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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Mushroom Records
Salesrank: 182472
Released: January 1, 1992 |
| Our Price: $9.85 |
| Used Price: $9.84 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Rhythm of Love Track Listing:
1. Better the Devil You Know
2. Step Back in Time
3. What Do I Have to Do?
4. Secrets
5. Always Find the Time
6. World Still Turns
7. Shocked
8. One Boy Girl
9. Things Can Only Get Better
10. Count the Days
11. Rhythm of Love
Editorial Review:
1993 album for the Aussie dance-pop diva. 11 tracks including the hit single, 'Better the Devil You Know', 'Secrets' and 'Things Can Only Get Better'. Standard jewel case.
Rhythm of Love Reviews:
Near perfection is hard to attain - here we pretty much have it 
2008-01-20 - Kylie and her production "team" continue their fruitful, beat-laden excursion into the highest heaven of disco wonderland, and beyond.
Note that, unless this completely takes you by storm from the get-go, my suggestion would be to listen to this entire CD a minimum of 8-10 times before attempting to form a firm opinion about it as a whole, since there is a lot going on here. There's plenty of depth and dimension that might not reveal itself immediately to the casual listener.
"Better the Devil You Know": this is probably the initial BIG cannon shot of Kylie's singing career (others came much later: "Spinning Around" from `Light Years', "Can't Get You Out of My Head" from `Fever', and "Slow" from `Body Language'). An utterly original work, the first few strains of the intro start playing and you know this is going to be one of the greatest songs you've ever/never heard. And that promise is fulfilled in the extreme. Emotional intensity, infinite exhortation, melodic inventiveness and superiority, rhythmic drive - these will fly in your face all the way through the track. You may feel that you don't want it to stop playing, ever.
5++++ stars
If you happen to be able to catch it, the video is nearly as incredible (DVD: `Ultimate Kylie'). The images and the music really enhance each other.
2. "Step Back in Time" Just as intense in its own way, but more in the happier, nostalgic direction, with generous touches of humor that will have you screaming. The lyrics name drop the O'Jays, and several songs from the High Funk/Disco period. Lyrics are all in all clever to the extreme . . . "Non-stop - dancing the bus stop to the funky music!" You get the picture. The video on the `Ultimate Kylie' DVD is full of non-stop fun and good feeling. And speaking of singing, Kylie and her backups just plain wail.
5 ++++ stars
3. "What Do I Have to Do" It's difficult for me to comprehend how three such intense tracks (all 3 were singles) could find `themselves' together sequentially. This one is at least as emotionally intense as the 1st track, and further flaunts Kylie's relationship with her with her production team as one of the best ever.
N. B. This is another very on-fire original of similar ilk as "Better the Devil You Know', but with a decidedly more somber tone/subject: Kylie sings about being deeply troubled by her potential lover's propensity to ignore her exhortations to, as it were, `wake up and smell the lilacs'. The subject is recapitulated later in her career in the song "Red-Blooded Woman" from the `Body Language' album.
5++++ stars.
The video on the `Ultimate Kylie' DVD is quite wild, showing her reenacting the looks of a number of famous 20th century actresses. The images and the music really enhance each other. Her near-look-alike sister Dannii also makes a series of brief appearances.
4. "Secrets" Medium-tempo, relaxed sort of disco track - inspiring writing, perfect arrangement - and as is usual with this production team, there's great harmony and articulation from all the singers, begetting a terrific blend.
5 stars
5. "Always Find the Time": The introduction flaunts great counterpoint and syncopation between the rhythm tracks and the smooth synthesizer strings. In the song proper, the back-up harmonies are arranged such they sound flanged - a very up-to-date sound for the 80's. And there's a wonderful collection of hooks which, as it were - hook things up very, very well. The song structure and overall sound reminds me of Michael Jackson.
5 ++ stars
6. "The World Still Turns": This one really sounds lots like Michael Jackson as well as other R & B greats circa early-to-mid 80's. Especially on the chorus, but intermittently all the way through, Kylie sounds more like Michael than it would seem to be humanly possible. Even though a lot of this is due to the song-writing, it's still an unbelievably apt caricature.
5++++
7. "Shocked" For this one, the intro is a morphological tour de force, clocking in at slightly over a minute and a half, with various rhythmic/melodic elements moving in and out - by the time the song proper begins, it's like a fast-moving river of sound into which the singer(s), as it were, dive into. There are more MJ overtones, more at the "Beat It" side of things (there's a certain rock side fused into the song proper). With all this going on, it seemed to take forever until I finally got how good it is.
5++ stars
8. "One Boy Girl" begins with an incredible, upbeat New Jack Swing rhythm, various funky guitar elements seasoning the mix. The vocals are harder than anything than else on the CD so far, coexistent with the theme brought by the lyrics. In the middle there's a section broaching great interaction (part of the story) between rapper "The Poetess" and Kylie. This one busts it all the way through, in a groove that was exactly contemporary to the time period it was composed and released.
5++++ stars
9. "Things Can Only Get Better": Funk guitar starts the song in the left speaker, followed by a very crisp hi-hat beat on the right, and a punchy, kick drum shortly thereafter. Gradually the groove fills in before the vocals come in at around 47 seconds, at which time the track takes off, blistering through to the end. This one's the heir to "Enjoy Yourself" from Kylie's 2nd CD. The long intro is really necessary to allow listeners somewhat of a respite after the also very intense previous track; once the vocals start, we're riding the bronco again in short order. This is classic old-school disco at its best. "It's in your hands to change your fortune, to change your future, to be proud of yourself."
