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COAD Reviews; - reviews of the entire album
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Topic Started: Nov 3 2005, 07:47 PM (663 Views)
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flea dip
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Nov 18 2005, 08:22 PM
Post #21
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Rock Star From Mars
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Those were some nice reviews.
Here's a quote from one: - Quote:
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she has an irritating tendency to advertise her latest mania as though she invented it Precisely. One of the things that makes Madonna's rip-offs even more irritating than the fact she does them at all is that some of her fans, some feminists, and some journalists tend to accredit Madonna with creating the trends, or...
Even if they acknowledge that Madonna steals trends from the underground, they still insist upon ascribing her with legitimacy and talent for having done so.
Recall all the times you've read a review of any of Madonna's work and a quote like this one comes up: - "True, Madonna did not originate "X," but she had the uncanny ability at bringing "X" from the homosexual community / club underground / Hispanic community and bringing it to the mainstream."
- My reaction to that has always been, Yeah? So what? And?
It's like crediting someone with using a light bulb, instead of heaping praise on Edison for having invented the dang thing.
I flipped on a radio today, does that make me better than Marconi, should my name be mentioned with his in the context of 'who originated/ created the radio'?
I think RCA Victor was one of the earliest makers of record players(?)* - would you credit RCA with the creation of records / record players merely for manufacturing, marketing, selling, (and hence "popularizing") record players, or the dude who actually invented it (which I think was Edison)? ----------------------------------- For trivia buffs: - * In 1930, RCA Victor launched the first commercially-available vinyl long-playing record, marketed as "Program Transcription" discs.
... In Roland Gelatt's book The Fabulous Phonograph, the author notes that RCA Victor's early introduction of a long-play disc was a commercial failure for several reasons including the lack of affordable, reliable consumer playback equipment and consumer wariness during the Great Depression
Source - Gramophone record: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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flea dip
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Nov 28 2005, 02:07 PM
Post #22
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Rock Star From Mars
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:clap: Brief, but oh- so- good:
Madonna's Dry Spell Continues - Article Launched: 11/27/2005 01:00:00 AM
By Ricardo Baca Denver Post Pop Music Critic POP-DANCE ---------- "Confessions on a Dance Floor" Madonna Warner Bros. ---------- "Time goes by so slowly to those who wait." Sadly, Madge is so right.
Madonna's pithy philosophy, snatched from the nu-disco single "Hung Up," is alarmingly relevant (especially since lyrics have never been her thing) at this point in her career.
This album, her third lackluster dance record in a decade only half over, marks the continuation of a seven-year dry spell for the artist once celebrated as an innovator. "Hung Up" is shallow, mindless fun. "Get Together" desperately rips off Daft Punk side project Stardust. And "I Love New York" has the worst lyrics of the year. (Google them if you're ready to lose faith altogether.)
"Confessions" is a slide into Cherdom and a goodbye nod to her "Ray of Light" days.
This following review, is, in some ways, more positive, but it touches on something I raised with the faux Madonna-fan (the troll) in the Cranky forum: Madonna's record producers are apparently more involved with her albums than she herself is.
Observe how often the music critic mentions the producers (the following is an excerpt; please click link to read entire review):
With 'Confessions,' Madonna owns up to pop sensibilities- By CHUCK CAMPBELL
Scripps Howard News Service 28-NOV-05
Credit the singer for (mostly) checking her self-importance at the door and submitting to the whims of her producers, and credit primary producer Stuart Price for knowing how best to package the headstrong performer.
A stark departure from 2003's neo-folk "American Life," "Confessions on a Dance Floor" is a full-throttle club album, free of ballads and swarming with influences that check in and out with supersonic speed.
At the beginning of opening cut/first single "Hung Up," a sample of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" emerges from electronic suppression and explodes into a muscular rhythm enhanced by Price's injections of adrenaline.
Subsequent references-on-steroids follow on the next few songs _ The S.O.S. Band's "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" on "Get Together," The Jacksons' "Can You Feel It" on "Sorry," Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" on "Future Lovers" _ but the producers reconfigure the familiar riffs into denser concoctions, layering Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Daft Punk into a decidedly contemporary work.
