Paperless Tiger
  • Paper[less] Tiger
  • BOOKS
  • COMING SOON
  • Press/Contact
  • Immersion Therapy
  • Curated Projects
  • Paper[less] Tiger
  • BOOKS
  • COMING SOON
  • Press/Contact
  • Immersion Therapy
  • Curated Projects

 paperlesstiger

Super Pop: Madonna B-sides/album tracks 00s+

1/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
With the arrival of the new millennium, M's ability to pull out the hits was still assured.

But after a strong start with 2000's Music, her fortunes began to wane in the US, where she's managed to reach the top ten just six times in the past fifteen years.

There were all kinds of factors at play. The pulling of the American Life video, and the cool reception of the album harmed her brand. A new generation of acts less than half her age had also come along and usurped her, but the more worrying aspect of her music career was the inconsistency it seemed to have been marked by in this third decade.

Where Ray of Light succeeded because it sounded like an hour long series of meditations - each song working itself up into a frenzy and towards a climax - Music didn't have the patience to go through all of that navel gazing for the journey alone.

Picture
Music (2000) was more like a barely contained party animal prone to a few rare moments of reflection and introspection when it occasionally stopped for breath.

More often than not, Music was at its best when it attempted to push things forward as it did with nearly all of the Mirwais numbers. It chopped and changed, moving from complete electronica to stripped back acoustic guitar, often in the middle of a song.

When things got jarring, things also got interesting - and the push and pull of the Mirwais songs: full of stops and starts and stuttering effects and vocals - was never more hypnotic than on Paradise (Not For Me).

It's here that the blunt, stripped back girl of old gets a re-tune - mid song -and we are made the better for it. The chopping synths, the effects, the direct and indirect lyrics. This time around, M is the blunt girl who has come out the other side - like an electronic version of the geisha M is so obsessed by. This one just happens to sound like she's stuck somewhere behind a fake xylophone at an open-mic poetry night in Paris. Yes that combination is as amazing as it sounds.

American Life was perhaps the first M album to receive a hostile reception from critics and the public alike.

It was also the flag bearer for the new reality for M in a changing pop scene. On AL the raw, vital M finally gets another shot at a full album, but the perception is that her vitality is lost somewhere along the very long road from the inception of the album to its release.

The result? A batch of songs that often only found their stride when they were remixed or reworked (on the Remixed and Revisited EP or the Reinvention tour).

The three Rs improved on a lot of the tracks even if Nothing Fails, Hollywood and Love Profusion were already great additions to the cannon.

But the standout on AL was another piece that needed no cosmetic work. The wonky pop of Mother and Father has to be one of M's most interesting songs ever. Those old faithful themes
of mum and dad were reincarnated brilliantly - and the result is one of the most subversive moments of M's long recorded career.

Picture
George Michael once noted that when it came to M falling in and out favour with audiences, all she needed was another strong record to win back the adoration she generally inspired.

With Confessions On A Dance Floor she delivered again, sparking her third coming and perhaps one of her most celebrated musical turns ever in her 30 plus years.

Stuart Price's wall of sound, and what has probably been the most consistently brilliant album of her career, makes the choice for best non single a tough one.

Forbidden Love
, a kind of 00s La Isla Bonita has to be a contender, as do the rather bonkers Future Lovers ('let's forget your life, your problems, administration, bills and loans') and Isaac. But my money is on Push - it's like the musical wrestling match. A push, drag and pull kind of routine, which one must assume must've been inspired by martial arts loving Guy Ritchie.

Picture
Goodwill helps us forgive people for their mistakes.
When we know we can expect more from someone, we're more likely to forgive them for their indiscretions.

On Hard Candy there are more than a few mistakes that M needs to atone for. Spanish Lesson has to be one of the worst sins M has committed in her entire career - as was her hitching a ride on the Timberlake/Timbaland/Pharrell bandwagon without adding enough of her own touch. Those hit makers made better stuff with Nelly Furtado and Justin than they did with her.

