Music

M U S I C

Following the record-setting success of the previous album, Ray Of Light, this long-awaited awaited album was pre-empted by the leak of the lead single 'Music' on the Internet. The result a curious mixture of country, techno, disco and je ne sais quoi! What the fans heard, they liked, so it must have been good publicity for the album, which was co-produced by four producers: Mirwais Ahmadzai, William Orbit (of Ray of Light fame), Guy Sigsworth and Mark Stent.

Songs

Music*
Impressive Instant*
Runaway Lover
I Deserve It
Amazing
Nobody's Perfect*
Don't Tell Me*
What It Feels Like For A Girl*
Paradise Not For Me
Gone
(American Pie) - Europe only*
(Cyberraga) - Japan only

Music is the title track and lead single of this album and is a party anthem dedicated to music. A curiously masculine sounding intro vocal of "Hey Mr DJ, put a record on, I wanna dance with my baby" (produced by slowing down Madonna's voice) leads into the by-now famous godzilla thumping bass synth and accompanied percussion crash (and interspersed with Prince-like guitar riffs) leads which in turn leads to a crazily digitally-altered question "do you like to...boogie-woogie?" repeated three time, and ended by "do you like my...acid rock?". Basically, this song returns to the age-old Madonna theme of getting up and shaking your booty - as started in 1982 with 'Everybody' - but refreshed to include the latest technical wizardly. As full of statements as vintage Madonna tracks, the song states that "music makes the people come together" and "music makes the bourgeoisie and the rebel" (now how many pop songs have you heard with that word in it - how she manages to sing it like that with a straight face is beyond me), but it also covers ground not usually seen on a Madonna song, like the "uh uh uh" usually found on rap/hip-hop. There is an element of Madonna's psyche that seeks to defy time, and she reaffirms that here with "don't think of yesterday and I don't look at the clock". The song ends with a series of techno wails from producer Mirwais' machines to the accompaniment of "do you like to...boogie-woogie". Mirwais' production is certainly creditable and the song has a thumping beat with some nifty special effects, all set against the resurgent French disco scene. Influenced by work from bands like Daft Punk, there is no doubt that this song was going to do well ever since it was leaked on the Internet before its release, and it was a number one hit in many countries, including the UK and the US (where it was Madonna's first number one for several years). Don't look too deeply into the lyrics for hidden meanings, as that's a road to disappointment. You have to get your mind out of Ray of Light gear and firmly into party mode, as this is where this track ultimately thrives and not on the spiritual plane. It's so full of hooks that it's almost impossible to escape once snared! The live version of this song throws yet another hook in at the end, where Madonna alters the lyrics to "music, music, music, muu-oo-sic!". A superb start to this album, though not to all tastes by any means.
Impressive Instant is another Mirwais-produced track, and is descended from one of his own songs, 'Naive Song'. It starts off with a wonderful trance-house bass synth-heavy intro which features a swooshing siren effect. There is then a dark sounding loop, which leaves you completely unprepared for the surprisingly upbeat theme of the song. Some of the lyrics are neat, though a bit heavy, like "cosmic systems intertwine, astral bodies drip like wine, all of nature ebbs and flows" and others sound dippy, like "I like to singy singy singy, like a bird on the wingy wingy wingy, I like to rhumba rhumba rhumba, dance to a samba samba samba" but somehow it all works to great effect - only Madonna could pull this off. Madonna uses the vocoder at judicious points adding electronic squeaks and bleeps to her vocals, and whispers at others, melding with the plethora of tricks that Mirwais unleashes. With its infectiousness, it's easy to overlook what this song is about - the magical moment when love strikes at first sight and the whole universe moves. It's as rockin' as Ray Of Light, but so much more complex, so much simpler, so much lighter, so much darker. Hell, just listen to it!! It's one of the gems of this album and deserves to do well.