.... Even though she's sometimes upstaged by her producers, Madonna appears to be liberated by the single-minded mix, singing what seems like spur-of-the-moment lyrics based on cliches and dime-store philosophy
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Melissa
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Nov 28 2005, 03:02 PM
Post #23
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Evil Admin Extraordinaire™
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- Hated Madonna since:
- That godawful drek "American Life", back in 2003.
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I think this buyer's review from Amazon says it best:
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Please, November 19, 2005 Reviewer: Smudge Trio (Stilletto, Abyssynia) - See all my reviews Madonna , music sales-girl... want disco? you got it. want eastern? you got it! want ballads, baby? you got it- kaballah anyone? how about a Christian/Buddhist/Judaica minestrone with a side order of Islam? Brother, there's a sucker born every minute and everyone one of them is a big Madonna fan.
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flea dip
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Nov 28 2005, 03:09 PM
Post #24
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Rock Star From Mars
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- knightmuzic
- Nov 28 2005, 03:02 PM
I think this buyer's review from Amazon says it best: - Quote:
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Please, November 19, 2005 Reviewer: Smudge Trio (Stilletto, Abyssynia) - See all my reviews Madonna , music sales-girl... want disco? you got it. want eastern? you got it! want ballads, baby? you got it- kaballah anyone? how about a Christian/Buddhist/Judaica minestrone with a side order of Islam? Brother, there's a sucker born every minute and everyone one of them is a big Madonna fan.
Sounds like he's saying Madonna tosses anything and everything at the wall to see what will stick... even critics who may not like one aspect of her record (or new persona) will find something else to crow about, and I've seen that happen in the reviews.
You'll notice the critics will like song "X" on her new record because it's a disco tune or a pop tune, but then that same critic might say, "But the "Isaac" song ruins things."
I'm still waiting for her to say she's become a tree-worshipping Druid. She's already mined most of the world's major religions, after all.
Are Madonna fans suckers? Yep.
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flea dip
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Dec 5 2005, 05:14 PM
Post #25
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Rock Star From Mars
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Don't let the title of this review fool you, it's actually fairly negative in nature. It's not blistering, but it contains a few good jabs here and there.
All hail the queen: Madonna incarnation is in vogue- Dec 2, 2005
by John Reed Daily Staff Writer
Madonna, once the sexually liberated, erotically charged, persona-changing pop icon of the '80s and '90s, is embarking on her newest reinvention. Apparently, it is that of a prudish schoolmarm.
The perpetrator of 1992's book "Sex" and a handful of explicit videos now ghost-writes children's books (which must look a tad funny alongside "Sex" on a bookshelf), boasts that she bans her own offspring from watching television (probably so her kids won't come across her "Justify My Love" and "Vogue" videos), and embraces her newly-acquired Kabbalah religion.
In the midst of this newfound born-again attitude (or calculated image revamping), it's almost surprising that Madonna didn't record a gospel album. Instead, "Confessions on a Dance Floor" goes back to her club kid roots.
This isn't to say that anything on the CD comes close to the dance classics she created on her 1983 self-titled debut, but at least she realized after 2003's disappointing release, "American Life" (who can forget that pathetic rap she attempted on the title track?) that she should get back under the disco ball and leave the hip hop to Missy Elliot.
Actually, "Confessions on a Dance Floor" is not a bad effort. Clearly she has come to terms with the fact that dance tunes are what people actually want to hear from her. The blistering dance track "Hung Up," the first single, has carved another notch in Madonna's belt of hits.
Other standout songs, "Jump," "Get Together," and "Let It Will Be," employ the synthesized dance beats of "Hung Up" and will make her die-hard dance floor disciples extremely happy.
"Let It Will Be" is especially appealing; more of a raw-produced dance track, it is akin to the '80s remixed Madonna hits which were made even more magical by legendary DJ/mixer John "Jellybean" Benitez.
