funky synth-pop dance sound that will remind some of the Pet Shop Boys or Jimmy Somerville.

Chic, fronted by Nile Rodgers, performed an electrifying set of their classics “Le Freak,” “Good Times” and more. Rodgers moved the crowd by talking about beating cancer a few years back, and writing songs for everyone from Duran Duran to Diana Ross, Madonna and others. At the end of Chic’s show, they were joined on the stage by none other than pop star Sam Smith and U2’s The Edge. It was the hottest party in London indeed, right in Hyde Park.

Finally, Grace Jones played shortly before Kylie came on. At age 67, Miss Jones still looks amazing, especially when she ran around topless and half-naked, covered only in body paint and several silly outfits. While singing “Pull Up to the Bumper,” she jumped on top of a bouncer’s shoulders and worked her way through the crowd. At other times, she seemed more concerned about changing into tribal headdresses backstage than performing even a medley of her greatest hits. She even went on a rant about wanting to smoke a joint (and was vilified for doing so in the U.K. tabloids the next day). The lady made quite a name for herself in the gay disco scene in the 1970s and 1980s, but what Grace Jones was doing opening for Kylie in 2015 in the first place is anyone’s guess.

CAN’T GET HER OUTTA OUR HEADS: Kylie works the crowd. Photo: www.mirror.co.uk

FABULOUSLY LATE: Although the British Summertime concert doors opened around 1pm, fans waited (through various opening acts) for her 8:30pm show. Photo: Pinterest/Fropky.com

SPINNING AROUND: Kylie Minogue as seen on the huge screens in Hyde Park at British Summertime concert on June 21, 2015. Photo: Scott Harrah

WAITING FOR MINOGUE: ‘Kylie! Kylie! Kylie!’ screamed the crowd of thousands. Photo: Scott Harrah

HOLDING COURT: Pop Princess Kylie sings to her subjects. Photo: Kylie Minogue Instagram

Opening Acts: Years & Years, Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers & Grace Jones

RISING STARS YEARS & YEARS: Olly Armstrong performs hit song “King” from his brand-new album, “Companion.” Photo: Scott Harrah

GOOD TIMES: The legendary Nile Rodgers rocks out to one of the many Chic hits at British Summertime in Hyde Park, London. Nile Rodgers has written hit tracks for David Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran & countless others. Photo: Scott Harrah

AHH…FREAK OUT! LE FREAK, C’EST CHIC: Sam Smith, U2’s The Edge & others jam on stage with Nile Rodgers & Chic. Photo: Scott Harrah

SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM: Ladies & gentlemen, Miss Grace Jones at Hyde Park, London. Photo: Courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk

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‘THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN’: Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures & Columbia Pictures

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN
Produced by Peter Jackson
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring (voice and motion capture): Jamie Bell (Tintin), Andy Serkis (Captain Haddock), Daniel Craig (Sakharine)
Based on the characters created by Hergé
Paramount Pictures & Columbia Pictures
Now playing in the USA and Canada
http://www.us.movie.tintin.com/

By Frank Cavanagh

Who’s that boy?
 Twenty years after discovering Tintin, Steven Spielberg has finally realized his dream: to bring one of the world’s most famous comic-book characters to the big screen, and to American audiences.

 Tintin was created in 1929 by Belgian illustrator Georges Rémi, aka Hergé, as the hero of a comic series in the children’s supplement of a Brussels daily. (Tintin has been translated into several languages and has always been immensely popular throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, and Canada.)

Tintin is a Boy Scout (as was Hergé) who has grown up to become a world-famous reporter. Through his adventures he does his good deeds. The opening credits and the framed newspaper first pages in Tintin’s apartment at the beginning of the movie give the newcomer to the series an idea that Tintin is famous, despite being just 18 or 19.

Tintin is an unlikely hero. He has no name, really. His powers are his luck, his instinct, his intelligence, and his good heart.

The Tintin books are best described as graphic novels. Dialogue is sophisticated, though accessible.

Many were written in the 1930s. It is fitting that the movie be set in that era of famous correspondents and their astounding endeavors. Though young, Tintin already has a broad encyclopedic knowledge, as the solution to the location of Red Rackham’s treasure shows.

