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Madonna - Hard Candy BLEU CRITIC:
MADONNA
"HARD CANDY"
2008 Warner Brothers Records
4.5/5
by Adam Benjamin Irby
adam@bleulife.com

The biggest worry of fans and critics alike about "Hard Candy", Madonna's eleventh studio album and last with Warner Brothers was that her highly publicized collaboration with super-producers The Neptunes, Timbaland, and Justin Timberlake would produce an album that behind the glitz, glamour and club-ready Pop/R&B beats would be less like Madonna's last foray into urban pop/R&B super-producer territory, her introspective 1994 album "Bedtime Stories" and more like Nelly Furtado's last foray into desperately trying, yet successfully managing to stay relevant, her catchy, yet mostly soulless 2006 album "Loose". Well not to worry, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief because "Hard Candy" while being all that it's title promises, upbeat pop/R&B with an hard dance twist, is a confection that even with it's hints of Neptune, swirls of Timbaland and sprinkles of Timberlake still tastes like Madonna, and Madonna tastes damn good this time around. Gone are the bitter, more serious flavors of Kaballah, Sanskrit, overtly overt sex, hardcore S&M (despite the terrible cover) and world politics into this recipe, this "Hard Candy" mostly consists of good ol' American sugary lighthearted dance pop and as a result is her most consistent album in years.

The album starts off with The Neptunes produced, innuendo laced "Candy Shop" where Madonna coos on the chorus "Get up outta your seat/Come on out to the dancefloor..." and proclaims that her sugar is "raw, sticky and sweet", setting the tone for the whole album.

Then there's the chart topping first single "4 Minutes", one of two duets with Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland at the production helm. Though a chart favorite, this is the song that got Madonna purists holding their rosary beads praying that this was not the direction of the whole album. The song, which sounds more like factory noise than music is more of a showcase of Tim's production and Timberlake's vocals than of Madonna's talents. In fact, they could have thrown any female performer in Madonna's place and would have achieved the same effect. What, did Nelly Furtado not want this track or something? Oddly enough, for this to be the first single it's one of the weakest songs on the album.

"Give It To Me" produced by the Neptunes, does just that. It gives it to you hard and danceable. "Heartbeat", also produced by the Neptunes is one of the best tracks on the album. Tracks like these show how much Madonna is involved in the sound of her music (despite "4 Minutes", hey "Nobody's Perfect") in that they have some of the hardest beats I've ever heard from The Neptunes and sound almost nothing like their signature work. The only major giveaways are Pharrell Williams' signature croonings sprinkled throughout "Heartbeat", which is a great mixture of crossover R&B and pop and a definite single contender. Although I must say that Madonna's croons of "Watch my booty go down like...." at 2:18 in "Heartbeat" were a little too Furtado-esque for comfort at first and took a little getting used to coming from the Queen Of Pop, but upon subsequent listens Madonna's use of term "booty" didn't seem so contrived. But then again I may have been too busy dancing to care anymore.

"Miles Away", produced by Timbaland picks up where Madonna's 2000 "Music" album left off, with it's guitar riffs over a futuristic dance beat and introspective lyrics. It even slightly hearkens back to the Madonna's 2003 "American Life" albym with it's digitally chopped vocal at 3:16. One of it's lines "You always have the biggest heart/When we're six thousand miles apart..." has been rumored to imply trouble between Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie. Interestingly enough, coincidentally, or not coincidentally six thousand miles is the distance between London and Los Angeles. Despite the controversy, "Miles..." is another of the best tracks on the album and is also single-worthy material.

The Neptunes produced, "She's Not Me" and "Incredible" both clocking in at over six minutes a piece, a week and a half by pop standards, despite their length never manage to bore due to their beat and vocal transitions and really allow The Neptunes to let their creative juices flow production-wise, creating work never heard before, next level work from the duo that's sure to burn up dance floors across the globe.

"Beat Goes On", also produced by The Neptunes is a sure fire vintage Madonna crossover hit that captures the essence of the R&B sensibility of the "Bedtime Stories" album and gives it a coating of new millennium gloss, it's witty cameo from rap's top selling artist, Kanye West doesn't hurt either. Think "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" but much, much better. They'd be crazy not to make this a single.

The Timbaland produced "Dance 2nite" is the second and way more superior duet with Timberlake. Like "Beat Goes On" this track lightly hearkens back to the sounds of the mid 90's and "Bedtime Stories" and is another of the best tracks on the album.

The albums other flaw besides the vapid "4 Minutes" is the almost annoyingly literal "Spanish Lesson" in which Madonna does exactly what the title says. It's not terrible in the final scheme of things but is definitely sub-par next to the rest of the album's stellar material.

"The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" is the first time the album slows down. The radio-ready Timbaland-produced song is a mash-up of midtempo, almost spoken Madonna vocals over a beat with the same mood as Timberlake's "What Goes Around Comes Around" and the Timberlake-penned "Rehab" for Rihanna. Think "Take A Bow" but not nearly as lush or forlorn. "...Recognize You", although vocally isn't nearly as good as "...Bow", which is still her longest running American chart topper to date, but given the state of radio today it is the best contender on this album to possibly break that record.

The same way artists like Mariah Carey tend to put gospel-tinged songs on the end or their albums, Madonna always seems to give us something ambient, introspective, and sometimes just plain strange on the end or near the end of hers. In the tradition of tracks like "Justify My Love", "Bedtime Stories", "Mer Girl", and "Easy Ride" comes the Timberland produced "Voices". With a drum track that hearkens back to "Justify..." it starts off with the voice of Justin Timberlake asking "Who is the master and who is the slave?" By the end of the song Madonna asks two other questions "Are you walking the dog, 'cause that dog isn't new?/Are you out of control, is that dog walking you?" Although I don't have the answers to any of these questions I can answer this question. Is "Hard Candy" a treat worth consuming, despite the carbs? Yes it is.

If you must download, download: "Heartbeat", "Miles Away ", "Beat Goes On ", "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You ", "Voices"

Website: Madonna.com