"Push Me" also contains a certain energy, but its repetition makes the listener wonder if we truly need another song praising some unknown mentor who apparently "pushed" or "pushes" or "inspired" Madonna (or us) to be better. One would have thought that songs with this kind of trite sentiment died after "Wind Beneath My Wings," but alas it has not.
The CD's biggest letdown is the saccharine "Forbidden Love." The slowest track on "Confessions," the song may have been Madonna's attempt to decelerate a bit, but it just stalls with its sappy lyrics and lukewarm delivery.
One must wonder: after the hoopla over "Hung Up" passes, how much interest will there be for the rest of the CD's myriad dance tracks?
It is unlikely that many present day club DJs, currently overloaded with requests for Kanye West and 50 Cent, will be excited about spinning a new Madonna dance product.
Although Madonna has apparently resigned herself to the fact that her days of shocking the world are over, her fans still seem interested in the singer's newer and cleaner incarnation. The things she used to do to astonish - which seemed outrageous 10 or 15 years ago - would now be as uninteresting as any calculated Paris Hilton PR stunt.
But, for now anyway, the material girl-turned-mom (twice) has toned it down. If the CD's Number 1 debut in 28 countries is any indicator, the world has seemingly embraced the more grown-up Madonna.
Then again, maybe her actions are more subliminal than they appear. There once was a time when all would have scoffed at the thought of a "settled" Madonna. In a way, maybe she's trying to shock us by doing something we never expected of her: maturing.
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Ironshadow
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Dec 5 2005, 05:59 PM
Post #26
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#1 mandona hater
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As far as Amazon goes, there are three kinds of reviews:
- reviews by the author/author's PR teams/friends/relatives;
- reviews by the average Joe;
-reviews by the author's rivals/enemies.
......as far as hype in other venues is concerned, there are two kinds of hype:
Free Hype when you are a Star just peaking and the mere mention of your name attracts interest;
Hype you pay for as glowing articles in magazines, TV and newspapers via your publicity staff. It costs money to do this. Included in this category is stunts, shilling, etc.
.....showing up for premiers can be a free form of hype- but editors generally pass on it and it shows up on searches only.
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flea dip
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Dec 12 2005, 10:13 AM
Post #27
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Rock Star From Mars
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This reviewer ain't impressed:
Green Day still great, but Madonna falls flat- CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR, Madonna (Warner Bros.)
Madonna returns to the music of the clubs and to co-producer/co-writer Stuart Price who worked with her on the Drowned World and Reinvention tours, recording "Confessions" in London, where dance music is a major musical force. The result is a disc that hit No. 1 driven by disco-tinged beats, though weighed down by an over-the-top production and too many mediocre songs.
Take the opening track, "Hung Up." The song rides on a rolling bass and synth lines reminiscent of Rod Stewart's disco days, and a locked-in-the-groove drum beat. But Madonna's waifish vocals and the silly lyrics will try listeners' patience. Other songs succumb to the blandness of euro-trance, drown in a wall of sound, or are just boring.
The disappointment in "Confessions" is that there is evidence of a much better disc trying to shine through. "Get Together" rides on a disco-house rhythm with less-mannered vocals, and "Let It Will Be" has a more open sound, the focus on the beats. And in the hands of quality remixers, "Isaac" would be a trance stormer.
"Confessions" debuted atop the Billboard album charts, But despite its commercial success the disc sounds rather passe and lacks distinction.
_ RICHARD PATON
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The 1 Not Fooled
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Dec 14 2005, 08:58 PM
Post #28
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Licensed & Board-certified!
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http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/26/180228.php
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Madonna's new Confessions on a Dance Floor must rate as one of the more studiously soulless albums of the year.
It plays as one long segued together supposed dance groove. I say "supposed" dance groove because it's more like a long sleep groove. I don't know if there's a real, live instrument anywhere. It's slight variations on the same throbbing synthesizer beat. It's exceedingly tedious, and dull. My eyes glazed over after about two or three songs, and I was in fact falling asleep- even with a stiff cup of coffee in hand. Seriously.
