beat goes on is like the Holiday of the new millenium IMO and captured her first album sound and the early 80's club sound with a little bit of hip hop best! I really think that track could have become a great anthem for her and gone to the top, and kanye west being on it helps (was anyone else reminded of DSTYGE during the tour clip?) a lot, but they had different plans. Though I love Give It To Me a lot and it's a feel good track as well, beat goes on is a gem.

alphastreet said:

I'm hoping that they'll still release Beat Goes On. should have been the second single. hell, it should have been the first. maybe they'll use to to push the Greatest Hits

Taken on Saturday in New York,here's a new pic of Maddy with son David,who is now three years old


in other Madonna news...the new single "Miles Away" will have a video made up of live footage from the tour.

Theres not one track on Hard Candy I don't listen to.

alphastreet said:

"Beat Goes On" definitely should have been the second single.Most fans seem to agree.Like "4 Minutes",it's extremely catchy and commercial.There's no way that U.S. radio would have ignored a song like that.Warners should have released it in June,just in time for it to become a summer dance anthem.For her part,Madonna should have filmed a kickass video with Kanye West.

DANGEROUSx said:

The only two songs that I skip over are "Spanish Lesson" and "Voices".The album starts off strong and the middle section from "She's Not Me" to "Dance 2Night" is excellent.After that,the album loses steam.I keep insisting that she should have closed the album with three kickass uptempo Timbaland jams.Pharrell dominates most of the album so she should have given Timbaland the chance to get funky at the very end.

.
[Edited 10/27/08 2:51am]

errant said:

I consider "4 Minutes" her worst single ever period. One More Chance was OK nothing special. American Life was good but not for first single and I alsolutely love "Dear Jessie" and "Gambler" (I hope "Gambler" will be on the upcoming "Greatest Hits" along with all the B-sides, bonus tracks etc)."Candy Shop", "Give It To Me' and "Miles Away" for me are OK but nothing special. I can't stand "She's Not Me" and "Spanish Lessons" and yes "Beat Goes On' is the best track by far should have been a single
[Edited 10/27/08 4:55am]

SoulAlive said:

Davy's sweet and he wouldn't wear nice clothes like this in Malawi. But look at Madonna. She's sooooo obviously the UGLIEST FEMAIL POP STAR ALIVE!!! Period!

omg I love little david's chucks

and yeah I agree the second single should have been Beat Goes On. There is no way on earth it would have been ignored no matter how old madonna is, it's a hip and fresh sounding song and kanye being on it helps. Hard Candy would have still been at the top of the charts or at least in the top 50 if it was released and played all the time in summer

marian said:

I disagree. It is her most adventerous r&b album to date. More so than Erotica, Bedtime Stories and maybe even Like A Virgin....Shes Not Me is pure disco funk, Candy Shop took some time to grow on me. INcredible is very experiemental and Spanish Lesson is along there with it. Dance 2 Nite is another hot old school cut that is nothing short of anything that Nelly Furtado hasnt done already.
I think if you don't enjoy old school r&b or modern r&b with some tinges of hip hop you are going to hate it. Just as much as I couldnt stand all that euro dance that took over Confessions...which lacked finely crafted or catchy tunes other than Jump, Hung Up, Get Together, Sorry and Push. Its fine to go the disco route but I couldnt even remember the rest of the tunes.

VinnyM27 said:

im deeply saddened..I might have to get a divorce

Hard Candy sort of reminded me of Erotica a little bit, married to her first album.

Devil Wouldn't Recognize You-Bad Girl
Miles Away-Fever
Dance 2night-Erotica
Voices-Deeper and Deeper
4 Minutes-Bye Bye Baby
Words-Give It To Me

okay I'm overdoing it, but parts of the album reminded me of it

alphastreet said:

what, you think Fever and Miles Away sound similiar??? 4 Minutes and Bye Bye Baby???

I think we all think that BGO should have been second single. Unfortunately I believe even if there'd be a fourth single it wouldn't make much of an impact anymore. It def would have been big as the second single. I mean, she even made videos with Pharrell and Kanye, I think there's still a chance she could make a video, probably with the same choreography and the car like on tour!

Heartbeat is another song I adore and I think many other would enjoy too. Dance 2nite is still a song I TRY to like... I was actually a bit disapointed by it. The verse melody is weak and you could easily sing the verses of 4 Minutes to it since they both have basically one chord in a minor key. Once could do a mash up bnetween 4 Minutes, Music, Dance Tonight...

I said it a hundred times, HC is all in all a stronger album than Confessions. For me COADF had four of her best pop records. The first three and Jump! But the rest was crap and mediocre. Future Lovers is a I Feel Love rip off with a weak melody, Let It Will Be might be her take of doing a black-ish song produced as an electro single. I never got into it. I Love New York worked better as the demo version, and especially Isaac is what Spanish Lesson's on HC. Why did she spent money on such a crappy recording???

