MDNA Press Reviews

March 12, 2012

From DrownedMadonna.com ...

All these reviews btw are driving me crazy! This is all too good to be true! Or is it?

After all the very positive reviews from the USA and UK, it seems that we are going to have great reviews also in Italy, where music critics are usually not very indulgent with Madonna.

The biggest name in Italian music journalism, Mario Luzzato Fegiz, was very impressed by the listening of Madonna's MDNA, which is described as the Ray of Light of 2012, or better the "turbocharged" Ray of Light. And comparing it to Lady Gaga's, "I admire Lady Gaga, but here we are just out of this world," Fegiz says.

Here is what Mario Luzzato Fegiz wrote today on his blog:

Madonna's MDNA - Turbocharged Ray of Light

This afternoon I was lucky enough to hear the deluxe edition of MDNA, the new Madonna album. What can I say?

I read the international reviews and I must say that I completely confirm their response : MDNA is extraordinarily beautiful! In the end, there is nothing really new under the sun, but it is so well produced and orchestrated to succeed where other albums have rather miserably failed. MDNA sounds cool and hypnotic, at times dark and violent. The album alternates between dance tracks, which wink to house music, and rather solar and introspective songs.

If Ray of Light was released in 2012, it would be called MDNA.

Madonna produced an album that is surprising and brilliant (BANG GANG), memorable (I'M A SINNER), jovial (SUPERSTAR), melancholic ( FALLING FREE), self-celebratory (I'M ADDICTED - SOME GIRLS), care-free (LOVE SPENT - TURN UP THE RADIO).

You can feel the touch of William Orbit throughout the whole production, even in those songs that he did not sign, since they perfecty fit in (and cross over) with the rest. MDNA is meant to go down in history, for the courage to dare in a flat and replicated business. I think this is the most beautiful, mature and complete album that Madonna has ever done.

P.S. I also agree with the comparisons with Lady Gaga, though sometimes those are inappropriate: I admire Lady Gaga, but here we are just out of this world.

Madonna is copying Lady Gaga ? If anything, she is celebrating herself, and I should damn well think!

this review really surprises me

March 12, 2012

MDNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 12, 2012

Actually, it was 3 and a half stars. But later, they have realised how cheap they were.

RS really likes Madonna's legacy. They've included 4 albums in their 500 albums of all time list: LAP, TIC, ROL and Music.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Matheus

acko · March 12, 2012

Actually, it was 3 and a half stars. But later, they have realised how cheap they were.

RS really like Madonna's legacy. They included 4 albums in their 500 albums of all time list: LAP, TIC, ROL and Music.

The ROL review was quite reluctant in giving praise though, in spite of the rating.

RS has been kinda shitty since the late 90's...& Their lists :rolleyes:

March 12, 2012

Yes, you have a point. Dark side of the moon outside the top 10 is ridiculous. Meanwhile, The Beatles have 758795345455 albums in the list.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Matheus

Littlebastard · March 12, 2012

Exactly i was talking about reviews they give originally not 15 years later.

Shane · March 13, 2012

they gave HC 4/5? Wow, that was so high.

People and Blender also reviewed HC very kindly. Of course, People is somewhat of a rag, and Blender is now defunct ... But HC was not exactly disparaged here in the States.

March 13, 2012

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=1&p=11996&title=madonna_mdna_first_listen&more=1&c=1

Madonna, 'MDNA' - First Listen

By Ailbhe Malone

Posted on 03/12/12 at 05:43:43 pm

The Material Girl returns with her 12th studio album. Is it any cop? Let’s find out...

‘Girl Gone Wild’

Though most will have heard this track already (it’s the second single off the album) it’s worth a recap. Produced by Benny Benassi, Madonna intros with a spoken word segment about how she wants "so badly to be good". As the album plays through, the strangeness of the single's choice will become more apparent. ‘Girl Gone Wild’ does little to set the listener up for what’s about to come next.

‘Gang Bang’

With an intro consisting of a revving engine and a solid four-to-the-floor beat, ‘Gang Bang’ is Madge Gone Industrial. We’re certainly not mentioning another blonde female artist who also took inspiration from German Industrial on her last album, but we’re in the same ball park. It’s exciting. Madonna’s ditched the faux English accent and the mood is tense. It feels like something's about to snap as she declares “You were building my coffin/ you were driving my hearse". Ubiquitous Dubstep wobble aside, the track tails off into a wonderful 'Faster Kill Pussycat' segment, with Madge singing “Drive bitch and while you're at it die bitch!”

