Was It That Obvious?

Rounding off my 3-day celebration of Australia, what better way to get the weekend started than with Kylie?!

 

If Dubhed was a prize-giving blog, then Charity Chic would have cleaned up yesterday with his astute prediction. Unfortunately, it's not but hopefully the crushing disappointment will be offset by the prospect of nearly 90 minutes of Ms. Minogue.

This being Friday, I've often tended to feature selections of 12" mixes and slightly more 'up' music so in Australian terms, it was always likely to be Kylie over Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, wasn't it? Although they did collaborate back in 1995, including a memorable appearance on Top Of The Pops, when the pop princess reinvented herself as Indie Kylie.

Today's selection however focuses solely on Disco Kylie, spanning three decades and showing no sign of slowing down now we're midway through the 2020s. 

Although her music career exploded from the Stock, Aitken & Waterman hit factory, Kylie moved on in the early 1990s and has followed her own course ever since, working with some dynamic producers and remixers along the way.

 

I've never particularly considered myself a Kylie fan, I've bought a few singles here and there mainly for the remixes but never any of her albums. I thought the 'country' songs a few years ago were a misstep, but that's the beauty of Kylie. If you don't like what's she doing right now, there will either be club-friendly remixes to compensate, or another change around the corner with her next album.

 

This is one musical pleasure I don't feel guilty about in the slightest. And even if my primary reason for buying a single or compilation was to get that remix by DNA, The Chemical Brothers or Tom Middleton, so what?

Today's selection reflects some early favourites: Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi is cheesy perhaps but I love it; What Do I Have To Do? and Shocked were the big hits whilst I was in Australia; The Chemical Brothers remix of Slow is twice as good as the original. And I would have bought the Soulwax remix compilation anyway - they're brilliant - but their scuzzy, fuzzy overhaul of Can't Get You Out Of My Head was worth the price alone.

In a half-arsed attempt to dodge the sniffer bots and a DMCA takedown notice, I've avoided any reference to Ms. Minogue in the post title and have named the selection SmileyKylie in the hope that it similarly avoids unwanted attention on KrakenFiles or Mega. As usual, the download links will be up for roughly a month, so get in there now!

 

1) Too Much Of A Good Thing (12" Mix By Phil Harding & Ian Curnow) (1992)

2) Into The Blue (Yasutaka Nakata (CAPSULE) Remix) (2014)

3) Finer Feelings (Brothers In Rhythm 12" Mix By Dave Seaman, Steve Anderson & Alan Bremner) (1992)

4) Red Blooded Woman (Whitey Mix By Nathan White) (2005)

5) Confide In Me (Justin Warfield Mix) (1994)

6) It's No Secret (Alternative Extended Version By Dave Ford) (1988)

7) What Do I Have To Do? (Extended Album Mix II By Phil Harding & Ian Curnow) (1991)

8) Falling (Farley & Heller Alternative Mix By Terry Farley & Pete Heller) (1994)

9) Slow (Chemical Brothers Remix By Ed Simons & Tom Rowlands) (2003)

10) Shocked (DNA Mix By Neal Slateford & Nick Batt) (12" Version ft. Jazzi P)  (2001)

11) Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi (The Revolutionary Mix By Phil Harding) (1989)

12) Chocolate (Tom Middleton Cosmos Mix) (2004)

13) Dancing (Initial Talk Remix) (2018)

14) Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Soulwax Kyluss Remix By David Dewaele & Stephen Dewaele) (2001)

 

1989: Hand On Your Heart EP: 6 

1989: Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi EP: 11

1991: Shocked EP: 10

1992: Celebration EP: 1

1992: Finer Feelings EP: 3

2003: Kylie Minogue (Special Edition) (2x CD): 5 

2003: Slow (promo 12"): 9

2004: Chocolate EP: 12

2005: Red Blooded Woman EP: 4 

2007: Most Of The Remixes We've Made For Other People Over The Years...: 14

2010: What Do I Have to Do? (The Original Synth Mixes) EP: 7

2014: Kiss Me Once (Japan only bonus track): 2 

2016: Confide In Me: 8

2018: Dancing EP: 13

SmileyKylie (1:28:22) (KF) (Mega)

* Or, to give the Soulwax compilation it's full title,

Most Of The Remixes We've Made For Other People Over The Years Except For The One For Einstürzende Neubauten Because We Lost It And A Few We Didn't Think Sounded Good Enough Or Just Didn't Fit In Length-Wise, But Including Some That Are Hard To Find Because Either People Forgot About Them Or Simply Because They Haven't Been Released Yet, A Few We Really Love, One We Think Is Just OK, Some We Did For Free, Some We Did For Money, Some For Ourselves Without Permission And Some For Friends As Swaps But Never On Time And Always At Our Studio In Ghent.