TRACK-BY-TRACK: Madonna - MDNA
Yesterday we repaired to London's Abbey Road Studios to waggle our ears just the once at Madonna's new album MDNA. The Queen Of Pop's first album for new label Interscope (Polydor in the UK), it sees her join forces with Italian housemeister Benny Benassi and France's Martin Solveig, and team up again with Ray Of Light and Music cohort William Orbit.
Ahead of a standard-format review nearer to MDNA's release date (26th March), Laurence Green runs through the album track by track...
Girl Gone Wild
Kicks off with a spoken word intro already placing it in classic Madonna territory. Its that ego-centricness of Confessions On A Dancefloor all over again, but with even louder beats. Theres the slick veneer of the commercial dance number here too, echoing recent Greatest Hits teaser single Celebration. The vocals arent Madonnas best a defining feature across the album but when the clubland backing is so explosively loud, thats hardly a detracting feature. Theres even a persistent energy of sorts to the vocals that, twinned with the buzz-saw synths, firmly establishes Girl Gone Wild as the sound of now. With its aping of the girls just wanna have some fun refrain, theres a real '80s sentiment beating at the heart of the track too.
Gang Bang
"If I see that bitch in hell Im gonna shoot them in the head again" Madonnas brawling for some action here, via a filthy, almost Erotica-esque onslaught of breathy vocals. It teases and plays, proper between the covers stuff; which youd kind of expect from a song with a title as blatantly lewd as Gang Bang. At moments it all sounds like something off Daft Punk's Tron soundtrack; hard techno, brutal, uncompromising and industrial. Gang Bang feels vital and on point in a way Madonna hasnt sounded in years. Theres police sirens and an obliging dubstep middle-eight (there was always going to be one on the album, wasnt there?) Everything about Gang Bang is menacing and comes on at full-throttle, right down to Madonnas flippant remark of "Im going straight to hell".
Im Addicted
The burbly techno synths continue here, again its all very Tron-esque. If Confessions was dancey, Im Addicted is dancey with a capital D. The bass positively explodes outwards and its refreshing to see Madonna putting out something with real punch. For an artist of her age and experience, she could easily rest on her laurels, and Im Addicted is about as far away from that as its possible to get. Some rave synths get whacked into the mix too, like its 1991 all over again this leads into a hyper-fast outro of the "MDNA!" hook, putting the track forward as a real centrepiece model for the rest of the album.
Turn Up The Radio
This is where the real Madonna melodies of old surface, mining the kind of exuberant stuff that characterised her '80s greats that playful spirit is well and truly back. As obvious as its airwaves-courting title might be, this is *the* big radio hit on the album, the kind stations up and down the country will lap up in the summer. Theres an incredible abundance of optimism here, a carefree abandon in thrilling degrees of magnitude. Here Madonna is the American queen triumphant, proclaiming "I wanna go fast and Im gonna go far" in an up-and-at-em call of readiness for life and anything it chooses to throw at her.
Give Me All Your Luvin
In hindsight, and with the hype and drama of the Superbowl performance behind her, the truth is that Madonna doesnt really need Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. on the album. In the wider scope of MDNA as a whole, they pale into the background though to be fair to them, theyre a much better fit than Timbaland and Justin Timberlake were on Hard Candy. Clearly, the aspect of sisterhood combined has something going for it though, and its nice to hear Madonna so rejuvenated and youthful here, having some fun and laughs with her hip pals.
Some Girls
The first of the five William Orbit tracks on the album, and it kicks off with yet more of the palpably massive levels of bass that mark out the records opening tracks. The industrial techno theme is continued too with a massive wedge of robotic treated vocals snaking out across the song. Theres a harking back to the more electronic moments of Music and American Life, everything pumping with the air of Madonna as superior, as the pinnacle of her contemporaries. As with Orbits Ray Of Light era productions, the track thrives on a sense of experimentalism that still remains effortlessly commercial at the same time.
