Light Years (Deluxe Edition)

In 1998, Kylie Minogue was dropped by dance label DeConstruction, and some thought she had committed career suicide. Obviously the backlash of 1997's Impossible Princess taught the diminutive Aussie one important lesson. Sometimes you have to just go with what you know — go back to basics. And that's just what Minogue has done with 2000's Light Years. Symbolically dropping her last name from the cover, she re-enters the territory that made her great. Granted, with the teen pop movement at its strongest, one could say she just has good timing, but this work is leaps and bounds better than her Stock-Aitken-Waterman work. Light Years is not just another Minogue dance-pop record, but a great collection of disco stylings and Europop kitsch. "Spinning Around" is a fun and string-laden declaration that she may have made a mistake back in 1997, and the Robbie Williams/Guy Chambers-penned "Your Disco Needs You" is probably one of the best dance songs of the '90s. Arguably one of the best disco records since the '70s, Light Years is Minogue comfortable with who she is and what she's good at.