#34 in Thursdays midweeks. I'd like to know sales too, 200k sounds so much more encouraging!

Those sales aren't up to date, it'll be over 200,000 now.

Its roughly on 190,000 now so with this weeks sales it will be around 195,000.

Week 14 and aphrodite drops 2 places to number 35, i got my previous post with sales wrong and missed a week, so this week aphrodite in my esimates should be on or around 202,000.

Continuing my Kylie album reviews with the almighty 'Aphrodite' =


All The Lovers
Opening track and of course the lead single starts with a statement that not only sets the tone, but the theme that runs throughout this album. Monumental & atmospheric anthem that's complete with lush electronic instrumentations and fantastic soaring vocals where she fully embraces her Disco diva status. This is perhaps one of Kylie's finest ever recordings with its subtle and beautiful production, the euphoric middle-eight and swirling synths that creates an uplifting pop masterpiece. A true return to form and an excellent comeback. Of course lets not forget about that stunning music video which fits the message of the song perfectly and again ranks as one of her best.

Get Outta My Way
Heading into a full-on harder edged club/dance tune that builds and builds throughout, and eventually a powerful chorus with strong confident vocals by Kylie herself who just commands every verse. With a refined and polished production with a great heartbeat rhythm and pulsating beats, of course this makes for a perfect follow up single and contrasts really well with the lead. Its a shame this didn't receive the success it deserved, but will always be a firm fan favourite and not hard to see why, it simply pops.

Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)
Another pleasing dance-floor filler that explodes with euphoria into the addictive chorus and catchy verses, complete with electro guitars that pulls you deep into the club vibe of the song. The production by Starsmith & Stuart Price is top notch.

Closer
Continuing the club vibe but with a more darker & haunting tone, along with a claustrophobic bassline with the sound of harpsichord and violins that opens this track and then we get some bold but sensual vocals with some spacey synths throughout. Not as thumping as some of the previous tracks, but still a great number that slowly builds to a throbbing rhythm.

Everything Is Beautiful
Slower paced and probably the closest we get to ballad on this album. However this is a lovely song, quite cool, breezy and perfect for chilling out after all the dance anthems. With its warm layered slices of pianos and electronica and Kylie's vocals climbs over the melody beautifully.

Aphrodite
The title track now and its a drumtastic symphony that xplodes with a militant, foot-stomping beat and a searing bolt of fiery energy that showcases Kylie at her most commanding with a chorus that has such a great feel-good factor about it and is awash with keyboards and synth drums. Definitely one of the strongest and best tracks on here and why wasn't this a single, if this followed the first 2 singles with the killer promo 'BTT' had, then this could have smashed and ranked as yet another Kylie classic.

Illusion
A nice dreamy pop number with a relentless throbbing bass and some heavy coos that oozes the usual Kylie charm and class. A nice little track, although I wouldn't rank it as one of my faves from this album or even as one of the stronger tracks on this album. Its decent enough and plods along quite nicely.

Better Than Today
Changing the pace again a little with some layered extensive drum programming and keyboards over this more straight forward pop/dance number with a sugary chorus that bounces along quite nicely. Still to this day a very odd single choice that doesn't quite enough of a punch for that status, and in my opinion should have stayed as a rather good album track.

Too Much
Turning things up to an almighty 11 now with this fast paced dance/club number that bristles with life and vibrancy. Produced by Calvin Harris before he became the mega star he is today and it shows with its next level sound that still stays true to Kylie's sound.

Cupid Boy
Opening with a low-key guitar, then bursts into an awesome rock-synth dance spectacular. It’s darker in style to the rest of the album, but features hauntingly high vocals from Kylie and brilliant synth snares throughout. Its another song with a strong angelic chorus and some cool swirls and throbbing basslines. Another standout moment that could have easily been a single.

Looking For An Angel
Some more chilled out dance now and starting off with some nice strings and some gorgeous and simple production along with some personal lyrics that makes for a nice and simple little number.

Can't Beat The Feeling
Closing the album with this rather energetic number that pumps up the pulse beats and some cool synths yet again for one final push into electro-pop bliss. A great way to close this wonderful album, ending on an almighty BANG.

Edited May 12, 20205 yr by SamJudd

All the Lovers was just the perfect single and it was the best way to lead the album and i agree its one of Kylie's finest ever recordings , this is a real feel good uplifting summer album ideal for days like we currently have with great weather.

All The Lovers is utterly a Kylie career highlight in all aspects, the song, video, styling and Kylie portrayed a real belief in the work.

Aphrodite as an album is a well put together collection that has a very completed with style finish.

Aphrodite fell down on follow up stand out singles.

If Kylie had managed a post album big hit, Aphrodite, would have by far exceeded its current sales.

 

The label or Kylie or both even should have kept on with the original planned singles run, which would have been =

"All The Lovers"
"Get Outta My Way"
"Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)"
"Cupid Boy"
"Can't Beat The Feeling"

This would have been an amazing run, but after 'GOMW' underperformed they panicked & for some reason thought 'Better Than Today' was a suitable single choice (we all know how that turned out :banghead:. After that floppage all plans got frozen leaving us with a pretty underwhelming era. Now if they stuck with their guns & released 'PYHU' as the 3rd single, along with the great promo slots & proper music video that 'BTT' had, then this could have easily performed better & probably gone top 20 at the very least.

'CB' could have followed in early 2011 carrying on the momentum, with some decent promo, plus this shows a different side to the album, which would have been interesting to see how this would have fared, probably may have gone top 40, but still could have kept the album around for a bit longer. As for 'CBTF', very rare that Kylie goes for 5 singles from an album & dunno whether this would have got released if things had worked out, I doubt it would have been a huge hit, probably would have performed similarly to 'PYHU' did, at the bottom end of the charts or top 75 if lucky.

