Happy 10th Anniversary, COADF!

[groovyguy 63,862]

Madonna’s ‘Confessions On A Dance Floor’ Turns 10: Backtracking

Stephen Sears @xolondon | November 11, 2015

It was Madonna’s 47th birthday and she was seriously hung up. Fans had been waiting for over two years for new music, when a horse bucked our Lady Of The Manor right into an English hospital with a broken collarbone, hand and ribs. Going into fall of 2005, Madonna had something to prove. In the highs and lows of her career, 2003’s tense, folky American Life was a comedown from the successes of Ray Of Light and Music. Those fans felt they’d allowed their queen her Indigo Girlsmoment and now they wanted classic Madonna dance jams. Rumors circulated about a single inspired by ABBA and then… SPLAT! Just weeks before she was to release her new single, she was busted up, drugged up and out of her usual control. The first thought was not really for Madonna… “Umm, is the album delayed?â€

When the world finally heard the galloping “Hung Up,†they danced. As the first taste of Madonna’s collaboration with UK producer Stuart Price, the ABBA-sampling pop track was a blueprint for the album. Price had earned his bona fides as Madonna’s musical director on her previous two tours, and earlier in 2005 he garnered success with a seminal remix of The Killers’ “Mr Brightside.†They started noodling with tunes on the Reinvention Tour and later set up shop in his tiny attic recording space in London to craft the huge sound of Confessions On A Dance Floor(released on November 11, 2005). The album’s sound is a dense, layered production, marked by lyrical repetition (time goes by so slowly, time goes by…) and lengthy instrumental sections. “Hung Up†— capped with a leotard-fetishizing video —was a worldwide hit (despite a more tepid showing at #7 on the US chart).

 

The album, released as a continuous mix, still sounds exhilarating ten years on. By now fans have memorized the multi-language apologies of second single “Sorry†that Madonna chants over what sounds like an interpolation of the “Frozen†opening. She actually had a few things to apologize for — like Swept Away â€”but the real earworm is the looped “I’ve heard it all before†hook. The track, which has elements of The Jacksons’ â€œCan You Feel It,†also worked in a signature Stuart Price sound (at 2:44): that cracking noise, like a baseball hitting a bat, was also used on numerous of his productions, including his remix of Gwen Stefani’s â€œWhat You Waiting For?â€Like much of Confessions, the recording swirls into a hurricane of sound that rises and falls before ending with classic Madonna strings.

 

My sisters and me

Each Madonna album has a track that is born of her DNA, no matter who’s producing it — think â€œSurvival†on Bedtime Stories or â€œNothing Really Matters†onRay Of Light. Most of these songs mainline an essential positivity and optimism, also present on Confessions’ “Jump.†Opening with a synth line reminiscent of Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls,†the track plays out like a sequel to “Keep It Together.†It’s a fine addition to a long line of Madonna songs extolling both the power of family and her belief that you won’t get anywhere in life if you don’t take chances.

“I Love New York†has, however, proven to be polarizing. A complete rewrite of a song first heard in her tour documentary, I’m Going to Tell You A Secret, the arrangement captures the hugeness and urgency of the city that made Madonna a star. It sounds as if it was recorded in an arena; her vocals are swimming in the sound of rolling timpani drums, electric guitars and squizzy electronics. But “New York†has one glitch: the lyrics are hardcore raggedy, rhyming New York and dork, or a Suessian mad, sad and glad. If you accept the song as literal, it’s embarrassing, but if you roll with what was likely intended as a tongue-in-cheek lyric, it works.

 

In the evidence of its brilliance

“Future Lovers,†the only track produced by American Life’s now-malignedMirwais, is nervily built on a sample of the ultimate disco statement: Donna Summers’ legendary â€œI Feel Love.†Each Madonna album needs a great spoken piece and “Future†delivers with a commentary on modern life. “Forget your problems… administration, bills, loans,†she purrs with perfect elocution, before the track lifts off into a slamming disco classic.

 

Equally mammoth is the arena-friendly “Get Together.†It’s a meta-pop moment, built on a sample of Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You,†which in turn wasfamously mashed up with Madonna’s “Holiday.†Like “Jump,†the lyric is full of hope — “do you believe that we can change the future?†and the stabbing synths (check 3:34) send the track into orbit. It’s completely uplifting and everything dance music should be.

