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Kylie Minogue

Ultimate Kylie

(Parlophone)

Love her or loathe her, you've got to admire Kylie's staying power.

Almost 20 years since she burst onto our screens as Australia's girl next door, the princess of pop has chalked up 31 international top 40 hits - including seven British  No1s - sold more than 40 million albums, and does a nice line in knickers to boot.

Her latest album Ultimate Kylie is a two-disc greatest hits compilation, which charts her rise from curly-haired moppet to hip, gay icon.

It kicks off with lighthearted fluff such as I Should Be So Lucky and  The Locomotion, but the rest of disc one will have all but the most diehard fans with their finger hovering over the fast-forward button - with the exception of the disco pastiche Step Back in Time.

Disc two takes a turn for the better with sultry ballads such as Confide in Me and Where the Wild Roses Grow - Minogue's excellent duet with Nick Cave -  leading to a healthy dose of crowd-pleasers including Spinning Around, Love at First Sight and the appropriately titled I Can't Get You Out of My Head.

Two new releases are tacked on at the end of disc two. I Believe in You, written and recorded in collaboration with Jake Shears  and BabyDaddy from the Scissor Sisters, is catchy enough but lacks the spark of some of its predecessors to make it a genuine dance-floor filler. Similarly, Giving You Up starts promisingly but peters out and is easily forgotten. Hits perhaps, but not Minogue's greatest.

That said, with a total of 33 tracks, Ultimate gives you plenty of bang for your buck, and if ever there was an ideal time to buy into Minogue's feel-good froth it's at Christmas.