Runaway Lover is the first Orbit production on the album. The intro is a schizophrenic, scattered and staccato mix of classic Orbit bubbles and squeals and Flat Eric synths. Then when Madonna starts to sing, it all comes together with a thumping clubby beat (not quite as earth-shakingly monstrous as in Music though) and some of the best vocals Madonna has ever sung. Don't ask me why, but I can see part of this song being the theme tune to a movie, perhaps because of the dramatic feel of the verses. The schizo feel is renewed later in the song as a trance-club theme takes over briefly, then the previous song returns with a vengeance. The way Madonna lingers over her 'm's is delicious and the hooky "uh-uh, no way" is quite effective. The song is about a lover who can never commit to his romantic interests...but this time Madonna says he's met his match and that she's not letting him go that easily and she asks him "now what will you do?". This is a very brave and powerful song.
Madonna's life was changing between her last album and this one...she was falling in love with British director Guy Ritchie, with whom she had a son in August 2000 and whom she was to wed in December of the same year. I Deserve It (produced by Mirwais) is quite obviously 'Guy's song' (though the connection can be seen in 'Impressive Instant' and 'Amazing' too) and starts off with an acoustic guitar and drum accompaniment only, and it feels like a classic song of these genre. The lyrics are simple (and none too subtle about the subject, playing on the Guy/guy theme), "This guy was meant for me, and I was meant for him, this guy was dreamt for me, and I was dreamt for him..." but it's so beautifully sung that it fits right into the theme. There are some special effects used in this song (sounding like a digitalised whale song), but they have been kept to a minimum and are only there to add to the feel, not to overpower it. Some of the lyrics are really cute "I have no regrets, there's nothing to forget, all the pain was worth it..." and others veer towards being cliched, like "many miles, many roads have I travelled, fallen down on the way", but I think they just stay on the right side of that grey line. After the relentless party mood of the first three songs, 'I Deserve It' allows the listener to sigh a mental sigh of relief and to recover from the onslaught of high tempo. A good thing too...
...as Amazing (the second Orbit-produced song on the album) returns to the mould. The intro, comprising of a swooshing keyboard synth, is very '60s mixed with Time Stood Still-esque vocals and effects, but then it erupts into a song that could follow on from Beautiful Stranger (it's been called Beautiful Stranger Part 2 by many critics). The trademark bleeps and synths are still there, as is the jangly rock guitar and maybe it is this that robs this song of some of its oomph value (that Beautiful Stranger had). There again, it's every bit as frivolous as Beautiful Stranger, telling how she is helpless to prevent herself from falling in love with a boy who has a profound impact on her: "It's amazing what a boy can do, I cannot stop myself, wish I didn't want you like I do, want you and no one else...seems I love you more than yesterday" is followed the more dramatic "mmmmm, it's amazing...I cannot stop myself" Don't get me wrong, this is really quite a good song, and it improves with repeated hearing as the song takes on a more addictive nature (especially the mad staccato bass in the second verse) rather than the instant gratification of the song it resembles so much. The trance piano backing is very effective too, and Madonna beautifully-sung vocals sound really very young and free in this song. I can see this being put on TV when profiling some young male hearthrob like Leo DiCaprio - mark my words...