 

This is who I am

All disco nights come to an end, and Confessions closes with the stunning manifesto “Like It Or Not.†Produced by Madonna with Bloodshy and Avant (aka two-thirds of Miike Snow), it sounds like an answer to the intense criticism she received forAmerican Life and her views on the Iraq War. “This is who I am, you can like it or not,†she sings, “You can love me or leave me, ’cause I’m never gonna stop.†Monte Pittman, Madonna’s longtime guitarist, adds a sense of gravitas with the folky acoustic riff that brings Confessions to an elegant conclusion. When you get cranky with Madonna in 2015 for what she is or isn’t, think of this lyric, because the lady doesn’t give a shit.

 

In the years following Confessions, a few elements leap out. The album has a cohesive sound — her recent work, which features a cast of thousands, sounds more chaotic. Kylie Minogue liked the approach so much that she hired Price in 2010 to bring together disparate tracks she was gathering for her own Aphrodite.

 

Confessions is also rich in the expanse of styles its creator was able to bring to an up-tempo dance album. There’s so much emotional power in Madonna’s voice here, especially when she utilizes her lower, warmer register on songs like “Jump†or “Like It Or Not.†She turned 47 the day she fell off that horse, but nothing would stop her. A glitterball, a leotard, a simple wish to be happy. In 2005, Madonna was at the top of her game.

 

What are your own memories of Confessions On A Dance Floor? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter.

[Inco 9,972]

Congrats COAD

[sidney78a 2,242]

sometimes its unbelievable its been a decade

 

"Seem like yesterday, I was a baby on the streetI took a holiday, I was steppin' to the beat ..." 

 

:1f614: :heart:

[Breathless 5,286]

OMG that means I've been on the forum for over 10 years lol

[groovyguy 63,862]

Fact: Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor Is Her Best Album to Date

http://www.vh1.com/news/222215/madonna-confessions-on-a-dance-floor/

I'm hung up on it.

by Christopher Rosa 12h ago

Ask any music critic what Madonna’s best album is, and you’ll more than likelyreceive one of two answers. Option A: Like a Prayer (1989), noted for its unprecedented religious commentary, impact and genre-defining hits like “Express Yourself†and, well, “Like a Prayer.†Option B: Ray of Light (1998), viewed as the pop icon’s greatest technical feat—six Grammy nominations, four wins. (RoL is often credited for bridging the gap between electronic music and top 40 radio, a point Madonna fans—this writer included—love pointing out to people who don’t know the Scripture.)

 

Both of these albums are fantastic, culturally potent works that age like fine wine (and George Clooney, to be honest). But there is a case for another more contemporary Madge album as her best work to date. (“Hard Candy?!†you ask, to which I reply, “Good joke.â€)

 

Of course, I’m talking about Confessions on a Dance Floor, which came out 10 years ago today. From a superficial point of view, this LP—sitting briskly at 56 minutes—is a triumph. Its cover—shaded in pink and purple hues—shows our queen in her natural habitat: the dance floor. Her back is turned to us—an act of defiance, almost like she’s commanding the music to speak for itself. Commercially, it reached No.1 and platinum status in more than 20 countries. The album’s lead single “Hung Upâ€â€”more on its brilliance later—topped the charts in more than 20 countries, too, making it one of Madonna’s most successful songs in her 30+-year career.

 

Warner Bros.

And these are just facts and figures. It’s the album’s (M)DNA that truly makes it one for the books. Structured like a DJ set, Confessions throbs from one track to the next with no gaps, pauses and absolutely zero slow jams. (The only tune that remotely resembles a breather is “Push,†and even that pounds on a sweaty synth groove.) Produced by electro maestro Stuart Price, Confessions harkens back—and, honestly, builds upon—Madge’s club glory days. Forget, “Bitch, I’m Madonna†and “My sugar is rawâ€â€”Confessions, with its unyielding dedication to the club kids, proves Madonna (at 47, 56, 75, who cares!) can still move with the best of ’em.

 

 

 

We open with “Hung Up,†a single so universally addictive and well-liked, it can easily call “Like a Virgin,†“Material Girl†and “Vogue†equitable peers. The song famously samples ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),†but its coolest nuance is the relentless ticking of the clock as Madonna coos, “Time goes by so slowly.†It’s the kind of build-up that seeps into your veins, practically compelling you to dance (or at least, ya know, hump something). And as far as chorus goes, pop doesn’t get more pitch perfect than this.

