cd reviews pop/rock
Kylie Minogue, "X" (EMI)
It's puzzling that Minogue's iconic stature in Europe and in her native Australia hasn't translated into more U.S. success. And the mystery will deepen if her new "X" doesn't catch on because a good chunk of it sounds like a facsimile of the best recent music from Gwen Stefani, Nelly Furtado and Britney Spears. Twenty years into her pop career, Minogue out-chameleons Madonna. Fans can feast on the standout tracks -- the electro-grainy, Goldfrapp-esque "Like a Drug," the crunchy/catchy, slinky single "2 Hearts," the Daft Punk-ish robotic hypno-funk "Speakerphone" and the mesmerizing vintage-Minogue sprawling dance track "The One." She is at the top of her game with all of these cuts, a crafty patchwork of contemporary sounds custom-made for her fans. Minogue, 39, returns from her 2005 battle with breast cancer to fight for U.S. airplay, as she swings from playful fluff such as "No More Rain" and "Wow" (both suitable for Radio Disney) to the rumbling, naughty Spears-like "Nu-di-ty" to the chunky, bleeping, ersatz Stefani "Heart Beat Rock" to the All-American hip-pop "All I See." 5311
CHUCK CAMPBELL, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
Sarah Brightman, "Symphony"
(Manhattan)
Her first studio album in five years is the aural equivalent of a military surge. The arrangements are overstuffed with people doing things in every conceivable spot. On "Canto Della Terra," the stratospheric duet with popera pal Andrea Bocelli, both grandeur-prone voices intertwine and soar as only they can, as an army of strings prods them ever higher. A choir of, oh, 500 voices competes and then, like a cherry atop a 1,000-calorie sundae, a horn wraps a bow over everything. The song is curiously, stunningly, beautiful. "Fleurs du Mal" might be even more bombastic and thrilling. The windswept goth rock/classical number opens with heavy metal guitars, a clarinet and the London Symphony Orchestra swooping in like a bomber jet. That massive choir hammers the hook home. Even Kiss singer Paul Stanley adds a bit of soul to counter Brightman's otherworldly multioctave soprano on the "Pokemon" track "I Will Be With You (Where the Lost Ones Go)." 5312
HOWARD COHEN, MIAMI HERALD
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