The One

My last Kylie post I promise...well maybe for a while anyway...

Finally the weeks of waiting are over. After days of being told that there was editing trouble The One finally has the video it deserves and yep, it was def worth the wait . Although not paid for by Parlophone but by Kylie herself (made mainly because us fans were crying out for a vid to be made) and was described as a 'budget' video before release I think that's far from the case.

It's a 'cut-down' version of the Freemasons remix so perhaps not what some people were hoping for but something is def better than nothing! Jason Beitel stars (one of Kylie's dancers from the tours) along with a female dancer, her name I don 't know, but does not take the attention away from Kylie, try as Jason might in his (small)pants lol! Kylie, Jason and the girl 'flip/grow' in and out of a kaleidascope of graphics and effects and Kylie goes through a number of costume and hair changes. It's been desribed as having 'Windows Media Player' or 'Screensaver' effects. Somehow it's better than this but I can see where people are coming from and what can you expect for a 'budget video'?

Seeing as the video was never meant to be and was made during and just after a very long European tour, some of the reviews this video is getting are very, very harsh. And this is from supposed 'fans'! Well see for yourself and decide - Parlophone (pah!) Youtube link http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQhrBOovzQ

Hopefully it will get the song noticed by more people. Last week it entered the charts at #36, which considering that was from just being a download only wasn't that bad (iTunes link http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p=23708&a=1129537&url=http%3A%2F%2Fphobos.apple.com%2FWebObjects%2FMZStore.woa%2Fwa%2FviewAlbum%3Fi%3D284900811%26id%3D284900809%26s%3D143444%26partnerId%3D2003 ). It did unfortunately break Kylie's long run of top 10s. This week it's way down at #83, not good.

What's gone wrong with Kylie?

I’ve been meaning to post this for ages but never got round to it. As I’m on a Kylie roll there’s no time like now… I did say I wasn’t gonna bother but as I fan I guess I just wanna…

On the front of July’s Attitude one of the headlines was “What’s gone wrong with Kylie?” I thought here we go another article attacking her; some of the gay press seem to have gone off her in the past year or so. I started reading expecting a lot of cheap shots and crappy whinging…by the end I found I agreed with the whole damn article!

It basically looks at the past couple of months and the sham that has been the promotion and single releases for X. Starting off with 2 Hearts seemed alright at the time. It was different, not totally something you’d expect from Kylie and pretty catchy. It didn’t do to bad, reaching number 3, but seeing as Leona Lewis and Take That made up the rest of the top 3 with pretty old songs by then. Unfortunately none of the other tracks had been officially heard and The One was yet to be played.

Why o why The One was never put out as the first single form X, or at the very least the second beats me. From the very first play of the album most fans instantly loved the song and, I guess thought this is the Kylie we love hearing. Groups and campaigns were set up calling for its release within days. It all fell on deaf ears. Who’s I dunno but I have a feeling it wasn’t Kylie’s and it was all far more out hands than we think.

Kylie herself said there was 40ish tracks made for the album. She even says that a couple she fought to get on the final cut. KYLIE had to FIGHT to get tracks on HER album! Why? It’s said that that the two guys from EMI overseeing X were wanting a different album at the end. One wanting a more traditional pop sound (Kylie) and one wanting a more adult sound (Potentially not Kylie). Whether the final album is totally what she wanted who knows? I have a feeling the fans never will. Having heard leaked tracks that never made it on to X quite a few are far superior (IMHO). Fans have even mad up there own version of the album, taking the better tracks off of X and mixing in the leaked tracks. Not exactly a good sign!

To me the album wasn’t a ‘wow’ at first. I instantly liked In my Arms, Speakerphone and WOW. The rest took a couple of listens to get into. I was expecting something along the lines of Fever and the more poppy Kylie especially after Body Language(erm…yeah…).

For the second single the UK got Wow, def more of a Kylie track, while Asia got In My Arms, again def more of the Kylie sound we know. It was a weird one. Parlophone panicking that 2 Hearts didn’t really do it so let’s throw out two pop tracks at the same time to two different parts of the world. Meanwhile America had the album release around the same time and got All I see as the first single with an added (c)rap from Mims(?). It made position 139 in the charts. Nuff said…

There was also the greatness that was The Kylie show. An hour mix of sketches and music, the show had been advertised for weeks before transmission so the build up had been pretty big.. Boy-o-boy! The music performances were good and showed off the best of X pretty well. The sketches , with the possible exception of a rare on-screen appearance with Danni, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63WEA9Q27Xw, wasn’t so great. Cheese does not begin to describe, and I don’t mean good cheese!