 

Sonically, Confessions gets deeper (and deeper) the further you go. “Get Together†(my favorite track on the album) is a pulsating, true-blue dance hybrid where our girl beckons for closer contact with a nighttime lover. “Sorry†is a discofied ode to putting your money where your mouth is. “Don’t explain yourself, ’cause talk is cheap,†Madge torts as a technicolor beat swirls in the background. Containing elements of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,†“Future Lovers†is a dark, grimy electro-pop exploration where Madge whispers totally Madge things like, “In the demonstration of this evidence, some have called it religion.†I’m not quite sure what this means, but damn it, it sure sounds sexy.

 

And Confessions also gets lyrically harder from one song to another. We go from yearning after a boytoy in “Hung Up†to fear of complacency in “Jump†and later religious nods in “Isaac.†We close with the stomping “Like It Or Not,†a deep cut in every sense of the word. “This is who I am. You can like it or not,†Ms. Ciccone pants against a sultry techno whistle. “You can love me or leave me, ’cause I’m never ’gonna stop.†A declarative self-love jam before it became trendy—a quintessentialMadonna move.

 

Quintessential. Yes, I’ve explained why Confessions on a Dance Floor is a near-perfect pop record, but why is it superior to the rest of Madge’s discography? It’s catchy, but no song compares to 2000’s “Music.†It’s deep, but nothing as soul-bearing as “Oh Father.†It’s inventive, but does it match up to Mirwais Ahmadzaï’s trippy work on the ridiculously underrated American Life (2003)?

 

That’s all up for debate, but for what Confessions lacks in its parts, it makes up for in its sum. Disco goddess is Madonna’s most natural reinvention, and vibey dancehall her most natural aesthetic. The LP stands as the Material Girl’s most instinctual offering, and for that reason it’s effortless. Her most effortless. For a woman who spent the greater part of her career trying on different guises and hats, Madonna’s most shocking transformation was showing us a little bit more of herself. And for this, Confessions is supreme.

 

Madonna’s quite literally letting her hair down this go-around. With each DJ spin, she comes a little closer to us, teasing secrets, desires and fantasies. It’s intimate but dizzying and seismic at the same time.

 

What can I say? I’m hung up on it.

[gustavobeb 21]

Ten years ago i was just a kid (11yo), I used to listen to any pop shit like every other kid my age so when Hung Up and Sorry hit the radios and every music TV show there was at the time played it non stop I "discovered" Madonna for the first time and WOW.I still can remember playing those songs all day long...

[karlafalves 1,321]

By far, the best Madonna era I've lived until now - it could tie with ROL, but back then I was just beginning to be her fan, so I didn't live it up as I did with COAD.

 

The songs, the style, the fashion, the concept, the message... Everything from COAD is perfect and memorable. Furthermore, it gave us this masterpiece to shake our dance floor forever and ever, 'til the end of time.

 

https://youtu.be/ltQEifKCe3U

[Madame Madonna 4,107]

oh my gosh... little bit feel moody.. 10 years... sigh...  10 years...seriously.. 

 

time goes by so fast

[MadonnaLove 6,189]

Time goes by so fast, my favourite album ever and first one, I doubt if she ever makes an album like that again. I have ordered a book from france of its 10th anniversary release with 150 pages. From here, even if it's not official http://confessions10.com/

[Nick 2,367]

Wow, I can't believe it has been 10 years! I remember being completely obsessed with this album when it came out; I still am! The album itself, the videos, the remixes, the tour. Everything to do with this era is flawless, in my opinion. I remember I got the album for Christmas in 2005 haha, and soon after I started to collect all the singles. Happy 10th anniversary!!

[groovyguy 63,862]

http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/madonnas-hung-up-is-10-years-old__12032/

Confessions On A Dance Floor has racked up a pretty impressive 1.34 million chart sales, with over 1.32 million of those coming from physical sales, your actual CDs. 1,600 of you have downloaded the album so far this year alone.

 

 

Madonna's Hung Up is 10 years old

Now that's what you call a comeback – it's a decade since Madonna went disco and ruled Number 1.

By Justin Myers 

She's had more reinventions than Sugababes have had lineups, but 10 years ago this week, Madonna was in the middle of her most sensational new look yet.

 

How do you reckon most popstars might follow an album that hadn't been as well received as expected? Go away for five years? Give up altogether? Release an album full of angsty songs? Maybe. But not Madonna. After American Life got what you might call a lukewarm reception, Madge nipped down to her local dancewear shop, bought all available stocks of leotards and came back with Confessions On A  Dance Floor, a solid danceathon packed with disco bangers.

And its lead single? Why, it was Abba-sampling Hung Up, of course. 10 years ago this week, Madonna went straight in at Number 1 with the floor-filling anthem. To celebrate, we look back at some of the stats and facts around what would be a global smash for Madge.