What is the point of appeal to this utterly gray, mechanical sound? It sounds like just exactly the worst idea of disco that Bob Seger was properly denouncing in "Old Time Rock and Roll" lo those many years ago. She can afford to hire musicians to make some actual dance grooves. Crikey, she could hire Bootsy Collins Himself. Yet she comes up with this cold, utterly soulless soundscape.
Trying real hard to be fair and balanced, I'll give her some credit for the single and first song on the album, "Hung Up." There is a decent hook that might stick with you. "Every little thing that you say and do/ I'm hung up, I'm hung up on you." It's very mechanical, and has no real feeling at all, but it does at least halfway have a tune. She makes decent use of the Abba sample. It could pass for an acceptable pop song.
The rest of this, however, is just tuneless mechanized crap that all runs together. There are no ballads, or exotic pop songs, guitars, nothing to differentiate one of these turd logs from the other.
If you were looking for another song, probably "Push" would be the second pick. It's not much, but it's maybe halfway catchy. Separated out in an iPod mix, it might do okay.
"Isaac" was a particular disappointment. This is her attempt at generating some controversy for the album, as she's exploiting (some might say desecrating) the name of a Jewish holy man for a commercial pop song. In practice, it comes out as a bit of some Kabbalah prayer or some such dropped into the same overwhelming mechanical disco beat blender. It's not really enough to even amount to significant exotic color. The utter shallowness of this dumb pseudo-Kabbalah track speaks to the depth of her publicity campaign/spiritual quest.
It's been said by some that this album is a return to dance club roots. But really it is not. "Holiday" or "Borderline" were not assembly line mechanized crap like this. Those songs had unique personality and some kind of feeling and urgency to them. They had soul.
This album, however, is totally a contrived pop food product. Besides not being very melodically memorable, there's not even a hint here of having given something from her soul.
She's certainly focused on her task. You might could give her credit in a retarded sort of Nietzchean way for her continuing will to power, perhaps. But as music, this is highly forgettable.
The usual suck-ups jumped on this one just to insult the reviewer. Geez!
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flea dip
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Jan 24 2006, 04:11 PM
Post #29
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Rock Star From Mars
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Madonna’s ‘Confessions’ is Utterly Resistible - by: Reut R. Cohen
I placed a few of the better parts in bold faced type (they're towards the bottom):- For most of us, Madonna is one of the greatest artists in history. Unfortunately, “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” the dance album that many fans have been waiting for simply does not live up to standards, which is quite disappointing considering it’s Madonna.
Leave it to the Material Girl to resurrect the glory days of disco music and try to market it to a younger audience, one that apparentely won’t remember her last two decades of recorded music.
Rumor has it that Madonna will collaborate with the Pet Shop Boys on her next single, “Sorry.” Madonna plans to stage the video using the concept of MTV's “Pimp My Ride,” of which she reportedly is a great fan.
The symbolism of using MTV's “Pimp My Ride” as a vehicle (pun intended) for Madonna's second “Confessions” video is obvious: make over a vintage classic and resell it to the youthful masses. Madonna has returned to her MTV origins to resell a classic (herself) to a new generation. The attempt is feeble because this audience member is not buying it.
.... However, at this point, everything is beginning to sound the same, and it wouldn't have hurt to throw in a ballad or two first, you know, just to slow things down and to throw in a different sound. But, this is unfortunately not the strategy that Madonna decided to take on.
.... “Isaac,” track 10, is among the weirdest on the album. This song is a pointless inclusion that sounds frighteningly like her previous stuff with the “MMMMmmmm”s put into it.
This makes two clunkers in a row for Madonna.
First, “American Life” proved to be a ho-hum album from one of our least boring musical personalities.
Now, “Confessions on a Dance Floor” continues that streak as she returns to her dance/disco ways, but without the charm, the fun, the drama, the sexiness or any of the great melodies and rhythms that she has given us over the last two decades.
For all it claims to be, “Confessions” is neither catchy nor groundbreaking. The lyrics to most of the songs are brainless and repetitive.
It’s better to buy Madonna’s early stuff. Perhaps they ought to create an album sampling her old music and then “techno” it all up. She wouldn't even have to break away from her busy schedule to show up to the recording studio.
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