Madonna’s new album, “American Life” is a mundane and musically boring disk that relies too heavily on repetitive Euro-techno bass beats. Her voice is still excellent, but she often hides it behind voice loops and spoken word raps. Yet, the album is strangely enticing.
The former sexual liberator and Hollywood diva appears to have turned her back on her past lifestyles. Perhaps her newfound British royalty has finally washed the Detroit out of her, or maybe having children and a lasting marriage has softened her. At 44, Madonna has finally mellowed.
Whatever the reason, the title track of “American Life” finds Madonna rejecting her lifestyle of “Three nannies, an assistant / And a driver and a jet / A trainer and a butler / And a bodyguard or five / A gardener and a stylist / Do you think I’m satisfied?”
While Madonna’s former identities can often be chalked up to irony – the Material Girl persona comes to mind- on “American Life” her message is straightforward and dour.
Many critics have linked “American Life” to John Lennon’s seminal “Plastic Ono Band,” in which he rejected the tenants of materialism and embraced family and spirituality. While this is an apt comparison (disregarding the ultimate musical superiority of Lennon), Madonna is less consistent in her philosophies.
On “Nobody Knows Me,” she claims “I don’t want no lies / I don’t watch TV,” but it seems hollow. Despite her assertions, she still embraces some of the elements of the rich and famous, expressing her reluctant love for riding top-down in the Hollywood air on “Hollywood.”
She loses her anti-materialism message with “Die Another Day,” a truly awful track commissioned for the mega-budget James Bond movie of the same title. While mild contradictions like “Hollywood” are acceptable as she develops her position, Madonna’s credibility is severely damaged with the inclusion of “Die Another Day.”
The song writing is generally above average, as typical Madonna subtleties and biting wit are evident, but much of it is washed out by the weak music. The best songs are not those with quality lyrical content, but those in which the electronic elements of the music are kept to a minimum.
“X-Static Process,” a gentle acoustic ballad that explores the artist’s insecurities, is the best song on the album. It is a refreshing vocal work in which Madonna sings the same song at two different octaves simultaneously. The vocals are then overlaid on a simple guitar part. The result is Madonna essentially harmonizing with herself, a haunting and quality use of her synthesizers.
“X-Static Process” stands in contrast to “Mother and Father,” an obnoxious falsetto-dance song that is tentatively slated as the next single. “Mother and Father” delves into Madonna’s childhood, but still cannot muster any real feeling, as the musical beat is intolerable.
The final track, “Easy Ride,” is among the best on the album, keeping the music relatively simple. An electronic drum beat and some techno-effects are incorporated, but Madonna’s voice is central to the song, which proves catchy and enthralling.
At times in Madonna’s career she seemed to be building toward an acoustic guitar album, but she unfortunately does not seem up to the task. The best tracks on “American Life” are those that use more traditional musical styles; however, electro-nonsense abounds. The most egregious of which is likely “Nobody Knows Me,” in which she asserts that strangers give her a “social disease” over futuristic sound effects and bewildering voice loops.
Overall, the album is an inconsistent, if occasionally brilliant effort. Madonna’s new social conscience is an admirable and difficult career discussion that may eventually prove detrimental.
This CD was provided for review by CD Warehouse on North High Street.
