Customer Reviews

Music

5 star:		(278)
4 star:		(134)
3 star:		(75)
2 star:		(39)
1 star:		(57)

 

 

I recently reviewed this for my university paper, and opted not to place it here because the only relevant thing I had to say about it is that I would rather drink a pint of elephant vomit mixed with courvoisier than give this record a second listen. I respect Madonna, but this is one terrible record. But as always, it takes her low points to come to another high point, so we can always look forward to her next record, I guess.

MUSIC is Madonna's very best album in years (the single and the album are both #1!!!). It has a very unique sound because it sounds really modern and new age as well as earthy and very nostalgic. MUSIC picked up where RAY OF LIGHT left off mixing electronica tunes with a beautiful voice. Here's my favorite tracks on the album: MUSIC -Reminds me of some of her older songs (like INTO THE GROOVE or EVERYBODY), very danceable, very fast and enjoyable to listen to. IMPRESSIVE INSTANT - This has to be my favorite track on the entire album, very modern sounding (tons of electronica!), it reminds me of the theme-song for Josie And The Pussycats. Madonna's voice on this track sounds especially high and beautiful. AMAZING - Really beautiful song w/ lots of great-sounding background music, sounds like a slower version of BEAUTIFUL STRANGER. CYBERRAGA -This song is only on the MUSIC single (and the Japanese album) but I really love it and think it should have been on the album. Madonna sings and chants in Indian and reminds us that a 'material girl' can do more that just catchy dance tunes. You go girl! So even if you're not a Madonna fan I recommend MUSIC to you because you will really enjoy it. In the year 2000 Madonna really does rule the world!! Music brings the people together...

I admit I may have a personal bias regarding Madonna's "Music" album. Released in October 2000 and maintaining a high profile for nearly a year after that thanks to three big hit singles, this album quickly became my favorite Lady M album ever. It didn't hurt that its reign coincided with the happiest and healthiest time in my life.

The first time I heard this album, it seemed like the perfect music for the New Millenium, even better than "Ray of Light". An excellent album in its own right, I found Madonna taking herself too seriously on "Ray", whereas "Music" is more relaxed.

From the opening of Madonna's distorted spoken passage to the electronic blips and bleeps and stops-and-starts, the title track becomes one of her instant dance classics like "Into the Groove" and "Vogue".

The electronica sound reaches its apex on the darker "Impressive Instant" and throbbing "Runaway Lover".

For me, the album really kicks off with "I Deserve It". The surprisingly effective fusion of country-folk and electronica is most-evident on this song as well as the final cut, the equally beautiful and introspective "Gone". Of course, "Don't Tell Me" was a huge Top Five smash and the Thunderpuss mix may well be my favorite Madonna remix ever.

The opening of "Amazing" makes me feel as though I'm walking through a dream until the razor-sharp guitars slash through and that irressistible beat kicks in. I know many fans call this a rip-off of "Beautiful Stranger", but I love the lyrics and Madge's delivery on "Amazing" even more.

If I had to pick a favorite track from this album, it would be a close call between "I Deserve It", "Amazing" and "Nobody's Perfect", but the latter would win out. I can't resist the acoustic guitar break before the final chorus, when she sings "Cool I'm not...when I am lonely".

"What It Feels Like For a Girl" is perhaps my least favorite track, being a little too bubblegum, but the haunting "Paradise (Not For Me" makes for a good contrast.

Unlike the follow-up "American Life", "Music" boasts some of Madonna's best lyrics and melodies and I love the production by Mirwais. "Music" remains my favorite album of hers over a decade later.

This Madonna album is good but if you expect great, you should pass! I like 2-3 songs & then I got bored! Only get this album if you are a Madonna fan.