This is why Tintin has charmed so many, as it did Spielberg. The guiding principle of The Adventures of Tintin is, “For young people from ages 7 to 77.” One can read the books many times in one’s life and still be delighted. Spielberg and Jackson are almost successful.

This film is revolutionary for Jackson and Spielberg’s idea of making a 100 % motion capture film to try to remain true to Hergé’s style of clear lines, but gain the third dimension.
 The actors were finally only there to give voice and realistic body movements.

In computer animation, the camera need not be “grounded.” The spectator is like a fly, always in movement and changing point of view. At first, one can feel like in a whirlwind. One eventually comes to appreciate it.

The background is gentle “Old Europe,” but the pace is as relentless as any American film. The look and the way the characters move in the film are like in computer gaming. One could quibble, but who can say that, if Hergé had been born 50 years later, he wouldn’t have created Tintin in this way?

The film is a complete reworking of three Tintin books: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure.

Tintin finds a parchment hidden in the model of an old galleon he bought. But from the outset, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine is on his tail, also wanting to get that model, matching the other he already has. Tintin realizes this parchment is the key to a treasure.

What follows are the mad chases as Sakarine and Tintin seek to solve the mystery of the location of Red Rackham’s treasure.  Along the way, Tintin meets Captain Haddock, who is to become his unlikely sidekick, a vociferous, cantankerous drunk, but with a good heart.

Tintin and Haddock solve the mystery, which opens up to them teaming up for more adventures.

Tintin is a cult series, the most successful of the dozens of French graphic novel series. As usual, purists have decried the adaptation, particularly in Britain. But the film is true to the conclusion in the book, and moving the story ideas around was Hergé’s own creative process for a book.

One drawback is the Hollywood-style dialogue. A character saying that Tintin is “in whole mess of danger” is not in the style of the author in French, or its British English translation.

This is probably why the British critics were disappointed, or even dismayed.
 French and Belgian critics were more forgiving. The French version’s dialogue is less trite. And they accept that a great classic can be given new life, and can withstand revolutionary adaptation. Shakespeare can be set in New York or Los Angeles; the Pet Shop Boys can do a disco version of a U2 song.

Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn is an exciting event for the whole family. It is respectful of the stories of Hergé, his style, his ideals, and his wonderful characters, but at a 21st century pace. The plethora of details in this film makes one recommend to also buy the DVD. 

This movie is a worldwide event, bringing all of us together.  That was the spirit of Tintin, and that’s what Christmas is all about.

Go see it. Enjoy the movie. Then discover the books.

Frank Cavanagh is a freelance writer and lifelong Tintin fan, based in Montreal, Canada.

Published December 21, 2011

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WORSHIP AT THE ALTAR OF THE POP GODDESS: Kylie Minogue in ‘Aphrodite: Les Folies [Live in London]’, a DVD of her amazing show. Photo: Parlophone

APHRODITE: LES FOLIES [LIVE IN LONDON]
Performed by Kylie Minogue
Directed by William Baker & Marcus Viner
Choreography by Anthony Testa
Released in the USA by Astralwerks/Parlophone/EMI
On DVD, Blu-Ray, & 3D versions
NTSC North American version available from Amazon.com

By Scott Harrah

Australian superstar Kylie Minogue showcases and celebrates nearly 25 years of pop in the DVD of her Aphrodite: Les Folies concert.  (This DVD was filmed at London’s 02 Arena, but she has toured it all over Europe, Australia, and Asia.)

Some say Kylie relies too heavily on visuals in this spectacular show, as one misinformed newspaper critic noted when the scaled-down-for-the-colonies North American version (staged for smaller U.S. venues), Aphrodite 2011, came to New York City for three nights this past May. These are the same people who have never understood Kylie as a recording artist, particularly here in the USA.

Shows of this nature are staples in Europe and the United Kingdom, where Kylie has reached a level of fame comparable only to Madonna’s. She has been awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for “Services to Music,” an Order des Arts et des Lettres in France (where she is as respected as French pop icon Mylène Farmer), and this autumn was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from a UK university for her tireless campaign to promote breast cancer awareness after a long battle with the disease. In addition, last month she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in her native Australia.