Nobody's Perfect (produced by Mirwais) can be a difficult song to get into. I say this, because I hated it at first as it heavily uses the vocoder like in Cher's 'Believe'. Don't get too hung up on this though, as the vocoder is used in a different way, more continuously interspersed with extra boost rather than the stop-start usage in 'Believe'. Following the whispered first half of the intro and the sung second half, the bass beat starts and reveals itself to be slower than in many of the other songs, almost sounding mellow (an effect which is heightened by a frankly wierd drawn-out electronic burble). "Nobody's Perfect" Madonna bleats electronically, pleading for understanding and forgiveness. The special effects team went into overdrive with song, and the simplistic lyrics ("nobody's perfect, nobody's perfect, what did you expect, I'm doing my best") amplify the depressed feeling - however, this is one of those wierd songs that is curiously uplifting despite its depressing theme (almost as if life can't really be that bad). The basic instrumentation is acoustic guitar, as usual with Mirwais's songs, but there are underlying keyboard chords and twittering, springy and chirpy electronic sounds as well as harder rock guitar and percussion interludes. The beating ending of "mmm, mmm, yeah..." accompanied by a bone-shaking rock guitar and drums combination is glorious and possibly the best moment in the entire album. I went on a Road to Damascus with this song, hating it initially, but it grew on me and has become one of my favourite tracks on the album, so my advice is: if you don't like it initially, give it time and try to appreciate the different levels the song works on (and forget about 'Believe'!); it's my opinion that this song takes the use of the vocoder to another level, as it's over-exposed in the Cher-manner nowadays with everyone from rap stars to pop stars using it. Firstly Madonna's singing, though simple in style, is far more effective than the other singers to use it yet, and Mirwais is careful to restrict the Cher-factor to the "mmm, mmm, yeah" part and the vocoder is used in other places in continuous slow-release form. Someone commented to me that it sounded like a John Lennon song (in theme) and I would agree with that as it's highly introspective and not afraid to confront self-defects. In common with the use of the vocoder, I found this to be a slow-release killer pill which will become addictive with time.
Don't Tell Me (a Mirwais production) is an upbeat inroad into country music (originally written by Madonna's brother-in-law Joe Henry and referred to Madonna by her sister - Joe's wife) with an orchestral backing in places to an overall guitar and drums backing and occasional electronica (the so-called techno-country). Important note: the stuttering accousitic guitar intro is entirely intentional and is not a defect of manufacture...because some people didn't 'get' that, despite the same trick being played on one of Madonna's previous songs 'Erotica'. Madonna's voice mutates into a Sheryl Crow sound-a-like, which is surprisingly good. The pace is slower, but she sounds oh so cool, mostly flinty, but outright growly in places and slinky in others. The lyrics sometimes give you a tingling feeling, especially the hook "tell me, love isn't true, it's just something that we do..." and "don't tell me to stop, tell the rain not to drop, tell the wind not to blow, 'cause you said so...". Madonna seems to be warning her critics not to tell her to stop and to give up, not to write her off - another example of time-defiance, as started on 'Music'. It's a simple, uncomplicated message for the most part, but there are a couple of really wierd lines: "tell the bed not to lay, like the open mouth of a grave" and "...not to stare up at me, like a calf down on its knees. Only God and Madonna know for sure what she means by that! Madonna backs herself with some computerised vocals and some normal vocals and this complexity is fascinating. This is a song that ends (in terms of vocals) unexpectedly fading out into an orchestral finale and it leaves you wanting more. This is a much more successful foray into country than Madonna's only previous attempt - 'Crazy For You' - a real eye-opener.
What It Feels Like For A Girl is so very different, perhaps because it was produced by Guy Sigsworth. Before you do a double-take on hearing the start (as I did), it's not Madonna in the spoken intro section. It's an actress called Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of Serge Gainsbourg) and its a snippet from a movie called 'The Cement Garden'. Anyway, back to the song itself. Is this is 'Man, I Feel Like A Woman'? The answer is no! It is less jingoistic, more profound than the Shania Twain song, and sounds more like a female Semisonic song. It is more a question "Do you know what it feels like for a girl?" than a rocking country track. The song has some pretty lyrics detailing how a girl 'ought' to be like and basically the theme is: why is it alright for a boy (also read men in general) to do something but not alright for a girl (read women) to do the same thing; or, according to intro, it's OK for a girl to do something as long as it's what a boy would do but not alright for boys to adopt the female way of looking at things, as it's somehow 'inferior'. It's a challenging concept, and really probably a bit too profound for the bulk of music buyers, who are teenagers more into pure pop songs. This was potentially worrying as it was penned to be the third worldwide release from the album, but Madonna employed Above & Beyond to provide a trance remix of the song, coupled with a cool but controversial (read violent!) video directed by hubby Guy Ritchie, and this improved the song's 'cool-factor'. Despite this, this is really a beautiful song in its original format and it veers smoothly (if that's possible) from slow rock to pop and back again, and it's a emotionally-sung ballad in the true sense rather than an electronica track...my only criticism is that perhaps it's a little (only a little, mind) too long. However, the welcome return to a strongly-themed debating song more than makes up for this.
