THE past several years have not been easy for Australian-based pop singer Kylie Minogue. She has dealt with a variety of health problems, including her triumph over a diagnosis with breast cancer. While she was dealing with her recovery, Kylie stayed away from the public eye. But now Kylie is back with her tenth studio album X. The album is packed with vitality and, as always, with oodles of fun. Lead single and opening track 2 Hearts is a`A0terrific piece of glam pop. The verses`A0revolve around the sensually-whispered`A0Goldfrapp style that dominated her 2003 album Body Language. No More Rain is a hushed and lovely meditation on life’s prettiness, like Kylie’s haunting 2005 track Made of Glass. The standout track on the album is The One, which`A0instantly grabs the ears with`A0its wonderful 1980s’ guitar line. Its simple melody makes it intensely catchy. Other headliners off X include Nu-di-ty. Stars, is another of those synth rock influenced tracks. Wow is a campy and cheesy track that a Kylie album would be incomplete without. Over the`A0entire 13 tracks the album rarely dips below this high standard, and only slows the pace for the tender ballad Cosmic, on which a few more personal sentiments`A0creep into`A0the lyrics.

Best track: The One

Worst track: Sensitized

Rating: ***

Juanes — La Vida... Es Un Ratico (Universal)

In his most powerful and personal recording yet, Juanes returns to the darkness of his 2000 debut, Fijate bien, but he doesn’t stay there. In La Vida`85.Es Un Ratico (Life`85is a moment), he burrows deep inside to unearth the pain of a dying relationship. The album was inspired by what Juanes believed was the end of his marriage, and created during a year spent in a house near his childhood home in Colombia. But despite the anguish, La Vida is ultimately about faith in love and in life. "I’m not going to give my life to fear," Juanes sings in the opening No Creo En El Jam`E1s (I don’t believe in never). Produced by Gustavo Santalalla with Juanes, La Vida is starker than the pop-rock anthems of the star’s last two recordings. "Why did it have to end like this?" Bandera De Manos (Flag of Hands), a duet with German punk rocker Campino, is a call to join against "leaders who buy arms and harvest pain." Minas Piedras (Rock mines) is a duet with revered Argentine singer-songwriter Andr`E9s Calamaro. The song is an almost unbearably painful story of a community ripped apart by landmines (an enormous problem in Colombia). An undercurrent of Latin rhythm is well evident on most songs, especially Me Enamora, Tres and B`E1ilala, and there’s a good balance of rockers as well as ballads, each stylistically distinct and memorably melodic.

Best track: No Creo En El Jam`E1s

Worst track: T`FA Y Yo

This might be one of the most awaited Nightwish albums ever, if only because of the soap opera that has surrounded the band ever since the unceremonious firing of frontwoman Tarja Turunen. Nightwish’s power metal formula has always hinged to an enormous degree on Turunen’s powerful, operatic vocals, which lent the band a ridiculously overblown and melodramatic sound that listeners could either love or hate. From the start, it’s evident that the new vocalist Annette Olzon brings a completely new sound to the band. Olzon’s voice is much more mainstream-friendly, and gives Nightwish a down-to-earth feel. Of course, this is accompanied by massive orchestral arrangements and epic compositions all around, but for the most part the album is more rhythmic than power metal. The single Amaranth is a perfect example, a simple verse-chorus workout. The 14-minute Poet and the Pendulum is full of signature Nightwish moves, namely overwhelming bombast (both musical and lyrical) and tons of orchestral flourishes. Master Passion Greed is another heavy track that has the same reserve of kinetic energy that fuelled some of Nightwish’s classic songs. The band has taken the symphonic elements from their prior works and infused them with a new voice to create a sound representative of the album title: dark, playful and, most of all, passionate.

Best track: Amaranth

Worst track: Sahara

Rating: **

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