The acrobats, scantily clad male and female dancers, water fountains, laser projections, and high-tech, onstage antics compliment the music without overshadowing the 43-year-old Kylie performing her arsenal of hits from the Aphrodite album, plus many golden oldies stretching way back to the Stock Aitken Waterman British pop for which she first made a name for herself decades earlier. The pint-sized Diva from Down Under sports an endless array of Dolce & Gabbana fashions and ultra-high heels. The Italian couture design duo christened her la piccola principessa (“the little princess” in Italian), and she looks gorgeous throughout the show, but it is her bubbly energy, spunky audience repartee, and perfect-pitch live singing that all win over her many generations of fans.

From the show’s opener, when she enters the stage on a giant, golden clam shell while sporting her Greek goddess costume and sings “Aphrodite,” to “The One” and “Wow,” Kylie is intent on pleasing newer fans with material from her discography in the 21st century. Her countless costume changes are usually preceded by techno-pop preludes to her hits, such as “Illusion” (from the Aphrodite album). Women dance around in gossamer gowns and scarves to Middle Eastern-tinged music while we watch video projections of Kylie in an Arabic half-veil, with her piercing eyes poking out (looking like a modern-day, blonde Barbara Eden in “I Dream of Jeannie”), and soon Kylie ascends the stage atop the golden, winged horse Pegasus (straight out of Greek mythology) to sing the song.

The cheers and screaming from the crowd in London, just like the fans at her New York show, never subside as she changes into a crinkled Dolce & Gabbana metallic gown and performs hits such as “Spinning Around,” “Get Outta My Way,” and her massive U.S. hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” complete with heavy-metal-style guitars that give the track a sound that will certainly silence all the critics who claim Kylie cannot perform rock-and-roll. Yes, Kylie, Princess of Pop, can sing guitar-oriented music as good as any hard-boiled female rocker in the States. However, she quickly reverts to her dance-pop roots with the Stock Aitken Waterman classic “What Do I Have to Do?”

One of the highlights in the first half of the concert is an electronica version of her 1994 hit “Confide in Me,” featuring an intro of video projections of Kylie in a black bang wig, with crimson lips, Cleopatra eye liner and white pancake makeup. Male chorus boys dance around in skimpy, body-baring outfits as the hypnotic beats go wild, and soon Kylie enters the stage to sing the vintage track, and she has never sounded better.

The second half of Les Folies is even more spectacular. Opening with “Looking for an Angel,” Kylie soon jumps on back of a winged man modeled after the Greek myth of Icarus and ascends the stage, flying over the audience (in a high-tech harness) while singing “Closer” before coming back down to earth to one of this reviewer’s favorite parts of the concert: An ethereal cover of Annie Lennox’s “There Must Be An Angel.” As an angelic chorus trills harmoniously, Kylie, clad in an ultra-mini Greek princess dress, delivers a beautiful rendition of the song. Any foolish critic who has ever claimed La Minogue cannot sing need look no further than this portion of the concert.  As Kylie seamlessly performs the cherished Lennox hit, a chorus of gospel-inspired singers joins her in harmonious, Motown-inspired unison. It literally brings down the proverbial house in London (as it did at the New York show). Who would have ever thought this cute little Aussie had as much “soul” as some of the USA’s R&B music legends?

What follows are oldies from both the 2000s and the 1990s, such as “Love at First Sight” and a tribal, percussion-heavy, African dance-club style version of “Better the Devil You Know” to a breathy cover of Prefab Sprout’s “If You Don’t Love Me” to “Put Your Hands Up” from the Aphrodite album (the Pete Hammond remix of the latter song was a huge club hit in the USA last summer).

The finale is also an ode to Americana, Kylie-style, as the instrumental “Million Dollar Mermaid” flashes Esther Williams-style swimmers on video screens, like something straight out of Williams’ old Hollywood films. Kylie eventually takes the stage in a gold Esther Williams get-up, complete with a Dolce & Gabbana swim cap.  Kylie sings one of her best hits of all time, “On a Night Like This,” dancing around the stage and strutting down the O2 Arena’s runways like a Paris supermodel as “Splash Zone” fountains squirt water in expertly timed precision. In no time, the song segues into one of the biggest American hits from Aphrodite, the universal love anthem “All the Lovers.” Kylie, on a circular platform with a pool, sings as acrobats twirl in the air and the fountains squirt water and the dancers writhe around.