On "Music", Madonna's continues on the path set by her last CD, "Ray of Light", yet the result is anything but repetitive. On "Ray of Light", Madonna took on the limp genre of techno music, a world where generic fast beats back up meaningless lyrics and artists rarely outlive one hit wonder status. Yet on "Ray of light", with beautiful and unique beats produced by Mirwais Ahmadai, Madonna proved that techno music can be meaningful. She took the techno ditty formula to its ultimate height with the soaring title track and filled songs like "Nothing really matters" with intense emotional meaning. On "Music", Ahmadia is back and along with him his techno beats and Madonna brings a new emotional state to this album. "Music" and "Don't tell me" were the big hits off this album and they're perfectly delightful ditties. Madonna's voice is still reaping the benefits from the vocal lessons she took for the film "Evita" and as on "Light", she's able to manipulate her small range to turn the songs out. Yet it's the other tracks that help this record keep its shine years later. On "Paradise" Madonna indulges herself in over dramatic speeches in both French and English but somehow it works and the playfully delivered chorus "your paradise is not for me" proves again that for all her consumerist shallowness, there is more to Madonna. "Gone" also shows great strength, as Madonna soulfully sings about following your dreams. What really made "Light" and "Music" so interesting and artistic, was the deep regret Madonna reveals. There's something very imploring and even human that as she enters her 40s, Madonna regrets some of the shock and scandal she indulged in at the beginning of her career. On "Nobody's perfect" and "I deserve it", both backed intermittently by acoustics and electronics, Madonna tells of how her faults drove a lover away. Yet, while the few happy revelations on "Light" came from the birth of Madonna's daughter, on this record, Madonna's new husband, Guy Ritchie, provides her with more cheerful fodder. On "Amazing" backed by an airy thumping, Madonna sings girlishly "It's amazing what a boy can do" and her mature joy seeps through to the listener. But for all this, the most genius song may be "what it feels like for a girl". The beat is sweet and catchy and the lyrics are filled with sensual descriptions of the female physique. Yet just when Madonna has you thinking the song is a crude sexual exploitation, leading up to the chorus she lets loose the lines "strong inside but you don't know it/ good little girls they never show it/ when you open up your mouth to speak could you be a little weak" with deep hurt ringing through her voice. This is what makes Madonna one of the most unique pop stars ever. For all they're false claims that skimpy outfits equal feminism, Madonna proves here that Britney and Christina don't know the meaning of that word and legitimizes her lasting presence in pop music.

Two years after the release of the multi-platinum critically acclaimed "Ray of Light", Madonna decided to return to her roots and do exactly what she is known for, dance music. The result of it is nothing overly amazing, but pleasing to those who just like to relax and have fun. Luckily, Madonna was able to take her electronica to a new level and make into a success, giving her her first number 1 album since 1989's "Like A Prayer" and her number 1 single since 1995's "Take A Bow".

1. Music- An excellent track. The song is basically about having fun and coming together. Possibly Madonna's greatest dance track ever.

2. Impressive Instant- This song is nothing amazing, but more of an expiriment with electronics. All in all it's pleasing.

3. Runaway Lover- This is probably my least favorite track on the album. Unlike the previous songs, the electronic beat just becomes dull and uneasy to listen to, and the lyrics are horrible.

4. I Deserve It- The best track on the album. Not only does it have a catchy chorus and a sweet meaning, but it combines guitars with electronics(similar to the songs on American Life).

5. Amazing- This song sounds alot like Beautiful Stranger, only not as catchy, and unlike the song's title, it isn't amazing.

6. Nobody's Perfect- An excellent track. I love the vocoder, the song's message, and the guitars and electronics.

7. Don't Tell Me- A catchy song with beautiful lyrics written by Madonna's brother. The orchesta is truly amazing.

8. What It Feels Like For A Girl- A sad song with a great message, although I do think that society is just as hard on males as far as putting standards on them.

9. Paradise(Not For Me)- Amazing. I love all the electronic noises and cool Japanese sounding music. However, I must admit that Madonna's voice gets annoying in this song at times. This song is very out of place on this album.

10. Gone- The guitar and electronics in this song are great, as well the singing. However, although the song is about never giving up on your dreams, these lyrics are nothing great. "Nothing equals nothing".

All in all, it's a great album to listen to if you don't have too much on your mind. But I highly reccomend Madonna's greater albums as well which include "American Life", "Erotica", "Lika A Prayer", and "Ray of Light".

After the sublimely trippy masterpice that was "Ray of Light", Madonna could have attempted to replicate her previous success, or take her career in a new musical direction.
She chose the latter, and though the album as a whole has had to grow on me, I think it's a great effort, and quite a funky payoff.
As always, she makes an excellent choice of producer, Mirwais, who can make his synthesizer squeal and beats gyrate seamlessly in a collection of fabulous tunes.
Though a bit silly at times lyrically, it is intended to be a relatively light-hearted album, and the opening song is definitely one of her best ever. Each time I hear it, it sounds fresh.
Other than that, the highlights for me are the excellent and fervent "Don't Tell Me", the bouncy collaboration with William Orbit "Amazing", and the playful, if a bit tacky "Nobody's Perfect".
Her album following this one,"American Life", however, is more solidly engaging, though both albums are worthy products from such a sensational entertainer.

