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Music Makes The People Come Together

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 03/26/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It seems strange to say this but the the title track of this album is.....one TERRIFIC SONG! It's a great pop/funk-hip-hop type tune musically and one of the best produced of it's kind in that era but with a hook like "music makes the people come together" (plus the video-you remember) gives you to realize that Madonna hasn't lost her understanding of the music and most importantly the OVERRIDING MESSAGE behind funk since her days working with Nile Rodgers and her early aquintainship with David Byrne. This album had the odd place of following up Ray of Light which was where Madonna went from being primarily a singles act capable of delivering an occasional good album to a critics darling and a wizard in the 90's AOR electronica field. William Orbit again produces but when you here the title track you realize your getting something very different. Hi NRG type songs such as "Impressive Instant" and the elongated psychedelisized electronica of "Paradise (Not For Me)" look strongly to the flavors of the previous album. At the same time nothing about this is AOR-it's actually a more traditional Madonna album with a couple hit singles and other things. Lucky for her the "other things" are NOT filler. There's a lose concept running throughout this album. On almost alternative countryish numbers such as "I Deserve It","Amazing" and "Gone" we suddenly find Madonna as something of a confessional singer-songwriter with a lot of world weariness and perhaps it would seem with the songs mildly downbeat nature,aggresive acoustic guitars and such her blockbuster Maverick singing Alanis Morrisette's own variety of music had rubbed off on the labels boss a little as these songs cut back a lot on Madonna's trademark stylized image. She would go even further down this road on the less popular follow up release American Life. "What It Feels Like For A Girl" extends on the funk atmosphere again only on this occasion slickly done and with some nice touches of 70's sounding electric clavinet type keyboards. The other hit "Don't Tell Me" actually is a glue that mixes both the funky dance music and the singer-songwriter styles on this album with a bit of a stop-n-start British 2 step beat that was really popular at that time. Musically this album is assembled with a lot of abrupt musical jump cuts and doesn't flow together to the degree her previous release did. But much like David Bowie before her Madonna is a chameleon by nature and from her it's always best to expect the unexpected."

Perfection

J. O'steen | USA | 08/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I feel this is one of her most cohesive and brilliant albums. Many seem to feel let down after Ray of Light. I don't get that. Ray of Light is a one of a kind. But Music, the album, is just stunning to me. Different genres of music. Just the right amount of followup with electronica and loved the guitar in it. If you don't like electronica, don't buy this, because it is interspersed throughout. Her vocals are manipulated on a few songs, but it works. I used to think I liked American Life better than Music, but I've changed my mind as time has gone by. Where she went wrong with American Life is the rapping she added in some songs. So contrived and not her. I still like the rawness and emotional vulnerability of American Life a lot, but Music is a much better album overall."