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Madonna still makes good music
CD REVIEW: Forget the lyrics on her 10th album; the dance beat carries the day
Madonna's 10th album starts off like most of her previous ones – with a
throbbing beat designed to get your feet stomping and your heinie
shaking.
But a funny thing happens beneath the revolving disco ball of
Confessions on a Dance Floor: Madge morphs from nightclub diva into
armchair philosopher.
Or at least she tries to. Dance music, by design, isn't conducive to
deep messages, so give her credit for trying to sing about fame, family
and the meaning of it all in songs such as "Jump" and "Let It Will Be."
But inevitably, Madonna gets hung up on her favorite topic – Madonna.
"How High" begins as a warning about the perils of ego and celebrity but
quickly sinks to self-pity: "It's funny how everybody mentions my name,
but they're never very nice," she sniffs.
By the last song, "Like It or Not," she's blowing a big raspberry at her
detractors and smugly telling them, "Celebrate me for who I am."
If nothing else, the self-referential tunes are more interesting than
clichéd songs such as "Get Together" ("I really want to be with you/I
hope you feel the same way, too") or "I Love New York," which is as
stilted as its title.
"I don't like cities, but I like New York/Other places make me feel like
a dork," she sings. "If you don't like my attitude, then you can eff
off/Just go to Texas, isn't that where they golf?"
The saving grace of Confessions on a Dance Floor is the music –
56 minutes of thumping, shimmering computer pop – and not a single
overwrought ballad. Madonna calls it "future disco," but it's mostly a
savvy mishmash of old influences such as Giorgio Moroder, Tangerine
Dream and ABBA, whose 1979 hit "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" provides the hook
for the infectious single "Hung Up."
Mirwais Ahmadzai – the French producer behind Music and
American Life – returns on two tunes.
But the CD's main producer is British DJ-remixer Stuart Price, who
engineers ear worms such as "Sorry" and "Isaac," a galloping Middle
Eastern rocker featuring Yemenite singer Yitzhak Sinwani.
Some rabbis have condemned "Isaac," claiming it's about the 16th-century
Kaballah scholar Yitzhak Luria, which Madonna denies.
But the point is moot. Like the rest of Confessions on a Dance Floor,
it's the rhythm, not the message, that matters most.
BOTTOM LINE: Her lyrics are hit and miss, but Madonna gets into
the groove and proves she can still pack a dance floor.
E-mail
tchristensen@dallasnews.com
Madonna
Confessions on a Dance Floor
(Warner Bros) In stores today
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