 

Hung Up stayed at Number 1 for three weeks, after binning off Westlife's You Raise Me Up. The track stayed right behind Madge for those three weeks.

Madonna beat Westlife to Number 1 by over 59,000 copies, racking up over 105,000 sales in that first week at the top.

And who knocked her off Number 1?

It was this, from Pussycat Dolls, their second and final Number 1.

 

Hung Up spent 10 weeks in the Top 10, with seven of those being what you might call a Top 3 situation.

Hung Up was Madonna's 11th Number 1 – she's had 13 altogether. The first was 1985's Into The Groove, the most recent was 2008's 4 Minutes.

MORE: See all Madonna's hit UK singles and albums in her Official Charts archive

Hung Up was the first Madonna song to spend longer than a week at Number 1 since Vogue in 1990.

The end of 2005 pretty much belonged to Madge. She showed the world what she was made of with her first performance of Hung Up at the MTV EMAs. (David Fisher/REX)

Over the course of her career, Madonna has spent 29 weeks at Number 1. That's almost seven months!

Hung Up was widely reported as only the second time Abba had let another artists sample their work. Borrowing from Abba's 1979 hit Gimme Gimme Gimme, Madonna had to send a grovelling letter to the band to allow permission for the sample to be used.

"They never let anyone sample their music," said Madonna in an interview back in 2005. "Thank God they didn't say no."

The other artist who scored an Abba sample before Madge? It was Fugees, who used part of Name Of The Game on 1996 track Rumble In The Jungle.

Coincidentally, in getting to Number 1, Hung Up managed to do what Gimme Gimme Gimme could not – Abba's track only reached Number 3.

 

To launch Hung Up's parent album Confessions On A Dance Floor, Madonna held a series of intimate gigs in New York, Paris and London. Here, she rocks Camden's Koko (Richard Young/REX)

Currently, Hung Up is Madonna's sixth best-selling single in the UK, beating vintage hits like Vogue and True Blue.

MORE: See Madonna's Top 40 biggest selling singles in the UK

[MadonnaLove 6,189]

10 years already!!

[Future Lover 1,010]

I sometimes feel like I am the only one who loves this record

[Melrose95 172]

^ how? It was HUGE even selling about 1 million copies more then Mariah's EOM album worldwide. 12 mil for Confessions vs. 11 mil for EOM.

[blohan 6]

I can't understand the love for this album. At all. Yes I liked Hung Up and all of it back then, it was refreshing after the mess of American Life but the era never felt right to me, it never felt like Madonna to me, I knew it was mediocre and I wanted it to end and see what was next.

 

Confessions was a huge drop of quality. For starters, the music is all rehashed from something else, there is nothing Madonna about it, it is a plagiarism of Kylie Minogue who did it better and 4 years earlier, it brought on her new way of singing were her voice just sounds unrecognizable. It could be anyone. It brought on the era of the half-assed mediocre videos, as well as the touring taking precedence over everything else. And we have it tills this day.

 

People love to blame Hard Candy for her decline, but Hard Candy was simply a continuation of the formula she premiered with Confessions:

 

Mediocre music entirely reliant on hip producers/duets/samples, done solely to regain US radio favor and nothing else. No artistry, no concepts, nothing. Just mindless mediocrity and it continues till this day.

 

People need to get over it, there is nothing great about this album and her last true Madonna record was American Life.

 

I also doubt those 12 million album sales, I don't believe that for a second. Every casual music fan owns Ray of Light and Music. I don't know anybody that owns Confessions. Not one person.

[Future Lover 1,010]

I can't understand the love for this album. At all. Yes I liked Hung Up and all of it back then, it was refreshing after the mess of American Life but the era never felt right to me, it never felt like Madonna to me, I knew it was mediocre and I wanted it to end and see what was next.

 

Confessions was a huge drop of quality. For starters, the music is all rehashed from something else, there is nothing Madonna about it, it is a plagiarism of Kylie Minogue who did it better and 4 years earlier, it brought on her new way of singing were her voice just sounds unrecognizable. It could be anyone. It brought on the era of the half-assed mediocre videos, as well as the touring taking precedence over everything else. And we have it tills this day.

 

People love to blame Hard Candy for her decline, but Hard Candy was simply a continuation of the formula she premiered with Confessions:

 

Mediocre music entirely reliant on hip producers/duets/samples, done solely to regain US radio favor and nothing else. No artistry, no concepts, nothing. Just mindless mediocrity and it continues till this day.

