Body Language (2004)

''You ready for the change?'' Kylie Minogue inquires a few numbers into her ninth album, and you think, At last -- the first dance tune about menopause! It's not to be, sadly; the legendarily cellulite-free Aussie songbird is a mere lass of 35. But that's plenty old enough to harbor firsthand affections for a certain celebrated decade. So when she calls one new song ''I Feel for You''; enlists Scritti Politti's erstwhile singer on ''Someday''; incorporates bits of the Lisa Lisa oldie ''I Wonder If I Take You Home'' in the Ms. Dynamite-copenned ''Secret''; and liberally quotes from Janet Jackson, Chic, INXS, and Dead or Alive, one might reasonably wonder if Minogue is, as they say, livin' in the '80s.

Yes and -- mostly -- no. Body Language's opening single, ''Slow,'' remains firmly within the realm of contemporary low-throb electro-pop, and the rest of the album is subtle and thoroughly synthetic enough that it's easy to initially assume she's just making her Madonna-meets-Mirwais move. That is, until you notice all those retro vocal riffs creeping in amid the electronica. On the cover, she's striking a Nancy Sinatra-esque, ''These StairMasters are made for walkin''' pose, but it turns out she's less kitten with a whip than just whip-smart about creating a none-too-obvious alchemy between '80s pop-funk and '00s chill-out. The results are ludicrously enjoyable, and somewhere Nile Rodgers is smiling. You should be too.

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