It is a beautiful closing to Kylie’s most lavish and expertly designed concert ever, cementing her status as one of the world’s greatest entertainers. All hail the Princess of Pop. We hope she will keep “Spinning Around” for years to come, and return to this side of the Atlantic soon.

Our review of Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite 2011 concert in New York City in May remains the most-read, non-theater article in StageZine.com’s nearly two-year history, according to Google.

Published December 7, 2011

SCENE FROM THE CONCERT

YouTube video clips from Kylie’s Aphrodite: Les Folies

The post Kylie Minogue showcases nearly 25 years of pop in ‘Aphrodite: Les Folies [Live in London]’ appeared first on StageZine.

THE ALBUMS: 2000-2010

THE ALBUMS: 2000-2010
Kylie Minogue
EMI Import

By Scott Harrah

With the exception of her smash-hit European 2000 pop magnum opus Light Years, four of the five CDs in this boxed set collection of superstar Kylie Minogue’s studio albums from 2000 to 2010 were actually released domestically in the United States.  However, in the last decade, most of us stopped buying CDs and opted instead for the more 21st century option of digital downloads through I-Tunes and other online music retailers.  So, for dedicated fans, The Albums 2000-2010 is certainly a collectors’ item because, after all, Kylie is a pop artist who has maintained a career that spans from the days of vinyl to the present digital age.  It would only be fair to analyze each album individually, because all are so different in both sound and concept.

LIGHT YEARS: One of Kylie’s best ever

LIGHT YEARS

It is truly a shame that Light Years was never released Stateside, because, musically, from the songs to the glossy production values by an exhausting list of UK studio wizards, it is a far superior album than 2002’s breakthrough for Kylie, Fever. The aforementioned album contained the song that put her back on top of the USA pop charts and radio airwaves, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”  However, Light Years was Kylie’s glorified return to pop, and it remains a complex yet marvelously giddy gem even a decade later.

In the United Kingdom, where Kylie was still trying to live down the tepid record sales of her ill-fated attempt at indie rock in 1997, the critically acclaimed  but poor-selling Impossible Princess (released, unfortunately, around the time of Princess Diana’s death), Kylie was at a crossroads in her career.  By 2000, already in her 30s, Kylie had already endured some of the worst moments in her career: vicious jabs from the British tabloids who christened her “The Singing Budgie,” and a rocky relationship with INXS rocker Michael Hutchence, who committed suicide in the late 1990s.  She was no longer the cutesy pop puppet of Stock Aitken Waterman, and many of her longtime fans had all but abandoned her.

Light Years changed all that.  In the video for “Spinning Around,” in which Kylie sported the now-infamous gold hot pants, it was the lyrics that really proclaimed a new decade and century for her.  “Threw away my old clothes, got myself a better wardrobe; I got something to say,” she sang, with just a tad of tongue-in-cheek irony. The song’s slow, hook-laden beat and her irresistible vocals helped “Spinning Around” shoot to the top of the pop charts across the world.

“On a Night Like This,” an adorable Europop dance ballad, with another gorgeous video, featured Kylie cavorting  in Monaco, dripping in jewels and couture gowns, cementing her status as a fashion icon. “You kiss me, I’m falling, it’s your name I’m calling,” she cooed in breathy, sexy vocals.  This was 2000, the year of the Sydney Olympics and Paralympics, and by the time Kylie performed this and other songs on international TV for the sports world, America could no longer ignore Kylie as a global force.

There are far too many near-perfect songs on Light Years to count, from the haunting “Disco Down” to the campy anthems “Your Disco Needs You” and “Loveboat” to the Latin-tinged “Please Stay” and her incredible cover of Barry White’s “Under the Influence Of Love.”

Her duet with Robbie Williams (the UK pop star already making a name for himself in America by 2000), “Kids,” was rock-sounding enough to appeal to even the non-pop crowd. And the futuristic title track “Light Years,” in which Kylie sang “take us to the pop stars on the moon,” signaled that, in the New Millennium, Kylie would very soon conquer America as she had the rest of the world.

FEVER: Put Kylie back on top in America with ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’.

FEVER

This was the album that finally put Kylie back on top in the USA. The first single, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” soared to the Top 5 of the Billboard USA pop charts with its infectious chorus of “la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.” Truly, this was a song we really could not get out of our heads. It was followed by the singles “Come into My World,” “In Your Eyes,” and “Love at First Sight,” all of which were irresistible dance-pop that made America fall in love with Kylie all over again.

