Product ReviewsMadonna - Hard Candy (2008)

Burned on itunes and music centre easily.

Burned on itunes and music centre easily.

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Very good

Very good

Very good product

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Fabulous Buy.

It is fantastic to watch.she was fabulous and e fertaining.

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Review: Madonna's Hard Candy

On Madonna's 11th album, Hard Candy, the queen of pop invites us to imagine her as a confectioner running a musical sweet shop.

But, after sitting through the 12 tracks on offer here, you'll begin to wish she'd stocked more than two varieties of candy.

Those flavours come from two of America's most bankable songwriting teams: The Neptunes and Timbaland, who between them have conjured up hits for the likes of Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Missy Elliot and Justin Timberlake.

Timberlake himself crops up on five of the tracks, posing a particularly pertinent question about who is running the show when he asks "Who is the master? Who is the slave?" as the album closes.

This sort of top flight production is an unusual step for Madonna, who has a reputation for seeking out relatively obscure dance producers like Mirwais, Shep Pettibone and Stuart Price to helm her albums.

This time round, however, the queen of reinvention is trying to win back the hearts of the US audience - who were largely unimpressed with her 2005 love letter to disco, Confessions On A Dancefloor.

The main themes are love, revenge, sex and music - subjects on which Madonna surely has little left to say

It all starts off well enough. Opening track Candy Shop is an agenda-setting call to arms, with Madonna promising a "special connection" and "plenty of heat".

The minimal, skittering drums are punctured by colossal stabs of synth, while Madonna purrs weak sweet shop-related innuendos: "Don't pretend you're not hungry, there's plenty to eat... I got Turkish Delights."

You get the picture.

Things step up a gear with the Justin Timberlake collaboration 4 Minutes, which features the best use of cowbell in pop since Free's All Right Now, but sounds so futuristic it could realistically have been beamed in from the end of the world.

'Pop moments'

Lyrically, the album plays it safe. Madonna may have been inspired to make a documentary about the Aids epidemic in Africa when she adopted two-year-old Malawian orphan David Banda, but you would be hard pressed to find any social commentary in her music.

The main themes are love, revenge, sex and music - subjects on which Madonna surely has very little left to say at this stage in her career.

She even repeats herself, echoing Into The Groove when she sings "Don't you know, can't you see? When I dance I feel free" on Heartbeat.

Then again, Madonna has always been at her best when extolling the virtues of music as a release, and it is on Hard Candy's club-orientated tracks that she excels.

She's Not Me, a Neptunes production, feels like a five-minute musical summary of her career to date.

It kicks off with Chic-esque guitars that are reminiscent of Holiday before morphing into a pulsing club groove that could have been lifted straight from her last album.

Track three, Give It To Me, is already pencilled in as the album's second single. It is one of the record's few out-and-out pop moments, featuring a cute, bouncy beat and a sense of humour that has been missing from Madonna's music since her Dick Tracy days.

"If it's against the law, arrest me, if you can handle it, undress me," she chirps as the song builds to a blistering crescendo that will surely be the highlight of any future live set.

Altogether its an amazing album once again!Read full review...

Another Catchy Number From The Queen of Pop..

Again, Madonna moves with the times. Again, she has a 5* album.

With the likes of Pharrell, JT, Timbaland and Kanye West featuring on the album - can this woman do no wrong?

She might be older than some of the other famous stars we all know and love, but she knows all the right people and this album proves that. Not to mention that she's fitter than i was at 18! :) She's a very shrewd business-woman.

Track-wise - Check out the 'She's not me' track - very 80's-esque and reminiscent of pop days gone by, with a little bit of dance music thrown in to the middle of it.
Then there's the extremely catchy 'Give it 2 me' - very well known by now, which will surely have you tapping your feet to the dance beat and singing along.
Dig out 'Voices' and 'Devil' for something a little softer, but equally as catchy, and very unique.

In my opinion, this album grows on you the more you listen to it. It is a completely different style to 'Confessions..' but most definitely in keeping with the music scene that is right now.

Sticky and Sweet - it most certainly is!Read full review...

Hard Candeh!

After hearing madonna's two major hit singles "four minutes" and "give it 2 me" I decided to buy the album and I was not dissapointed. Every track seems like a good song, rather than what usually happens in albums where they put some of their weak songs in the middle or at back, However saying this I must also offer 1 small note of criticism which is sometimes you can't help but feel like some of the songs sound too similar to each other and variety is always needed in an album. Even with this small criticism I'd say it's a great addition to anyones music collection - despite what you may think of madonna she's still a good singer don't let veiws about an artist deprive you of their musicRead full review...

Madonna - Hard Candy....WOW!

Well! what can i say....I grew up with Madonna and every 3 - 5 years she has changed her image and style to suit the music of the time, what a fantastic CD each song is written with taste and some are included with other well known singers, I love this CD and she looks and sounds fantastic...Well Done Madonna!!!!
I bought the CD because i liked listening to 4 minuits with Justine Timberlake, i have also recently reached 40 and listening to Hard Candy makes me feel better, love the lyrics and Beats.... absolutely fantastic and happy.
I also bought it as a bargain from Ebay!Read full review...

Hard Candy Not Sweet Enough.

I'm not a Madonna fan as such, but I bought "Confessions on a Dancefloor" and the quality blew me away. As Hard Candy is said to be "similar", and I like "Give It To Me", I bought it. "Give It To Me" is by far the best track, and it's the only one that matches the quality of "Confessions". Tracks 2,4,5 are slightly above average, but as a whole, I found Hard Candy to be lacking in melody, repetitive and nothing to write home about. Most of it is forgettably average.
Madonna fans will probably be outraged. Sorry, but I was disappointed with it.Read full review...

Madonna - Hard Candy - still the queen of pop!!

Went to see Madonna on her recent tour at cardiff stadium, she was brilliant so bought the cd off ebay at a bargain price.It has all her latest releases on there, including a song with Justin Timberlake,I really like this album.She can still make up to date music and I'd recommend this cd to everyone!Read full review...