Track Listing

1. Better the Devil You Know
2. Step Back in Time
3. What Do I Have to Do?
4. Secrets
5. Always Find the Time
6. World Still Turns
7. Shocked
8. One Boy Girl
9. Things Can Only Get Better
10. Count the Days
11. Rhythm of Love

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50498 in Music
• Released on: 1999-05-14
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Kylie's Third Studio Venture
Unlike her first pair of albums, Kylie (1988) and Enjoy Yourself (1989), Rhythm Of Love stands very well. Kylie was still pretty much a product of Stock-Aikten & Waterman's conveyor-belt, hit making factory, but she was clearly adopting a more refined approach to her work and on this album she sparkles vocally.

Better The Devil You Know was one of her greatest acheivements in this era. A sharp-edged pop track containing an effectivley breathy performance from its star, the track quickly raced its way up to the U.K and Australian Top 10 singles charts. Step Back in Time is another inventive pop masterpiece containing compelling undertones of hot, pulsating funk whilst What Do i Have to Do slides back into the more formulaic and familiar sound of the Stock, Aikten and Waterman sound, though is still enduringly effective regardless and exactly the same could be said for Secret and Always Find The Time.

Kylie displays her appealing vocal qualities on the smooth, sensual ballad, The World Still Turns. Most effective is the album version of Shocked. The track has a sharp, rock-edge feel to it, complete with a thrashing guirtar played erratically throughout the track and encapsulates a striking atmospheric feel to it.

One Boy, Girl is a bouncy pop number that sounds very Americanised and even features Kylie performing a rap whilst another atmospheric cut is the fabulous Things Can Only get Better which strongly stands as one of the albums very best recordings. Count The Days is distinctley reminiscent to Madonna's EveryBody whilst the title track, Rhythm Of Love is nothing exceptional in comparison to the rest of the album though still is a sassy, infectious affair at that.


Rhythm Of love showed Kylie maturing as an artist and gave a subtle hint of what was to come. Clearly her best work under the guidance of Stock, Aikten & Waterman. Recommended!

Third album has a different feel
In 1980's Britain, the most successful pop record producers were the team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Many of their singers faded from popularity as quickly as they emerged, leaving a legacy of doubtful importance, but a few rose above the rest, most notably Kylie.

This album, the third of Kylie's career, is different from its predecessors. Stock Aitken and Waterman wrote and produced seven songs, including the biggest hit here, Better the devil you know. Kylie wrote the four of the songs herself and used a different producer. Anybody familiar with Kylie's excellent Light years album will see some of its roots here but Kylie's music underwent many changes in the intervening years.

While many will continue to dismiss Kylie (especially these early albums), she is much better than many of the singers she is sometimes compared to, and has proved it by lasting longer than any of her critics thought possible.

Note that this CD is also available via the boxed set - Kylie Minogue x3. It's only three individual CD's wrapped in a cardboard slipcase but it's much cheaper than buying the three separately.

Kylie takes control
Kylie and Enjoy Yourself (her first two albums) had been pure pop pupper material, now 1990's Rhythm Of Love is THE turning point in Kylie's career.
Sure, Stock/Aitken/Waterman's presence is still felt but there is still a more grown-up feel in their writing for her. The first song and single off the album is Better The Devil You Know which took no time at all in overtaking I Should Be So Lucky as the defining song of her career. It's a song that's still heard in clubs (particularly gay ones) today and most still prefer Kylie's version to the Steps one. Step Back In Time is what it suggests, a look back at the music of the 70s and the brilliant accompanying video just emphasises that. What Do I Have To Do? was remixed when it was released as a single. To me, the album version would have also been great as a single but both are great. The video is probably more memorable than the song where Kylie attempts to look like as many film stars as she can in three and a half minutes. Secrets reverts back to the Kylie/Enjoy Yourself days somewhat but this is not totally unexpected when you are listening to a SAW produced album. Always Find The Time shifts up a gear until we get to the first treat on the album The World Still Turns which becomes Kylie's first ever writing credit on an album. Co-written with Michael Jay and Mark Leggett it's not a particularly brilliant song but you have to recognize her efforts in a very difficult period for her. It was so difficult for her to get respect as a serious artist. Maybe she was trying too much, but at least she was trying. Shocked reverts back to SAW mode and would not have been as successful as a single had it not had the remix treatment by DNA. The accompanying video became Kylie's dirtiest to date as she got down and dirty with male model Zane O'Donnell, an on-off boyfriend. One Boy Girl is another Kylie co-write, and a very bizarre one at that. There is an unbelievably cringeworthy rap in the middle of the song that just destroys the song but makes it good entertainment value for the album. Things Can Only Get Better is your typical SAW stuff and Count The Days is a co-write by Kylie for boyfriend Michael Hutchence. It is her first credible song, probably because it had true meaning for her. Rhythm Of Love polishes off the album and while a great name for an album the song itself does nothing to add to the value of the album.
To sum up, Rhythm Of Love is quite a mixed bag. There is a definite grown-up feel to the album but there is still that feeling that she can't quite grasp the reins tightly enough to take control.