Evacuate The Dancefloor Review

It has been just over a week since I got my hands on the latest aural scriptures from The Goddess, Evacuate The Dancefloor which follows hot on the heels of their UK #1 single of the same name so its about time I reviewed it for the unbelievers.

Heavenly

Evacuate the Dancefloor
Fabulous opening track and a club stomper. Though I don't see the CaCa rip off that some claim. A bit different from the usual Cascada sound, but still a future classic. Not quite up there with What Hurts The Most or Miracle, but still excellent.
9.5/10

Hold On
Starts off a bit badly, almost like a terrible midtempo "indie" track and turns into typical Cascada. Not the best track to follow such a great opener.
5/10

Everytime I Hear Your Name
Similar to Everytime We Touch, only with the verses fast and the first half of the chorus slower. A decent track that manages to sound fresh and new despite following the tried and tested formula
7/10

Ready Or Not
Another heavy hitting dance anthem that will probably take the clubs by storm though it could easily have fitted onto the revious album Perfect Day.
7/10

Note To Dannii: This Is Called Promotion.

Fever
A fan favourite that merges the more electro sound of the title track with the classic Cascada sound. Think Booty Luv's Some Kind Of Rush but harder and with a hint of guitar. Rumoured to be the next single.
9/10

Hold Your Hands Up
A quite tender downtempo number featuring stunning Natalie showing off her sultry vocals accompanied by an acoustic guitar and some drums. Lovely.
8/10

Breathless
A bit of an odd one. Reminds me of Kids In America with its slightly rockier edge. I can see this getting full remix treatment for the clubs though.
7.5/10

Dangerous
The Goddess back to doing what she does best - Hi NRG dance - though this has an added menacing undertone. A video has been filmed (though it seems to have vanished from youtube) so it may be a future single somewhere.
8.5/10

Stunning Natalie showing off another two massive hits

Why You Had To Leave
Very much Cascada by numbers and one of only two substandard / filler type tracks.
6/10


What About Me
Yet another hands-in-the-air floor filler though with a bit more of an electronic edge than similar track on the previous two albums
7/10

Draw The Line
Absolutely stunning ballad where busty beauty natalie showcases her large lumgs with only a piano for company. The highlight of the album and hopefully it will get a single release.
10/10

Overall, far better than previous effort Perfect Day and on par with Everytime We Touch only let down really by the second track taking away from the momentum of the first. Dannii would kill for an album this good.
Bap Rating: Dannii's WMDD's

Kylie USA 2009 - For Me, For You.

Even though Mike from Pop Trash Addicts posted about it first, as did almost every other blogger in the entire universe (because I was asleep), Kylie is finally taking a tour to the US & Canada with 6 - make that 7 and counting - dates in late September / October. Though probably an extension of X2008 with a few choice tracks omitted in favour of some stuff that was a minor hit in the US like Confide In Me (BB Hot Dance #39), Butterfly (US Hot Dance #14) or Red Blooded Woman (US Hot Dance #1), the usual alKylieda suspects rumour mill is going into overdrive with suggestions that it will be a radically revamped show where she will preview new tracks from her 11th studio album (which according to an EMI Press release, will be out this [financial] year).

To celebrate, here is another of her many US club classics - summer smash All I See (BB Dance #4), though fortunately crapper MIMS appears to have been replaced by sexy Marco Da Silva



This calls for a holiday!

ISCHGLucky...

She's got it!

Kylie kicked off her European Festival Circuit commitments today in style at the "ISHGL On Top Of The Mountain" gig in Austria- and it looks like these gigs are forming a third leg of the X2008 tour (now X2009)

Lights..... Sound.....Mind.....Body.....

Opening with Speakerphone - complete with new stage props and stunning Gaultier ensemble (half of which seems to be recycled from the Atlantis opening) and dodgy sunglasses before classics like Can't Get You Out Of My Head, In Your Eyes, Loveboat and X tracks Wow (pictured above), 2 Hearts and Like A Drug.

Up yours alKylieda! - Kylie sticks to her guns to do Loveboat

According to dek from sayhey who was there with his daughter, the setlist was:

Speakerphone
Boombox /Can't Get You Out Of My Head
In Your Eyes

Heart Beat Rock
Wow
Shocked

Like A Drug
Slow
2 Hearts

Loveboat
Spinning Around
Better The Devil You Know
I Believe In You (Ballad)

On A Night Like This
Your Disco Needs You
Kids
Step Back In Time
In Your Arms

Love At First Sight

Kylie also stated in a pre-show interview that she felt it was "time" to get recording for her 11th studio album, so with work already started there is a slight chance that a taster might slip into one of these gigs - much like In Your Eyes snuck in during the V performance...

Lucky for Kylie, (but not for straight male fans) she had finished changing...

Queen Annie

Probably one of the most underrated Diva's of recent times is the fabulous Annie Lennox. Though her stellar work with Dave Steward as the Eurythmics is recognised and praised worldwide (and rightly so!), the sexy Scotswomens solo work is sadly ignored. Apart from those who remember she did the wacky crazy dress sense long before the current crop of try-hards - and she could actually carry it off with style and panache. With the release of The Annie Lennox Collection, I can't think of a better time to peruse the back catalogue of this feisty female superstar.