Many blame William Baker, her stylist and ‘gay husband’, for some of the bad descions. Be it ‘The Kylie Show’ or ‘weird’ clothing choices. Some also say that he should be advising more as a friend and fighting her corner more. I’m kinda in that camp. Yes he was the one instrumental in getting her back on track in 2000 and through the Fever period but is he really in it for Kyle or himself now? During the end period of the original Showgirl Tour Will and Kylie are said to have had an argument or disagreement . Either way he left the tour and Kylie was basically left to ‘go it alone’. She managed, up until her illness, and I’m not sure anyone really noticed. Will then went onto to produce Rent:remixed which then went on to become a huge flop. Back to Kylie he went

Here we are nearly 7 months after the release of X. The One is finally having it’s deserved release…or not! Kylie is currently (at time of writing) on the Xtour and as far as I’m aware jumping ship from Parlophone/EMI. (Last year all the ‘old skool’ bigwigs of the company left and new ones took over. It’s said that most do not have the same thinking and care for the artists.)

The single was released on the 28th July but only as a digital download on iTunes. There was no, and never will be, ‘physical’ release and there may never be a video! You could, up until a couple of weeks before the release date, order it from a load of music sites and shops. This means there was some kind of plan for the single and at some point the plug was pulled. The One deserves better than this. I think it currently sitting around the mid to low 20s in the download chart, which considering, isn’t that bad. It still does stand a chance of doing well seeing as the UK charts now take downloads into consideration.

I know it would be difficult to produce a vid while touring but again this all comes down to the whole handling of the album and the people behind it. (edit that - Just found out a 'low budget video' has been made. Dunno what is worse no vid or a low budget one? And after 5 dyas of being released!) I think this is the thing that annoys me the most about the whole X thing. This would have been a great ending for the album and yet it’s all just been left in the air. The Freemasons remix was getting loads of air play a couple of weeks back but even that’s now died down. Kylie even sung this version at the end of TheXtour I saw. Unfortunately we had no comment from her. Would have been great to have heard her thoughts on it, guess it wasn’t the time or the place and Kylie is not know for being that controversial.

Reading this you may think I’m not a true fan and that I’ve joind in the Kylie bashing. Well that aint true. I love her and her music but it’s just so frustrating to see a potentially great album and a great artist not getting the promotion and support they deserve I think she needs to take a step back and look at the people around her. She obv started to with the movement of record labels. Will this be enough?

WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!

Ok, posted quite a bit after the event but have had no internet for a week and a half so typed it out and saved it for posting later…yes another Kylie post…

Finally the time arrived for me to see Kylie’s X2008Tour, 26th July 2008 at The O2 arena, London. It was BRILLIANT!!! Boy she did not disappoint. I’d seen bits and pieces on Youtube and in the papers but nothing was like seeing it for real.

Luckily being at the O2 we had the whole show, unlike some of the open air and/or smaller venues around Europe. From the excellent opening with Speakerphone (one of the best if not unusual songs form the album), Kylie arriving on some weird cyber-spider web thing and a great vid prequel on the screens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js86tXTHiOI , to the close of The One (Freemasons Mix – YAY! There’s a whole other post/rant about the screw up release of this but I aint even gonna bother!) and I should be so Lucky with a ballon drop there was not a dull moment. This had all been proceeded by seing Mamma Mia, so it really was a camptastic day!

The show was made even better by Kylie having some of the dancers from the two previous Showgirl tours so we had the PHWAORtastic-multi-tattooed Marco Da Silva and Jason Bietel!

The stage alone was a show in it’s self , the floor doubling as a giant video screen. Sometimes mirroring what was on the main screens at the back, sometimes having its own swirling 3D effect patterns. We were pretty high up but had a great view (apart from not being able to see the top of the back vid screens because of the lighting rig) and I think we saw the stage better even though it was tilted forward for those lower down. I also decided I want the huge silver skull Kylie was slowly swung in on down the center of the stage during Like A Drug. It would be a great way to arrive at places!

It was great to hear some of the songs that didn’t make it onto X. Again another post/rant about the album/promotion/who had what say – she’s leaving Parlaphone/EMI so nuff said really. I’d already heard a few other leaked ones but no the ones that were gonna be in the show. Some of them are far far better that what actually made it onto the album! the best being Ruffle My Feathers.

Kylie’s voice sounded amazing and much better than previous times, even doing the great high, long note of Your Disco…Certainly gave a finger to the people who say she can't cut it live!

It seemed to take a bit of time for the crowd, around us anyway, to get going and I was getting a bit worried. Didn’t stop Wend and I singing/wailing at the tops of our voices and prob annoying a few around us. Oh well! By the time we had the interval and the second half got going it all seemed to change. Dunno why. By the end the atmosphere was amazing! We had the chants of “Kylie, Kylie!”, slow hand clapping and the foot stamping. Not sure if we did but I think we got a bit extra and Kyle seemed to be taken aback by the amount of noise we were making with her even asking “You gonna let me go now?” with near enough the whole arena shouting back “NOOOOOOO!” and her just standing there laughing.

Unfortunately it all had to end but we left feeling very happy. The months of build-up and our weeks and days of counting down had def all been worth it. Lets hope there is more from Kylie soon! Some say it will be sooner than you think…