The Hits...where? (The Hits And Beyond - Dannii Minogue)

Member Name: bilbob20

Product:	The Hits And Beyond - Dannii Minogue
Date:	17/07/08 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good collection of pop songs

Disadvantages: Unneccesary and there are a few belters missing.

Its hard to imagine Kylie Minogue without the grimacing Dannii just a bus ride behind her. Kylie hit the soaps, so then did Dannii. Kylie recorded a single, so then did Dannii. Kylie had a number one, so...wait a minute... In every way, they are similar, bearing the same smiles and nearly the same voices. Its often mused that there is no point to Dannii as she is just a poor emulation. However, somewhere in there, there has been enough good songs to allow her to maintain a moderately successful singles career, even if the albums have nearly always bombed.

The Hits and Beyond doesn't actually cover Dannii's entire career. In fact, its a sort of half Greatest Hits, half unfinished studio album. Coming to the end of her record contract a few years back, the company didn't seem to know what to do with her. Most recent album Neon Nights seemed to ignite a previously unheard of interest in her, and allowed her to enjoy success that she had fought cannily for years to have.

The album opens with the fantastic hypnotic dance of Put The Needle On It. A song that seemed to be about playing a record, with a video that further enhanced that notion, Dannii grooves her voice across a beefed up vocoder for the best song of her career. Needle was one of a few Top 10 hits for Dannii and certainly deserved its recognition.

Follow up single I Begin To Wonder is her other finest moment, and appropriately her biggest selling single. This trance-lite track with its surly growling and addictive chorus took Dannii to number 2 in the charts a few years ago, and found her at number 1 on the club charts.

So Under Pressure is a rather dull but enthusiastic attempt at house music. With a high pitched chorus and a rather irritatingly nasal verse, this seems to be where things really started to go wrong for Dannii. It was the lead single from this release, but really didn't do anything for her profile. If anything, it undid the good that previous recordings had done to ingratiate her with a mostly unreceptive audience.

Putting your own words to other people's songs seems to be the done thing since Sophie Ellis Bextor did in 2000. Dannii sits comfortably with that form of song writing. You Wont Forget About Me is backdropped by Flower Power, a previous dance record to give her another moderate hit. The song itself isn't entirely original, but its enjoyable enough in its genre.

Another fine moment for Dannii with her 1997 club hit All I Wanna Do. This track is the one occasion when Dannii was able to eclipse the success of her sister, when this entered the charts 16 places above Kylie. The songs boasts an exceptional vocal from her which shows her belting out a high range chorus over soaring beats.

This Is It is an enjoyable cover of Melba Moore's early 80s hit. The video had a loved up Dannii cavorting on the beach with former husband Julian McMahon (of Nip/Tuck and Charmed fame). The song is a piece of melody heaven, with a sing-a-long chorus that certainly beats the somewhat bland original. This was a Top 10 hit for Dannii in the summer of 93.

Dont Wanna Lose This Feelings is a disco classic in the making. Later paired up with Madonna's Into The Groove, this is Pop-Dannii at her best. A self-confident verse with a slightly lacklustre chorus doesn't make this disco track any less enjoyable. Although it was the least interesting of the Neon Night singles. It also gave Dannii a Top 10 hit.

Funky 1992 single Baby Love sits well among Dannii's early material. At a time where she desperately wanted to emulate Kylie's success, but not her sound, this is so far removed from what people expected. Bringing to life a somewhat 70s production to Steve Hurley's funked up version of the track gave Dannii another of her early Top 10 hits.

The trippy production of Everything I Wanted was a great follow up to All I Wanna Do. Dance versions by Trousers of Enthusiasm cemented Dannii's escalation from pop failure to club diva brilliantly. Whilst not as instantly likeable or hummable as the previous single, Everything was perfect for late 90's pop radio.

My personal favourite of Dannii's singles was the trancey Disremembrance. A song about the contradictions of memory, it boasts an unusually soulful and engaging vocal from Dannii which is supported in the chorus by a myriad of backing singers. This song also had a fair amount of remixes for its release, but none as excellent as the single and album mixes. This was worthy of the number 1 slot, unfortunately it got nowhere near that.

Stacey Latisaw's classic Jump To The Beat is infiltrated with a shocking rap by some rapper that totally kills the song stone dead. Dannii's bit is enjoyable, but what was she thinking with this rent-a-ranter drivel that makes no sense to a song that so completely tried to emulate the original song that it covers. Shameful cover.

Debut single Love and Kisses comes in quite late in this album. Just as well, for it is awful. Dannii's soulless vocal mixed with another of those rent-a-rapper moments kill off any potential that some singing lessons might have saved. The lyrics are banal beyond belief, and its a wonder that management Terry Blamey ever allowed MCA to work with Dannii if this was how they progressed.

Second single Success was moderately more adept. Dannii takes on rap duties herself this time, although quite why she was obsessed by the rappers of the time is anybody's guess. She does a decent job thought, and this song is funky enough to get you on the dancefloor. I cant imagine many dancefloors will remember it thought.

Recent hit Perfection is exactly that. Boasting a stunning (if a little cheap looking) video films in Ibiza, the songs is perfect summer dance. It once again allows Dannii to put a lyric to an existing dance song, although this time around her voice is game for it.

Riva also allowed Dannii to sing one of their songs with Who Do You Love Now. Of all the Dannii dance singles, this is the finest. Its pure club trance with a belter of a chorus and a surprisingly classic vocal from Dannii herself. Its hard to break a habit, she sings, and you wont be able to get it out of your mind.

Its towards the end of the album that the 5 songs (along with Perfection, You Wont Forget About Me and So Under Pressure) recorded for the new studio album come to light. Its hard to see why Dannii didn't see this through. Love Fight is an interesting track although doesn't really go anywhere. The soulfully excellent I Cant Sleep At Night could have opened doors for Dannii, and the brilliant Gone is the best thing that she has never released, calling to mind Kylie's own Cant Get You Out Of My Head. It really is that good.

On the downside, there are a few Dannii tracks that I actually like, that haven't made it here. Where is the rocky Get Into You or the soul pop of This Is The Way. Both were splendid singles that got overlooked simply because of the snobbery towards Dannii. They should have been included though, if just for completion sake.

There really isn't any need for Dannii to release a greatest hits album, there has never been that much interest in her music or in her persona. To many, she still remains Kylie's bitter sister. Which is a shame really, because recent stint on X Factor has shown a different side to her. On the back of this collection, its a shame that she hasn't really been allowed to grow, as each era is potentially better than the last. And if we're brutally honest about it, she's certainly a better singer than Kylie. An admission it breaks my heart to make.

Summary: She's not Kylie, but she really might be the next best thing.