Hits Plus
Between her late 1980s reign as the "I Should Be So Lucky" Aussie soap  star turned pop princess and her iconic re-emergence, Kylie Minogue had an  altogether different kind of pop career. In the mid-1990s, she released two  exquisitely sophisticated albums, both simply titledKylie Minogue, for  the dance label Deconstruction. The best tracks from that period, plus a handful  of previously unreleased songs and remixes, fillHits +. Although the  title is somewhat misleading given that the albums from which the tracks come  were commercial flops, it's not overstating the case to say that with the likes  of "Breathe," "Did It Again," and "Automatic Love" leading the way, this  collection contains some wonderfully stylish pop. But it's the haunting singles  "Confide in Me," "Put Yourself in My Place," and theNick Caveduet "Where the  Wild Roses Grow," graced by the sumptuously breathy vocals that transformed  bubblegum-pop Kylie into a seductress and institution, that are the jewels of  this retrospective and her career.--Dan Gennoe