Hard Candy

What happened to the Madonna I used to love?

I have been a huge Madonna fan for many years and I was very excited for her when she made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But lately I have no idea what she's thinking.

Oh well, it's pretty obvious why she teamed up with Justin Timberlake with this one. She's simply selling out her long time fans, people who have supported her from the beginning, in an attempt to attract a new audience among the pre-pubescent, pre-teen types that would buy a bag of s**t if it had Justin Timberlake's name/logo on it.

The tracks on this album are simply awful and uninspiring and that's an understatement. It's like she's not even trying anymore. I haven't heard a single track that held my attention for more than a few seconds. The American Life album was bad, Confessions was okay with some redeeming qualities, but this album is worst than anything I have heard in a long time. I find it hard to believe that the woman who ruled the music industry in the 80's and 90's can't come up with a better attempt than this.

They say that the long term and repeated effects of Botox can cause mental instability. Hmmm . . . in Madonna's case, there could be some truth to that.

Perhaps it is time for her to retire.

Even though I love both Euro-leaning Timbaland and Neptunes, I was initially skeptical of Madonna's venture into their more urban, heavier sound --Madonna should have worked with them years ago, when they were 'fresher'. As it happens, it was an amazing surprise when I heard the album for the first time. Bar two tracks, HARD CANDY is a joyous celebration of classic Madonna dance MAGIC, and a suitable companion to the more Euro CONFESSIONS. Her producers this time around grew up in the golden age of Madonna, MJ, and Prince, and have outdone themselves by providing M with some of their best work yet. The songs are certainly ear candy, and there are many highlights within the songs themselves (Miles Away's surprising bridge, for one). All is not perfect though--there is a very apparent clunker on this almost-perfect selection of Madonna tunes, but then, even that one is growing on me. HARD CANDY may sound like one to skip if you don't like the first single; however, there are so many great Madonna tunes on this album, it would be silly to judge it by its most urban track, 4 MINUTES. Join the STICKY AND SWEET Revolution and Get HARD!

First off what you have to understand is that Madonna has been ahead of the curve since she has been around. For a 25 year old let alone the 50 year old that she is.... This woman is amazing, she has constantly stayed ahead of the times by recruiting the best producers of the time & talent of the "generation" while remaining purely "Madonna" the woman is a genius! She knows exactly who and what to recruit for her new LP's. Danja, Kanye, and countless others are responsible for this masterpiece. It's not without flaws "heartbeat" for instance and even some questionable songs come off initially as strange but listen a few times and you will realize what she set out to do. Bottom line if you love dance music you owe it to yourself to buy this CD, don't download it free, buy it, you won't be disappointed except for two songs.. the spanish one and heartbeat the rest is awesome.. and purely Madonna!!!!

And with her latest creation - "Hard Candy" - she has once again given us something new and creative to listen too.

I will readily admit, when I first listened to her last so-so album, "American Life", I thought it was really, really bad. But, after I listened to it a few times, I came to realize how wonderful practically every song on that album really was (or is).

"Hardy Candy" was just as hard a piece to swallow as "American Life" was - at first. But each time I listen to the various songs on it, I like them more and more.

For me at least, Madonna appears to refrain from giving her fans an easy path to truly liking her music at first glance (or listen). Is it smart of her to do this? Probably not for some. But, if you're a true Madonna fan, you should by now have come to appreciate Madonna's ability to pull you into her rythmic songs whether you want to be pulled in or not.

Is every song on "Hard Candy" all that good? Nope, resoundingly no! But it all blends together to tell story, which practically EVERY one of Madonna's albums have consistently down time after time. And to anyone who says the song "Miles Away" isn't all that good, have you realy listened to the lyrics? This song is so true in SO MANY WAYS for so many people in broken or troubled relationships.

At first, I didn't care much for "Candy Shop". Then I truly listened to what she singing about, and now I'm taken back to "Erotica" and the sexy sensual grinding bumps in that song that I can't help but LOVE "Candy Shop" if for nothing else in that it is pure raw sensuality.

"Give it to Me" has got to be one of the best, or most likely dance tracks on the album. Classic Madonna. "Heartbeat" is a close second on this score.

"She's Not Me", "Incredible", and "Spanish Lesson" are all fun, cheeky stabs at social commentary of sorts. They are all very catchy once you've absorbed what she's singing about in each song.

I'm not usually very fond at white peoples' attempts at 'Spanish style' music, and I wasn't too fond of "Spanish Lesson" at first, but it really is a beautiful social commentary in a very lyrically catchy muse. It's FUN people - just listen to it! You know, I think I might actually be able to really learn how to speak Spanish for once if I had Madoona singing all my Spanish lessons to me like this. It would sure be the pants out of - oh what's it called? - well you know the name of it, they advertise that CD-ROM Spanish lesson on tv all the time. :)

"Dance 2night" is possibly the weakest track on the album, but it certainly isn't horrible, just not great. Every artist has at least one or more poor performers on their albums. This is one of Madonna's on her current effort.

"Devil Wouldn't Recognize You, and "Voices" are both very different, at least for me. I love them. Madonna has always treaded into new territory when it comes to her music. For good, bad, or indifferent reasons, she has always delivered SOMETHING a little "off the beaten path" on every album she has every released in her career. These last two songs (for me) are evidence of that, and I think THAT'S what has kept her relevant all of these years with so many of her long-term fans.

She's not going to please EVERYBODY with each one of her albums. She never has managed to do that, and quite frankly, I don't honestly feel that has ever been her intention. If you haven't gotten that about Ms. M's general attitude about her actions, and how other people feel about her actions, then you don't Madonna very well.

What she has managed to do is push the envelope, remain at the top of her game, explore new musical arenas lyrically, physically, and emotionally, and to top it all off - continue to sell albums (and sucessfully at that) despite what any one may say or feel about her newest material.

How many "flash-in-the-pans" (as Madonna was considered, and referred too back in the early 80's when her career first took off) can still be seen, heard, admired, loathed, listened too, danced too, idolized, and emulated? All the while raking in our money (and love) for their continued (and seemingly endless) flowing of "Music" in the same way that Madonna has over the past 25 years. How many are there left and are still standing (and dancing) to show that they not only continue to create their own musuc, but live and dance to it as well right along side their die-hard fans? None.

Let me preface this review by saying that I am a big Madonna fan. I have loved her music through the years, and recognize not only her talent, but her influence on music and pop culture. That being said, this has to be one of the weakest, most boring albums I have heard in years. Not just bad for Madonna, but bad music all aorund. I have tried repeatedly to listen to every song on this album, but cannot get more than a minute into each before I have lost all interest. It is painful to listen to, and painful to think that someone of Madonna's stature, with all of her resources, can't come up with a better attempt than this.

The music is lifeless, and feels quite dated. The songs seem to blur into all sounding the same.Vocally, it sounds as though the producers did not know how to treat Madonna's voice. It comes across as high-pitched, straining, and amateurish.

Quite frankly, if this album was done by anyone other than Madonna, it would've been panned by the critics, and would've been lost to music history as another flop.