‘I’m Addicted’

Electronic ripples open the track into something that sounds like ‘Momma's Place’-era Roisin Murphy. There are some nudging references to Killer Rave Drugs as Madonna sings "It's like MDMA and that's OK". There’s another dubsteppy breakdown that ends with her chanting "MDNA" over an electro explosion. We can't wait to see this live.

‘Turn Up the Radio’

This is the first of the six Martin Solveig-produced tracks on the album(including the bonus tracks). There’s a Dragonette style vocal and lyrics about music helping you to forget your woes. It’s quite sweet, and leads nicely into the next track...

‘Give Me All Your Luvin’’

...which is still amazing.

‘Some Girls’

The first William Orbit cut (of five). Direct and bitchy, Madonna’s vocals are treated and hidden beneath a heavy bass. It’s a mid-tempo track with a chorus of "Some girls are not like me / I never want to be like some girls".

‘Superstar’

This track feels a bit lightweight amongst the others. There’s a Katy Perry vibe. The "Oh la la you're my superstar" chorus seems like a incongruous filler with the cheeky cringey teen lyrics: "You're like Abe Lincoln because you fight for what's right". Maybe Lourdes helped her with this one?

‘I Don’t Give A’

Lyrically, this is a list of all the things that Madonna has to do: "Message manager no time for a manicure". It avoids turning into ‘American Life’ thanks to Madonna letting a little bit of her guard down: "I tried to be a good girl I tried to be your wife". Nicki Minaj's guest spot is relaxed and ends with the immortal line: "There's only one queen and that's Madonna, bitch".

‘I’m A Sinner’

A psychy track that feels like a mix of Peaches and Martha And The Vandellas. It sounds fresh, and tongue firmly in cheek Madonna lists some saints over a "Wo-oh-ah" backing vocal.

‘Love Spent’

Though ‘Love Spent’ could come across as a kind of 'Exquisite Corpse' of a track (banjo intro, then violins, then spoken word) it’s really brilliant. Madonna channels ABBA-level spousal hurt as she sings "Hold me like your money, tell me that you want me, spend your love on me".

‘Masterpiece’

The track from W.E. It sounds a bit zzzz here to be honest.

‘Falling Free’

Elegant and classy, the warped piano sounds of the final track on the album proper is a fitting end. This icy ballad fits far better than ‘Masterpiece’ as Madonna addresses a problem she wishes she could forget: "When I move a certain way I feel an ache I've kept at bay".

‘Beautiful Killer’

Yep, you guessed it: beautiful filler, more like.

‘I Fucked Up’

It’s strange that this didn’t make it onto the main CD. This is the track that most critics have pegged to be about Guy Ritchie. Aside from the token French interlude, this is understated and excellent, and could easily have replaced ‘Masterpiece’.

‘B-Day Song’

M.I.A. makes an appearance on this 60s-influenced Solveig track. Though there’s a line about how Madonna likes to spend her birthdays ("Give me a spanking start the day off right") it’s clear why this isn’t a main track.

'Best Friend’

Madonna lists things she misses in her partner. It sounds a bit like a vocodorized Max Martin track, which would normally be amazing, but in these circumstances, it doesn’t really fit.

So, is the Queen of Pop back on her throne? Just about. We’d pledge our allegiance anyway.

Nixed · March 13, 2012

Madonna's albums have always been universally acclaimed, no? Except maybe from something like say, Pitchfork.

March 13, 2012

Madonna's albums have always been universally acclaimed, no? Except maybe from something like say, Pitchfork.

Fuck Pitchfork. What a buncha indie snobs :lol:

LSD · March 13, 2012

Madonna's albums have always been universally acclaimed, no? Except maybe from something like say, Pitchfork.

But they do make it a point to review her (they even did one for Celebration), so they probably will for this album, too. I'm curious :chuckle:

svperstar · March 13, 2012

For the most part, Madonna's albums generally receive favorable reviews. I can't recall anything (other than American Life) that left some of them feeling mixed.

San · March 13, 2012

Fuck Pitchfork. What a buncha indie snobs

OMG - took the words right out of my mouth! :thumbsup:

Supernatural · March 13, 2012

reviews of MDNA are painting a picture for me of an album that manages to be both artistic/provocative and over-the-top enjoyable fun :thumbsup:

datf · March 13, 2012

For the most part, Madonna's albums generally receive favorable reviews. I can't recall anything (other than American Life) that left some of them feeling mixed.

in fact, i think as far as pop artistes are concerned, madonna's like one of the very few that consistently have favourable reviews for her albums. and as for the mainstream pop artists from the past decade, madonna's probably the only one that can get 80 on metacritic.