Although Fever was not as intricately crafted as Light Years, to Americans, the lighthearted melodies of “More, More, More,” the title track “Fever,” and other songs were all enough to win her a new generation of fans on this side of the Atlantic. This was the official “comeback” for Kylie in the States because, after more than a decade, she finally had a U.S. domestic release and paying import prices was a thing of the past for her American fans, which Kylie recently described to The Washington Post  as “a secret society.”  Fever was pure, unmitigated Eurodisco that established Kylie as a musical force worldwide and the ever-elusive North American market, and she has never looked back since.

BODY LANGUAGE: Kylie channels Bardot on cover

BODY LANGUAGE

The follow-up to Fever was a more sophisticated sound for Kylie.  Only the electro-pop single “Slow” managed to make the U.S. pop charts (thanks, in part, to a super-sexy music video), but it never reached the popularity of “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”

However, the jazzy, streamlined songs “Red Blooded Woman” and “Chocolate” represented some of the best, outside-the-box work Kylie had done since “Confide in Me” in 1994 and “Some Kind of Bliss” from Impossible Princess in 1997.

X: Sexy electronica album contained such dance faves as ‘In My Arms.’

X

This was the first album Kylie recorded after her much-publicized battle with breast cancer. Relying heavily on computerized “electronica,” X was a departure from the cotton-candy pop lite of Light Years and Fever. The rock anthem “2 Hearts,” with its staccato percussion and Kylie’s stylized vocals, almost sounded like vintage David Bowie. “Two hearts are beating together…I’m in love, ooohh,” she crooned. Even the cover for the single, featuring Kylie in glam-rock-style makeup, looked like something straight out of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era.

The techno songs “In My Arms” and “Like a Drug” were club hits, but the song “Wow” was the most mainstream, even being featured on TV commercials for ABC’s hit primetime soap, “Desperate Housewives.” X was not for everyone, but listen to it now and it is indeed noteworthy as it sounds like nothing else she has recorded in the New Millennium.

APHRODITE: Containing the hit title track, ‘All the Lovers’ & more

APHRODITE

Kylie’s 11th studio album was perhaps her biggest U.S. hit since Fever, and for good reason.  It is hard to resist the layered synth-pop of the first single, “All the Lovers,” and its message of universal love. The video, shot in downtown Los Angeles, showed Kylie writhing amongst a mass of people and being lifted by them, as many kissed and made out. (The publicity alone from the video managed to land Kylie interviews on many of the national morning American TV talk shows, including NBC’s “Today Show,” on which Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda chatted with the pop diva like she was a long-lost friend.)

The second single, “Get Outta My Way,” was another major hit, with its funky orchestration and lyrics that were an assertive declaration of independence for anyone moving on from a bad relationship, giving it mass appeal.  (Kylie promoted the song heavily, with appearances on numerous top-rated U.S. primetime TV shows such as “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Got Talent,” and the ultimate all-American holiday extravaganza, “The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”)

“Better Than Today” actually made the American pop charts, but it was “Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)” that really created a sensation when it landed in the U.S. Top 10 this summer with an incredible remix by Pete Hammond of Stock Aitken Waterman fame, featuring lush backtracks of percussion and textured layers of ethereal synth like something right out of the late 1980s. The song actually was the subject of a major featured in summer 2011 in New York’s weekly newspaper, The Village Voice.

There are many well-crafted songs that should be released as singles in the U.S., from the upbeat title track “Aphrodite” and the bouncy “Cupid Boy” to the aptly titled “Looking for an Angel,” a heavenly song with a delectable violin intro.  On Aphrodite, Kylie’s voice has never sounded better (distinct, polished, and one-of-a-kind), and every song is as painstakingly produced as Light Years, making it a glorious end to the first decade of the 21st century and the Australian superstar’s triumphant return to the American music scene. At age 43, she shows no signs of slowing down, with nonstop press coverage in all the American celebrity weeklies, and regular snarky comments about her fashion choices by Joan Rivers on E’s “Fashion Police.”  When Joan Rivers is dishing a celeb’s outfits, it is a sure sign that one has truly made it in the States. Long may Kylie reign on our shores.

Published August 18, 2011

KYLIE MINOGUE LIVE IN DUBLIN: Rare early recording for fans.

