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Laying herself at the mercy of producers savvy enough to churn out hits in their sleep, Madonna has put her reputation on the line for Hard Candy, but it's a calculated risk, and although she could have done it better, it's still a mighty record.
In essence, the album is not the hip hop tribute many had feared, but an urban extension of 2005's Confessions On A Dancefloor. The disco still rules supreme (just listen to the funk-overload of Dance 2Nite) and the dancefloor remains Madonna's sexual playground. Yet, with Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Nate 'Danja' Hills and Pharrell Williams at the helm, the RnB edge is added. Williams' breathy punctuation and tinny percussion spill over from the album's opener Candy Shop and Timbaland's distorted bass beats make for wonderfully messy melodies, particularly on the superb climax, 12 Voices - Madonna's most haunting sound since Frozen.
The argument that this tried and tested production work could be a template for any artist (Madonna only has co-writing credits) is a tad churlish. She adds that inimitable zing of excitement that the likes of Nelly Furtado don't possess and the record is not without its personal moments. Take the genuinely good, genuinely felt Miles Away; an electro missive concerning her relationship with husband Guy Ritichie (''I guess we're at our best when we're miles away''). Besides, many milestones of Madonna's epic career - Holiday, Get Into The Groove, Ray Of Light and Music - are marked throughout.
Undeniably, it's the work with Timbaland and co. that really sells Hard Candy. Madonna and Timberlake's vocal hook on 4 Minutes is worth the download fee alone and the album's penultimate track, Devil Wouldn't Recognise You, is the next best thing after Timberlake's What Goes Around!
Meanwhile, Williams isn't as dependable. Tracks like the awkward Spanish Lesson and the badly paced Incredible, where the frenetic finish isn't worth the four minute wait, represent more fool's gold than the real deal. In contrast, Give It 2 Me, where children's TV meets trance and techno, is a wholesome sugar rush.
Easy to chew, Hard Candy is everything you'd hope for from a Madonna album; excitement, adventure and progress. Something tells me it just might sell! --Tom Young
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
***Top 5 Tracks***
Candy Shop
Beat Goes On
She's Not Me
Give It To Me
Miles Away
I can think of no better way of showing my appreciation
than dedicating this, my 50th review, to you in the year
of your (fast approaching) 50th birthday.
It's good to see from your cover photo that there are no
clear signs of your having begun to let yourself go just yet.
Your libido appears to continue to manifest itself in full working order
and all would indeed seem to be trimmed and tidy down below.
A strapping lass no more no less with a heavyweight
hardcore trophy belt to prove it.
Can it really be 25 years since the release of your first album?
Celebrity musical friends and producers aside 'Hard Candy' seems to be less a reinvention
this time around than it is a refinement, a distilation and a concentration of those
essential traits which have continued to endear you to us over the past QUARTER OF A CENTURY.
The album is saturated with a sinuous nervous energy.
Muscular rhythms, skittering febrile synthesiser interventions
and a commendable integration of accoustic and electronic elements.
And within it and above it all THE VOICE. Familiar as an old friend and
despite it's technical limitations a voice which has NEVER sounded better.
The material is strong. The melodies memorable and often strangely affecting.
We have some of the best songs in the lady's long career here.
'Incredible' is just that; 'Miles Away' a close second.
'She's Not Me' a delicious slice of who-can-she-be-referring-to(?) uber-disco;
'Beat Goes On' keeps the mirror-ball turning with a cute
over-the-shoulder 80's wink and Mr West's splendid rapterlude.
Misters Timbaland and Timberlake deport themselves well in '4 Minutes'
in cool anthemic style; the pared down ska(ish) rhythms
of 'Give It To Me' another good-humoured invitation to dance.
'Heartbeat' perhaps for me the shining jewel in 'Hard Candy's' crown.
Crikey it's all top drawer stuff !
A renaissance of a kind and a celebration of single-minded persistence.
Your Madgesty you can be well proud of this one !
Big Up For Your Birthday !
The Wolf
x
I think she has much better works, but....
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