Happy Dannii-versary Neon Nights! That’s right it’s been 15 years since Dannii Minogue released her fourth studio album, one that blended pop, dance, electro and funk and produced 4 top 10 hits in the UK. To celebrate the reissue of the album on vinyl and CD, we take a look back at how the album came together.
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In late 2001, Dannii signed up to add vocals to a dance track by Riva for Who Do You Love Now? The thumping dance track gave Dannii her highest charting UK single at the time. From this $ucce$$ (couldn’t resist!), Dannii was signed by London Records and began work on what would become her fourth studio album Neon Nights.
Dannii was heavily involved in the writing process, co-writing the majority of the tracks on album and she worked with a host of writers and producers who were responsible for hits from the likes of Rachel Stevens, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and many more.
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The slinky Put The Needle On It was released nearly a year after Who Do You Love Now? and gave Dannii another top 10 UK hit. The video sees Dannii with a striking new short spiky hair cut as she spins around on a giant record player. It set the tone for the album of 80s funk inspired, dance, pop; dirty hands I demand!
The next track she released was I Begin To Wonder, which has the honour of being Dannii’s highest charting single in the UK at no.2, held off the top by Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful. I Begin To Wonder was a slice of futuristic dance pop that topped the club charts. It was given a bootleg remix, as was the trend at the time for mash ups, with Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round to create I Begin To Spin Around.
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Neon Nights was released hot on the heels of the success of I Begin To Wonder and shot straight into the UK album top 10, matching Dannii’s previous highest album peak of no.8 which she achieved with her debut album Love and Kisses some 12 years earlier. The album’s iconic sleeve was inspired by Liza Minelli and a shot of her crawling across the floor at famous NYC club Studio 54.
Another single, Don’t Wanna Lose This Feeling, was released in June 2003 and gave Dannii another top 5 UK hit, cementing this album as her most successful in the UK. The track was accompanied by a sexy beach video but with a twist – it was shot at night. Dannii commented on how cold it was on the shoot and how the crew were all wearing three puffer jackets but she was left to make it look hot, sweaty and barmy in a short mini dress. This track was also given an official mash up with Dannii gaining permission from none other than Madonna to use elements of Into The Groove, to give us Don’t Wanna Lose This Groove.
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There were rumours of a possible fifth single from Neon Nights but at the time London Records and its parent company Warner Music were undergoing some changes and Dannii actually parted company with the label. What was the fifth single? Well it could’ve been the sultry ballad It Won’t Work Out or perhaps the hidden track Come and Get It. Both have since had radio or single mixes appear on the rarities album Unleashed.
This new version of Neon Nights doesn’t bring anything new track wise to the deluxe edition that was released on 2xCD back in 2007, however what is new is that you can get Neon Nights on vinyl for the first time including a limited number of coloured vinyl.
Listening to the album again it has stood the test of time well and is a great reminder of why Dannii is queen of the clubs. Alongside the singles, highlights include Hey! (So What), For The Record and bonus track Goodbye Song.
Neon Nights Dannii-versary edition is out 22nd June 2018.
