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American Life
Home > Complete List of "m-n" Artists > Madonna > Item 81
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American Life
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by Madonna
Sales Rank: 127008
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List Price: $40.98
$40.98
At Amazon
on 10-2-2008.
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1. American Life
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2. Hollywood
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3. I'm So Stupid
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4. Love Profusion
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5. Nobody Knows Me
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6. Nothing Fails
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7. Intervention
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8. X-Static Process
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9. Mother and Father
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10. Die Another Day
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11. Easy Ride
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Japanese Limited Edition reissue of The Queen Of Pop's #1 2003 album. Includes the singles Die Another Day (featured in the 007 film of the same name), American Life, Hollywood, Love Profusion, Nothing Fails, and club track Nobody Knows Me. Includes enhanced features with bonus material. Warner Bros
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
Part-requiem, part-rebirth, Madonna has released her tenth studio album AMERICAN LIFE. Armed with 11 songs, she reveals, admonishes, and shares her perspective on her career, life, and success - in the hope of imbuing and inspiring not only her fans, but the general public. She leaves the occasional jargon of RAY OF LIGHT back in 1998, favoring simple vocabulary, holding nothing back. She's angry ("I'm So Stupid"), world-weary ("Hollywood"), loving ("Nothing Fails"), even paranoid ("Nobody Knows Me"). In my review, I'll highlight these certain songs. The title track begins the album. Already notorious in the papers regarding her decisions on how to market it, the song is a perfect start for the record, asserting the agenda of her latest project. Full of buzzing synths, syncopation changes, meandering melodies, and a cut-and-paste chorus, Madonna rails against the fallacy of the "American Dream". The composition sounds jarring and disjointed, but that's its purpose. Included is a satirical rap role-call of some of her employess and possessions. The fade-out features her voice manipulated into a macabre creature singing the refrain repeatedly "I live the American Dream." "American Life" segues into "Hollywood", a Beatles-esque tune with an apocalyptic undercurrent. Using the famous town as a metaphor, her singing is simultaneously coy and venomous. Guitar chords augment the retro 808 beat and what sounds like (at one point), birds put through choppy filters, coming out clipped and incomplete. "Push the button, don't push the button!/Trip the station, change the channel!" Madonna challenges us as her voice drops into an unnaturally deep tone. "I'm So Stupid" completes the first triptych of songs critiquing superficiality, glamour, and materialsim as aspirations and values. Brillantly, these songs also put to rest her "Material Girl" personae. A spunky beat, electric guitar, and a synth line created from Madonna's voice, comprise this dismayed and angry song. At times, the singer/songwriter yells and labels everyone "stupid" for "looking for something" - presumably, the wrong thing. She even assumes an adolescent tone calling herself "stupider than stupid". "Nobody Knows Me" reveals Madonna's fear of a "social disease". What sounds like a dentist drill makes it way through this electro-funk dance song complete with a fierce beat, rubbery bass line, and memorable refrain: "I don't want no lies/I don't watch T.V./I don't waste my time/Reading magazines". Filtered through a vocoder, she finds solace in an understanding person in a world where "people trap your mind". The centerpiece of the album, "Nothing Fails" is an affecting love song to her husband. Her feelings are best described in the fantastic climax, featuring a trio of gospel choir, a choir of Madonna, and the lead vocals: "I'm not religious/But I feel so moved/Makes we want to pray". Attesting to the transformative power of love, Madonna's sincerity is apparent more so than on any other song prior to this album. The album ends with "Easy Ride", a Kabbalist song praising hard work, but ultimately leaving more questions than answers. Madonna has been quoted to saying that this album signifies the beginning, not the end that many percieve for her. "Easy Ride" further drives home that sentiment. I recommend listening to AMERICAN LIFE while in a solitary place or state of mind. It's a frustrating, joyful, inquisitive, and intelligent, and rewarding experience. The CD has recieved mixed reviews in the press. If there's one lesson both Madonna & the critics have taught me is to create my own opinion. A work of art is meant to be moving, candid, altruistic, full of emotion. If so, then personally, AMERICAN LIFE is a work of art.
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American Life
Available from Amazon
Price: $40.98
Updated on 10-2-2008.
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