Saturday, January 24, 2009

Best of 2000s: Madonna - Music (5/5)

Music was Madonna's first collaboration with Mirwais, who would go to also produce most of American Life. The album is one of the singer's best, further exploring a European dance pop sensibility, but with a rougher, rawer sound than she created with William Orbit on Ray of Light. While that album opened with the subdued "Drowned World," Music takes us straight into the action with the hard-hitting title track, to date Madonna's last #1 hit in the U.S. Clubby "Impressive Instant" follows. Other highlights are the upbeat guitar-oriented "Don't Tell Me" and the mellower acoustic guitar-backed "I Deserve It," the Orbit-produced "Amazing" (which sounds a lot like "Beautiful Stranger") and the slower songs "What It Feels Like for a Girl" and "Gone." Bottom line--this is the best album Madonna has released this decade.

While I generally don't form strong associations with albums, this is an exception. In October 2000, the organization I worked for sent me to Portland, Oregon to work on a campaign against an anti-gay ballot measure, and I listened to this constantly driving to and from work, so I always really associate Music with the "No on 9" campaign. I'm sure Madonna would approve.

Best: Music, Don't Tell Me, Amazing, I Deserve It, What It Feels Like for a Girl, Impressive Instant, Gone

1 comment:

Yuяi said...

Music is a great Madge album. I remember when "Music" first leaked on the net, I thought it was the best song EVER. There's a reason it was Madonna's last US #1 song. :)