Paradise Not For Me is a wonderfully complex yet startlingly simple song. Another Mirwais production, it has very little actual conventional music on it, just special effects that leave you feeling that Madonna is crawling around your ear while she sings this. The haunting and robotic electronica perfectly compliments Madonna's whispered and sung vocals and is strongly reminiscent of the French group 'Air'. Funky and modern in a way so french, it also features a verse sung entirely in French. The vocoder is used here again, seems to transform Madonna's voice into an instrument (sounding at times as if crafted from cut glass) and there are more mellow synths and bleeps. Apparently, Mirwais produced this song over a whole year, and the amount of loving work shows. It is also to be found on Mirwais' album 'Production'. The main instrumentation is keyboard and xylophone, and Madonna's lovely vocals are a perfect compliment in this song which talks - at a superficial level at least - about manic-depression. At a deeper level, it's about Madonna looking back in the past and saying how her old life seems a world away now. This is a song curiously aware of the unstoppable march of time and of the mortality of the singer who appears vulnerable, tired and confused by a hard life, and this is a direct contrast to the time-defiance shown in 'Music' and 'Don't Tell Me'. Sometimes when I hear it, I feel it's an out-of-body experience, where Madonna's life flashes past her as she decides whether to live or to die. This is the wierdest song that you'll have heard since...well, since 'Mer Girl', but it's all the more gripping and intruiging for that.
Gone (Orbit/Stent) is another guitar-backed song. A strongly guitar-based intro leads to a more dreamy main song, with a definite downbeat feel to it ("how can I be sad, for what I never had?") and which has you floating around in your consciousness. Madonna's self-backing is again very beautiful and the wailing electronic sounds are very fitting to the theme of the track. This is a very soothing and self-comforting song that's just perfect for listening to on the sofa after a hard day's work. Just don't play it if you're really depressed; it'll make you cry! On a more serious note, is this an indication of how Madonna's singing career will eventually wind up? "Turn to stone, lose my faith, I'll be gone, before it happens" she sings - if seen in this light, it could be seen as a warning that she'll walk away if she becomes disenchanted, no matter what the rewards may be ("selling out"). OK, don't cry now, it's just my thoughts and I never said it's going to happen any time soon!
American Pie (a Europe bonus track) is, in my humble opinion, many times better than the Don McLean original about the death of Buddy Holly. I apologise to any Americans who passionately believe that this is the greatest song ever, but I just don't see it. I'm afraid it was too long, boring and tuneless for me. In contrast, the version created by Madonna and William Orbit is more lively and involved, and has more of a focus. The only critcisms are that Everett's vocals are not very interesting (but then again, how much of that is due to his status as a film star? If he had been a backup vocalist, would such a fuss have been made over his lack of talent? I think not. But then again, would he have made a backing singer? I think not again. Oh well...) - even Madonna sounds bored at times. Though it is quite a nice song, treated to trademark 'Orbitalisation' (bleeps, bubbles, squeaks and rock guitar), I still feel that American Pie is a little lightweight when compared to Madonna's other songs, despite it being a vast improvement on the original. Having said that, it did make number 1 in many countries, including the UK, the first number 1 there for Madonna since Frozen, and placing her at number 3 in the all-time great acts list, behind The Beatles and Elvis. My only real query is what it's doing on this album...it was supposed to be on the soundtrack to The Next Best Thing and on the CD single, but it has also been included here - a commercial decision based on its success? (whatever happened to "selling out is not my thing"?). Or does it fit right in because it's about music? It's up to you how you view it.