5++++ stars.
10. "Count the Days" is a complete tour de force hearkening back the heyday of Evelyn "Champaign" King, Patrice Rushen, Teena Marie and company, only with updated recording techniques so that this is simply put, over the top excellent. The sound this (probably the best on the planet) production team gets (in terms of groove-making, sound-sweetening and even more) is nothing short of incredible. Though I'm tempted to say that I'd like to hear Evelyn herself sing this, in point of fact even she might not be able to keep up with Kylie.
5++++ stars
11. "Rhythm of Love": It's back to another quick New Jack Swing, this time not confined mainly to the drum tracks - the beat-making is spread around the rest of the rhythm section, including keyboards, a muted funk guitar and bass, and even the singiers. I seem to detect shades of the Janet Jackson singing style, once again, pulled off very, very well. A signature effect of the recurring chorus is two sets of harmonized vocal duo-tracks trading back-and-forth off of each other.
5++ stars
Note that it's not enough to say that oftentimes the Kylie team is paying homage to different folks, and different styles - because of the extent that what emerges seems to equal or even surpass the models. Free rein is the key phrase here. Everyone involved is just kickin' it, going wild, and to make a new adverb, scorchingly so.
This album turned me into a Kylie fanatic
2006-07-14 - I was 13 when this album came out, I never really paid attention to Kylie before until I saw the video for "what do I have to do" (amazingly sexy), bought the LP, loved it. This album is a non-stop dance fun ride. Aside from the singles, "Better the Devil you know", "Step back in time", "What do I have to do" and "Shocked" (which were great) I fell more in love with the non-singles, my favourites being "Secrets", "Always find the time" and ooh my absolute favourite "Count the days" (sweet, melodic and simple, got this African vibe, I am from SOuth Africa by the way) which she co-wrote. This album was the only album Kylie had any say or contribution while she was with PWL and in my opinion her best from that era. I'm 29 now and after writing this review am ordering a brand new copy on CD from amazon. A must for all true Kyle fans. Lenin.
KYLIE MINOGUE....AWESOME ARTIST
2006-01-13 - KYLIE MINOGUE HAS HER VERY OWN STYLE. I PURCHASED THIS CD FOR THE SONG "STEP BACK IN TIME". THE OTHER TRACKS ARE PRETTY GOOD AS WELL.
Third album has a different feel
2005-04-27 - In 1980's Britain, the most successful pop record producers were the team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Many of their singers faded from popularity as quickly as they emerged, leaving a legacy of doubtful importance, but a few rose above the rest, most notably Kylie.
This album, the third of Kylie's career, is different from its predecessors. Stock Aitken and Waterman wrote and produced seven songs, including the biggest hit here, Better the devil you know. Kylie wrote the four of the songs herself and used a different producer. Anybody familiar with Kylie's excellent Light years album will see some of its roots here but Kylie's music underwent many changes in the intervening years.
While many will continue to dismiss Kylie (especially these early albums), she is much better than many of the singers she is sometimes compared to, and has proved it by lasting longer than any of her critics thought possible.
Note that this CD is also available via the boxed set - Kylie Minogue x3. It's only three individual CD's wrapped in a cardboard slipcase but it's much cheaper than buying the three separately.
The best Kylie album from her PWL Era
2005-03-25 - This was Kylie's third album from her whole music career and the PWL Era and I have to say, it is the best one! It's a shame this album didn't sell as much as the first two did, because as other reviewers have said, this album has a different feel to the first two.
Now, here, instead of a 10-track full dose of fun-pop tunes in the 1980's album, you get a 11-track full dose of fun-dance tunes in the 1990's album! This is also where sex Kylie began. This album includes 4 great singles and more popular album tracks with all of the fans!
The album's first 3 songs are more singles, including the extremely popular Kylie classic Better The Devil You Know. You will find your parents singing along and kids, Kylie DID NOT copy this from Steps! The other 2 are Step Back In Time and one of my personal favourites, What Do I Have To Do. Better The Devil You Know was a #2 hit, Step Back In Time entered the UK Charts at #9 as the highest entry that week, but the following week us fans sent it spinning up the Charts 5 places up to #4! Finally, What Do I Have To Do broke Kylie's string of Top 5 hits as it only charted at #6 in it's debut...
The next 3 songs are all album tracks, sounds quite similar and are my favourite album tracks on the whole album! Secrets is an excellent tracks but then the album turns all absolutely fabulous with 'hits' Always Find The Time and The World Still Turns! They are so danceable and upbeat!
The seventh track is Shocked. This was another single that many fans wanted to hit the top 5 again. Unfortunately, it didn't and only went to #6 again, like the last single What Do I Have To Do... Many people became fond of the DNA 7" Mix which was included on the single but this is presented in its original album version which lasts for nearly 5 minutes! Both of them are good, this is my favourite single from the album. Get Kylie's Greatest Hits packages for the DNA Mix.
The next 4 tracks are album tracks and are yet again, more favourites from her fans! One Boy Girl and Things Can Only Get Better are the stand-outs from the last 4 tracks. While Count The Days and Rhythm Of Love talk about Love and they are also rather pleasant tracks, like the others from the album.
This album's highest Chart Position was #9... It spent 22 weeks on the UK Top 100 Albums Chart. Kylie's fourth and final PWL album Let's Get To It went to #15 and spent 12 weeks on the Chart.
