Occasionally Sticky But Consistently Sweet (Hard Candy - Madonna)

Member Name: plipplop

Product:	Hard Candy - Madonna
Date:	16/04/09 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong track listing, no fillers, very accessible sound

Disadvantages: Not as groundbreaking as you might expect

A review of the standard twelve-track album that is available in physical or digital versions. A version with thirteen tracks was available on iTunes for a short period of time.

For a lady who just clocked up her fiftieth year on the planet, you have to hand it to Madonna. As a recording artist and a celebrity, she is constantly in the limelight and has a staggering discography of singles and albums. The singer has now re-established herself as a recording artist so many times that associating the words 're-invention' and 'Madonna' is almost a cliché in itself.

Largely produced by The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo for those unfamiliar with the name) the album is written and/or produced by and/or featuring vocals from the likes of Pharrell Williams, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake. Not surprisingly, it was an enormous global success and ranks as one of the singer's most commercially successful albums to date. Hard Candy is Madonna's eleventh studio album and the last that she'll release with Warner Brothers (save for a third greatest hits collection) before she moves over to the Live Earth label and, presumably, starts all over again. Notably, the disc almost brings the singer full circle as the sound and vibe of the entire album is not a million miles away from the 80s pop groove that first brought her into the public eye, albeit with a modern spin.

Hard Candy is not, therefore, so much a re-invention but a logical direction for the singer to take, particularly given the current trend and enormous popularity for urban/R & B music. Prior to the album's release, records produced by Timbaland were regularly hitting the top spot in countries all over the world and, arguably, Hard Candy was one of the less risky moves taken by the singer. On Ray of Light, Madonna's collaboration with William Orbit set a trend rather than following one and critics have argued that this is the least ambitious record that Madonna has produced since the beginning of her career. It's a slightly unfair criticism, given that nothing on Hard Candy sounds lazy, but the familiarity of Williams and West in the singles chart will certainly have given Madonna confidence that this was a sound commercial move.

Arranged across twelve tracks, Hard Candy is probably one of the most cohesive, consistent collections released by Madonna to date. There are no fillers or weaker links here, with every single track standing on its own merits and having a slightly different sound to the one before or after. It's a mood-jogging album that goes from creating a bitter, feisty atmosphere before launching into something altogether milder and poppy. Eighties influences abound across many of the tracks, with instrumental and vocal styles that are vaguely reminiscent of Madonna's earlier material, mixed up and re-determined for a more modern audience. The sound is instantly appealing but dangerously contemporary; this was always a disc that would sell massive volumes over a very short period of time but would be unlikely to have the longevity of Ray of Light or Like a Prayer, for example.

In keeping with Madonna's strong commercial awareness, the album was really only promoted via two single releases, which both feature at the beginning of the disc. It's another sign that Madonna understands both her audience and her market, acknowledging the reduced importance of singles in a market where people now download the tracks they want and discard the ones they don't. Again, critics have argued that the two single releases were the safest on the album, given only that they both feature guest vocals from highly marketable artists in their own right, but the fact is that they are also unquestionably strong songs. "4 Minutes" (a rightful number one in its own right) puts Timbaland back at the top of his game, producing a super-energetic, percussive stormer that combines the two vocals (Madonna and Timberlake) perfectly. The follow-up "Give IT To Me", rightfully showcases Williams' talents as a producer and writer and he even got to feature in the upbeat video. Madonna knows that many of her followers exist only to hear her in the clubs and, as with many urban tracks released these days, harder, house-based versions of both these songs were made available at the time of the album's release.

Given the singer's relative age, she generally holds her own here. Her vocals sound smooth and, at times, have a depth we've not heard before, although it must be argued that the heavily-produced sound of Hard Candy may have something to do with this. Stuffed full of samples, instrumentals, strong backing and other sounds, this album is probably the least reliant on Ms Ciccone's vocals of anything that she has released to date. It's unmistakably Madonna though; she pitches the balance between letting the producers have their fun and holding the reigns in exactly the way that we've come to expect. The only time that she really comes undone is when her age predicates the fact that some of the lyrics just sound strange. Tracks like 'She's Not Me' and 'Incredible' arguably feature words that sound a little odd coming from somebody old enough to be the target audience's grandmother. The singer is careful to back away from the parental advisory of previous works (no swearing here, thank goodness) but very occasionally it starts to feel like she's trying to be just a little bit too cool.

The production means that this is almost certainly an album best enjoyed intimately via MP3 headphones. So many of the subtle sounds and details are lost in a wider listening environment and certainly if you listen to this on a big stereo and then via headphones, you'll find things you didn't find before. The rattlesnake beat of' 'Incredible', for example, works so much better through headphones as do the percussive elements of tracks like 'Give it to Me' and 'Beat Goes On'. Surprisingly, the latter track is the only one that features a rap of any notability, but given that it's West doing it this time (Madonna's attempt on American Life was most unwelcome) then we don't really mind.

Given the time in her life, it's a remarkably impersonal disc too. Her rocky relationship with Guy Ritchie, her children growing up, her attempts to adopt - none of these things are immediately obvious here. Consider this against the beautiful lullaby Little Star (dedicated to the birth of her daughter Lourdes) or the biting resentment on Oh Father from previous albums and you can't help thinking that Madonna was bottling it all up. That's not to say that none of the songs has a message though. 'She's Not Me' hints at problems in her marriage (or is that inherent insecurity) and the track's descent from a very poppy feel down into something darker and more sombre suggests the real mood behind some of this music.

But it's a mood that only pops up once or twice as Hard Candy is largely an exercise in the upbeat rather than the downcast. This is good 'anytime' music, before or after a night, in the car or on your iPod and it's instantly accessible. For some, this will make it rather more forgettable than they might prefer, but it's still a heavily played part of my music library. Apart from the two singles, the strongest tracks are probably the Kanye West collaboration 'Beat Goes On' and the wistful pop-ballad 'Miles Away' (the least successful single of Madonna's career, largely because it was released in digital version only.)

"Hard Candy" is far from groundbreaking, nor is it the best thing that Madonna has ever done. It is, however, a further reminder of the singer's ability to try different things and (generally) succeed in selling herself to one new audience after another.

Summary: Madonna meets Timbaland, Timberlake and Pharrell