Cyberraga (produced by Talvin Singh) is a bonus track in Japan, and it resembles Shanti/Ashtangi from Ray Of Light in that it is entirely in in the Hindu language of Sanskrit. But this song has a faster, funkier feel which is part Indian, part Middle-Eastern and part Catholic choir (or am I imagining those last two?) and part disco-club. The sitar and tabla (Indian drum) lends a great deal of authenticity to it, and the electronica is very judiciously used, melding with the traditional Indian theme as seamlessly as the songs in Ray Of Light. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that this is a better song than Shanti/Ashtangi. It has a more mystical yet more upbeat feel to it, rather than simply being a vedic chant. The lyrics form a sort of prayer (a 'raga' is a type of Hindu prayer that has a lot of 'aaaaaahhh' vocal tricks and this is a cyber version of a raga, hence the name 'Cyber-raga' or 'Cyberraga') that asks for blessing and protection from the world and an offering of ones all to the supreme being. Couldn't have put it better myself. This is a bonus in the true sense of the word.

Rating
After a trip through spiritualism and, prior to that, S & M, ....who would have thought Madonna would rule the world by singing "Music makes the people come together", and "I like to singy singy singy, like a bird on a wingy wingy wingy" ?? Her ability to surprise has been one of her biggest talents. Music is yet another change in direction and is much more based on the ground rather than above the clouds. Back to her club roots the title track pulsates with funk-electronica and brings the party song right back into fashion. The video is even more generic, but purposefully apeing hiphop videos using a blaxploitation-styled visual and subplot. The funky bleeps give way to an innovative new electronic cowgirl-style on such tracks as 'I Deserve it' and 'Gone' and the genius single 'Don't Tell Me' with its accompanying genius video, which is already being aped as we speak. Its clear throughout this highly entertaining album that Madonnas back in 'fun' mode. Some interesting tracks break the positivity, such as the perplexing 'Nobody's Perfect' and 'Paradise (Not For Me)' but by and large this is an 'up' album. What It Feels Like For A Girl is the only song that sounds much like a Madonna song, but even that is encased in a foamy bubble of warmth, and it happens to be the best melody on here. But the stand out track is 'Impressive Instant', a vocoder-gone-mad burst of intergalactic energy where Madonna shrieks "I'm in a trance". And with any luck she aint gonnna snap out of it any time soon.
Following on from 'Ray of Light' (but, importantly, not being 'Ray of Light Part 2'), this album is such a brave, brave collection of songs. Some of them are so different from one another that it's hard to see at first how they can all fit in under the same umbrella. But by and large they do. The major exception is the bonus track - 'American Pie' (Europe only), which I do not think belongs here. Personally speaking, as I already had 'American Pie', I believe that 'Gone' would have been a perfect, if slightly depressing, way to end the album - which is not a problem for US fans, as it is the final song there. I don't think the title track is the strongest song on the album - after the unbeatable 'Impresssive Instant', it shares that honour with several of the other songs. In general, this album has succeeded at its desire to show Madonna's voice off in a more raw sense, rather than the beautiful multi-layered production characterised by the 'Ray of Light' songs. It was always going to be hard to live up to the success of the last album, and even more so to surpass it. If you ask me to choose between the two, I will probably still go for 'Ray of Light', but only because that album has more personal, cathartic meaning to me. 'Music' is far more accessible, more fun overall and a 'younger' album, focusing on the music (hence the name and lack of a lyrics book). The inspiration is definitely still there, and Madonna is brave enough to keep experimenting and to bring underground music to the forefront. I don't think it's as all-round polished as 'Ray of Light' and the cohesiveness of a true packaged album is not there, but in exchange, the flashes of genius are more obvious to the beholder, and all the more so because Madonna worked with several different producers. Madonna said "music is in the doldrums". Well, not any more, hon'! A masterly 8/10.
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� Josh Deb Barman & Topman 2000