KYLIE MINOGUE:
LIVE IN DUBLIN: LET’S GET TO IT TOUR, 1991
Recorded live at The Point
in Dublin, Ireland, November 8th, 1991
IMC Music Limited (Made in the EU)

By Scott Harrah

For diehard Kylie Minogue fans, particularly Americans who know little about her illustrious 1990s European career, this rare concert recording is more than merely pop nostalgia. Now nearly 20 years old, Kylie Minogue: Live in Dublin is primarily important because it marked a turning point in the singer’s career as she moved from her squeaky-clean image of Charlene from the Australian TV soap “Neighbours” and bubble gum teen pop sensation to show-biz legend.

To understand the scale of this album, one must first put Minogue into context as an artist.  By 1991, Minogue had enjoyed Top 40 success throughout the United States with her eponymous 1988 debut, Kylie, featuring the hits “The Loco-Motion” and “I Should Be So Lucky,” but her sophomore effort, Enjoy Yourself in 1989, the last American release for Minogue until Fever in 2002, went nowhere Stateside.  In addition, perhaps because her all-time biggest hit ever was never released in America: “Especially For You,”  a formulaic duet with fellow Aussie costar Jason Donovan from “Neighbours,” a mega-smash in the United Kingdom, where the two were seen on TV several times a day in the hit show and were sort of the Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber of that era).  However, in the U.S., “Neighbours” was rarely shown on the airwaves. Across the Atlantic and virtually everywhere else, however, Minogue was already a superstar, and her 1990 Stock Aitken Waterman-produced album Rhythm of Love was huge everywhere except North America.

This live album was recorded long before Britney Spears and the days of “autotune” and onstage lip-sync shenanigans, so what we hear is pure, raw Kylie, singing live with a band and backup singers.  Her pipes were still girlish and paper-thin two decades ago, but she already had her signature breathy vocals and that famous bubbly persona that has always overshadowed her flaws.  Even bona fide Kylie fans won’t argue that she has never had a spectacular voice; then again, neither did Madonna or many of the pop icons of yesteryear, but she was already a first-rate entertainer at the ripe old age of 23.

The majority of this concert recording contains Minogue’s early Stock Aitken Waterman hits, from “Step Back in Time” to “Got to Be Certain,” “Word is Out,” “What Do I Have to Do?” and “Let’s Get to It” to her duet with Keith Washington, “If You Were With Me Now.” Other than her smash U.S. hit “Loco-Motion,”a cover of Carole King’s 1960s classic that was a huge song for Little Eva and, in the 1970s, Grand Funk Railroad, she performs only one other cover, the O’Jays’ golden oldie “Love Train.”

She closes the concert with her signature song of the time period, “Better the Devil You Know,” the dance track that finally separated her from her goody-goody image and cemented her status as a sexy video vixen (and resulted in inevitable comparisons to Madonna by the tabloids in Britain).

As a classic concert recording, Kylie Minogue: Live in Dublin hardly represents Minogue’s best work, but it is required “Step Back in Time” listening for true Minogue aficionados.  Anyone who saw her recent “Aphrodite Live” tour in North America (which far surpassed the level of energy and seamless vocal ability than anything pop stars half her age are doing live right now) or “Les Folies” in Europe, Asia and Australia will appreciate just how far she has come as an artist over the years.

Published August 18, 2011

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BORN THIS WAY
By Lady Gaga
Interscope Records
Available now
www.apple.com/itunes/
www.interscope.com/ladygaga
www.amazon.com
Available on Itunes and Amazon.com

By Scott Harrah

StageZine.com does not always review music, but we will make an exception here because everything is theatrical about the phenomenon known as Lady Gaga, from her over-the-top music videos and outlandish outfits to her recent “Monster’s Ball” concert, televised on HBO from Madison Square Garden.  Gaga now ranks up there in pantheon of female pop superstars that are both mainstream household names and icons for nonconformists everywhere.  It is not surprising that so many have compared her to Madonna, the undisputed Queen of Pop, for Gaga (real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) is an Italian-American iconoclast that loves to shock and surprise the masses by making everyone wonder what she will do next.  Like the Material Girl did 30 years ago, Mama Monster pushes the proverbial envelope of sexuality and outrageous behavior, but the comparisons end there.

