Kylie Minogue

OT: Australian dance Diva Kylie Minogue became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) Thursday, receiving the award from heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles at a ceremony in London.

“It is an incredible honour for me to receive this award,” said Kylie. “It makes me feel both humble and proud to be recognized for doing a job that I love so much.”

Speaking after the ceremony to the waiting press Kylie admitted to feeling a little nervous but added “I was very excited and to have my family here was magical… I do feel very proud. I think my job, aside from making music, is about communication and this symbolizes my communication with my audience around the world.”

Of her medal, Kylie said: “I’ll admire it for a while, and then keep it safe in its box!”

I’m not sure why Kylie was singled out for honor by Prince Charles, but I’m guessing it’s because he’s a fan of this great Kylie/New Order mashup – Can’t Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head:

Wow, that sounds a lot like Madonna’s Holiday.

This slice of dance-pop is a confection that is hard to pass up. Kylie says that she is a red-blooded woman on her latest CD, Body Language, and her mix of sex appeal and catchy retro dance beats is enough to make even jaded critics believers.

Body Language follows her global hit, Fever. On Fever, Minogue burned through a set of euro-disco and electro dance cuts that kept the pace fast. Body Language has some great dance cuts, but slows things down a bit, too.

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With Fever, Kylie heads to the dance floor without pretensions.

Retro-disco and electronica collide to create music for a world that doesn’t care about categories or styles, but just wants to have fun and dance. If all you’re looking for is a collection of sexy dance cuts, with hardly a slow tune in sight, Kylie’s Fever delivers.

The CD starts with “More More More”, a disco romp that doesn’t try to do much more than be vaguely sexual and explicitly danceable:

“Here am I with my desire
Feel it burning just for you
My, oh my, this love divine
is talking me to somewhere new

Just slide
Get your body down, down, down
And glide
I gotta feel you all around

Boy you got me wanting more, more, more
Give it all up for love babe
You got me saying more, more, more
Wind me up, wind me up”

“Love at First Sight” sounds like it could be an outtake from Madonna’s first album. It’s got the 80’s dance sound down, and the bass is even similar to Madonna’s Holiday.

The highlight of the album, though, is “Can’t Get You Ought of My Mind”. Never was a song more aptly titled. Once you’ve heard this, you won’t be able to get it out of your mind either! Blame Kylie if it leads to madness. The song is infectious and singable. It captures the best elements of seventies disco, and updates it with today’s dance sounds.

There are several other hot cuts on the CD. “Give It To Me” mixes electronica blurps and bleeps with Kylie’s sexy come-on to “Give it to me like I want it.”

“Come into My World” is an upbeat dance number. The lyrics are an almost religious take on human love:

“Come, come, come into my world
Won’t you lift me up, up, high upon your love”

Kylie keeps it moving on cuts like “Dancefloor” and “Burning Up”.

On Fever, Kylie tries to make a CD of good dance music. She delivers. Fever is good dance music, delivered with the honest love of disco that seems to never have gone out of style in Europe.