By John Hill
Calvin Harris – 18 Months
Of all the albums I have reviewed, 18 Months may be the
easiest one yet because I already know half of the album. By the time this
album was released in October of 2012, it had been about 18 months since the
first single “Bounce” was released, easily making this one of the longest
promotional pushes for an album that I can recall.
Looks like it’s worked,
though: in his native England, every single released has gone to either number
two or number one, and he has scored two top 20 hits here in the US (“Feel So
Close” and “Let’s Go”). That’s not counting Rihanna’s number one smash “We
Found Love” that Calvin shares billing on.
The biggest concern coming into an album like this is that
it sounds more like a Greatest Hits set than an original album, but by the time
I hit track four (“We Found Love”), the album started to feel like a sonically
consistent disc that flowed from one thumping track to the next. To Harris’s
credit, the instrumental tracks do a great job of binding all of the hit
singles together. Even hip-hop cuts from Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal still
fit in despite not being “dance.” However, the revelation on this disc is
“Thinking About You,” with vocals from frequent collaborator Ayah Marar. That cut alone makes releasing
the whole disc worthwhile and needs to be released as a single soon. Skip the
latest NOW hits collection and pick up 18
Months instead.
Kylie Minogue – The Abbey Road Sessions
When die-hard fans of Kylie Minogue think about her older
material, they think about high-energy jams like “Hand on Your Heart” and
“Better the Devil You Know.” But a well-established diva like Kylie can only
perform the same version of the same song so many times before she (and
probably her audience) gets sick of it. To her credit, Minogue has been
reworking her classics live for years, breathing new life into songs like
“Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and “The Locomotion.” Now, as she celebrates 25
years in the business, Kylie has released The
Abbey Road Sessions, recorded at the famed Abbey Road studios at the end of
2011.
While it might be easy to call this set a gimmicky
throwaway, there are some impressive moments. “Confide in Me,” which always was
a bit dark and sinister, amps up the Middle East flair and slithers along.
Speaking of sinister, Kylie’s duet with Nick Cave “Where the Wild Roses Grow”
is a perfect match for this format, and Cave even shows up to reprise his role.
A high-energy track like “On a Night Like This” takes on a slinkier sexy vibe,
and “Better the Devil You Know” becomes a mournful ode to decisions in a
relationship. There are a few misses: “All the Lovers,” which soars based on a
strong production and vocal, doesn’t fit the new format well, and “Slow” is
just TOO slow. The sole new track “Flower,” which was recorded but never
released on X, is a gorgeous ballad, proving that if Kylie decides to leave the
dancefloor fillers behind at some point, she will have more mature fare to fill
in that fits her like a glove.
While his full-time job is in education, John Hill also writes a successful music blog titled Pop Music Notes. He is also active on Twitter @popmusicnotes and lives in Denver with his partners in crime James and Bruiser.
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By John Hill
