'deconstruction hits' collection

This rare Kylie Collection of hits,is from her first two deconstruction albums,Kylie Minogue '94 and Impossible Princess,both now available as remastered versions.Kylie has come a long way - buy other albums,Light Years,Fever and Recent album Body Language to see how far kylie has come.This is not the 'old' kylie,where we saw hits like I Should be So Lucky.Locomotion,Got To Be Certain,Hand On Your Heart etc... This was the introduction to a new kylie.At the 1993 Brit awards,kylie announced that she'd signed up wuth the label 'Deconstruction' - a rare dance company and one of the best around.My Version of Hits+,has 16 tracks on it - not 14.

Tracklisting:

1 Confide In Me 5.56/5/5/A Single Release
2 Put Yourself In My Place 4.11/5/5/A Single Release
3 Where Is The Feeling? (BIR Dolphin Mix) 4.13/5/5/Originally,a single release
4 Some Kind Of Bliss 4.14/5/5/A Single Release
5 Did It Again 4.18/5/5/A Single Release
6 Breathe 3.39/5/5/A Single Release
7 Where The Wild Roses Grow 3.56/5/5/A Single Release
8 If You Don't Love Me 2.10/4/5/B-Side
9 Tears 4.30/5/5/B-Side
10 Gotta Move On 3.37/5/5/Unreleased
11 Difficult by Design 3.44/5/5/Unreleased
12 Stay This Way 4.35/4/5/Unreleased
13 This Girl 3.07/5/5/Exclusive UK Track
14 Automatic Love (Acoustic) 4.25/5/5/Unreleased
15 Where Has The Love Gone? (Roach Motel Mix) 9.24/5/5/Unreleased
16 Take Me With You 9.10/5/5/Taken From 'Other Sides',a c-d free when you bought 'Impossible Princess' (original)

A Fair Summary of Kylie's best ARTISTIC period.

Bringing a close to perfect (artistically) awful (sales) period of Kylie's career in the only way Kylie allowed...shame (see my note on the bottom to explain why this collection only gets 4 stars)

The singles (Confide In Me, Put Yourself In My Place, Where Is The Feeling, Some Kind Of Bliss, Did It Again, Breathe, and Where The Wild Roses Grow) sound just like they did when they were played on UK/OZ radio.

Also featured are two b-sides the beautiful "If You Don't Love Me" (Confide In Me b-side) and the weird yet cool "Tears" (Did It Again b-side/Impossible Princess Japenese bouns track)

And then come the unreleased tracks!
"Gotta Move On" and "Difficult By Design" were written by Kylie and the Rapino Brothers for her first album with Deconstruction. These tracks were among nearly a full albums worth of material recorded with the Rapino Brothers for her first Deconstruction album, however, they were all shelved when the tracks were considered to be taking the wrong musical direction (Only "Automatic Love" eventually made the cut, after being redone by Brothers In Rhythm). Both of these tracks are cool, even if they sound very dated at best.

Next are two tracks recorded around the time of Impossible Princess, the beautiful gem "This Girl" and the jazzy "Stay This Way". Both of these tracks are unforgetable!

Moving right along we have 2 "unreleased" versions of 2 tracks off of the Kylie Minogue (1994) album. The first is an accoustic version of "Automatic Love". In this version of "Automatic Love" Kylie's vocals come off even better than on the album version, and everyone that I know that isn't a fan of the album version, likes this version (I like both). Then we have the Roach Motel Remix of "Where Has The Love Gone". I don't understand why they say this was unreleased as I have it on the Mushroom records Confide In Me - The Mixes single. I prefer this remix of it to the Fire Island mix of it (which is the album version).

Finally, they close this collection with an EPIC of a song! "Take Me With You" which appeared in edited form on the Wicked Women collection. Kylie then performed it BEAUTIFULLY on her Intimate & Live tour (see the Intimate & Live CD). and here we have an almost 10 minute long version of the song. PURE BLISS. This was originally recorded for Impossible Princess, but for some reason...didn't make the cut.

A small fact about Hits+
Hits+ was originally planed as a 2 CD set with different artwork than the current artwork. However, Kylie and Co. found out about the project being planned and cut it back dramatically, although I'm sure Kylie's plan was to prevent its release completely
I could only imagine the RARE material that would have got released if they would have released it as a 2 CD set...it loses a star for this reason alone!