Even still that would have been far better than what we got...

Ya they should have stuck to the original plan of those. I'm always surprised by how much so many people banked on get outta my way been a big hit I never saw that but they should have stayed with the outlined singles. Cupid boy always had that feeling it should be a single.

Get Outta My Way performing below expectations should have given the team a wake up call.

Singles 3 and 4 needed meticulous planning and promotion to keep the campaign alive.

Better Than Today, aside from been an obvious mistake of choice, the promotion and strategy was dated.

 

I sometimes wonder if the 3rd single was dif would the x factor performance have pushed it top 20,

I still firmly believe the title track would have given a more vivacious and eventful X-Factor performance (as let's face it, the X-Factor performance was pretty much the only thing 'Better Than Today's release had going for it).

Kylie performed better than today well on x factor but the song didn't click with the viewers and kylie NOT saying the single is out NOW was a mess up on her side.

Aphrodite, Closer and Cupid Boy are songs that could have provided a more eventful performance with striking staging and presentation.

Better Than Today lacked the appeal to get the viewers of that X Factor episode to rush out and buy the single.

The single failed to ignite a large interest in the album, which, may have happened with one of the other tracks.

 

Happy 10th birthday to 'Aphrodite'! :cheer: What an album, I'll be sticking it on later today in celebration.

 

Albumism: Kylie Minogue’s ‘Aphrodite’ Turns 10 | Anniversary Retrospective

 

Happy 10th Anniversary to Kylie Minogue’s eleventh studio album Aphrodite, originally released June 30, 2010.

 

Kylie Minogue. A name that has become synonymous with so many things, most notably pop music and its ever-changing stratosphere. The same name has, over time, also come to represent resilience, reinvention and a raconteur of sorts who has assumed the title of pop princess with one goal in mind: music.

 

Continuing on from the success of her previous four albums with Parlophone, Minogue released her eleventh studio album Aphrodite on the final day of June in 2010 to critical reception gold. Not long out of his Confessions On A Dance Floor (2005) success with Madonna, producer Stuart Price pulled together some of the best in the industry (Calvin Harris, Jake Shears, Nervo amongst others) to create a celebration of the singer’s disco-pop roots. It worked.

 

Aphrodite is Kylie in her purest form. Pop that dances through your ears and leaves you humming along without even the slightest realization that you have just learned two phrases to your new favorite song without even trying. We will refer to this as the “Kylie effect.” The album’s lead single “All The Lovers” managed to capitalize on this effect and extend Minogue’s reign as pop dance music royalty. The song was one of the last tracks to be written for the album, but in an official press statement she made after recording it, Minogue stated “I knew that ‘All the Lovers’ had to be the first single; it sums up the euphoria of the album perfectly.” The song has also gone on to serve as the namesake for Minogue’s adoring legion of fans, affectionately referred to as “Lovers.”

 

The album’s second single “Get Outta My Way” was made from the stuff of dance floor legend. With its sexy electro disco beats, clever lyrics and an unbeatable hook, the energy of this song was nothing but infectious. Again, it embodies pure pop and reinforces Minogue’s perfectionism when it comes to her songcraft.

 

With a total of four singles released from the album, the final two—“Better Than Today” and “Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)”— failed to make as much of a ripple, let alone replicate the phenomenal success of the album’s first two smashs.

 

At the time of its arrival, Aphrodite was billed as another comeback album for Minogue. Perhaps due to the unreasonably high expectations that greeted its precursor, 2007’s X, which followed Minogue’s recovery from her bout with breast cancer. But despite lukewarm critical reception among some pundits, X performed quite well commercially and also provided the hype for the singer’s first US tour which took place in 2009.

 

Aphrodite’s core strength lies in its tightly cohesive format, even whilst stepping out of the box with moments like the ‘80s inspired “Closer” and the hyper Americana influence on “Cupid Boy.” Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters added some sisters’ flair on “Too Much” with the help of DJ maestro Calvin Harris, which works perfectly with Minogue’s campier side.

 

This album was released around the time that Lady Gaga stormed into the world of pop and shook things to their core. Whilst many could have seen this as a threat and tried their hardest to compete, Minogue focused on the coherence and formula that had afforded the singer so much success previously. It worked, once again, and for her loyal legion of fans, it’s pure joy wrapped up in twelve beautiful, eloquent tracks.

 

Minogue chose to stay true to herself and her artistry on this album, her unrivaled authenticity remaining squarely at the forefront in executing her musical vision. Its dazzling soundscapes, the euphoria that only a Kylie bop can give and of course that ever present ethereal voice that dances through your ears are coalesce for what is unapologetically Minogue on full blast.

 

Is this Minogue’s greatest work? Who cares? What it assuredly is, however, is a grand reaffirmation of her pop credibility and her penchant for employing the right team of collaborators who expertly lend their knowledge and expertise to the proceedings.

 

Price’s Midas touch is manifest across Aphrodite and for good reason. As with his work on Madonna’s Confessions album, he and Minogue crafted another legendary musical moment that endures as yet another indispensable entry in the Princess of Pop’s illustrious career to date.

 

June 29, 2020 Matthew Hocter

Tightly cohesive truly sums up the sound of the album.

There is a reoccuring theme from start to finish.

Great album and 10 years later i love it just as much now as when it was released.

@1278000652304744450

The splash zone was just brilliant :)