Roland Barthes · March 13, 2012

These reviews are confusing because not one agrees with the other. That's very strange. They all liked different songs yet they all loved the album. That's unusual and GOOOOOOD

Flip The Switch · March 13, 2012

reviews of MDNA are painting a picture for me of an album that manages to be both artistic/provocative and over-the-top enjoyable fun

I like this. :thumbsup:

Case39 · March 13, 2012

reviews of MDNA are painting a picture for me of an album that manages to be both artistic/provocative and over-the-top enjoyable fun

Exactly. It's all very exciting :thumbsup:

All the reviews have been positive so far, it really surprised me in a good way. And the snippets are giving me LIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE :dramatic:

Flip The Switch · March 13, 2012

Beautiful Filler. :lol:

HolidayGuy · March 13, 2012

That initial LAP rating from RS made no sense- the review was a 4-5-star review. The first "upgrade" appeared in RS' 1992 album-guide book, where it had 4 1/2 stars. Then, five stars in the newer album guide.

ROL was in RS' 90s albums list from a couple years back.

In terms of all-time features/lists, we can see via Acclaimed Music that Erotica,Bedtime Stories, American Life and Hard Candy (I'm Breathless, too) have nowhere near the appreciation that the other studio albums have.

datf · March 14, 2012

Track-by-track review of Madonna's MDNA

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/track-by-track-review-of-madonnas-mdna

1. Girl Gone Wild: Benny Benassi-produced electro-pop thumper that gets better the more (and louder) you play it.

2. Gang Bang: Throbbing electronic romp on which Madonna plays a wronged woman out for revenge: “Bang bang, shot you dead!”

3. I'm Addicted: Catchy club tune that’s like a post-Guetta take on her mid-Noughties work Confessions on a Dance Floor.

4. Turn Up the Radio: Infectious paean to escapism that recalls her 2006 hit Get Together. This should have been MDNA’s lead single.

5. Give Me All Your Luvin’ feat. Nicki Minaj & M.I.A: The actual lead single, as performed at the Super Bowl, is a lighter pop morsel than most on the album.

6. Some Girls: “I’d never wanna be like some girls,” Madonna sings on this vocodered electro tune that’s as sinewy as her gym-toned arms.

7. Superstar: On which she compares her new boyfriend to Marlon Brando, James Dean, Bruce Lee and, erm, Abe Lincoln.

8. I Don’t Give A: Guy Ritchie should skip this mid-tempo electro track, which references his failed marriage to Madonna in unflattering terms.

9. I’m a Sinner: Co-produced by William Orbit, this recalls three of their previous hook-ups: Ray of Light, Beautiful Stranger and Amazing.

10. Love Spent: This banjo-flecked banger features a fabulous middle 8.

11. Masterpiece: Golden Globe winner from the soundtrack to the film W.E. Would slot neatly onto Something to Remember.

12. Falling Free: This cascading, string-swathed ballad is the loveliest thing Madonna’s sung in almost a decade.

13. Beautiful Killer: One of four bonus tracks is decent rather than dazzling. Nice Papa Don’t Preach strings though.

14. I F***** Up: Madonna’s remorseful on this mid-tempo confessional, which recalls her 2003 album American Life.

15. B-day Song feat M.I.A: A fun throwaway that could soundtrack a nightclub scene from an Austin Powers movie.

16. Best Friend: MDNA ends on an affecting note, as Madonna mourns a relationship: “I feel like I lost my very best friend.”

17. Give Me All Your Luvin’ (Party Rock Remix): MDNA’s first single is remixed into a club banger.

Additional read also from The National

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/the-agony-and-the-ecstasy-of-madonnas-mdna#full

Madonna chose to announce her 2012 world tour immediately after her head-turning performance at the Super Bowl in February. Watched by 114 million TV viewers in the US - and millions more around the world - her half-time pop medley was a formidable statement of intent from the indefatigable 53-year-old.

Her 12-minute appearance featured an eclectic and energetic mix of performers, from Greek warriors, Cirque du Soleil acrobats and a gospel choir, to a high school marching band and cameos from Cee Lo Green, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A and LMFAO. Oh, and there was Madonna as well, who sung five pop classics and her new single Give Me All Your Luvin'.

Little wonder there has since been such demand for her first live shows in the Gulf. But what can ticket-holders expect to get for their money when she arrives in Abu Dhabi?

