"Didn't you used to be Dannii Minogue?", I thought, as Dannii Minogue, or at least a facsimile of the artist formally known as Dannii was chosen to judge stale, ITV talent competition 'The X-Factor'. For it wasn't just her physical appearance that'd changed, there was something amiss that I couldn't quite pin down, who was Dannii Minogue: model, singer, actress or just a pouting has-been, a bitter never-was, the poor man's Kylie? Now I've always preferred Dannii to Kylie; she's a better actress, has a stronger voice and, back in the day (the 'day' being 1993-2000) was better looking too. Its just her image that's proved a problem, and what an image: there was the time our hapless Antipodean hellraiser was caught in a lesbian tryst with some drunk floozy in 'The Hippodrome', strangely enough, and for reasons as yet unexplained; her girl-on-girl action was a major turn-off, for even the sleaziest dregs & degenerates of the tabloid media weren't too impressed. But dizzy Sheila Minogue wasn't done yet, and almost stumbled off the lad's mag circuit into becoming a Neo-Nazi pinup, when she was quoted complaining that all street signs in Australia were "written in Asian" (sic), of course the natural response to that is: 'they would've been written in an Aboriginal language if only you hadn't murdered them all'. Damage control soon followed, and in a manner not unlike the classic 'Father Ted' Chinaman episode, Dannii reassured us she wasn"t racist, got that? Not a racist. Good.

A DJ friend of mine had this DVD on loop, hence a combination of curiosity, nostalgia and not being able to find the remote all played a part in revisiting the stop-start career of my favourite Aussie after Kim Davis...and Rolf Harris, of course. Now we may as well just face up to the fact that most people regard Danni as, and I hesitate to use the word skank, but lets just say she's often discussed in a rather disparaging manner. Sexy shoots and big gay following aside, its kind of hard to admit to liking Dannii without being prejudged as either an avid 'Maxim' reader, diehard clubber or feather boa draped drag queen, and since Australia has, in theory anyway, always been the land of the fair go, that's exactly what I'm going to give Dannii's DVD: 'The Ultimate Dannii Minogue Collection' opens with her 1991 hit 'Love & Kisses' and continues in a similar vein with 'Jump To The Beat' and 'Success' though legendary 80's DJ Steve Silk Hurley's critically acclaimed re-mixes are conspicuous by their absence. As the 90s draw to a close, Dr Doom's ex doesn"t let up for a second, and the tempo changes with video 11 'All I Wanna Do' (1997)' taken off her 'Girl' album, this song marked the start of Dannii's successful foray into the club scene. 'Everything I Wanted' and 'Disrememberance' act as decent fillers leading up to her most dramatic reinvention to date: And fair play to her, for Dannii cut a classic dance track with Riva and Pete Tong, as 'Who Do You Love Now?' (2000) is an old-school crowd pleaser with a snazzy video that's aged well and still gets played today. Dannii, no longer an epigonec ecdysiast but a credible trendsetter in her own right, follows up with song-as-sexual-euphemism 'Put The Needle On It' (memorable music video, well directed) and 'I Begin To Wonder' (good track, technically sound video) both taken off her 'Neon Nights' album (2003). The last four videos are more of the same though not as fresh or funky, and whilst it all goes a bit 'Pete Tong' post 'Neon Nights', 'The Ultimate Dannii Minogue Collection' is a comprehensive music video anthology which spans over a decade of sights & sounds: from teen pop sensation to club land diva, Dannii Mingoue's career has been nothing if interesting. Extras include Dannii"s video diary filmed over the last year and a half, a short making of 'Neon Nights', a look at her sterling work on stage in 'Notre Dame De Paris' and a cache of bonus music videos; the highlight of which is a Kylie & Dannii live performance. Not one for my collection, but a must have for fans.