A Must-have for All Kylie Fans

It was impossible to get Kylie's CD's in stores after 1989 until she had her big comeback in 2001 with Fever. It still blows my mind that she's better known everywhere else but here in the good old USA. That's when the shops began to stock various collections from all the years we've missed. Now, I like the Stock Aitken Waterman stuff, but it has a tendency to become repetetive after a while. No wonder she wanted to get out from under, writing and producing her own material. Kylie isn't afraid to take chances. In some ways that's good, and in some ways bad. Hits Plus takes the best tracks (which are few and far between) from her Confide in Me disc, and also provides fans with a wealth of both rare and previously unreleased songs.
"Confide in Me" is a surprise if you haven't heard it before, with a lavish string embellishment and a sensual aura.
"Put Yourself in My Place" is both beautiful and painful.
"Did it Again" is a good little rocker that reminds me a bit of some of INXS' late 80's material. More interesting is the fact that Kylie is scolding herself for being so self-critical.
"Some Kind of Bliss" isn't my favorite, but at least it's energetic.
I absolutely love "Breathe." It's very much like "Did it Again," except more sensuous and the production on it is superb.
"If You Don't Love Me" is a short, but pretty tune with Kylie being accompanied only by a piano, showcasing the fact that she's not just another averaged-voiced pop princess.
"Where is the Feeling" is one of the strangest and most interesting alternative songs on the collection. I didn't like it at first, but now I think it's too brilliant to ignore!
"Tears," sadly enough, doesn't do anything for me accept make me want to shed a few. You have to make up your own mind on this one.
My two favorite songs on here are "Gotta Move On" and "Difficult by Design." Long-time Kylie fans should love both these songs, because they're high energy dance tunes with good choruses, and they're far more grown up and sophisticated that Kylie's early stuff.
"Stay this Way" is another big surprise, and a pleasant one for a jazz enthusiast like me. Beautiful phrasing, gorgeous overall performance. Since she's pretty gutsy with change, yours truly would like to hear her do a project with the likes of David Benoit or Tom Scott.
"Automatic Love" is definitely another favorite. Lush, amazingly understated acoustic ballad. Breathtaking and romantic.
"Where Has the Love Gone" is my least favorite thing on here. Ew, more like where have the last 9 minutes I'll never get back gone? Boring, repetitive dance tune that goes on too long and makes you want to scream.
"Take Me with You" is truly amazing, and something different than almost anybody might expect. How to describe this isn't as easy as insisting you hear it. Talk about a song you'd just love to have intimate relations too. It's a curious blend of new ageisms and primitive tribal percussion punctuated by Kylie's erotic vocals. Now this is a 9 minute track worth your time!
Hits Plus is a great disc I would recommend whether you are new to the Kylie camp or a long-time fan. I would also recommend the new '87 to '97 collection. You'll find that Kylie is a very versatile artist, and you shouldn't come away disappointed.

A wrap-up of Kylie's transition period

For those who have all of Kylie's albums up through Fever, the release of Hits+ may or may not elicit a "Wha...?" reaction. This contains material from her two albums under Deconstruction Records, her eponymous fifth album and the techno/industrial misfire of Impossible Princess, as well as rare tracks not on any album.

At the very least, the best songs from each of those albums are here. From Kylie Minogue, we have "Confide In Me," which introduced the new Kylie, from dolorous violin and strings, and then the programmed industrial drum machines forming a backbeat. As a prelude to the title, she sings, "We all get hurt by love, and we all have a cross to bear, and in the name of understanding now, a problem should be shared."

An airy and dreamy aura is heard in the soulful ballad "Put Yourself In My Place" where the protagonist asks for empathy before being told she's no longer in someone's life. One of the better tracks from that album.

The BIR Dolphin Mix of "Where Is The Feeling" ensconces the original in a mix more at home from Impossible Princess rather than the original's nouvelle disco. Not too happy with this version.

However, there's an acoustic version of "Automatic Love," consisting of piano, guitar, and strings instead of the synths and drum machines of the original. I'm kind of getting attached to this version more. The Roach Motel remix of "Where Has The Love Gone?" consists of loud techno and bouncy bass synth beats which I have no complaints over.

From Impossible Princess, we have "Some Kind Of Bliss," which despite the industrial crunch is helped by a jangly guitar, brass section, and strings that are meshed into a weird wall of sound. "Did It Again" incorporates a sitar along with the industrial techno, while "Breathe" is a worthy shot at ambient utilizing Moby and Massive Attack sounds.

Of the new songs, "If You Don't Love Me" is a great Bacharach-like piano only ballad with Kylie trying to sound like Mariah Carey in her higher octave. Love this one and the moody nightclub piano jazz of "Stay This Way." "Tears" is a rapid BPM techno number that belongs on Impossible Princess, with a guitar-like synth blaring on occasions.

