Dannii Minogue - Neon Lights

If there are two words you were unlikely to hear together in the same sentence it was "Nazi" and "Minogue". But sure enough when the younger of the Minogue siblings, Dannii, spoke of her fondness for French Fascist Le Pen and lashed out at Asylum Seekers, gypsies and people who live on council estates she outed herself as a racist and hypocrite. You see despite the fact we've adopted Kylie as our pop princess both sisters have moved to Britain in order to further their careers.

Inspired by the electroclash sounds of TokTok Vs Soffy and moulding them into proper pop songs there's no denying that "Neon Lights" is a great album, but the aforementioned comments from Dannii cloud what would otherwise be a great album. With Swedish pop powerhouse Murlyn on the production duties it couldn't fail and although Dannii shares songwriting credits on several tracks you'd be baffled as to work out where her input falls. While Kylie will always be known as the friendly girl next door, Dannii's somewhat harder to pin down and you never know whether that smile is genuine or as sincere as a Michael Barrymore. It's Kylie's shadow which she will always be in and it's no more obvious that on "For The Record" with it's SAW flavoured disco pop. "Mighty Fine" takes its props from 80s white boy funk (how very appropriate) and just gets lost along the way. "On The Loop" features the refrain "Mon Cour, Encore" possibly a shout out to Le Pen wrapped up in a sugary sweet pop song.

"It Won't Work Out", the last song on "Neon Lights", is either a torching love song or an analysis of her career so far. "Hold me cos this is the ending. I'm bruising from fighting against the tide" couldn't have been more prescient under the situation. If anyone else would have released this album it would have been a pop dance floor smash, but you have to pull the plug when you're popstars are peddling racist propaganda.

Alex McCann

**********
Post your Dannii Minogue reviews / comments on the Message Board
**********