Since she is only 25, she is not quite seasoned enough yet for pop royalty status, but Mama Monster is already a legend. Besides, Gaga is not entirely a pop music artist.  Her heavily orchestrated songs have shades of classic rock, heavy metal, and just about every other musical genre popular over the past 40 years. She writes and composes much of her own material, and her soaring vocals are as forceful as that of Christina Aguilera and rockers of yesteryear such as Pat Benatar and Chrissie Hynde, as well Queen, David Bowie, and Elton John.

Gaga has evolved incredibly since her 2008 debut The Fame, with the techno-pop disco songs “Just Dance” and “Poker Face” and the 2009 followup EP, The Fame Monster.  On Born This Way, she opens with the rock-tinged “Marry the Night,” but the album’s first single and title track “Born This Way” is the true standout here.  Many have compared the song’s sound to Madonna’s “Express Yourself,” but this is an unfair analysis.  Although the song’s beat and message are distantly similar, “Born This Way” is distinctly Gaga. It has become the unofficial dance anthem of misfits everywhere, for both women seeking love and gay men, with the same universal message of acceptance and tolerance as Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful.”

Like Madonna, Gaga is a frustrated Italian-American Catholic schoolgirl at heart, and this is most evident on the hit “Judas,” which outraged officials at the Catholic Church (and, of course got her plenty of headlines in the press). “Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to,” Gaga sings, like a sinner torn between righteousness and temptation.  If you were brought up a Catholic or Protestant, isn’t that the crux of Christianity? All mortals are sinners, if one believes in true Christianity. There is absolutely nothing sacrilegious about the song at all. As Gaga said in her recent Madison Square Garden concert, the Bible teaches that Christ loves everyone; not just the pious.  No one wants a pop star to preach about Jesus, but Gaga obviously had the fire-and-brimstone damnation of dogmatic Christianity drummed into her head as a child, so her message of all-inclusiveness is sincere, which is why she is an outspoken advocate for gay and lesbian rights. This is also evident on the song “Bloody Mary,” complete with myriad references to the Virgin Mary and Christianity. There are also enough religious allusions in the song “Electric Chapel” to make any fundamentalist Jesus freak blush, and perhaps that is the point.

Gaga is a global artist, which might explain the Spanish-tinged track “Americano,” and the techno-disco “Sheiße” in which she sings a few lyrics in German. She also is not afraid to take on American myths of power and womanizing, such as slain President F. Kennedy in the song “Government Hooker,” in which she sings, “Put your hands on me/John F. Kennedy.”

The power-pop ballad “You and I” could be by any classic rocker from back in the day, in which Gaga professes drunken love to a “Nebraska guy” with, of course, more lyrical nods to the ever-elusive Jesus.

However, Gaga proves that she is not just a provocateur out for shock value in the seamless dance track “The Edge of Glory,” complete with the layers of synthesizers (and creepy ambient sounds like something from any 1980s British New Wave group) and the computerized drum machine beats that are her trademark.  This is yet another anthem destined to be an instant classic, in which Gaga sings, with soaring, semi-operatic vocals, about the gleeful feeling one gets from a new love. “The Edge of Glory” is, by far, the most original song of Gaga’s career yet, with none of the gimmickry she has been criticized for in the past, complete with a Clarence Clemons (of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band fame) saxophone solo.

It is time to stop comparing Lady Gaga to musical artists of the past and accept her for the superstar she truly is: An icon for the early 21st Century, the voice of a new generation, with an arsenal of talent underneath all those wacky outfits she sports.  Mama Monster proves with Born This Way that she is going to reign over the music world for some time, as long as her “Monster” minions are willing to worship and adore her.

Published May 27, 2011

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DIVA FROM DOWN UNDER DELIVERS: Kylie Minogue sings one of her hits during her first concert in New York this tour on May 2, 2011. Photo: John P. Hull

KYLIE MINOGUE’S APHRODITE FOLIES 2011
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
Performed by Kylie Minogue
Hammersmith Ballroom
311 West 34th Street, NYC
http://www.kylie.com/tour/

By Scott Harrah

Australian pop superstar Kylie Minogue delivered more glitz, over-the-top choreography, and razzle-dazzle spectacle than one might see in most Broadway or Las Vegas shows in the opening night of her three-day “Aphrodite Les Folies 2011”  concert tour in New York City, just one stop of many as she travels across North America (including the USA, Canada, and Mexico) with her troupe of muscle-bound acrobats, dancers, backup singers, and band to show everyone on this side of the Atlantic why she is considered an icon elsewhere in the world.  “Folies” is her second tour of North America; she was here in 2009 for a sold-out whistle-stop of small venues in major U.S. cities and Toronto, Canada.

