Drawing by Lucy Knisley.

This is mainly for my sister who was devoted Michael Jackson fan as a child. She went to his Dangerous tour when it reached Sweden in 1992, during which she fainted. I mercilessly made fun of her for it even though it was from the heat and lack of oxygen and not from seeing him in person. I remember she kept the tickets in a little silver frame for quite a while. I have no idea how she feels about Michael’s passing today but I know he was a big part of her life when she was young. We had some good times together while listening to his music, watching “Moonwalker” on repeat, and her trying to explain to me why Michael sang that he was “bad” when it was obvious that he was great.

~ Michael Jackson – “Rock With You” ~

~ Happiness – “Look At That Rabbit Go” ~

~ Cocteau Twins – “Eggs And Their Shells” ~

A fellow blogger friend and I recently discussed the underrated album that is Kylie Minogue‘s 2007 X. We both feel that the wrong songs were chosen as singles (although we disagreed on “2 Hearts” – he likes it, I don’t) and that the album probably could have done much better if, say, “Like A Drug” or “Speakerphone” had been released as initial promotion.

I also remember Kylie saying that X was too rushed at therefor didn’t turn out as good as it could have. Though I agree that they seemed far too eager for Kylie to make a comeback after her battle with breast cancer (similar to Britney’s current situation with her new album and recent recovery) I don’t think X was bad at all. Sure there were some duds (“Nu-di-ty”, “All I See” for instance) but overall it was a much better album than Body Language (which frankly also had some poor choices of singles).

Thankfully it looks like X  is getting a second chance: the newly released Boombox is basically an extension of said album, and the X-singles are still receiving remix treatments (not counting Freemasons take on “The One” which was bit of a downgrade). One of the more recent ones is by NYC-producer Terror Dactel who has turned the sweet “In My Arms” into a proper electronic disco thumper. Although there’s not much point in dragging the promotion of X any further as we approach 2009, I hope this resurrects the album – and Kylie - somewhat.

~ “In My Arms” (Terror Dactel Remix) ~