Kylie Minogue- Light Years
2000
4.5 stars

Tick, Tick, TICK....the clock's steady ticking had become a bellowing roar in Kylie Minogue's eardrum to start the new millennium. By the end of the 90s, she had all but disappeared from the map. Her two previous records, Kylie Minogue and Impossible Princess, saw the popstar achieve a degree of artistic credibility tangible enough to warrant a duet with Nick Cave. Nevertheless, her commercial viability took a serious nosedive. While her DeConstruction period proved thoroughly enjoyable, it was evident that Miss Minogue was in major need of a stylistic makeover. The world simply was not ready for ironic songs of inner turmoil from the insouciant lass who had so cheerfully resurrected the Locomotion not so long before. Enter Light Years, the album that would usher in Kylie's commercial comeback and as such, an album aimed directly at her fans' puerile pop palate. Light Years sees Kylie abandon the irony in favor of forthright neo-disco and pop to great success.

Pop had burst onto the scene anew and Kylie took advantage of the opportunity to recapture her glory with an album ripe for mass consumption. The sonic equivalent of glitter, Light Years is loaded with a frenetic disco pulse and an attitude that could forge fun even amidst a mass human extermination. Led by the succulent dance anthems "Spinning Around" and "On a Night Like This", the relentless assault on the hips begins with a walloping 1-2 punch unmatched in her repertoire. The dancefloor now alight with its myriad colors, Kylie leads her troupe in perfect harmony through the defiant "So Now Goodbye" and the scorching furor of "Disco Down".

Somewhere along the line, Kylie had become a gay icon, and Light Years proved the perfect propaganda to enlist her pink army once again. Having already seduced her camp, the stage is set for possibly the most glorious triumvirate of kitsch laid to record. Once boarding the "Loveboat", which is just as twee as a cocktail umbrella, it's hard to resist joining the Conga line and shuffling along to the boppy "Koocachoo". Nevertheless, these pale in comparison to "Your Disco Needs You", a queer call to arms so ridiculous and revelrous that words fail to capture its gay grandeur. What follows is the only real miscue on the album- the saccharine ballad "Bittersweet Goodbye", which simply doesn't have a ticket on this disco train. Elsewhere along the ride is the Spanish-tinged "Please Stay", the delicious hypnotic chug of "Butterfly" and the utterly astonishing title track, ever as transcendent and timeless as its main influence, Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". This is not Kylie the cute bubblegum heartthrob or Kylie the postmodern raver. This is Kylie as Venus of the dancefloor, and she has come to take no prisoners.

Light Years provided the perfect platform for Parlophone to launch Kylie's Renaissance. By simply reminding the world that she could have fun again, she maneuvered her way back into the public consciousness. It set the stage for bigger things to come, as the subsequent Fever saw Kylie capture the world (yes, including America) by storm. Nevertheless, Light Years remains the most unabashed display of pop in her canon, which is quite the feat.

i like that album... it has a great feel and it's a coherent piece of work.

bless her!

It's ok. I much prefer Impossible Princess and Fever, though. Most of the songs are way too damn campy for me. I have never been able to listen to "Your Disco Needs You".

VoicesCarry said:

So do I.

My boy writes so well...

my first kylie...

Lost my K-Virginity with it!

made me get in touch with my inner gay!! LOL

Diva said:

I've been trying to encourage him to make a career of it.

I'd take Kylie over Madge any day.

"like a butterflyyyyy!!!!!"

Ocean Blue (from same era) should've been a single!

GangstaFam said:

He totally should, I've told him the same thing, he's really got a flair for it, you Renners are talented creatures.

Diva said:

Aw, thanks sweets! You're not too shabby yourself. Always nice to see you back around these parts.