By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Padam Padam; Hold On To Now; Things We Do For Love; Tension; One More Time; You Still Get Me High; Hands; Green Light; Vegas High; 10 Out Of 10; Story

There were 18 months between the 1st time we saw Kylie live on the Enjoy Yourself tour at the now-no-more London Arena in Docklands in 1990 and the 2nd on the Let’s Get To It tour at the old Wembley Arena.

• Read on for reasons including why this is 1 of the most thrilling points of Kylie’s musical career

But for us it was the most thrilling period of her 35-year musical career as she shed her pop puppet persona and started to take clear control of her new grown-up image.

It reminds us of her gig at what is now the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith in March 2001 on her On A Night Like This tour when she played Can’t Get You Out Of My Head before its release and it was clear she had a worldwide smash prepped and ready to go.

That’s the feeling we have for her now as she releases her 16th album containing 2 of the best singles of 2023, Padam Padam and the album’s title track.

Padam is longlisted as 1 of our songs of the year and in May when it was a song of the week for us we said: ‘We think this is Minogue’s best single since Timebomb in 2012.’ It went on to be her biggest UK hit since All The Lovers made number 3 in 2010 and has been a hit all over the world.

Title track Tension reminds us of the complex, hook-filled electropop of a decade or so ago and was September’s song of the month for us when we said: ‘It’s tapping into everything Kylie has always done best: this is fun pop with multiple hooks, dancefloor based and unashamedly flirtatious as anything.’

The album maintains the ambition and quality of those singles with the 70s orchestral disco stabs of One More Time making us think it might be the next single, You Still Get Me High keeping the good vibes rolling and Story offering a little more melancholy and reflection than usual.

1 criticism we’d make of previous Kylie albums is that they have stuck too closely to their themes of late (Christmas, country and disco) which was often to their detriment but at least with the latter she proved that she was so much more than her singles with the album’s quality up there with Light Years and Rhythm Of Love.

If we have 1 gripe it is that there is no need to include a Vegas song to highlight the upcoming residency and that for all its interesting reflection on the illusory nature of the destination the sheer obviousness of its inclusion is disappointing.

Far more compelling is the argument the 55-year-old makes against ageism and we absolutely can’t wait to see her live and soon for the 1st time since the rather underwhelming Kiss Me Once tour at The 02 in 2014.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Kylie Tickets
• Have you seen a Kylie show before and do you have a favourite song?
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