Penultimate Kylie? (Ultimate Kylie - Kylie Minogue)

Member Name: Ling_Woo

Product:	Ultimate Kylie - Kylie Minogue
Date:	18/08/08 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A collection of some of the finest pop music around.

Disadvantages: A few glaring omissions, a couple of questionable additions, a rather asthetically displeasing cover

Three albums in from Kylie's return to her pop roots on new label Parlophone, came an updated Greatest Hits collection.

One thing I couldn't hope but notice about this collection as soon as I purchased it, was a few glaring omissions.
'Word Is Out' and 'Some Kind Of Bliss' were lead singles from album releases, and deserved an inclusion based on that alone.
I would have also liked to see 'Finer Feelings', a #11 single included, and 'What Kind Of Fool', a #14 single.

True to form, this has Kylie's first UK single 'I Should Be So Lucky' which stormed to #1, every single to make the UK top 10 (barring 'If You Were With Me Now') and each and every single from her Parlophone era.

Personal highlights for me are 'On A Night Like This', my favourite Kylie single ever and is absolute pop perfection, 'Better The Devil You Know', a defining track from her early period, 'What Do I Have To Do' and 'Got To Be Certain', also from her early period, 'Put Yourself In My Place', an emotive ballad from the mid-90s, 'Did It Again', an underrated guitar-pop frenzy from the 90s, all of the Fever singles (Can't Get You Out Of My Head, In Your Eyes, Love At First Sight and Come Into My World), and Giving You Up.

Lowlights for me are 'Tears On My Pillow', a dreary, tacky cover which I cannot fathom how this became a #1 for her and 'Celebration', a horrible cover of the Kool And The Gang hit which is a questionable inclusion as it flopped horribly and deserves to be forgotten. Also the tracklisting is in a very peculiar order, and would have been more effective in a simple chronological order.

Two new tracks for the collection were included, 'I Believe In You' and 'Giving You Up', two modern pop masterpieces which went on to become hit singles.

The collections spans across two discs, and as it is a fairly comprehensive collection of some of the best, solid gold pop ever, I awarded this a five star honour.

TRACKLISTING:

DISC ONE:
1. Better The Devil You Know
2. The Locomotion (7" Mix)
3. I Should Be So Lucky
4. Step Back In Time
5. Shocked
6. What Do I Have To Do (7" Mix)
7. Wouldn't Change A Thing
8. Hand On Your Heart
9. Especially For You (with Jason Donovan)
10. Got To Be Certain
11. Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi
12. Give Me Just A Little More Time
13. Never Too Late
14. Tears On My Pillow
15. Celebration

DISC TWO:

1. I Believe In You
2. Can't Get You Out Of My Head
3. Love At First Sight
4. Slow
5. On A Night Like This
6. Spinning Around
7. Kids (with Robbie Williams) (Radio Edit)
8. Confide In Me
9. In Your Eyes
10. Please Stay
11. Red Blooded Woman
12. Giving You Up
13. Chocolate (Radio Edit)
14. Come Into My World (Radio Edit)
15. Put Yourself In My Place
16. Did It Again
17. Breathe
18. Where The Wild Roses Grow (with Nick Cave)

Summary: A very highly recommended purchase.