Oh, the complications behind Where is the Feeling?
Almost missed the album entirely. Scheduled to be the second single, but was postponed in favor of Put Yourself in My Place. Scheduled, but shelved in favor of If I Was Your Lover (which never happened.) Shelved in favor of Kylie shooting Bio-Dome. (Yes, that took precedence. That's where she met boyfriend of five months Pauly Shore. YEP.) Finally released seven months after her last single was released. Even with the drastic remix, time proved to be too much of a deterrent and it became the only Kylie single to ONLY chart in the UK and Australia, not doing spectacularly well in either country.
"Some Kind of Bliss" is an interesting song. I like the mishmash of sounds and styles. There's not a lot going on lyrically, but it's got a nice relaxing vibe.
The verses and the chorus belong to two different songs.
Sounds like a precursor to what would be the working relationship between Kylie and the writers/producers of ...
When word leaked that Kylie would be working with Xenomania for her greatest hits, the Al-Kylieada was divided. Newer, younger fans were jazzed; older fans were worried. The older ones had reason to be.
When Giving You Up was released, a lot of people complained that it sounded like a Girls Aloud leftover. I disagreed; Xenomania would have never given Girls Aloud something so flat and at times leaden. This sounds seriously disjointed. Everything Xenomania does sounds seriously disjointed, as that is their process - every song is a composite of at least four different songs, but there's not throughline - and more importantly, no excitement - here. One can understand, as Xenomania was also entirely producing stuff for GA, as well as tracks for Sugababes and Rachel Stevens at the time - but Kylie is Kylie. They could have, should have given her something better; head producer/writer Brian Higgins admitted as much.
The most pivotal moment of young Kylie's career, Finer Feelings introduced Kylie to the man who would become her musical soulmate, Steve Anderson. Anderson and his partner Dave Seaman made up the musical outfit Brothers in Rhythm, and BIR remixed Finer Feelings. They transformed the 70s soul aping original into something sleeker, more sophisticated and wholly deeper, skills they would later use in writing and producing a signature Kylie song that you all won't be seeing until the end. (Did I say too much?)
Ugh, disappointing. "Finer Feelings" may be sort of low-impact compared to all these hard-hitting dance tracks, but it's got a restrained drama about it that's very evocative and sexy.
These last four have hurt so much. I just love how "Finer Feelings" is the perfect gate between Let's Get to It and KM94.
There's a point on "Giving You Up" where the song feels endless, it's probably that "disjointed" Xenomania production that gives it that quality I love so much.
"What Do I Have To Do?" It's just perfect. Exhilarating, emotionally dead-on lyrics, attitude. And the "love ya!" hook is stunning.
What the f... is that Top 10 made of for God's sake?
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