Kylie Minogue (album)
Encyclopedia
Kylie Minogue is the self-titled fifth studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

, which was first released on 19 September 1994. The album was first released by Deconstruction Records
Deconstruction Records
Deconstruction Records is a record label founded in 1987 by Pete Hadfield and Keith Blackhurst in the United Kingdom. Distribution was via label deals with Parlophone Records, for acts such as K-Klass and Bassheads), and RCA Records for everybody else....

/BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...

 throughout much of the world while in Australia and New Zealand the album was released by Mushroom
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...

. Plans for an American release by Imago Records
Imago Records
Imago Records was an independent record label which was active during the late 1980s – early 1990s. Several influential artists released albums through Imago, including Henry Rollins, Aimee Mann, Paula Cole and Love Spit Love...

 (who issued lead single there) fell through, and the release never took place. According to one of the album's songwriters and producers, Steve Anderson, the album has sold 2 million copies worldwide. Official press releases recognise 500,000 worldwide sales however. In May, 2003 the album was remastered, complete with a bonus disc filled mostly with remixes.

Background and development

Kylie Minogue was Minogue's first release outside of the production team of Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...

. In an attempt to broaden her fan base and extend herself as an artist, she took an active role in planning the album and sought out a diverse group of artists for her to collaborate with. The first recording sessions took place in 1993 and resulted in two songs recorded with Saint Etienne
Saint Etienne (band)
Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...

 (“Nothing Can Stop Us” and “When Are You Coming Home?”) and eight Minogue co-written songs with The Rapino Brothers (“Aston Martin”, “For All I’m Worth”, “Gotta Move On”, “Difficult By Design”, “Love Is On The Line”, “Our Lovin’ (The Light I Was Looking For)”, “Living For Your Loving” and “Automatic Love”).

But Deconstruction's A&R office decided they were heading into the wrong direction, so another seventeen new songs were recorded. These included eight with Brothers in Rhythm
Brothers in Rhythm
Brothers In Rhythm is a house music duo consisting of producers / remixers and DJs Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. As a duo and individually, they have remixed and/or produced tracks by Lulu, M People, Secret Life, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Garbage,...

 (“Confide In Me”, “Where Is The Feeling?”, “Dangerous Game”, “If You Don’t Love Me”, “Love Is Waiting”, “At The End Of The Day” with reproduction on “Automatic Love” and “Love Is On The Line”), four with Jimmy Harry
Jimmy Harry
Jimmy Harry is a writer/producer/multi-instrumentalist who has worked with artists from all over the world, hitting the top 10 in many different countries. Jimmy began his songwriting career by penning the global hit for RuPaul, Supermodel. Jimmy is also responsible for writing the early Kylie...

 (“If I Was Your Lover”, “Put Yourself In My Place”, “Intuition”, “The World Needs Love”), two with singer-songwriter Gerry DeVeaux (“Surrender” and “No Turning Back”), two with Pete Heller and Terry Farley (“Where Has The Love Gone?” and “Falling”) and one with M People
M People
M People are a British house music act from Manchester, who formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is from the initials of Mike Pickering, who formed the group.-Career:...

 (“Time Will Pass You By”).

On the album cover, Minogue attempted to present herself as a serious artist, rather than the vamp-like, sex kitten she had begun to personify. This can be seen not only in the album title, with the inclusion of her surname, but in her choice of outfit. Although the singles’ accompanying videos were amongst her most provocative and overt, the album cover featured black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

 photography of Minogue wearing horn-rimmed glasses
Horn-rimmed glasses
Horn-rimmed glasses are a type of eyeglasses. Originally made out of either horn or tortoise shell, for most of their history they have actually been constructed out of thick plastics designed to imitate those materials...

 and a conservative trouser and jacket suit with simplistic hair and make-up. Such a combination from someone who had so strenuously promoted herself as a fashion icon was seen by many critics to be an odd, yet suitable choice in representing a more mature image of herself.

Composition

Most of the album had incorporated dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...

 music and R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 styles ("Confide in Me", "Surrender", "If I Was Your Lover"). It also featured more mature pop music ("Put Yourself in My Place", "Dangerous Game") to more house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 styled music ("Where is the Feeling?", "Where Has the Love Gone", "Falling", "Time Will Pass You By").

The final version of the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....

 track ("Falling") that appears on the album is radically different from the demo the band submitted to Minogue, which was much more in the style of her earlier work with PWL. The basis of the demo track was an eventually abandoned Pet Shop Boys remix of their 1993 cover version of The Village People song "Go West
Go West (song)
"Go West" is a song by the 1970s disco group Village People. The song eventually found greater success when it was covered in 1993 by the synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys.-Village People version:...

