By
Vanessa Francis
Grade: A-
For almost two decades, the pop princess Madonna has both entertained and titillated audiences worldwide. She is the cockroach of the music industry, and in a nuclear attack, she will rise from the ashes alive and well - having done so with everything from bubble-gum dance tunes to soul-searching love songs.
The common thread in Madonna's work is its sing-along quality. However, her latest CD, Music, exemplifies this quality only half-way. Three of the 10 tracks (including the title track "Music") seem to be inspired by the Euro techno-pop of her new home, England. Her voice, as in the second track, "Impressive Instant," is technically altered, giving it that Cher-singing-"Believe" quality. It is good to groove to, but not to sing at the top of one's lungs.
Madonna has matured in the past years, producing two children by the time of this album's release. She appears, now, to know more about life. In four pleasing new tracks, she shows a side that listeners had previously only seen in earlier love ballads, and they demonstrate the singer's love for subjects like her gender and hard work.
In "What it Feels Like for a Girl" Madonna sings about inequality of the sexes in a manner that would make Gloria Steinem proud.
This album has been promoted as the second half of her 1998 release "Ray of Light," in which she first displayed her love of techno tunes. What this new album lacks in techno fluidity that the former had, it makes up for it in the slower ballads.
Throughout the years, Madonna has shown the world more and more of her self, and the quality of her singing has increasingly gotten better - culminating in this latest release, which is comprehensive, fresh and breezy.