At age 43, having survived many career ups and downs and a much-publicized battle with breast cancer (she has, thankfully, been cancer-free for five years now), Ms. Minogue still has her gorgeous looks, bubbly persona, and the lovable, high-pitched pop pipes that established her as a recording legend more than two decades earlier when she branched out into music after starring as Charlene on the Aussie soap opera, Neighbours (at one time the highest-rated TV show in the United Kingdom).

“Folies” is a scaled-down version of a show that Ms. Minogue performed in stadiums across Europe earlier this year.  Although the North American version does not include such things as the water fountains that splashed over Kylie fans across the pond, the Down Under Diva certainly packed enough high-tech visuals into the two-hour performance to more than please her American audience.

She started out with the song “Aphrodite,” the title track from her top-selling 2010 album in the USA. Ms. Minogue arrived on a giant clam shell that rose to the stage, with her clad in a Greek goddess gown (her outfits were designed by Dolce and Gabbana, and she made too many costume changes to keep count of, but half the fun of seeing the Princess of Pop is wondering what fabulous frock she’s going to wear next).  Many touches that made references to Greek mythology were included in the show, from a chariot to a marble statue to the horse Pegasus (which Kylie climbed rode on top of during one of her numbers).  From start to finish, the show was a delight for the eyes, with video screens showing Kylie in outrageous makeup and fashions, acrobats hanging from the ceiling, and dancers and backup singers everywhere.  At any given time, there must have been 15 or more people onstage (this reviewer lost count), but the focus was always on Ms. Minogue, flawlessly belting out tracks from Aphrodite as well as her classics.

Besides “Get Outta My Way,” “Put Your Hands Up” and other hits from her most recent album, Ms. Minogue treated her fans to her standards, from “Spinning Around,”  “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” a swing/jazz rendition of “Slow, “Wow,” Love At First Sight,” “Come Into My World’ and ‘Confide in Me” to some of her Stock Aitken Waterman oldies like “Better the Devil You Know”and ‘What Do I Have to Do?”

She also performed some amazing covers, including Annie Lennox’s “There Must Be An Angel Playing With My Heart,’ with her backup singers belting out the song’s chorus like something out of Motown back in the day. Another highlight was her cover of Prefab Sprout’s “If You Don’t Love Me,” done beautifully as a ballad (the song is actually included on one of her lesser-known albums from the 1990s).

At one point, Ms. Minogue took requests, and did her first-ever hit and self-described ?guilty pleasure, “The Locomotion” (the song that started it all back in the late 1980s).  There was not enough time to perform all her hits there are too many to count for us die-hard Kylie fansbut she closed the show with a high-camp rendition of her international classic On a Night Like This, complete with video screens showing Esther Williams-style swimmers while Kylie donned a sparkly Dolce and Gabbana swim cap and her backup dancers frolicked around her in high-collared suits that looked like something out of the Broadway musical adaptation of Sunset Boulevard.

The finale was the first single from last year’s Aphrodite, “All The Lovers,” her techno-disco hit that is a plea for acceptance of love of all types.  When she was finished, the audience was sprayed with glitter, and gave her a standing ovation that lasted for minutes.

In Britain and her native Australia, Ms. Minogue has been given many monikers by the press over the years, from “the Singing Budgie” to rather snarky nicknames often reserved for members of the Royal Family and other celebrities. Just like Madonna is called ‘Madge’ by many Anglos worldwide, Ms. Minogue is affectionately called “Our Kyles” in the UK and Australia because she is so adored by both Brits and Aussies.  Now, in her second North American tour in two years, Americans can also call the pint-sized diva “Our Kyles” because she has finally, after years of obscurity on this side of the Atlantic, shown us Yanks here in the Colonies that hers is an extraordinary talent, and she never fails to entertain both new and old fans alike.

Published May 4, 2011
Reviewed at performance on May 2, 2011

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