". Ironically, the later Minogue song "Your Disco Needs You
Your Disco Needs You
"Your Disco Needs You" is a disco song written by Australian singer Kylie Minogue, Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams for Minogue's seventh album Light Years...

" bears strong similarities to traditional anthemic Pet Shop Boys songs such as "Go West" and "A Red Letter Day
A Red Letter Day
"A Red Letter Day" is a single by British electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It was released the fourth single from their 1996 album Bilingual on March 17, 1997. The single peaked at high #9 on the UK Singles Chart, making it another top 10 single for the group. However it then fell straight out...

".

However, such songs were not in vogue then with the mature clubbing audience that Minogue and Deconstruction were trying to target at the time. The original Pet Shop Boys demo of "Falling" (with Neil Tennant
Neil Tennant
Neil Francis Tennant is an English musician, singer and songwriter, who, with bandmate Chris Lowe, makes up the successful electronic dance music duo Pet Shop Boys.-Childhood:...

 on vocals) was later made available as part of the 2001 2-disc re-release of the Pet Shop Boys album Very. The Pet Shop Boys would later directly collaborate with Minogue for their album Nightlife, on which she sang the duet "In Denial" with Tennant.

A Franglais
Franglais
Franglais , a portmanteau combining the French words "français" and "anglais" , is a slang term for an interlanguage, although the word has different overtones in French and English....

 version of "Confide in Me", known as "Fie-toi à moi", was released exclusively on the Canadian edition of the album. This edition features different cover artwork.

Critical reception

Kylie Minogue had received generally positve reviews from music critics, many praising the slow dance music. Chris True from Allmusic gave it a positive review. He said " Kylie Minogue's fifth album no longer featured the Stock-Aitken-Waterman production gloss and found the diminutive singer working with hip dance producers like David Seaman. From the first notes of the opener "Confide in Me," you know this is not the teen pop queen of old. Kylie Minogue (also note the use of her last name on the cover) wanted to sound grown up, and she pulls it off with ease. While it is still dance-pop, there's atmosphere and style in the songs that wasn't there on Let's Get to It. Definitely the start of the second phase of her career." He had highlighted "Confide in Me
Confide in Me
Confide in Me is a compilation album by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue, which was released in May, 2002. The album cosists both studio albums of her former record label Deconstruction Records, which are Kylie Minogue and Impossible Princess. However, her single Breathe was not featured...

", "If I Was Your Lover" and "Automatic Love" as the album picks. Most music critics generally praised Minogue for her objective, however some reviews also described the end result as disjointed and disappointing.

Commercial response

"Kylie Minogue" had debuted at number three in her native Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 at number four; resulting in the album being certified Gold. The song debuted at number thirty-nine on the Swedish Albums Chart.

Singles

"Confide in Me
Confide in Me (song)
"Confide in Me" is a dance–pop song performed by Australian singer Kylie Minogue and written by Steve Anderson, Dave Seaman and Owain Barton. It was produced by Brothers in Rhythm, and received a good overall reception from music critics when it was released as the first single from Minogue’s...

", the lead single from the album, became one of Minogue's most successful single releases, reaching number one for four weeks in Australia and number two in the United Kingdom. The slow tempo dance track, written and produced by Brothers in Rhythm, featured Minogue's vocals over layers of strings and drumbeats. It also reached number one in Israel. The second single "Put Yourself in My Place" reached number eleven in both Australia and the UK. The song featured a popular music video directed by Kier McFarlane. Minogue recreated the opening sequence of the classic Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...

 film, "Barbarella
Barbarella (film)
Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim's wife at the time.-Plot:...

" (1968) in the video, performing a slow strip tease inside a spacecraft.

The follow-up single to "Put Yourself In My Place" was initially planned to be "If I Was Your Lover". Originally mixed by Jimmy Harry, the track was remixed to give it a more urban appeal. The single was supposed to be released in the US first and then in the UK if the US release was successful. After the record contract for the US fell through the UK single release was scrapped. Instead, "Where Is the Feeling?
Where Is the Feeling?
"Where Is the Feeling?" is a song by Kylie Minogue, released as the third and final single from her 1994 album Kylie Minogue. The single was released on 10 July 1995 and was produced by Brothers in Rhythm.-Background:...

