MADONNA - MUSIC
so here it is, madonna's much-feted (by her) new album, music, the one that's supposed to take music to another level and cut through the doldrums of today's scene. as much as i find her recent snobbery unbearable, the album is pretty good, but on the other hand, it's hardly different than anything that's out on the market currently: madonna has always been a dance artist so it's natural for her to get with the times, so therefore i don't see anything cutting-edge about her "electronica" forays at all. let's discuss.
first off, it's a short album: 10 songs, about 45 minutes long. when the last track plays for me, i can't believe it's already over; then again, in a market that's flooded with double albums, a little brevity does come as a breath of fresh air. the album begins with "music," and i'm sure you've all made up your minds about that one. i still find it to be a bit dull and i won't be surprised if it's her worst charting first single from an album in this country: nevertheless, it does set the tone for the album, both in its (thankfully) simple lyrics and in its sound.
production chores on this album are shared by mirwais and william orbit: the beats are slightly similar but it's not too difficult to distinguish between mirwais' daft-punkish sounds and and orbit's retro-dance. the former is best heard on "impressive instant": the vocals are tweaked -- which is a frequent occurrence on this album -- and a helium-voiced madonna announces, "i'm in a trance": she's not alone as mirwais immerses the listener in his hypnotic sounds. it's this album's "ray of light" in terms of all-out danceability and subject matter -- it's also the best track on the album.
orbit's production style is best exemplified in "amazing": the high-pitched synth, the rattling guitar, the basic breakbeat -- basically the sound he began with "beautiful stranger" and reused on "american pie." compared to mirwais' tracks, orbit's uptempo offerings suggest what i've always thought: he's not a dance music producer, instead he excels at making pop songs with strong dance elements. he started his career as a maker of ambient music which is why his best tracks are ballads like "gone" with its echoey, lo-fi acoustic guitar. six of the tracks went to mirwais and three went to orbit (the remaining one went to guy sigsworth who contributes the straightforward pop of "what it feels like for a girl" which, in some strange way, reminds me of michael jackson's "childhood" in its theme) which would indicate that, in adapting to her "new" sound, she's deciding to jettison orbit in favor of mirwais' dance futurism. given the results, it's hard to second guess her decision.
listening to the lyrics on this album, i find a madonna who seems somewhat unhappy. compared to the largely celebratory vibe of ray of light, you have to wonder what's happened to her since. many of the songs deal with relationships gone sour and with mistakes she feels she's made. the album ends with the aforementioned "gone" which sounds like her new statement of belief. lines like "selling out is not my thing" seem to explain her current mindset and make you wish for the madonna who for a time seemed to have exclusive rights to the idea of "selling out."
the fact that the album sounds good on these first listenings may possibly make me mistake it for a good album: time will tell in that respect. to me, "impressive instant" is the only excellent track. many of the songs are only salvaged by the deft production touches of orbit and mirwais. "amazing" and "i deserve it" are good/very good tracks, the latter an engagingly sparse ballad. "runaway lover" is another very good production with a faint tune; "don't tell me" is bordering on being "good/very good" with production that recalls r&b hotshot shek'speare, of all people; "paradise (not for me)," taken from mirwais' production album, is cool to listen to but is ruined by madonna's new age platitudes and whispered vocal; and "nobody's perfect" is flat-out boring and you all know what i think about "music." now you should know how i feel about music: a good album, though hardly ground-breaking, with the potential to get better or worse over time.
(c) 2000 - fred solinger -
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