With the early-Madonna sounding, "Gotta Move On," along with Swing Out Sister-like jazziness mixed with bubblegum-type drumming, I say "no kidding." Another hidden treasure! "Difficult By Design" fits squarely in her self-titled album, a sister track to the original strings/bubblegum version of "Where Is The Feeling?" with an SOS-like AM jazzy piano. Finally, "Take Me With You" is another Massive Attack-like song with female tribal chants inbetween verses.

I wonder if a schism was created between two sets of Kylie fans, those who first fell for her during her Stock-Aitken-Waterman era (like me), and those who were introduced to her via her brief sojourn away from disco. Whatever the case, this compilation at least serves to close the brief second chapter of the continuing story of Kylie Minogue, and herald the glimmering chapter 3, beginning with Light Years. As for those new piano ballads, rare gems indeed!

Deconstructing an Era

Kylie's two albums with Deconstruction may have been a disastrous career move (none of the albums did well in the UK, Kylie's main sales area) but die-hard fans remember them as the two most definitive Kylie albums. Repeated listening proves that the second release, 'Impossible Princess', was the most accomplished of the two, and this Hits collection gathers together the best of those albums along with a few unreleased tracks from the same 1994-1997 Era. To say that this is an essential collection is an understatement. However, for some inexplicable reason, this has remained one of Kylie's most poorly selling records ever, and has never received a US release. Not surprising then, that this album has missed the eye of many an American Kylie fan. Heres a review of every track on the CD :

1. Confide In Me (Radio Version) : This song actually made it to American radio, but this version is the Australian radio edit. Between mixing a psychedelic 60s mood with 90s Europop, this remains one of Kylie's best singles, and perhaps the best thing she did on Deconstruction.

2. Put Yourself In My Place (Radio Version) : This song, from the 1994 album, was the second single from that CD. Not groundbreaking, but a pleasant singalong alternative pop track.

3. Where Is The Feeling? (Dolphin Mix) : The 1994 CD was known for its clubby air, and this song is most evocative of that CD's ambience. One of Kylie's strongest dance songs, its also melodically superior to most of the garbage on the airwaves right now.

4. Some Kind Of Bliss : The first song here from 'Impossible Princess'. It was also the first single release from that album, and is most remembered for being an instant flop on both sides of the Atlantic. British audiences will be suprised to know that this song actually did get US airplay before being discarded into oblivion. A poor video set in a gas station with Kylie not looking her best is what this song is most remembered for.

5. Did It Again : One of the better songs from 'IP', and perhaps Kylie's best ever music video. A blend between Oriental rhythm and percussion, its an instantly catchy little piece, and while its message isn't revolutionary, its an ounce of pop fluff that holds up even today. Pretty remarkable.

6. Breathe (Radio Version) : One of the most spellbinding songs from 'IP' also made for a spectacular video. 'Breathe' has inspired a fansite and web forum, and rightfully so. Weaving effortlessly between pop and glam rock, the track is one of the few that makes 'IP' so unforgettable.

7. Where The Wild Roses Grow : Kylie's collaboration with Nick Cave gained her instant respect in Australia where she is most often thought of as a pop kitten who fled for Britain in pursuit of fortune. Her stunning vocals on this ballad makes it clear that she is a singer of great potential. These days, this track is remembered as one of her landmark career achievements. A combination of the music of Crowded House and The Beautiful South, this song deserves a place on this collection.

9. Tears : So far available only on the Japanese import version of 'Impossible Princess', its great to see it here.

The rest of the songs on here are new productions, which actually mean that they were probably recorded during 1994-1998 and just never made it to any CD pressing. Theres an unnecessary version of 'Where has the love gone?', and an acoustic rendition of 1994's 'Automatic Love' as well.

Hits+ is the definitive Kylie collection of her Deconstruction years, but its also a fine introduction to her music, especially if you're a fan who discovered her through 2000's 'Light Years'. Highly recommended.

Wonderful Kylie Collection

"Hits+" is a wonderful collection of Kylie' songs from 1994 to 1998 featuring many rare, unreleased tracks and remixes. "Confide In Me" and "Some Kind Of Bliss", 2 of my all time Kylie's favorites are classics, such as "Where The Wild Roses Grow" and the Farley & Heller "Roach Motel Mix" of "Where Has The Love Gone" shines. The booklet also contains gorgeous photos by Ellen Von Unwerth. But the true gems of this collection are the wonderful acoustic version of "Automatic Love" and the sublime "IF YOU DON'T LOVE ME" with Kylie as you've never heard before. Definitly a must-have.