 

People need to get over it, there is nothing great about this album and her last true Madonna record was American Life.

 

I also doubt those 12 million album sales, I don't believe that for a second. Every casual music fan owns Ray of Light and Music. I don't know anybody that owns Confessions. Not one person.

True Madonna fans accept her no matter what she does. Hard Candy and MDNA aren't my total favorites, but I would put them in my top 50 favorite albums. Madonna is about creating something different than her previous era. Confessions did use a lot of samples, but Madonna still had a ton of creative control.

[Fighter 28,811]

If this album isn't popular then how come people need to get over it? This album is severely underrated by the GP except for most pop music fans who consider it the last great masterpiece she's done, and it has clearly influenced the new generation of pop stars. For the rest, perhaps more mature public, ROL is her last great album or whatever that ignores her millenial efforts, maybe because they don't understand it? idk.

 

Hard Candy was a continuation of the formula, yes, but she failed by going too mainstream with it, not that HC is bad, it's just not brilliant. Confessions had the right balance. It was American Life but commercial and colorful on the surface.  It wasn't  "music entirely reliant on hip producers/duets/samples". That's laughable. Not even HC was that... enterily.

 

She didn't make "eurodance" music or modern disco to regain US radio airplay. You're thinking of Hard Candy again. Two completely different albums with completely different responses by the public.

 

To me HC, MDNA and Rebel Heart are in the same "era" of a Madonna I love but that has put her priorities perhaps not in the right place, career wise.

[Stevo 6,437]

To me HC, MDNA and Rebel Heart are in the same "era" of a Madonna I love but that has put her priorities perhaps not in the right place, career wise.

High five! I agree with you 100% on that.For me, after the COADF period finished she started focusing too much on being down with the kids. I guess i was always so used to her being ahead of the game with the people she worked with. But i was a bit disappointed when i heard she was working with Timbaland for HC as i felt she chose him as he'd produced lots of big songs/albums for other people, and had his own record, around then. For the first time it looked to me like she was latching onto a trend rather than setting it. I like HC though regardless, well most of it, there's a few not so great but some great songs, some that i only learned to appreciate a few years after it's release.I really like COADF. Its a good, catchy, upbeat, pop album. It's not one of my top 5, but its a really good album (if not just for being the last album that her voice sounds like hers to me). I'm assuming she decided on COADF's theme as a safe, easy album after American Life's "supposed" political slant (that album has shot up high in my estimations in previous years - so underrated at the time) got bad press (similar to releasing the warmer and softer image/sound of Bedtime Stories after Erotica?). It's funny as i don't even think AL was that political/controversial. If she'd called the album after one of the other tracks and the artwork didn't have the heavy military theme, it might have been perceived completely differently. The same goes for Erotica. I'd read somewhere years ago that if Deeper and Deeper, for example, was the lead single and the album had another track name for it's title that it may also have been more of a commercial and critical success.????????

[blohan 6]

If this album isn't popular then how come people need to get over it? This album is severely underrated by the GP except for most pop music fans who consider it the last great masterpiece she's done, and it has clearly influenced the new generation of pop stars. For the rest, perhaps more mature public, ROL is her last great album or whatever that ignores her millenial efforts, maybe because they don't understand it? idk.

 

Hard Candy was a continuation of the formula, yes, but she failed by going too mainstream with it, not that HC is bad, it's just not brilliant. Confessions had the right balance. It was American Life but commercial and colorful on the surface.  It wasn't  "music entirely reliant on hip producers/duets/samples". That's laughable. Not even HC was that... enterily.

 

She didn't make "eurodance" music or modern disco to regain US radio airplay. You're thinking of Hard Candy again. Two completely different albums with completely different responses by the public.

 

To me HC, MDNA and Rebel Heart are in the same "era" of a Madonna I love but that has put her priorities perhaps not in the right place, career wise.

 

lol in what way shape or form is Confessions American Life with commercial appeal? American Life was an avant garde album with sounds never heard before by the mainstream. In fact it was something entirely new for the alternative music it emulated had never known anything like what ended up on American Life. So, explain.

