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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Candy Shop |
| 2. 4 Minutes |
| 3. Give It 2 Me |
| 4. Heartbeat |
| 5. Miles Away |
| 6. She's Not Me |
| 7. Incredible |
| 8. Beat Goes On |
| 9. Dance 2night |
| 10. Spanish Lesson |
| 11. Devil Wouldn't Recognize You |
| 12. Voices |
| 13. 4 Minutes |
| 14. 4 Minutes |
Product Description
Review
'I know I can do it better'', boasts Madonna on She's Not Me, a gigantic disco ball of a Chic-esque tune. It's a piercing shot at any young pretenders, past, present and future, who think they've what it takes to take on the Queen of Pop in her fiftieth year, and one that reverberates across her eleventh album.
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
Product Description
MADONNA Hard Candy (2008 UK issue Special Edition CD album - Hard Candy [the follow up to Madonnas #1 Confessions On A Dance Floor] is a brilliant up-tempo collection of 12 songs in which Madonna remains ensconced in club mode but this time adds an urban hip-hop beat in collaboration with musical partners Timbaland Justin Timberlake Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes and Nate Danja Hills; includes the singles 4 Minutes Give It 2 Me and Miles Away plus 2 bonus remixes of 4 Minutes. Presented in a sealed DVD-sized picture box complete with a 16-page booklet and 35 Starlite Mints candy!)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Madonna was always out to have her say, of that nobody ever had any doubt, like her or not. Madonna has always done her thing. She does not, here, and look at the result. She's making the same mistake Michael Jackson made with Invincible; she doesn't trust her voice. Madonna should age with grace. She should let go of her sex symbol status. She doesn't need it anymore; her last four albums are musically brilliant, making Hard Candy even more a sour mouthful.
Where is the heart? Why did M need Timbaland, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake? Surely she knows, after her previous efforts, how to remain relevant. Timbaland, West and Timberlake haven't half the talent that William Orbit and Stuart Price have, or Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Bloodshy & Avant. Almost every song is overproduced ad nauseam, with hardly any space to breathe not filled by guest vocalists chanting "it's Madonna" or similar generic slurs. Even the album title says nothing. What inspired Madonna to make it?
"Miles Away" and "Voices", and the majority of "Incredible" (until it suddenly turns into practically the definition of the preceding paragraph), are the only real heartbeaters on the album. "Miles Away" is wistful and emotional, a moving listen that was wisely released as a single, and the closing track "Voices" is an atmospheric sonic landscape that really should've been explored more. But then there are awful songs like "Candy Shop" and "Beat Goes On", neither of which has any heart. "4 Minutes" wears off fairly quickly, too.
Some songs are good listens but their hollow heart leaves nothing. There are even potentially great tracks that feel so over-produced and hollow (prime example, "Dance 2Night"). Even the excellent "Incredible"; a wonderful, wonderful track, but the final two minutes are near unbearable. They are so shallow, with "get your hands up", lines, guest vocalists yelling "boom" and, most of all, M actually singing "Sex with you is incredible". That's narrowing the effect of the song down a bit much.
There is very little trace of Madonna Louise Ciccone here. It's like she's lost her nerve. Hard Candy completely sells out on her audience that she has enthralled for twenty years. Bad move. But hey, M is known for experimentation. She tried something here she hadn't tried. Something she shouldn't have tried either, true, but let's hope that she'll re-invent herself yet again and stay true to her voice. And stay miles away from Timbaland.
American Life was raw and hard to get into, but underneath its rough exterior beats such a warm heart. By contrast, Hard Candy is a smooth and shiny, but almost completely hollow, shell. I ask you, which would you prefer? Even her single "Hey You", if not super-produced, feels warmer than the bulk of this album. Don't turn into a Norma Desmond, Madonna. You still have it; use it, please. I'm begging you, as a fan.
UPDATE:
Madonna's new album MDNA is an answer to all my wishes. Hard Candy is passable, check out MDNA instead.
Where is the heart? Why did M need Timbaland, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake? Surely she knows, after her previous efforts, how to remain relevant. Timbaland, West and Timberlake haven't half the talent that William Orbit and Stuart Price have, or Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Bloodshy & Avant. Almost every song is overproduced ad nauseam, with hardly any space to breathe not filled by guest vocalists chanting "it's Madonna" or similar generic slurs. Even the album title says nothing. What inspired Madonna to make it?
"Miles Away" and "Voices", and the majority of "Incredible" (until it suddenly turns into practically the definition of the preceding paragraph), are the only real heartbeaters on the album. "Miles Away" is wistful and emotional, a moving listen that was wisely released as a single, and the closing track "Voices" is an atmospheric sonic landscape that really should've been explored more. But then there are awful songs like "Candy Shop" and "Beat Goes On", neither of which has any heart. "4 Minutes" wears off fairly quickly, too.
Some songs are good listens but their hollow heart leaves nothing. There are even potentially great tracks that feel so over-produced and hollow (prime example, "Dance 2Night"). Even the excellent "Incredible"; a wonderful, wonderful track, but the final two minutes are near unbearable. They are so shallow, with "get your hands up", lines, guest vocalists yelling "boom" and, most of all, M actually singing "Sex with you is incredible". That's narrowing the effect of the song down a bit much.
