Here we are, an album so gloriously hot and messy that it can be summed up by one smilie:
I love this album. While the contrast between RoL's worthy spirituality and Music's experimental tackiness made it hard to tell which sound worked better (it was RoL .. not that hard!), American Life really walks the middle path. The introspection of RoL and the fun of Music are both here and come together to make something personal without being brash.
I mean sure, the album has its bizarre moments - about half the lyrics to the title track for starters - but I feel a much greater personal connection between Madonna and the songs here that Music was lacking.
Oh I'm waffling now, I don't really know what I mean. Let's just DO THIS
AMERICAN LIFE RATE
10.0 American Life: Well what can I say that hasn't already been said? Spiky, squelchy, US-baiting... it's really not the template of a lead single, and the album suffered commercially as a result, but I really think this is a great song. It's a hot mess, and just when you think you've got over that she does a fucking RAP about yoga and coffee. AMAZING. The new Vogue. I am not even in sarcastich bitch mode. FUCK IT.
8.0 Hollywood: Everyone has this pegged as the better choice for a lead single, and to be honest little would have been a less commercial option than AL, but I don't really see this. The video leaves me totally cold, and while the song is easy enough (perhaps too easy) it just doesn't really have much of an effect on me. The "push the button" stuff is ace but as a whole it feels a bit diluted. I did like the VMAs performance around this song though with "everybody-everybody-everybody.." breakdown and MISSY :black: on the M-I-C, and lesbian lunacy. But this doesn't excite me.
8.5 I'm so stupid: I remember first putting this album on and thinking it was fucking awful, wanting to find her vocoder and SMASH IT UP. But the harsh noises (harshest of which is that "iiiii" at this songs intro) seem to make it for me. While at heart this is another anti-fame reaction piece, I do love the electro guitar stuff here much more than I ever did on Music. Not really much of a chorus but I just love her voice on this, and it just all seems to work just FINE.
10.0 Love Profusion: Sometimes a video just MAKES a single, and this is the best example I can think of for that phenomenon. A beautiful Luc Besson masterpiece really set this on fire for me, stunning. It just helps tune me into what this song is meant to feel like. I think this is amazing, and it's a travesty this is one of her handful of non-Top 10 singles, kept out by the Cheeky Girls of all people. The beat is just so simple while her voice is actually SINGING for a change. Then there are the breakdowns .. "I. GOT. YOU... UNDER MY SKIN". Gorgeous to the max.
9.0 Nobody Knows Me: Now I was never that much of a fan, but the Reinvention Tour (more specifically the live CD "I'm going to tell you a secret") revealed how great this is. The lyrics are a bit retarded (though after Track 1 that seems like a rather weak criticism in comparison). But a really good STRUTTING song. Why couldn't Music have been this good? The sound really isn't that much different.
9.0 Nothing Fails: Now I don't see the whole "Like a Prayer 2.0" comparisons that were drawn to this at the time (and after). I mean sure it's great and it has a gospel choir, but I don't have it down as the great lost single or anything. This project was doomed from the first single so this would only have got a lukewarm reaction regardless of how good it was. Anyway the music gets a little more gentle for a time now and this great in that respect. A love song about Guy that I can actually take seriously, who'd have thought? The production once again shines with the vocal effects being a welcome feature rather than a gimmick.
9.5 Intervention: The Reinvention tour had a bit of a mashup with this didn't it? For some reason THAT triggered this track off for me, I think this is really a great tender little slow-burner. The chorus isn't amazingly catchy but it's a joy nonetheless. Her vocals seem to suit untaxing songs like this. That rather gorgeous instrumental break at the 3:38 mark just makes me
8.0 X-Static Process: Shit name, and probably one of my least favourite on the album for a while but I have come round to it. Very understated, with a hit-n-miss harmony section with her own vocals that works more than it flops. Maybe I'm just retarded, this sort of stuff just feels so much more natural that on Music.
9.5 Mother and Father: Enough coddling, back to the synths. And a bit of an 80s throwback with a MELODY, that whole "I got to give it up, find someone to love me" is great, and I can forgive it being ANOTHER dead mother song. Sort of. "There was a time I had a mother, it was nice
" is a bit of a cheap shot, but I just love the production on this too much, especially when it goes super-harsh at the end. The rap-ette is a bit of a wreck though, but I'm in blind forgiveness mode right now.
10.0 Die Another Day: Oh God I totally lost my shit when this was leaked, a Bond song at the absolute pinnacle of my Bond fanship, and it's HER with her first single for nearly 2 years. Amazing video, really one of her best. So there's a few duff bits ("SIGMUND FREUD") but this is so great. It would have been so easy to do a Bond-song-by-numbers but then they came to wrong person. The production is just awesome, I just love the jumping orchestra sample and the robotic vocals. Then you think it's stopped... and BACK in for the outro with a little punch. WICKED.
9.5 Easy Ride: So glad the bonus track wasn't the closer, that wouldn't have worked. This is PERFECT. Loads of strings at the start (amazing), into a rather simple folk song with a serving of introspection. I don't want to fill the whole review with "I love this" "I love that" but I can't help it. I think this is MARVELLOUS. The chorus is pretty brilliant too "Round and round just like a circle". Then the strings are back for the big squelchy finale. GORGE.
And that's that. I think this could WELL be my favourite Madonna album. Ray of Light was surely brilliant but can feel a bit lifeless if you aren't in the mood for it. I understand American Life isn't for everyone, and some will even think it's one of her worst albums I'm sure, so I'm prepared to be disagreed with here.
Can I just mention the artwork though? Now THAT is a great front cover.
Keepers for the iPod: Fuck it, I'm taking the LOT.
NEXT UP: Remixed & Revisited revisited, then Confessions on a Dancefloor.