HC might not have the ultimate Madonna song... but overall there are less weaker songs. I once again feel sorrsy for all who dislike the album because even now, after SIX MONTHS I still listen to certain songs from it on a regular basis.

probably cause both are dancy and in A minor. I was referring to the video version of Fever, not the album version

I think bye bye baby and 4 minutes merged would make a good mashup on youtube

paisleypark4 said:

Well that's the thing. I am into r&b (and rap) in fact I was one of the very few people who was listening (and buying) R&B in the early 90s over here when it was not popular in my country and the rest of Europe (if you don't believe me just look at the UK chart positions of R&B hits from the early 90s). I only lost interest the past five years or so when it has become too much and not interesting enough. "It's her most experimental R&B album". Well perhaps. But I think only "Bedtime Stories" counts as an R&B album except "Hard Candy" and in 1994 the state of the genre was far better than now. I am not a big fan of "Confessions" either especially the singles. To me "Confessions" and "Hard Candy" is when Madonna started, instead of taking underground musical trends and popularize them, following the most commercial music around. "Confessions" was europop and "Hard Candy" r&B (=american pop). But in "Confessions" at least we still get excellent album tracks such as "Like It Or Not", "Forbidden Love", "I Love NY" etc where Madonna does not play it safe. I find nothing risky in "Hard Candy" except maybe "Beat Goes On'
Also the songs you mentioned:"Incredible" is very reminiscent of about a 100 R&B songs of late-several songs on Brandy's "Full Moon" album come in mind and maybe some Usher songs too. Similarly "She's Not Me" reminds me of that band where an ex-member of En Vogue was singing-can't remember the name. I think in terms of experimenting this album is dissapointing. But maybe I just need to listen to it a bit more:)
[Edited 10/27/08 10:42am]

marian said:

what I really don't get is how can people say she was underground? I think all of her 80s albums were nothing innovative and underground. Probably not everyone sang lines like "Like A Virgin" but Nile Rodgers did produce everyone in 1983/1984.
Vogue was a pop/house track. But she was not the only one.

I think she made exactly two innovative albums: Ray Of Light and Music.
Music has only 4 good songs but the overall feeling is experimental. American Life went into the same direction and we all know since COADF she's pure mainstream.

didn't say she is underground. I said she took risks with her musical choices. You don't really know how your fans are going to react if you are a pop diva and you choose to release an album bordering on adult contemporary (Like A Prayer), an album full of 20's big band wannabe songs (I'm Breathless) an R&B album (Bedtime Stories) a ballads compilation (something to remember) a musical (Evita) or two very different electronic albums (the ones you mentioned). That's why the other divas (Mariah, Whitney, Janet or Celine) almost never stray from their musical genre even though all of them (maybe except Janet) are much more fit vocally to pull it off. Kylie is the only pop diva who tried to experiment with other sounds and it was a disaster sales-wise. This doesn't mean she was underground (pop can't really be underground) it means she was adventurous.
However on the last 2 albums Madonna seems to play it safe. In "Confessions" she is mostly sucking the european market and in "Hard Candy" she is totally sucking the american market.
[Edited 10/27/08 11:53am]

It's pathetic that someone calls Confessions a euro-pop album! Few people know what euro-pop truly means!

Confessions is clearly a synth-pop based album with some R&B interludes (Push) and eastern tidbits (Isaac).

Also Confessions wasn't playing it safe imo. If she had done that, she would use some american producers like Darkchild.

Check Confessions brother album, Seal's System...
[Edited 10/27/08 13:24pm]

marian said:

En Vogue?

It's clearly a Prince influenced track! DUH! It even has Wendy on the guitar!

OK synth-pop whatever. I like "Confessions" I still think it is sucking to the European market I don't like "Hard Candy" and I am tired of this discussion

marian said:

okay, I agree expect the Like A Prayer thing. It certainly was a step forward, but it had enough commercial pop songs to perfectly fgit into her back catalogue. It's not that it was terribly adult, right? Cherish? Dear Jessie? Like A Prayer and Express Yourself are too commercial to not ending as hits and the real adult single Oh Father was her biggest flop since 1983. Other serious songs like Promise To Try and Til Death Do Us Part were'nt released to a wider audience.

graecophilos said:

European dance is more what Confessions is. Sorry Mike if I called it Euro pop..since that is what Kylie is. Madonna was just not appealing to the UK market anymore and then the UK people got mad just as much as I was hearing I Love New York , Issac and Forbidden Love
Those songs just dont do anything as much as Jimmy Jimmy or I Know It didnt do anything for their albums. I am finding it harder to find Madonna fans who appreciate the first album or Hard Candy.

there's a diff btwn euro pop and euro dance???

Graecophilos: Sure most of the "Like A Prayer" singles weren't indicative of the rest of the album just like "Vogue" wasn't indicative of "I'm Breathless" but I was talking about the albums not the singles. "Dear Jessie" wasn't the most commercial single she could have released though.By the way are you greek?

Paisleypark4: I absolutely adore "I Know It", the 1983 album beginning to end with the exception of "Think Of Me", I also love "I Love NY" and "Forbidden Love", Now when I listen to Confessions I skip the first 4 songs and I listen to the rest. I hate "Jimmy Jimmy"

SoulAlive said:

Ah yeah, 'Spanish Lesson' and 'Voices' are my least fave tracks as well. They've kinda grown on me but idk, they don't really fit on Hard Candy.

badujunkie said:

Silly american

Ray of Light, Confessions, and Madonna are far and away my favorite albums by her.

AlexdeParis said:

American Life, Erotica and Madorra are her best

MikeMatronik said:

Um, no. Erotica has a lot of great songs, but a lot of filler IMO. I have the complete opposite problem with American Life, which is consistently good but lacks any real standout songs.

erotica took me years to get into all the way through from start to finish but I love it now

Her best albums start to finish are Like a Virgin, You Can Dance, American Life, Confessions on a Dancefloor