There is very little trace of Madonna Louise Ciccone here. It's like she's lost her nerve. Hard Candy completely sells out on her audience that she has enthralled for twenty years. Bad move. But hey, M is known for experimentation. She tried something here she hadn't tried. Something she shouldn't have tried either, true, but let's hope that she'll re-invent herself yet again and stay true to her voice. And stay miles away from Timbaland.
American Life was raw and hard to get into, but underneath its rough exterior beats such a warm heart. By contrast, Hard Candy is a smooth and shiny, but almost completely hollow, shell. I ask you, which would you prefer? Even her single "Hey You", if not super-produced, feels warmer than the bulk of this album. Don't turn into a Norma Desmond, Madonna. You still have it; use it, please. I'm begging you, as a fan.
UPDATE:
Madonna's new album MDNA is an answer to all my wishes. Hard Candy is passable, check out MDNA instead.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This alblum start fanastically with Candy shop. Really exciting begining for the album! 4 minutes is funky and enjoyable. Give it to me is clever and different. Heartbeat makes you wanna dance and smile. Miles is simply beautiful. Shes not me is interesting and has some unusual elements. Incredable is simply self absored, irritating and has a desperate undertone. The beat goes on reaks of desperation and the lyrics are simply immature. The rest of the album is not worthy of review.
Format:Audio CD
Somebody went ahead and bought this for me! After already hearing a preview of it before it was released and not liking it I can't say i'm too chuffed that a copy was given to me as a present (now on Ebay...). Whatever happened to buying people a pair of socks?
Anyway, I duly listened again to confirm that IMO it is indeed a): an awful Madonna album and b): an awful Rn'B album. I can hear few redeeming qualities at all.
I note that Wikipedia is reporting as of the date this was posted that worldwide sales are sitting at 2.6 mil. So it's well on course to be the lowest selling new studio release in Madge's history. Even falling short of American Life's 5 mil. Not surprising as for example in the UK the album has had little or no airtime on the biggest radio station (BBC R2). A trend doubtless repeated worldwide by music playlisters who don't want to hear her singing "See my booty get down like (Little lower baby oh) Get down ..." Cringe....
So I can hear an army of long-time Madonna fans saying "We told you so....", and you need to try harder next time Madge... This rubbish simply won't do.
Anyway, I duly listened again to confirm that IMO it is indeed a): an awful Madonna album and b): an awful Rn'B album. I can hear few redeeming qualities at all.
I note that Wikipedia is reporting as of the date this was posted that worldwide sales are sitting at 2.6 mil. So it's well on course to be the lowest selling new studio release in Madge's history. Even falling short of American Life's 5 mil. Not surprising as for example in the UK the album has had little or no airtime on the biggest radio station (BBC R2). A trend doubtless repeated worldwide by music playlisters who don't want to hear her singing "See my booty get down like (Little lower baby oh) Get down ..." Cringe....
So I can hear an army of long-time Madonna fans saying "We told you so....", and you need to try harder next time Madge... This rubbish simply won't do.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One of her worst albums, that's certain.
Well I cannot say many good things about this album, unfortunately. It's one of her worst, if not THE worst album of her career. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Sergio Branco
MEDIOCRE
I would have given this one star if it wasn't for two songs, Give It 2 Me & Heartbeat - both very good. Other than these, this album has nothing else going for it. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Adamw
Sticky and sweet
Madonna teams up with timberlake and timberland on this record... it topped the global charts in 2008 and won praise from critics. Read more
Published 8 months ago by popfan
Another album another reinvention
madonna is forever evolving and trying new things. On hard candy she teams up with the producers of the moment timberlake and timberland on a extreamly enjoyable hip hop ride. Read more
Published 9 months ago by madfan
Surprisingly Sweet.
I like many thought oh good god she's lost it and it did take a while to come to this album but so glad i have Madonna used tried and tested producers but created and album full of... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Julia Havard
A great decoration!
It is not possible to use it on my cd as I have taste.
BUT it is a great decoration so as to put your glass, filled with hot or cold beverages, and to protect your IKEA... Read more
BUT it is a great decoration so as to put your glass, filled with hot or cold beverages, and to protect your IKEA... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Loudaros Nikolaos
Hard Candy - Not Sweet Enough.
I'm not a huge Madonna fan, but when I bought "Confessions on a Dancefloor" the quality blew me away. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Jikky
The most boring album of all times!
I don't like writing negative reviews but I wanted to share my thoughts with the rest of the world. THIS IS THE MOST BORING ALBUM THAT EVER BEEN RELEASED BY MADONNA, I didn't like... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. S. Ryzhenok
Great service
The trader sent the CD very promtly well wrapped and it arrived in excellent condition, would use this trader again ;)
Published on 25 May 2010 by J. Sobey
cd
Im a huge Madonna fan and went to see her in concert wow!!
This album is a good upbeat sound and she has worked with a lot of people on it and worked hard on it. Read more
This album is a good upbeat sound and she has worked with a lot of people on it and worked hard on it. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2010 by Ms. A. J. Tinkler
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