okay I like 7 of the twelve songs on the album

I like the piano version of miles away at the last half of this video

SoulAlive said:

Okay im not gonna do a full set list - but assuming she plays at least one song from each album before HC this is how i see it.

Madonna - Borderline
LAV - Over & Over or Dress U Up
True Blue - True Blue (I shit u not) or Open Your Heart
LAP - Like A Prayer (as a full on dance number) & Express Yourself (i see this working well alongside Give it 2 me)
Im Breathless - Vogue
Erotica - Deeper & Deeper or Rain
Bedtime Stories - Take A Bow
Ray Of Light - The Power Of Goodbye
Music - Dont Tell Me
AL - Hollywood (full sung version)
COAD - Push (for real)

And off the new record i dont wanna hear Voices or Spanish Lesson. So thats 20-23 numbers - managable i think.

I might be late and was already discussed, but I just noticed this. Not only part of the lyrics of "Dance 2Night" resemble "Kiss", but there's another song Madonna referenced:

Let's dance tonight dance tonight
And prove ourselves to the world
And we'll hold hands tonight, hands tonight
I'm just a boy and you're just a girl
I wanna dance tonight, dance tonight
Don't need no diamonds and pearls
So take a chance tonight, chance tonight
Let's prove ourselves to the world

Martinelli said:

"lourdes, how do you say napkin?"




btw, i've started to warm up to the album by now. my initial review
might have been a tad too harsh, lol.

How do you write off an album that hasn't even been released yet? I know that her "hip hop-like" sound was not embraced in the US when American Life came out, but 4 minutes is number 1 in most parts of the world already and I can see the album doing well for some time. Remember, Confessions was a huge success everywhere, even if not in the US, so this album will be a continuation of that and the music isn't that different, it just has more futuristic hip hop elements to the dance music compared to the last record, which had disco and europop influences.

SoulAlive said:

in that case, they should have just released NKM, because AL and Hollywood are 2 of the weaker tracks, and aren't very good single picks. if they'd released Nobody Knows Me up front, and then Nothing Fails, i think the album would have been more successful. as it is, NKM was only a club promo and NF came too late in the day and didn't even get a video.

People Magazine's 4-star review of Hard Candy

At the moment, it goes like this for me

The Glorious: Voices
The Excellent: Heartbeat, Miles Away, Beat Goes on & Devil Wouldn´t Recognize You
The Good: Candy Store, Give It To Me, She´s Not Me & Dance 2night
The Could Have Been Good But Sadly No: Incredible
The Meh: 4 Minutes
The Craptastic: Spanish Lessons

"Incredible" is fast becoming a favorite of mine.I even like the second,chaotic part of it

SoulAlive said:

But it could have been perfect. Well, it´s up until minute 4 or so for me

OH MY GOD, I don't know what's come over me, but sometime in the last 24 hours I've been possessed by "The Beat Goes On" and "Dance 2night." Whenever they come on, no where I'm at or who's around, I CAN NOT STOP DANCING.


My God, I love these two! TBGO is especially shocking, consdering how much I absolutely hated the demo.


But anyway, I'm in love with these 2 grooves.

"Beat Goes On" and "Dance 2Night" are GREAT.I'm in love with these two songs These songs perfectly capture the early 80s R&B sound! I also like the fact that they are back-to-back on the album....they flow into each other really well.

"Dance2Night" is mesmerizing....makes me wanna have a few drinks and go club-hopping

garganta said:

I agree - it goes from being a brilliant song to a good song. This is what extended / 12" versions are for - to let artists indulge without it impacting on the album.I do really like the "I dont ant this to end, I am missing my best friend" part though.

CrozzaUK said:

I like the line "Let's finish what we started".It's obvious that this song and "Miles Away" are about her marriage.It's interesting how she's never been shy about singing about her marital problems (remember "Til Death Do Us Part"?).

Report from the field:

This morning while waiting for everyone to show up for a meeting, I was flipping through the channels on a TV in our offices. I happened across a channel that had just put on the 4 minutes video, so I stopped there to watch it.

