Celebration (2 CD) [Best of]

It's official: Madonna is The Queen of the Dance Floor! With the release of her smash hit single "Celebration", the Material Girl grabbed the number one spot on the Billboard Dance Charts for the fortieth time in her career. Her nearest competitor for this title is Mariah Carey-she hit number one eighteen times. That margin between the two is huge. Here's another staggering fact: in the United Kingdom, Madonna's success at debuting in the number one spot is now tied with Elvis Presley and surpassed only by The Beatles. There's no doubt that she is a worldwide phenomenon and a musical icon. Some may wonder if Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone had any idea just how high her star trajectory would be way back in 1982 when she released her first single "Everybody"; I'll bet she probably did. Even in her early years she was a very strong woman who knew no boundaries and played the fame game to perfection. Remember, this is the lady who had the "Blond Ambition Tour" and has basically re-invented herself every few years, yet still looks super hot and sexy. She calls the shots and is still a trendsetter.
This deluxe collection features 36 songs in total, including "Celebration" (produced by the legendary DJ/Producer Paul Oakenfold) and another new track, "Revolver", with Lil Wayne, which is also a hot song that has 'hit' written all over it. Lately it seems like Lil Wayne could pass wind in the studio and it would be on the Top 40! The song sequence on this 2 CD set isn't in chronological order (like some other greatest hits packages) so you get a good blend of Madonna's song styles over the years. We get the pleasure of hearing "Sorry" right after "Ray of Light", "Vogue" just before "4 Minutes" and "Take a Bow" right after "Miles Away". Career flashbacks come courtesy of "Material Girl", "Lucky Star", "Open Your Heart" and "Live To Tell". Suffice it to say that there's not enough space here to mention every single song, and even though this is actually Madonna's third 'standard' greatest hits compilation, this one is the best and the inclusion of the two new songs are just the icing on the cake. Some of Madonna's detractors consider her the 51-year-old poster girl for 'cougars' and her dating a 23-year-old male model doesn't do much to dissuade her detractors; why does she do it? Because she can. How does she manage to stay at the pinnacle of pop success, year after year? The answer is in these two CD's. She is awesome, truly awesome.

As many others who enjoy Madonna's music, I have pretty much grew up listening to many of Madonna's songs. One of the first songs that I can recall hearing of hers was "Like a Virgin". I admit that I was definitely under 10 years old before being exposed to her music, but I found her music good to listen to then and I still do now. With this said, I have to agree with others who say that more of her hits could have been included in this collection. Every Madonna fan has their favorite songs that could have been included. For me, I wish that the songs "Fever"(from her Erotica album), "Rain"(from her Erotica album) and "I'll Remember"(for the film "With Honors") would have been included in the "Celebration" collection. I would respectfully say that she has had enough hits to at least have warranted a three cd set collection, rather than just two. However, I still feel that this collection is worth owning because of the diversity of songs included in the "Celebration" collection. For instance, the music listener is treated to her daring 80's side with the catchy songs of "Dress You Up"(a song about wanting to express one's desire for who they are attracted to) and "Burning Up"(a musical track about having intense emotions for someone). There is also a diversity of good songs showcased from the 90's such as "Vogue" and "Ray of Light". Madonna then put out some more music in the 2000's, which gave some good songs such as "Music" and "Beautiful Stranger"(song provided for the film Austin Powers:The Spy Who Shagged Me). The best way to determine if you are going to feel good from owning the "Celebration" collection is if you enjoy any of her music from the 80's, 90's, and the 2000's (due to the fact that music from these time periods are organized throughout the two cds).

This record is definitely a good starting point for casual Madonna fans as it's a 27-year-or-so retrospective of her work and it contains all of the big memorable hits.

There are a lot omissions on here but Madonna has so many hit singles that it would be impossible to get all of them on a two-disc collection. I think this does a good job of putting all of the memorable songs on here. Much like "GHV2" and "The Immaculate Collection", the one's left off did not have the impact as the majority of hits that made it onto this collection have had ("Causing a Commotion", "Angel", "You'll See").

What strange about this collection is that a lot of different versions for the songs are one here. There are Q-sounds version from "The Immaculate Collection", album versions and radio edits as posed to having all radio edits or all album versions etc.

But like I always write in my reviews for greatest hits collections, they are more for the casual fans that just want a taste of an artist's repertoire, and those casual fans will to notice or care which edits or mixes are on here. That being said, this is a great listen from start to finish and it serves its purpose.

PS: The new tracks "Celebration" and "Revolver" are great, and they were a joy to see live on her MDNA tour.