I just want to comment on reviewers claiming that this was just an "OK" album, when in my opinion, this is a great album, although not better than the critically acclaimed Ray of Light.

In the 90s we recieved albums from Madonna that didn't have too much focus on dance music . . .so I consider this album Madonna getting back to her dance-floor roots after the critically aclaimed "ethereal" portion of her career, in which it brought about Madonna's only perfect album, and only album that recieved a Grammy nod for Album of the year after 18 years in the music industry. Unfortuanately, Grammy voters thought Lauryn Hill's first solo effort was better than an album that took the most famous female musician in the world 18 years to conjure. By all means, she was robbed single-handedly by a good solo artist who would later cease to make it in the music industry, suffering from the plague of non-longevity, in which Madonna has defeated so many times. Even in 2003, where she would suffer her lowest blow, she'll prove that one "bad" year wont kill her when she's had 21 "good" years.

Music is, in my opinion, ranks right up their, but slim with Ray of Light, because of the fact that you could probably listen to the whole album without skipping a whole bunch of songs. Ray of Light was a perfect album, but had very few dance songs than Music, where Music was an album that had several dance songs . . .but lost it's flare by the time that we got to the end of the album. I'm literally speaking of the fact that the songs on the Music album were dance then calm, making it a redundant album that seemed kind of 50, 50. It would have worked better if it was arranged where the song's baseed on their genre were scattered out through the album so that by the time we got to the end we wouldn't be sleeping from all the calm melodic, and sometimes artsy songs that made up the quirky ballads for this album.

The biggest issue I had when Madonna released this particular album was the decision of choosing singles. Impressive Instant, Amazing, and maybe (my favorite) Nobody's Perfect were just hell-bent on being released as singles. Also after seeing the beautiful video that was for the song Paradise (Not For Me) it kind of made me long for it to be a single release too. Although Madonna redeemed the average What it Feels Like For A Girl single with the video release suiting a remixed version, I don't think the single was good enough to be released over the ones I listed above, but all in all, it did bring us one of her best and most controversial videos ever, which would later be diminished by the American Life video.

There are so may good songs on the album that I would only list the songs that are average in it's own right, and that are "skipable."

1. Runaway Lover - Thank God she didn't release this as a single. It's the worst song on the album, and I hardly listen to it.

2. I Deserve It - Although it'a an average song, it is boring and gets redundant very early.

All in all, this is Madonna saying, "I can still have fun after having a baby!" This is a great album, although it's not better than Ray of Light, you could consider me biased because I started buying Madonna records after Ray of Light, and Ray of Light was the first cd. I've ever owned. It's still a good album . . .not better than the previous, but it will prove to have status compared to what Madonna will release after this one.

Despite all the excellent reviews, the massive #1 hit 'Music' and top-five smash 'Don't Tell Me', many Madonna fans were disappointed with this album. I think it's safe to say these fans were expecting a second 'Ray of Light' album or something along those lines. With 'Music' the Queen of Pop shed the serious exterior she adorned during the 'Ray of Light' era in exchange for some dancing shoes and a little ole' fashioned boogie-woogie. This album proved Madonna could still have fun and release some upbeat music that still contained heart and emotion. Though I definitely prefer 'ROL' over 'Music' it's still a terrific companion piece and is one of the best albums she's released.

Music is a great album. Not the usual 80's or 90's Madonna stuff! It's today, and u can tell when u listen to it.

Music - Awesome dance song!!! One of her bests, love it! 10/10
Impressive Instant - my second favorite song off this album. It's different but also danceable, and really cool! 10/10
runaway Lover - a fast pace song, really cool. 10/10
I deserve it - a slow song, but pretty. U hear the acoustic guitar shine in this one - 9/10
Amazing - another fast pace song. Kinda reminds me of "beautiful Stranger" 9/10
Nobody's perfect - slow, not bad. Lot's of voice overs here. 8/10
Don't tell me - western music never sounded this good. Her voice is really nice in this song, u'll be tapping ur feet 8'10
what it feels like for a girl - a meaningful, nice song, can get a bit tiring 8/10
Paradise not for me - a nice song. It's slow but tons of stuff goin on in the background. Love the sounds. 8/10
Gone - slow, but her voice is really nice here, and once again the guitar is the star - 8/10