Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue's story of success may seem a bit odd to those who weren't aware of her dominance over the pop charts in Europe, Asia, and Australia during the '90s. To most stateside listeners, she was a strange anomaly. She appeared for a moment in the late '80s with a ditzy cover of "The Loco-Motion," and then 15 years later returned as a stylish Euro-babe with "Can't Get You Out of My Head." Also during this time, Minogue pretty much turned a blind eye to America, going through career ups and downs without even bothering to release any of her material in the U.S. It's a shame, really, because while many wrote her off for her 1987 cutesiness, she spent the '90s maturing and developing new ideas that would allow her to become the closest thing to Madonna that Australia -- or even Europe for that matter -- could come up with. Enter this collection, released in 2003, which finally puts together a valid and well-represented (yet oddly out of chronological order) anthology of what Americans were missing. All the singles are here, from the first album up to and including her "difficult" last record for deconstruction, Impossible Princess. As an extra bonus, the second CD is loaded with new and rare remixes that are certainly worth having. For those who were surprised by her sudden reappearance, this will fill in the picture quite nicely, and for those who just couldn't get enough of Minogue upon hearing her for the first time in 2002, Greatest Hits 87-97 will surely satisfy. ~ Chris True, All Music Guide