First solo album Diva is a veritable pop masterpiece - spawning 5 singles and a fabulous video album, continuing the trend started with The Eurythmics for artistic and creative videos - and the most successful commercially. Containing a diverse array of musical styles and themes, many of which are rather dark and most highly personal - something that continues throughout her solo work.
Turn On: Little Bird, Precious
Turn Off: Don't you dare touch it! This is perfection!
Bap Rating: Toys Treasures
Trivia: A cover of the Precious b-side Step-By-Step was a sizeable hit for crack and vibrator addict Whitney Houston



Follow up Medusa was slightly more low-key due to Annie wishing to escape the media spotlight and allow her young daughters a proper, private upbringing. Consisting of cover songs previously recorded by male artists (including a haunting version of Whiter Shade Of Pale) it doesn't quite hit the same standard of Diva but contains some fabulously subverted gems - and despite commercial success, remains Annie's weakest solo project.
Turn On: Take Me To The River, No More "I Love You's"
Turn Off: Train In Vain
Bap Rating: Paris Pancakes
Trivia: The original version of Whiter Shade Of Pail was the first record Lennox ever purchased.



It was many years before Lennox returned with her third album (having spent the time as a mother and rejoining Dave to release the album Peace) but it was worth the wait. Bare is exquisitely haunting and melancholy in every way and each track is a masterpiece.
Turn On: Pavement Cracks, Lonliness
Turn Off: This masterpiece needs listened to in its entirety and does not contain a single dud.
Bap Rating: Dannii's WMDD's
Trivia: Bare produced 3 #1 hits on the US Hot Dance / Club Play chart, but no singles were released in the UK



Final solo effort, Songs Of Mass Destruction is another that sees Lennox embracing a number of darker, moodier and issue led songs - though it is probably her hardest to get into.
Turn On: Dark Road, Smithereens
Turn Off: Sing
Baps Rating: Mutya's Mammaries
Trivia: Sing contained vocal contributions from 23 female stars including the Sugababes, Anastasia, Celine Dion, Skankira and the poopoo - the latter ruining the track entirely. A nice idea, but too many cooks...

and onto the collection itself:



Little Bird
An amazing anthem, filled with such passion and strength, yet speaking from a deep depression. Beyond fabulous. The amazing video is the cherry on top
10/10

Walking On Broken Glass
Another stunning track delivered with emotion lacking in most of the FLOP tarts of today. Also accompanied by a sensational video
8/10

Why
A lovely track, but compared to many of its peers on Diva, it doesn't have quite the same punch unfortunately
7/10

No More "I Love You's"
Another epic from the Aberdonian Amazon - delivered with just the right emotional inflection when required. Yet anotehr one of the many fabulous videos, set in a decadent gender-bending brothel
8/10



Precious
Remeniscant of the electro-funk of some of the later Eurythmics work, this personal ode to her elder daughter at the time of writing (and is now dedicated them both) . Immensely powerful and stunning - and the video is another breathtaking masterpiece.
10/10

A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Beautifully haunting and more than a match for the original
7/10

A Thousand Beautiful Things
Simply stunning
9/10

Sing
What should have been an emotive and powerful anthem fails simply has too many others involved - and many of their contributions are far too insipid or robotic for something like this. The track had the potential, and still does. Just lose the egotistical bitches like Skankira and the poopoo...
4/10

Pavement Cracks
Another depressingly beautiful or beautifully depressing track.
9/10

Love Song For A Vampire
Perfectly matching the different emotions one would expect in a haunting vampire love ballad and making something shimmeringly gorgeous. It oozes unrequited lust and desire. Shame about the film...
10/10

Cold
Another stunningly haunting ballad with a stunning video
8/10

Dark Road
Another moody number from La Lennox
6/10

Pattern Of My Life
Previously titled "Closer Now" when it was a b-side by dullards Keane, one can only assume this is an improvement on the original. As it stands, it is very dull, insipid and uninspired, adn not what you'd expect from Annie.
2/10

Shining Light
Another cover, this time of "britpop" / "indie" Oirish bores Ash, though at least this time the song has been resuced from coma-inducing shitefest to listenable. Though it is still a substandard effort by Annie's very lofty standards.
4/10

Bonus CD:
Into The West
There are no words to describe just how stunning this epic is. Powerful and emotive lyrics and vocal delivery only add to the punch of this bitter lament. And this is without taking it within the context of the setting. This track remains one of the few to ever move me to tears.
10/10

Ladies Of The Canyon
A rather dull cover of a Joni Mitchell track
6/10

Hush, Hush, Hush
A haunting and woeful ballad is what Annie excels at, and this is no exception.
7/10

Many Rivers To Cross (Live, from Idol Gives Back)
Rather tedious when placed alongside the rest of Annie's back catalogue, but a nice enough performance.
5/10

Dream Angus
Any fellow Scots should know this song by heart, and Annie's interpretation is sublime.
8/10

Mama
One of the craziest woman in music covering THE craziest woman in music - could only ever be good. This Bjork classic won't go down well with those that like MOR Annie, but she adds a sublime darkness that Bjork counldn't hope to emulate.
7/10

Everybody Hurts (duet with Alicia Keys) (Live from "Keep A Child Alive"'s Black Ball UK)
I really don't like this song at all though this duet is bearable
3/10

Everytime We Say Goodbye
Beautiful
7/10



Anyone with taste needs to buy The Annie Lennox Collection now. Especially the 2 x CD & DVD set

Visit: The Annie Lennox youtube Channel; Annie Lennox Official Site

Beyond Fabulous!

Anyone bothering to read this may have noticed my brief guide to Calle 13 last month, where I declared Electro Movimiento to be the highlight of the Puerto Rican duo's latest album Los De Atras Vienen Conmigo - maybe someone at NORTE has been reading as the track has been given a fabulously sexy video!



You can check out this stunning visual orgasm at the Calle 13 Official youtube channel, alongside a making of clip. The opening few seconds alone will have Dannii wetter than that infamous poolside shower!

The Baps give this their seal of approval - now all that is needed is someone to snap this up in the UK.