Kylie Minogue

Even on paper, the idea of getting Kylie Minogue to rework some of her classic songs at the legendary Abbey Road Studio with a full orchestra seemed a bit of a folly. Yet it happened. And the resultant album is just as patchy as everybody expected. It isn't that Kylie doesn't know her way around a good tune — there's a reason she's sold millions of albums internationally — it's just that some of these reinventions and new arrangements of familiar songs aren't very good. That's particularly true of her most familiar hit, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head," which doesn't suit the relentless staccato strings it's paired with. But even when the song falls flat, Kylie's vocals are never the reason for the failure; she's a great pop singer. And that's why slowing the songs down is the most successful path taken here: "Better The Devil You Know" becomes a torch ballad, while "Slow" is converted into slinky trip-hop. However, nothing can save some of the weaker tracks. The Abbey Road Sessions makes a compelling case to dust off one of Kylie's greatest hits compilations, rather than listen to this with one finger poised on the skip button.