Moments later people headed to the meeting started walking by. I think every one of them stopped to watch for at least a bit, many hung around to watch most of the video. Lots of astonished/complimentary comments on her appearance and performance were tossed around, a good time was had by all.

SoulAlive said:

Funny Incredible reminds me of Till Death us Do Part - similar kind of a mini opera of a song. Miles Away, She's Not Me, Incredible - all very open & candid about her relationship problems.

Reminds me of the sequence on Music (I Deserve it, Amazing, Nobodys Perfect) - which all seemed to be for Guy and how silly in love she was with him. There are no silly in love songs on this record. Its all about the dance floor or her relationship problems.

SoulAlive said:

Funny Incredible reminds me of Till Death us Do Part - similar kind of a mini opera of a song. Miles Away, She's Not Me, Incredible - all very open & candid about her relationship problems.

Reminds me of the sequence on Music (I Deserve it, Amazing, Nobodys Perfect) - which all seemed to be for Guy and how silly in love she was with him. There are no silly in love songs on this record. Its all about the dance floor or her relationship problems.

Here in the States,"4 Minutes" moves up one spot to Number Six on the Top 100.Looks like this song ain't leaving the Top 10 anytime soon

It's a good thing to have a Top 10 single the same week that your album is released.And it's Number One on the digital sales chart,having already sold 846,000 copies.It's expected to reach the one million mark next week...her biggest US hit since "Music".

CrozzaUK said:

In interviews,she denies that there are any marital problems,but these songs tell a different story I guess she feels more comfortable singing about it? LOL

SoulAlive said:

With the albums release , it is expected that dowmloads for 4 Minutes will take a spike also, possibly to about the 250k mark, which would put in contention to hit #1 on the Hot 100 in 2 chart weeks.

newpower99 said:

Really? Wow!

SoulAlive said:

yeah , if in actuality it increases that much it will have a shot at #1. This week for example if 4 Minutes at #6 was about 44 chart points from #1 , meaning if it would have sold 44,000 more downloads or had 44 million more audience impressions on airplay it would have been #1

newpower99 said:

44,000 more downloads huh? She's so close!

In any case,it's cool that she can still get a Top 10 hit single in America without the same amount of airplay that other,youunger artists receive.That's quite remarkable.

garganta said:

Hey this is about the same way I feel right now.

Cinnie said:

"Voices" bores me

I give the album a B+,but if she had replaced "Voices" and "Spanish Lesson" with two better songs,it would have gotten an A from me

SoulAlive said:

Yeah but I agree with the "excellent" tier versus the "good" tier

OK here's my run down of preference for the albums songs:

Hearbeat - This HAS to be the 3rd single

She's Not Me - OK I admit finding out Wendy is on it has made me even more keen - but im really liking sooo much about this song now. The bass line, the guitar, the lyrics.

Give It To Me - Its frantic pace wins it for me. those synth sounds are insane.

Incredible - This is Really growing on me, despite its 2 min outro. I actually think this has the most melancholic melody of the album. The melody on the verse is gorgeous.

Beat Goes On - Get Down...beep beep, gotta get up outta your seat.
Miles Away
The Devil Wouldnt Recognise you
Dance 2 Night
4 Minutes
Voices
Candy Shop
Spanish Lesson

Question - Do people think 4 Mins was sensible as first single choice, given how few seem to rate it so highly in the albums context?

CrozzaUK said:

Wow I'm glad others agree with me!

I still think it was the right choice for the first single.It'll never be one of my favorite Madonna songs,but it is definitely "hit" material.From a commercial standpoint,it's a wise choice.It's doing exactly what a first single should do.

SoulAlive said:

Yeah I agree. I think in a few years time i wont even consider this a Madonna song. Its pretty much a blatantly contrived marketing ploy to ensure the 1st single is a hit and has media radio / coverage. I think its got really strong elements to it - more madonna would be beneficial - but its kind of deceptive in terms of raising expectations about the album.