[blohan 6]

High five! I agree with you 100% on that.For me, after the COADF period finished she started focusing too much on being down with the kids. I guess i was always so used to her being ahead of the game with the people she worked with. But i was a bit disappointed when i heard she was working with Timbaland for HC as i felt she chose him as he'd produced lots of big songs/albums for other people, and had his own record, around then. For the first time it looked to me like she was latching onto a trend rather than setting it. I like HC though regardless, well most of it, there's a few not so great but some great songs, some that i only learned to appreciate a few years after it's release.I really like COADF. Its a good, catchy, upbeat, pop album. It's not one of my top 5, but its a really good album (if not just for being the last album that her voice sounds like hers to me). I'm assuming she decided on COADF's theme as a safe, easy album after American Life's "supposed" political slant (that album has shot up high in my estimations in previous years - so underrated at the time) got bad press (similar to releasing the warmer and softer image/sound of Bedtime Stories after Erotica?). It's funny as i don't even think AL was that political/controversial. If she'd called the album after one of the other tracks and the artwork didn't have the heavy military theme, it might have been perceived completely differently. The same goes for Erotica. I'd read somewhere years ago that if Deeper and Deeper, for example, was the lead single and the album had another track name for it's title that it may also have been more of a commercial and critical success.????????

 

I really don't understand the comment on her voice. How does she sound like Madonna?? One of the elements that began with Confessions that have greatly affected her music is how her voice sounds now. It sounds unnatural, and it does not sound like herself. It's a mechanical, autotuned voice spread thin to its maximum capacity. The vocals in Confessions sound just like the vocals on MDNA, nondescript and very very shallow and artificial. There is absolutely nothing on Confessions like Nothing Fails or Intervention which is HER VOICE. Even in Hard Candy you find her voice in songs like Miles Away they can be compared to previous ballads like Take A Bow, you have her warmth and her depth which is entirely gone in Confessions. So, how can it be the last album where you hear her voice??

 

To me, Confessions, Hard Candy and MDNA are the same thing to me. Manufactured albums to appeal to radio, with very mediocre videos, and even more mediocre vocals. I don't understand why fans want to hold Confessions as a paragon of excellence in her work, or her last great work, it's not great anything.

[Stevo 6,437]

I really don't understand the comment on her voice. How does she sound like Madonna?? One of the elements that began with Confessions that have greatly affected her music is how her voice sounds now. It sounds unnatural, and it does not sound like herself. It's a mechanical, autotuned voice spread thin to its maximum capacity. The vocals in Confessions sound just like the vocals on MDNA, nondescript and very very shallow and artificial. There is absolutely nothing on Confessions like Nothing Fails or Intervention which is HER VOICE. Even in Hard Candy you find her voice in songs like Miles Away they can be compared to previous ballads like Take A Bow, you have her warmth and her depth which is entirely gone in Confessions. So, how can it be the last album where you hear her voice??To me, Confessions, Hard Candy and MDNA are the same thing to me. Manufactured albums to appeal to radio, with very mediocre videos, and even more mediocre vocals. I don't understand why fans want to hold Confessions as a paragon of excellence in her work, or her last great work, it's not great anything.

Sorry, to me, her vocals on COADF still sound like her. Her voice on albums before that don't necessarily sound the same as each other, e.g. ROL vs, I don't know, say LAP, but you know it's her. In my opinion HC was where the voice started sounding significantly different, with the vocals on MDNA and now RH sounding almost unrecognisable to me.Some fans hold the album as a "paragon of excellence" as, for them it "IS" excellent. I'm not saying "I" think it is excellent though, it's good IMO, but everyone has different tastes. It's obvious that you don't hold the album in high regards, and that's fine, but some people do (and a lot of them probably), as the album was a big success. I don't like the new album at all but plenty of people do. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who dislike my favourite Madge albums or your fave albums.

[blohan 6]

Sorry, to me, her vocals on COADF still sound like her. Her voice on albums before that don't necessarily sound the same as each other, e.g. ROL vs, I don't know, say LAP, but you know it's her. In my opinion HC was where the voice started sounding significantly different, with the vocals on MDNA and now RH sounding almost unrecognisable to me.Some fans hold the album as a "paragon of excellence" as, for them it "IS" excellent. I'm not saying "I" think it is excellent though, it's good IMO, but everyone has different tastes. It's obvious that you don't hold the album in high regards, and that's fine, but some people do (and a lot of them probably), as the album was a big success. I don't like the new album at all but plenty of people do. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who dislike my favourite Madge albums or your fave albums.

 

Fine, I still don't understand your assessment which doesn't make sense to me, her voice actually RETURNED with Hard Candy only to disappear again behind robotics in MDNA, but it had already gone for Confessions, up until then her worst vocal performance and most unrecognizable.

[MisterFabian 431]

10 years already!!!! it goes so fast! I just can't believe it