But for its failings HC atones with at least a half a dozen strong numbers - Give It 2 Me being among one of her best late period singles, though that's not saying much - and the trilogy of She's Not Me/Devil/Voices each have so much going for them that I'm gonna abstain and vote for Heartbeat instead as best non album track, because, well, it's the old Into The Groove M moment of the album.

Picture
On paper, MDNA had the makings of being a killer - M.I.A, Nicki Minaj, William Orbit, Solveig all on board to get to the essence of her music.

But instead, it was largely an inconsistent covering of all bases, and worse still, an example of M spending yet more time chasing the bandwagon rather making her own way forward.

Once upon a time, we used to ricochet between the good girl and the bad girl, but by this stage, (especially with MDNA) M fans often have to settle for being shuttled between a hit chaser and, paradoxically, a woman, who, when she abandons interest in sounding current, is in a class of her own.

The problem is partly down to editing. Because MDNA had some great songs on it. But for every Gang Bang or Love Spent you had to contend with a Some Girls or Superstar.

American Life
would've worked better if it had been re-tooled but on MDNA, the problem is in the inconsistency. It's a major issue because there's so much B grade material on the main album, that to salvage it, you have to break into the bonus deluxe edition tracks to make up for the short fall. MDNA should've been another William Orbit package - it's where she most frequently was at her best, even if stompers like I'm Addicted and I Don't Give A were great new songs.  

Picture
Exhibit II in the case against late period M albums. Rebel Heart.

Again, despite the disasters of leaks, Drake dramas,  ageism and no airplay, the central problem to an album like Rebel Heart is it's inconsistency.

This is the first album in M's career that has accounted for over 20 songs. But much like MDNA and Hard Candy for every decent, brilliant song added to the cannon, there's at least another shocker on offer.

This time around, the singles have been better choices, and depending on your taste of M's styles there's an album track to your taste just waiting for you. The title track? Gorgeous, human sounding pop.  Prefer your Madonna music to be more cinematic? Try Messiah it's the sound of someone who has no peer when it comes to pop music. Like the Drowned World style Madge? Well there's Wash All Over Me.

Personally, my pick of the bunch is HeartBreakCity. It's a little jarring, and it's the stripped back studio girl that I love so much. Had the album been culled down to 12 or 13 tracks of the calibre of these tracks, Rebel Heart could've been up there with M's best ever albums.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture











    Picture

    Dave Di Vito


    Writer, teacher and former curator who splits his time between Melbourne and Rome.

    Subscribe to the mailing list for information about upcoming releases and a free excerpt!

    Subscribe!