Thankfully, these days, Madonna is willing to sing almost all of her classic hits. During 2001's Drowned World tour - which was, at the time, her first live outing in eight years - she attracted criticism for overlooking her older and more popular songs. Just one song from The Immaculate Collection, a 1990 singles compilation widely considered to contain the crown jewels of Madonna's back catalogue, appeared on that tour's set list.

Madonna would later manage to overcome her aversion to her past hits for the Re-Invention tour in 2004. American Life, the album she was promoting at the time, had received a cool reception from both fans and critics so she peppered her live set with her most famous songs: Vogue, Like a Prayer, Express Yourself, Into the Groove and Material Girl.

She continued to blend the old and the new on her two most recent expeditions, 2006's Confessions tour and 2008's Sticky & Sweet tour. However, when an artist has more than 70 hit singles to pick from - spanning three decades of chart success - someone's favourite song will always be left out. True Blue, a number one in 1986, hasn't been performed live since the year after it was released.

But anyone arriving at Yas Arena expecting a nostalgia-soaked trip down memory lane might be in for a shock. Madonna loves to give her familiar hits a contemporary twist - as she showed at the Super Bowl, where she reworked 2000's Music to include elements of Party Rock Anthem and Sexy and I Know It, both recent chart-toppers from US pop-rap duo LMFAO.

Of course, she also has a new album to promote, and MDNA doesn't sound like the work of a veteran artist who's ready to rest on her past successes. Even the LP's title, MDNA, is wilfully challenging.

Taken at face value, MDNA works as a simple and snappy abbreviation of the star's name. It could also be construed as conveying the very essence of Madonna - if the singer is "M", then this record represents her musical "DNA".

But the controversy stems from its intentional resemblance to the chemical name for the banned drug "Ecstasy" or MDMA. Lucy Dawe, a spokesperson for the anti-drug campaign group Cannabis Skunk Sense, called the title "an ill-advised decision".

When asked about the matter, Madonna told the BBC that she just "liked the play on words. It's a triple entendre".

Ecstasy is, of course, often associated with the electronic dance music scene and there's quite a lot of that genre on MDNA. Madonna's chosen collaborators here are all notable names from the world of club pop.

She co-produces two songs with Italian DJ Marco "Benny" Benassi. The French electronic whiz Martin Solveig joins her for three tracks. And there are six new works with William Orbit, the British musician with whom she worked on her 1998 masterpiece Ray of Light. The results aren't as cutting edge as Madonna has often been in the past, but they're certainly contemporary. MDNA features plenty of hard-edged electro-pop songs embellished with up-to-the-minute production flourishes, including rap cameos and dubstep breakdowns.

One such moment occurs on the album's opening track. "You got me in the zone, DJ play my favourite song," Madonna trills on Girl GoneWild, borrowing a line apiece from Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. It's disappointing stuff, especially from a woman who recently criticised Lady Gaga's Born This Way single for being "reductive".

Elsewhere, Madonna attempts to set a new record for the greatest number of lyrical clichés a pop singer can squeeze onto an album. When she's not "a fish out of water", she's "a bat out of hell", or "a moth to a flame", or "a thief in the night".

But alongside these familiar images, MDNA also features some remarkably personal moments. Madonna's ex-husband Guy Ritchie should probably skip over I Don't Give A, on which she finds inspiration from their failed marriage. "I tried to be a good girl, I tried to be your wife, I diminished myself, and swallowed my light," she sings, before declaring: "And if I was a failure, I don't give a ..."

Yet elsewhere on the record, Madonna seems remorseful. IF***** Up is a frank break-up song on which the singer shows her vulnerable side.

"I blamed you when things didn't go my way, somehow I've destroyed the perfect dream," she admits here, presumably addressing her ex-husband.

Moments like this will certainly provide grist for the gossip mill. But MDNA also succeeds on a more intuitive level. Tracks like Turn Up the Radio, I'm Addicted, Superstar and Love Spent prove Madonna is still a peerless purveyor of pop thrills.

Then there's the album's most jaw-dropping moment, a preposterous piece of pop called Gang Bang. Over an electronic throb flecked with gangster film sound effects (guns, sirens, getaway cars), Madonna plays a wronged woman seeking revenge. Her parting shot? "If you're gonna act like a b****, then you're gonna die like a b****." Just imagine how she'll translate this tune to the Yas Arena stage.

March 15, 2012

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/the-agony-and-the-ecstasy-of-madonnas-mdna

The agony and the ecstasy of Madonna's MDNA

Nick Levine

Mar 14, 2012