Madonna - Confessions On A Dance Floor

Finally, Madonna gets her shit together. CONFESSIONS ON A DANCEFLOOR sees Madonna leaving her political views at the studio door, and in return, invests her efforts in doing what she did best once upon a time: produce highly catchy, well-produced stylish dance-pop tunes.

Musically, we're not dealing with anything particularly new or ground-breaking, nevertheless, it would be criminal not to credit Stuart Price for the ingenious glossy production throughout. Having said that, credit must also be given to Madonna for whom, in addition to masterminding the concept of the ultra modern "concept disco album", did a fine job in choosing perhaps the most appropriate producer in assisting her with accomplishing her vision. On a negative note however, when listening to this album, one can't help but notice that it actually sounds quite dated for late 2005; the majority of it has its roots in contemporary synth-pop and electroclash, which has been doing its rounds for around five years now, but the fact that it's Madonna's best album in as many years renders this issue irrelevant.

Highlight tracks include the undeniable catchiness of 'Hung Up', which is blatantly built around the infectious hook from Abba's 'Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)' (apparantley, this is only the second time the Swedes have allowed for their music to be officially sampled). Other outstanding tracks include the Euro-flavoured 'Get Together', which seems to pay a subtle homage to Kylie Minogue's 'Love At First Sight'; and the Giorgio Moroder/Donna Summer tribute 'Future Lovers'.

The album's only negative offering is the all-too-religious 'Issac' which, while musically still follows the same theme of the whole album, features a male chant that some might consider too cringeworthy for a full plaback.

But overall, CONFESSIONS ON A DANCEFLOOR is a wonderful album, meant to be enjoyed for what it is, and nothing more.

Personally I think Madonna has nothing more to say really... 'Confessions on a Dance Floor' is as unimaginative a title that equals its unimaginative pumped up contents which work and are certainly enjoyable for the fact Madonna always produced superb dance music. I hated 'Hung Up' from day one and this ABBA-pomp that surrounds it obviously makes it the only important factor for otherwise pointless dance tune that medleys itself into the rest. Ironically one of those more catchy - and say better songs - 'I Love New York' can stand proud for being melodically smooth, ripping off The Stooges, New Order and Echoboy alike, easy on the body but its moronic rhymes are quite an embarrasment to listen to...

If we don't like her attitude we can F off, she says... Well, Madonna's endless ambition IS her only attitude, for that we either like her or cannot stand her guts. 'Confessions' of hers are not any less different from any disco prat in the last 30 or so years inviting us to the same thing all over... Technologically 'Confessions' are brilliant, but conceptually Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' is still too hard to nail down.

By now you've probably heard of the Abba Gimme, Gimme, Gimme sampling dance club monster hit Hung Up and probably wondering if the rest of the new Madonna album Confessions On A Dance Floor is any good. Well it's definitely good and has a string of very nicely produced tracks by the Les Rhytmes Digitales mastermind, Stuart Price, as well as a couple of other producers on the album. In Fact if you happen to have the Les Rhytmes Digitales Darkdancer album you'll notice some similarities. The similarities of the early 1980's sound that was present on Darkdancer and which is present on Confessions On A Dance Floor.

Of course the album gets right into the beats with Hung Up the best single off of the album. Hung Up has an infectious repetitive beat that makes you want to get up and dance. It's catchy and definitely the strongest single off of Confessions On A Dance Floor. The next big track is Sorry which is going to be the next single off of the album. Sorry is almost as good as Hung Up but lacks a little. I assume it's lacking the sample. Also, other good tracks on the album are Jump, Let It Will Be and Forbidden Love. The entire album is a continuous mix so as to have the feel of a DJ mix at a club. It is called Confessions On A Dance Floor after all.

Overall this is a great album but not Madonna's best. I assume she's getting tired of recording and finding the next sound. Perhaps she should release a remix album of her past hits. Or maybe release another Immaculate Collection. Confessions On A Dance Floor has it's moments so it's still worth checking out.