DeConstruction
Pop, 2000

Hits + is a compilation of Kylie Minogue’s “hits” (okay, they aren’t that big hits) during her 1994 to 1999 era with the label DeConstruction. Those years are known as her “cred” years, remember fans? That’s when critics love her and the general populace thinks she’s weird. Hits + is also packed with B-sides and unreleased tracks.

Call her Indie-Wannabe Kylie or Genuine Rock Chick, Ms Minogue shines in Hits +. When she rocks in Some Kind of Bliss and Did It Again, she does it with style. Some Kind of Bliss is a simple yet brilliant uplifting rock-pop track (with a video featuring the shortest skirt this side of decency).

Then there’s the morbid duet with Nick Cave, Where the Wild Roses Grow, where she plays a victim of a serial killer. The lyrics are kind of cheesy, but it is fabulously Gothic in atmosphere, and it showcases Ms Minogue’s low purr.

Put Yourself in My Place is a standard but lovely ballad, but Breathe takes the cake as the new trance anthem to get high to. Hypnotic and seductive, the brilliant Breathe with its orgiastic low and slow whispers can cause goosebumps.

Then there is the divine Confide in Me, where she skillfully and deftly seduces a man down in his doldrums. Ms Minogue can sing high notes beautifully, and it shows in this masterpiece. And there’s the African chanting techno track of Take Me With You to complete the brilliance that is Ms Minogue’s DeCon years.

There are some glaring omissions – the brilliant Drunk and Too Far, for instance. And some rare tracks produced in collaboration with St Etienne and Brothers in Rhythm will be nice too. Still, Hit s+ is the one album that will probably buffer Ms Minogue’s credibility now that she’s gone all disco dolly all over again.