    * indicates required
    Tweets by @DDVinyltiger

    Archives

    April 2020
    July 2019
    March 2019
    August 2018
    March 2018
    August 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    March 2014
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    2016
    80s Music
    Adelita Huang-Bey
    Ahmed Basiony
    Ai Weiwei
    Alec Soth
    Alessia Rollo
    Andris Eglitis
    Angelica Dass
    Ang Lee
    Anne Inhauf
    Art
    Asako Narahashi
    Atif Khan
    Australia
    Bande A Sud
    Banksy
    Belinda Carlisle
    Berlin
    Bernardo Oyarzùn
    Beyonce
    Biennale 2011
    Biennale 2015
    Biennale 2017
    Biennale2019
    Bill Viola
    Bitume
    Blonde Redhead
    Blondie
    Bruce Nauman
    Cabello/Carceller
    Candice Breitz
    Cevdet Erek
    Chiharu Shiota
    China
    Christo
    Cinthia Marcelle
    City
    Claudia Fontes
    Cody Choi
    Contemporary Art
    Corporate Sponsorship
    Crash
    Crowdfunding
    Culture
    Curating
    Damon Kowarsky
    Dan Black
    Dapunta Hyang
    Darren Hayes
    David Bowie
    Design
    Donna Summer
    Dragoljub Raša Todosijevic
    Ekaterina Vasilyeva
    Elaine Sturtevant
    Electronica
    Environmental
    Events
    Exhibitions
    Fabrizio Albertini
    Fertility Day
    Fight The Fight
    Film
    Fiona Hall
    Flaka Haliti
    Francesc Ruiz
    Galleries
    Gal Weinstein
    George Drivas
    George Michael
    Gerald Machona
    Giorgio Andreotta Calò
    Giorgio Di Noto
    GLBT
    Gloria Casto
    Great Tigers
    Gwen Stefani
    Gyula Vàrnai
    Hajnal Nemeth
    Hany Armanious
    Haruki Murakami
    Heri Dono
    Heritage Management
    Hiroshi Sugimoto
    Ibrahim Mahama
    If They Could Speak
    Imranovi
    Italy
    Ivan Grubanov
    Jana Źelibská
    Janet Jackson
    Jan Fabre
    Jan Stradtmann
    Japan
    Jason Moran
    Jeon Joonho
    Jesse Jones
    Joel Peter Witkin
    John Niven
    Jorge Fuembuena
    Jun Nakasuji
    Kaarina Kaikkonen
    Kanye West
    Kate Ceberano
    Katherine Macdaid
    Katrina Neiburga
    Keith Haring
    Kunstpedia
    Kutlug Ataman
    Kylie
    Kyoko Imazu
    Kyoto
    Land Art
    Last Train Home
    Laszlo Biro
    Lecce
    Lee Wan
    Lee Yongbaek
    Legambiente
    Lisa Reihana
    Lorenzo Maccotta
    Lucamaleonte
    Lushsux
    Madonna
    Making My Peace
    Makus Schinwald
    Marcello Maloberti
    Mark Jenkins
    Marzia Migliora
    Matthieu Bernard Raymond
    Maurizio Galimberti
    May You Live In Interesting Times
    Media
    Melbourne
    Meshell N
    M.i.a
    Michelangelo Pistoletto
    Mika Rottenberg
    Mircea Cantor
    Modern Architecture
    Moha Modsiakeng
    Monica Bonvicini
    Moon Kyungwon
    Mounir Fatmi
    MTV
    Murals
    Museo Nazionale D'arte Orientale
    Museums
    Music
    Naples
    Natalie Imbruglia
    New Zealand
    Nicola Samori
    Nidhal Chamekh
    Nina's Drag Queens
    Nirvana
    Nufactory
    Paris
    Pascale Marthine Tayou
    Pepo Salazar
    Pet Shop Boys
    Photography
    Pop
    Pop Culture
    Prince
    Printmakers
    Public Art
    Puglia
    Ralph Rugoff
    Rania Matar
    Reactions
    Religion
    Retailing
    Riace
    Rihanna
    Rinko Kawauchi
    Rip
    Robbie Williams
    Roberto Cuoghi
    Robin Rhode
    Roisin Murphy
    Rome
    Salvador Dali
    Sam Harris
    Self Publishing
    Shanghai
    Social Media
    Space Invader
    Street Art
    Sun Kil Moon
    Super Pop
    Tabaimo
    Takahiro Iwasaki
    Television
    Terry Adkins
    Theatre
    Thomas Hirschhorn
    Tiago Mata Machado
    Tivoli
    Tom Ford
    Tony Oursler
    Tori Amos
    Tracey Moffatt
    Unesco
    Vajiko Chachkhiani
    Valentina Vannicola
    Vatican Museum
    Venice
    Vettor Pisani
    Video
    Vincent J Huang
    Vinyl Tiger
    Whitney Houston
    Willem Popelier
    Writing
    Wu Jian'an
    Wunderkammern
    Xu Bing
    Yao Huiffen
    Zai Kuning

    RSS Feed




Dave Di Vito is a writer, teacher and former curator.He's also the author of the Vinyl Tiger series and Replace The Sky.
For information about upcoming writing projects subscribe to the mailing list.
Dave hates SPAM so he won't trouble you with any of his own. He promises.