Dannii’s first album ‘Love and Kisses’ peaked at No.8 on the UK charts and was certified Gold for sales of more than 100,000 copies, spawning five Top 40 hits with the last of those in December 1991. The first new material we would hear from Dannii following this, was a charity single and cover of The Jackson’s only UK No.1 ‘Show You The Way To Go’ from 1977.
Dannii’s take was released in July 1992 and was taken from the NME album ‘Ruby Trax’ that was released to celebrate 40 years of the famous music paper. It was quite the surprise to see Dannii included on this album – the only pop act – alongside the likes of Teenage Fanclub and Jesus and the Mary Chain, all taking on a classic UK No.1 single from the preceding 40 years with the album proceeds going to the Spastics Society. Dannii said in a UK TV interview at the time that it was a toss up between a few songs including Tom Jones’ ‘It’s Not Unusual’ but she opted for ‘Show You The Way To Go’; in later years, on her DVD collection saying that it’s still a very special song to her today.
It marked a more mature, R&B leaning sound for Dannii and in it’s video Dannii showed off a new dark blonde streak at the front of her brunette hair and she looked gorgeously goth! A mellow bop that’s aged very well, Dannii is on fine voice and the percussion on the middle 8 is a joy. The track peaked at No.30 on the UK singles chart spending two weeks in the Top 40.
The second single from the at-the-time untitled second album was ‘Love’s on Every Corner’ which was released in November 1992 and was written by Danny D (aka D Mob) and Cathy Dennis (some nine years before Kylie sang the Cathy-penned ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’). The video gave Blade Runner vibes, with Dannii in a sexy velvet catsuit slinking around a dark cityscape. The track just missed out on becoming her 7th UK Top 40 single when it peaked at No.44 on release. The sleeve artwork remains one of Dannii’s best, in my opinion, as she serves classic Hollywood glamour with a towel piled high on her head.
It’s unclear if the full album had been recorded at this stage, or whether a rethink was had but it would be another seven months until we would hear the third single from the upcoming album. This time Dannii was going back to full-on pop with her cover of Melba Moore’s 70s classic ‘This Is It’ and a she had new found vocal confidence through her friendship with Terry Ronald. Dannii tells in her book ‘My Story‘ how she enlisted her new pal Terry to produce her vocals on the track knowing he had an extensive knowledge of soul and disco music, as well as a great singing voice himself.
It was a reaction to a challenging experience Dannii had recently had with a big name US Producer who had pushed Dannii to try and sing in a key that didn’t work for her. Dannii must’ve been extremely pleased with the end result of working with Terry, as not only has he produced her vocals since, but she even released an acapella version of the track on the CD single.
The video for ‘This Is It’ sees Dannii having a great time on a sunny LA beach and features her then soon-to-be-husband Julian McMahon frolicking in the waves with her. It is a pure joy to watch and Dannii was heavily involved in the energetic choreography. It did the trick, sending Dannii back into the UK Top 10 when it was released in July that year.
There would be one more single just ahead of the album release in the form of ‘This is the Way’ which was a modern day disco stomper with Dannii on fine vocal form, hitting some very high notes! It was written by Cary Baylis, Michael Ward and Eliot Kennedy (who’s joint credits went on to include Take That, Spice Girls and more) and gave Dannii her eighth UK Top 40, peaking at No.27 in Oct 1993. It was aided by Julian reprising his role as Dannii’s love interest in the video which is a sequel of sorts to ‘This Is It’, this time filmed partly in Manhattan.
The album came out on 4th October 1993 and peaked at No.52 in the UK and No.53 in Australia. With some changes at her record label, the fifth and final UK single from the album would be the title track ‘Get Into You’ which was released on her new label Mushroom International (already her Australian label). This came out approximately eight months after the album however, but did sneak into the UK Top 40 at No.39 in June 1993.
This time, Dannii had injected rock guitars to create an energetic track which wouldn’t have been out of place next to En Vogue’s ‘Free Your Mind’. Dannii looks absolutely stunning in the video which was shot in Battersea and features lots of bright white space accented with flowing blue silk and paper mache columns. Dannii co-directed the video with her friend and stylist Kirsten and they came up with the idea of the white background making it seem like there was no beginning and no end to the set. One of the highlights of this single release was the Hustlers Conventions Disco mix and you can listen to the radio edit of that below;
The rest of the album is a mix of the more mature mid-tempo R&B pop that had peppered the charts thanks to the likes of Ce Ce Peniston and Kym Sims. Of these tracks, a missed opportunity for a single for me is ‘Kiss and Make Up’.
There are a couple more pure pop tracks in the form of ‘Lucky Tonight’ and ‘Be Careful’ and Dannii slows it down with ballads ‘Wish You’d Stop Wishing’ and ‘I Dream’. The latter was performed on a couple of Australian TV appearances to promote the album, watch below:
For me this album is sonically of it’s time but shows Dannii’s development path as an artist and it’s also an era where her singles were receiving the remix treatment which hinted at her growing interest in the dance scene that would influence her sound in the following years. The photography and logo remain one of my faves with Dannii looking gorgeous and seductive in a variety of black and white shots by Adam Watson, who later photographed Dannii for Playboy magazine.
In 2009, an extended edition of ‘Get Into You’ was released including previously unreleased or rare tracks which gave more of the R&B pop sound that was at the heart of the album. One particular highlight is ‘Hold On’ with it’s Hip Hop lite beats and Janet Jackson style vocal delivery. On ‘If You’re In Love With Me’ there’s even a surprise uncredited rap!
Buy ‘Get Into You’ or listen to to it below as it celebrates 30 years:
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