MADONNA
Confessions on a Dance Floor
Warner/Maverick
· Bubblegum electro Euro-pop for the NYC Danceteria of the future, not the past. Delivering a goldmine of hits, this 47-year-old wipes the floor with her junior contemporaries.
Finally, Madonna has partnered with a co-producer, Stuart Price (a.k.a. Jacques Lu Cont, Les Rythmes Digitales), who has successfully coaxed from her the best dance music of her career. In the mid-to-late ’90s, many of Madonna’s attempts stalled at the almost-perfect mark because of chronic rhythm section anemia. The bass – frustratingly flat and hollow on Erotica and Bedtime Stories – sounded like it was suffering from a knee-knocking case of stage fright. Sonically it hardly stood up next to Madonna’s enormous persona and snug relationship with dance floor occupants in the ’80s.
Ladies and gentlemen, the bass has been officially liberated. An entirely cosmopolitan affair with a dozen uninterrupted singles, Confessions on a Dance Floor showcases throbbing, shimmering, electric collaborations between Madonna and a swarm of European producers. France’s Mirwais Ahmadzai reappears on two tracks, but he’s outnumbered by a new mob of Stockholm producers from the Murlyn Music family. Included in the mix are the Grammy Award-winning Bloodshy & Avant, Bagge & Peer and Henrik Jonback. Their contributions are solid, but the strongest tracks are written with Price and Madonna’s brother-in-law, Joe Henry. A former alt-country musician, Henry co-writes album standout "Jump," which features vintage Madonna vocals with infectious lyrics and a rallying bassline borrowed from the Jackson Five’s "Can You Feel It."
As the hype has indicated, Confessions gives a futuristic Jetsons-style spin to historical reference points in dance and disco, Madonna songs included. "Hung Up" includes lyrics from "Love Song" (from Like A Prayer); Stardust’s "Music Sounds Better with You" makes a second appearance in Madonna’s discography during "Get Together" (previously, it was snatched for "Holiday"); Donna Summer’s "I Feel Love" pops up in "Future Lovers." "Forbidden Love" is also a song title on Bedtime Stories; "Isaac" gives a nod to "Secret" (Bedtime Stories) and "Frozen" (Ray of Light), and "How High" recalls Kylie Minogue’s "Can’t Get You Out of My Head." And those are just to name a few.
Recorded in Price’s loft – where carefully timed takes kept the screams of his crazy next door neighbour off the recordings – Confessions is not so much a signal to head to the dance floor as much as a blatant demand. Confessions is easily the new benchmark album for Madonna. It’s going to be interesting to see if other pop stars will rise to the occasion and, in a year or two, if she is able to outdo herself for the umpteenth time.
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