Superstar
Ironically, Superstar isnt one of the William Orbit tracks, but it sure sounds like one. Its the albums rock track and stands as another prime single candidate. The melody is sublime, the kind of thing long-time Madonna fans have been waiting years for, and released here, its like a cleansing burst of pure radiance. Even the slightly shoe-horned in dubstep section cant detract from the song, its that good.
I Dont Give A
Here, the industrial influences meet hip-hop beats amongst a grinding cacophony of sound and borderline raps from Madonna (though thankfully it never reaches the silly, pretentious levels of the ill-fated American Life single). "Im gonna live fast, and Im gonna live life," she claims, with a sort of wry simplicity, as if thats all there is to it. Its probably one of the albums weaker tracks, stemming chiefly from the fact that as Hard Candy proved Madonna just cant do urban (Bedtime Stories excepted). Nicki Minaj pops up again and then the track descends into a weird cod-orchestral outro. Its regality defined, and Nicki eagerly clamours to hold up Madonna as such: "Theres only one queen, and thats Madonna, bitch."
Im A Sinner
That trademark psychedelic William Orbit sound is out in force here, with crunchy guitar riffs once again suggesting the Ray of Light era. Theres some lovely tinkling, celestially imbued synth bits and tribal sounds going on too. At times, it all feels a bit like Madonnas about to don her Earth Mother makeover, and by any measure, this is definitely the albums most religious track as she reels off names of saints.
Love Spent
The opening moments sound akin to the country n beats combo of Musics Dont Tell Me and while Love Spent takes some time to get going, its worth the wait. In the final choruses, everything all comes in at once, backed up by thunderclap beats as far as firmly defined album tracks go, this is a pretty good effort, even if it feels a little by-the-numbers at times.
Masterpiece
Yes, it might be a Madonna ballad of a certain esteemed class, and yes, it might be on the W.E. soundtrack, but thats probably where it should have stayed. After the hi-energy pace of the rest of the album, Masterpiece feels out of place.
Falling Free
Compared to Masterpiece, Falling Free makes a far better stab at positioning itself as a ballad that fits into the wider context of MDNA. Echoey piano lines and string sections set up a lovely trippy vibe that shares more than a little in common with the likes of Drowned World/Substitute for Love. Falling Free sounds properly sumptuous; theres a richness to its production that serves to close the album down as a real assertion of Madonna the artist. Her vocals here are excellent, both moving and tender in a way that genuinely touches at the heart. Like scented rose petals and jasmine cast loose on water, Falling Free has a rippling beauty to it that is utterly enchanting.
Beautiful Killer
The first of the bonus tracks, and of all the Martin Solveig-produced songs on MDNA, this sounds most stereotypically of his style. As is often the wont with bonus tracks, Beautiful Killer is pretty disposable, a bog standard clubland floorfiller but the middle-eight is rather good.
I Fucked Up
A slow grind of swirly synths and guitar that feels restrained from ever becoming properly great because of that really quite cringeworthy title. Its just one step too far on the crudeness barometer. But as with Beautiful Killer, the pace ups in the closing moments and the song improves with impressive agility. Theres also a neat reference to Sorry as Madonna recycles her "Je suis désolée" line.
B-Day Song
Featuring M.I.A., B-Day Song feels like the obvious counterpoint to Give Me All Your Luvin, with M.I.A. feeling far more at home here than she does on the album-proper. Its bratty with a Material Girl punkiness to it but the chorus hook is predominantly more annoying than catchy, with only the choppy guitar riffs helping salvage affairs.
Best Friend
Another wary dip into a more urban soundbase, theres some cute blippy GameBoy-style synths to play with here, but for the most part Best Friend sounds like an unfinished demo or drum machine exercise. Theres a bare boned minimalism to the track that, as with Beautiful Killer, sets it very much out as just a bonus track.
In summary, whereas Hard Candy felt like it was grasping at fading trends, MDNA is far more Madonna just being Madonna. And that usually turns out best for everyone involved.
