madonna - celebration (warner)
August 10, 2009
With the end of her Warner contract in sight, Madonna decides to wave goodbye with a 2CD compilation - the tracklisting for which has yet to be announced although we do know that it will be available in three formats; one CD, double CD, and a CD/DVD set. What is more exciting is that the compilation will contain two new tracks, one of which has already leaked to the net and had the club world in a bit of a spin. Now, let's face it, for those who recall my review of 'Hard Candy', it was, to say the least, a little scathing. To put it bluntly, 'Hard Candy' felt almost insulting to me, riding cliched urban R&B by numbers and some of the most laughable lyrics since... well, Madonna's previous album! Love her dearly but she has never really mastered the art of lyric writing in the same way that some of her piers has. It seemed that after all the good work the European pop sounding 'Confessions On A Dancefloor' had achieved, 'Hard Candy' was a brutal slap in the face. Call me dramatic, but that's the way it is!
Thankfully, 'Celebration' is just pure pop magic, a perfect song to wrap up the 20 years that she has shared with Warner. Sounding more like a 'Confessions On a Dancefloor' track than 'Hard Candy', it is an electropop mouth watering moment that is going to cause a stampede to the dancefloor at your nearest gay club from the moment the opening bars burst from the speakers. The remixes have been done by Paul Oakenfold and Benny Benassi, with Oakenfolds clearly leading the way - unsurprising since he has produced the track. The track is available for digital download now with the album due for release on Sept 28th.
www.madonna.com
