I loved CONFESSIONS sooo much, but have heard such mixed reveiews about the new cd ???

I thinks its a huge improvement over COADF.

classic ballads and some great dance tracks, only 1/2 real stinkers...

This is a big discussion going on in the Madonna forums...

Confessions vs.Hard Candy

'Confessions' is lush,dreamy and soft at times.There's more melody throughout.'Hard Candy' is a louder album with bigger beats.The songs are more "in your face",with the main emphasis on the beats.

I think 'Confessions' is the better album of the two.

SoulAlive said:

i have to agree. they're both good albums but confessions feels
more like a classic album from start to end. hard candy feels a
bit like a party where someone plays a mixed tape of hard dance
tunes. it keeps the party moving and everyone is having a good
time and all but in the end you don't feel like you've been on
an "album" journey.

IstenSzek said:

That's how I feel

But you know what? One thing I'm really liking about 'Hard Candy' right now is: hearing other voices on the songs besides Madonna Let me explain.On Madonna's last three or four albums,there are virtually no background vocals.Producers like Mirwais and Stuart Price don't really sing,so it's just Madonna's voice throughout the whole record ('American Life',in particular,sounds really lonely.It's just begging for some guest vocalists).I think it's refreshing to hear background vocals on a Madonna album again.Pharrell is all over the tracks that he produced.I like what he brings to a song like "Incredible",singing right along with Madonna ("I am missing my best friend...").

SoulAlive said:

very true! i don't consider the guest appearances on hard candy intrusive
at all but rather, like you say, a welcome change from the last albums.

and yes, particularly pharell sounds very complimentary on this record.

i do miss nikki harris though. i never really kept track of it but what
happened to her? i think she still went on tour with madonna though?

SoulAlive said:

Right here you've probably tapped into one of the reasons she chose to collaborate with who she did on this album.

IstenSzek said:

The guest vocalists give the album a real 'party vibe' that's missing from some of her other,recent albums.Listen to "Beat Goes On"....Maddy,Pharrell and Kanye sound like they're having a party right there in the studio.

Nikki Harris was on board for the Drowned World Tour in 2001,but I think she had a falling-out with Madonna.She didn't appear on the last two tours.

I like both. They're just different. I do like the fact that Hard Candy isn't mixed together like Confessions. I like to play my cd's on random and the mixed together thing of Confessions made the songs sound weird. The mixing and blending into one another on Confessions got on my nerves.

I have to say Hard Candy is a typical Madonna Album. COnfessions is not. I think she had something to prove with that album and it's pretty solid from start to finish...which is not typical of a Madonna album. Confessions was so congruent that it makes listening to Hard Candy Difficult.

Glindathegood said:

The iTunes version of Confessions is unmixed.

I'm lazy, so...

Confessions: 8,5
Hard Candy: 6

I *think* i will end up preferring COADF. I am loving Hard Candy right now - seriously lovingit. However I don't think I will play it for such a long time as I did Confessions. I still get goosebumps from some of the best stuff on confessions now.

On the other side the 'bad' tracks on Confessions for me are really not very good and there are more of them I dont like on there. Does that make sense?

I totally loved the confessions tour too - it was all so fantastic. Best time live I have had watching Madonna. That all added to my love of Confessions....

Gosh cut to the chase - i'm not sure but I think confessions is better just about.

Lisa

sorry for the ramble

GangstaFam said:

And there's the 7digital version that is being song in mp3 with drm. Way better than the aac shit

Matronik said:

I don't know what that means.

SoulAlive said:

I think thats a great comparison

Confessions by a long shot.

SoulAlive said:

While I must be a bit biased because Hard Candy is new, I still think it's much better than COADF. First of, the songwriting on HC is much better, COADF was just verse/chorus/verse structure, while HC has many different parts in songs, for example "Give It 2 Me", "She's Not Me" or "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You".
About the production, after HC, COADF feels very repetitive, most of the songs have the same dance beat, some songs are just like remixes, and the songs don't have any surprises like the HC songs. COADF has 12 dance songs and that can get a bit tiring, while HC changes the tempo with "Miles Away" or "DWRY".

There's no comparison. Confessions on a Dancefloor is her best album of the decade for me, and Hard Candy is her worst album ever!

I do find the guest vocalists intrusive, for the most part.

GangstaFam said:

Nothing important.

I am loving Hard Candy, but Confessions is clearly better IMO. It's easily my second-favorite album of hers. The vibe is great throughout and there aren't any subpar tracks (like "Spanish Lesson"). I can't imagine ever getting tired of it.

Confessions grew on me because it was sooo different from American Life which I found so artistic for some reason. But once I enjoyed confessions, I had it on heavy rotation almost everyday for 2 years and think it's one of her best albums.

With Hard Candy, I liked the songs right away and did feel like they were in my face. I love the basslines and how there are hip hop elements, but she still sounds like herself.

Both albums have a retro feel,which I really appreciate.These albums take you back to a more exciting time (early 80s).The best songs on 'Hard Candy' are the retro-sounding tracks."She's Not Me" is more 70s disco-sounding than anything on 'Confessions'.

I'm not jumping up and down for joy about either of them, really. They're both irritating and not completely satisfying. That said, Confessions somehow managed to stay in rotation off and on for me for over 2 years. I listened to it a lot when I didn't know what to listen to, especially in the car. It's great driving music. Hard Candy is actually turning out to be kind of the same. The one thing HC has over Confessions is that it's pretty much everything Confessions was promised to be but wasn't. It doesn't take itself too seriously. On the other hand, taking itself too seriously and not just being mindless dance tracks is probably the one thing that saved Confessions from being crap (plus it had a few really great, catchy numbers).