Music [VINYL]

1. Music - The No.1 single is one of the highlights. An electro funk tune with echoes of underground dance music. 2. Impressive Instant - Well produced slice of dance pop with catchy hook and lyrics (the memorable "I like to singy singy singy like a bird on a wingy wingy wingy"). 3. Runaway Lover - Should be the next single, a William Orbit track not too disimilar from Ray Of Light but better! 4. I Deserve It - Dedicated to hubby Guy Ritchie, this wonderful ballad sees Madge accompanied by acoustic guitar. Perfect! 5. Amazing - Similar to Beautiful Stranger, this 60s influenced slice of upbeat pop isn't one of the strongest tracks but could end up a party fave. 6. Nobody's Perfect - Yet another highlight. The vocoder is used to full effect, while the production is wonderful. Quality! 7. Don't Tell Me - Funky mid-tempo track, a bit more chilled out. 8. What It Feels Like For A Girl - Rumour has it this is going to be the next single but it's probably my least fave song on here. Not terrible, though, but nothing new and a bit bland... 9. Paradise (Not For Me) - An epic six minute musical highpoint where Madge tells us she can't remember when she was young. The string arrangement is beautiful and the end result is very spooky! 10. Gone - A fine track with a memorable first line - "Selling out is just not my thing". It certainly isn't... 11. American Pie - Cheeky but class! The No.1 cover ends things nicely...


Once again Madonna surpasses her previous album   September 15, 2000
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

So we all know how Madonna relaunched her career with the help of William Orbit on her Ray of Light CD. Well on this she ditches him (except for two songs) and moves on to French producer Mirwais who helps her create an even better album. Starting with the disco funk of "Music" to the outrageously strange "Impressive Instant" then back to somewhat normality for the rest of the album but never mediocricy, with the stand out tracks "Don't Tell Me" and "what it Feels Like for a Girl" nestling neatly in the middle. My only complaint is that the album should finish with "Gone" rather than "American Pie" as it seems a more fitting finish. Oh, and by the way, track 3, "Runaway Lover" is meant to skip like that-there's nothing wrong with your CD!


Another Superb Effort   May 3, 2006
Ian Phillips (Bolton, Lancashire, UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Madonna returned in late 2000 with this superb effort, following on from the critically-acclaimed and grammy award winning success of what is still possibly her greatest album yet, Ray Of Light (1998).

The album would be titled Music and would again offer the sound of the future and continued in a vaguely similar format to Ray Of Light. Madonna worked with a multiple number of producers on this project which included William Orbit (who also co-produced Ray Of Light), Mirwais Ahmadzai, Guy Sioworth and Mark "Spike" Stent. Music, offered another set of a diverse range of tracks that were both adventurous and compelling which has always been the genius of Madonna as she still never ceases to amaze and surprise. Madonna has always had that uncanny ability to be experimental and creative and still always come out on top.

The title track, Music is a monster dance-floor filler. Containing a swirling electronic pop-funk vibe, Madonnas playful delivery gives startling ignition to this slick offering that caught onto the public like a magnet. Unsurprisingly and very deservedly, Music became a cross-Atlantic chart-topper.

Impressive Instant is another startling and mesmerising tune with its strikingly synthesised effects and driving grooves. Would have made a perfect choice for release as a single as this would undoubtedly have been another monster hit.

Runaway Lover, is a mid-tempo dance number that contains another series of bizarre, synchronised sounds thats still vastly origanal and highly inventive with its unique musical arrangements. Actually Runaway Lover does admitedly sound like a left-over track from Ray Of Light, but still is utterly impressive.

I Deserve It has a remarkable combination of electronic-dance, with its again, synthesised effect, blended neatly into an arrangement that has a country twinge to it. A moody, acoustic guirtar ballad, the song is blatantly a touching dedication to her husband, Guy Ritchie, an immensley talented film director, whose credits include the two cult classics, Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrells (1998) and Snatch (2001) You get to more fully apprerciate Madonnas striking vocal abilities here, and she puts in a powerful and passionate performance as always the case with Madonna.

Amazing is a highly stylized, guirtar-powered and uptempo William Orbit collaboration who works his magic yet again with Madonna as he had done so consistently on the Ray Of Light album.

Nobodys Perfect is one of the more commercial-orientated singles though those synchronised and echoey sound effects are still clocking away amidst the musical arrangements and Madonna delivers a subtle, exuberant vocal performance, neatly surfboarding along the complex arrangements.

Don't Tell Me, returns again to the neatly gelled mixture of Dance/Country and delivers it with seemingly a vengeance. Madonna has always been sassy and street-smart and its nice to see she hasn't lost any of her magical touch over the years and if anything she just gets better and better!

What It Feels Like For A Girl, is a more sultry, grooving number that is effectively mellow in its content and is a nice way of beginning to wind the album down. Certainly has many musical merits and this also was lifted as a single where it became another rapid Top 10 seller, though its mix is different to the version on here.

More atmospheric was the stormy, moody, Paradise (Not For Me) where Madonnas slightly chilly delivery sends shivers down the spine through its trance-like arrangements. One of the more adventurous and inventive recordings on here!

Finally this rollercoaster ride of an album begins slowing down with two impeccably delivered Dance-Country numbers, Gone and her fabulous renedition of American Pie which rounds the album off on a high note.

Expectations were high after the classic Ray Of Light set which was one of the most significant albums of the 1990's and certainly one of the biggest of Madonnas career to date. The album generally received critical praise but was often unfairly compared constantly to Ray Of Light (which often came out better) but you should really judge this album on its own merits as there are enough individual qualities of its own and is consistently excellent, bubbling in a remarkable multitude of styles.



Music at it's best...   September 11, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is one of Madonna's best albums. It acts as the perfect antidote to 'Ray of Light', which whilst a masterpiece in it's own right, tended to get bogged down by it's own deepness. 'Music' is a completely different story in every sense. We start off in clubland, with French underground dance shooting us off into the sky with Music, Impressive Instant and Runaway Lover. Then, just as we're about to spin out of control we're dragged back down to earth with an acoustic guitar on 'I Deserve It' as Madonna sings of her love for Guy and then declares that she deserves all that she's received in life. The bubblegum pop of 'Amazing' bridges the gap between the two halves of the album. One of the best songs, 'Nobody's Perfect' follows in all it's melancholy glory. Madonna sings beautifully through a vocoder and shows that computerized music can be extremely emotional and moving. From dance to acoustic to pop to techno, we move to country-styled punk pop with 'Don't Tell Me', one of the standout tracks that really gets under your skin. 'What It Feels Like For A Girl' follows, and I feel this is the album's main weak point. The lyrics are thoughtful and relevant, but the music is slightly bland. The following track 'Paradise' makes up for this as Madonna speaks and sings through a vocoder about how she can't remember her youth and how she discovered that the Paradise offered to her was not all it seemed. This track is mysterious and beautiful, and can really take you to another place if you lose yourself in it. The album ends with 'Gone', an acoustic testimony to Madonna's refusal to sell out and lose her faith. The album is not great on the lyric front as Madonna was going for a more 'minimalist' sound after the Drowned World feel of her previous album. This really is about the music and her creativity shines through (with the help of Mirwais). Back to her dance roots and then embracing the more acoustic side, Madonna continues to lead the pack. She doesn't even lead the pack, she's too far ahead for them to catch up. Maybe this isn't mainstream like her old stuff, but who needs to be mainstream when you're head and shoulders above the rest?