" became the third release and reached number 16 in the UK and number 31 in Australia. "Time Will Pass You By" was planned to be the final single from the album and remixes were commissioned; the Paul Masterson Mix being one of them. Instead, the collaboration with Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

, "Where the Wild Roses Grow
Where the Wild Roses Grow
"Where the Wild Roses Grow" is an alternative-rock song written by Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' ninth album Murder Ballads , with guest vocals by Australian pop-singer Kylie Minogue. The song was produced by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Tony Cohen and...

", was released in late 1995.

Track listing

Charts and sales

Chart (1994) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

3
German Albums Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

78
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

54
New Zealand Albums Chart
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...

37
Swedish Albums Chart
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

39
Swiss Albums Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

33
UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

4

Country Provider(s) Certification Sales
Australia ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

Gold 35,000+
Japan RIAJ
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry...

20,000+
UK BPI
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

Gold 125,000+

Year-end charts

Year Country Position
1994 Australian Albums Chart 84

  • Album chart run on the Australian albums chart: 3-6-11-26-45-out-out-49-46-50-44-35-42

Personnel

  • Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

     - lead vocals
  • Greg Bone - guitar
  • Steve Anderson - piano, producer
  • Brothers in Rhythm
    Brothers in Rhythm
    Brothers In Rhythm is a house music duo consisting of producers / remixers and DJs Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. As a duo and individually, they have remixed and/or produced tracks by Lulu, M People, Secret Life, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Garbage,...

     - producer, arranger
  • Dancin' Danny D - producer, remixing
  • Gerry DeVeaux - producer, arranger
  • Jimmy Harry - producer, arranger
  • Pete Heller
    Pete Heller
    Pete Heller is an English electronic and house music producer. He is recognised in the dance community for his solo work, and his remixes with frequent collaborator Terry Farley. As a duo they have released popular tunes under the names Heller & Farley Project , Fire Island plus The Look and Feel...

     - producer, engineer
  • M People
    M People
    M People are a British house music act from Manchester, who formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is from the initials of Mike Pickering, who formed the group.-Career:...

     - producer, arranger
  • Paul Masterson
    Paul Masterson
    Recording as Amen! UK he had a hi-NRG hit with "Passion", released by Deconstruction Records in 1995, and as Paul Masterson presents Sushi, had another hit with "The Earthshaker" in 2002...

     - producer, remixing
  • Ronin - producer, remixing
  • Saint Etienne
    Saint Etienne (band)
    Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...

     - producer
  • Dave Seaman
    Dave Seaman
    Dave Seaman is a British dance music DJ and record producer. He was formerly a member of the DMC Publishing, and editor of music magazine Mixmag. He formed one half of Brothers In Rhythm with Steve Anderson, doing production work for Pet Shop Boys and Kylie Minogue. He has since founded Audio...

     - producer
  • John Waddell - producer, arranger
  • Justin Warfield
    Justin Warfield
    Justin Warfield is a musician and hip hop emcee of African American and Jewish Russian-Romanian maternal parentage, who is currently half of the darkwave duo She Wants Revenge...

     - producer, remixing

  • Will Malone
    Will Malone
    Will Malone is a British music producer, who has worked with artists including Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Todd Rundgren, The Verve, Massive Attack and Italian rocker Gianna Nannini. In 1976, Malone & Lou Reizner covered a Beatles song, "You Never Give Me Your Money", for the evanescent musical...

     - string arrangements
  • Richard Niles
    Richard Niles
    Richard Niles is an American composer, arranger, producer, guitarist, broadcaster and journalist. He has lived in London since 1975. Because of his extensive work across many genres Sound on Sound magazine referred to him as "one of the most versatile men in modern music".-Early years:Niles was...

     - string arrangements, brass arrangement, orchestral arrangements
  • Andy Bradfield - engineer
  • Tim Bran - engineer, associate producer
  • Ian Catt
    Ian Catt
    Ian Catt is a British record producer and multi-instrumentalist associated with several popular indie groups, notably Saint Etienne of whom he has been a touring member. He has also collaborated with Saint Etienne's vocalist Sarah Cracknell on her solo album, Lipslide...

    - engineer
  • Doug DeAngelis - engineer, mixing
  • Terry Farley - engineer
  • Paul West - engineer, mixing
  • Gary Wilkinson - engineer
  • Paul Wright III - engineer, mixing
  • Niall Flynn - assistant engineer, assistant
  • Paul Anthony Taylor - programming
  • Tom Parker - liner notes, project consultant
  • Katie Grand - stylist
  • Rankin - photography


External links

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