Showgirl - Homecoming (Live In Sydney)

Album Review

Now this was a little pretentious: a pop artist never before even attempting a classical crossover project, beginning her album and live show The Showgirl Homecoming Live with a classical overture. This album was recorded on the first night of her world tour in Sydney and after the classical intro, off went the album, as did the show, with a string of her greatest hits, "Better the Devil You Know," "In Your Eyes," a new song written by the Scissor Sisters, "White Diamond," "On a Night Like This," and "Spinning Around." Minogue has had a lot of hits and it was hardly surprising that The Showgirl Homecoming Live album was filled with them, rather than anything new or innovative, for it was essentially a live version of her Ultimate Kylie album that she began taking to the road just as illness struck and the tour had to be canceled. Back on the road, having recovered and having remembered to incessantly thank her fans for standing by her during her illness and sending messages of support, the tour was a great success with Minogue doing what she did best, disco-pop with a twist of cheese and a lot of glitzy, glamorous costume changes and dancing til she dropped. But of course apart from the atmosphere of the concert, the cheering and general whooping it up by the audience, none of this was available on the CD; it would have to wait for a DVD or video of the show to capture the full excitement of what it would have been like to be there. For example, all the business with space and science fiction during the encore was totally lost apart from some sound effects. So making do with just the music, you get a live greatest hits with a few extra surprises, like the merging of "I Should Be so Lucky" into the song that beat it for the honor of best-selling single of 1988, Yazz's "The Only Way Is Up," and the medley of "Burning Up" with "Vogue," one of Madonna's biggest hits and the only serious contender for the longevity of her Pop Queen crown, and Bono joining her on-stage to sing the Robbie Williams part on "Kids." Most of the set was devoted her body of work in the 21st century with only three tracks from her wilderness years of the '90s, "Better the Devil You Know," "Confide in Me," and "Shocked," which was part of a first half medley and near to the end of disc two, Minogue reminded the audience of her '80s days as a fledgling soap star turned pop star with three early hits — "Locomotion." performed as a smoky blues number, "I Should Be So Lucky," and "Hand on Your Heart" — and then moving up to date again with her biggest ever single, "Can't Get You out of My Head," although at the time of this release, that song was six years old and could hardly be called up to date. The album hit the charts on a very quiet week early in January 2007 peaking at number seven, but within four weeks it was gone. To end the show, she performed a solo version of her duet "Especially for You" and another more recent track, "Love at First Sight." Minogue will continue to have hit singles and albums because the public loves her whatever she does, but this album did nothing to enhance her reputation or add to her impressive catalog.