Around 6 hours later and i've finished *_*

 

My verdict~ a fun, if tediously-long album full of wonderful highs alongside disgusting lows. I really liked Living For Love, Devil Pray, Ghosttown, Hold Tight, HeartBreakCity, Rebel Heart, Inside Out, Beautiful Scars, Queen, Addicted & yes, Holy Water and had it just have been those it would have been a sensational effort. There is a LOT of throwaway that might grow, and some horrors which will never grow.

 

Would rank as her weakest album for me too probably (or perhaps overtake MDNA in time) but nowhere near as bad as i thought it'd be. I'm happy we got it, and i look forward to seeing what i go back to as i listen to the album more.

Apparently there are 3 different covers for the album.

Yeah. the standard version is quite... erm... interesting:

 

Omg so #Rebelious I can't deal. :rolleyes:

So...much...airbrushing. We know you pushing 60, Madge, it's okay.

I'd kill to see the original photo! *.*

I don't see anything wrong with the airbrushing. Everyone does it and i can't think of a single album/single cover that hasn't in some way. I know I'd be brushing myself off if i was in my 60s and still doing shoots :P would be foolish to say you'd be 100% happy with a bad photo of you being in the homes of thousands worldwide for the REST OF TIME.

I know she's been incredibly airbrushed but she does look absolutely stunning in that cover!

 

I'm guessing the rebellious part is symbolised in the amount of red - promiscuity, danger etc. etc. And then heart is shown through the cute Marilyn Monroe look.

 

Apparently 9th Feb will see 'Joan of Arc', 'Hold Tight' and 'Iconic' released on iTunes.

Up to #43 on Amazon. Will hopefully be Top 40 for most of February with the video and promotion.

Have they even airbrushed that gap between her two front teeth as well?

 

I've held off listening to too much of this but I did listen to 'S.E.X.' out of curiosity and :puke:

Have they even airbrushed that gap between her two front teeth as well?

Looks like they may have! Could be the light but her two front teeth stand out among the others.

Quite a few songs are really starting to grow on me now. The best ones are the ones where her vocal is not awful, ie. Hold Tight, Rebel Heart, Joan of Arc, Addicted, Body Shop.

 

Rebel Heart and Unapologetic B need to be the next two singles.

Still holding off. HOWEVER, I refuse to believe it's her worst album of all time (looking at you, Bal).

 

It's already better than her last two efforts from the 6 tracks I've heard. Also, MDNA is almost unforgivable.

It's almost entirely because of 'Devil Wouldn't Recognise You' that 'Hard Candy' isn't the worst and 'MDNA' has some absolute stompers in Gang Bang, I'm Addicted, Love Spent (and ofc Masterpiece) etc. which this album is lacking. That's only after one listen though so foolish to compare to things i have been listening to for years and her album tracks have a tendency to grow on me a lot over time so it's far from a lost cause. And i did enjoy a fair bit of it even first time round.

 

It probably has more highs than the last two albums but nothing quite as shitthebed amazing as them.

Living For Love is better than all the songs on MDNA in my opinion. I absolutely love it. And I like a couple of the other tracks too. I can't see this being worse overall than MDNA.

It's almost entirely because of 'Devil Wouldn't Recognise You' that 'Hard Candy' isn't the worst and 'MDNA' has some absolute stompers in Gang Bang, I'm Addicted, Love Spent (and ofc Masterpiece) etc. which this album is lacking.

I listened to Hard Candy in full yesterday. Never been a fave of mine but the songs are all well produced, well mastered and reasonably well sung, and I didn't get the urge to press skip once. I think she can easily make an album of that quality again, and this is maybe a step in the right direction, but nothing here is quite as good as the best of mdna.

Despite shaky vocals Best Night is quite amazing :wub: Production is fabulous. Why not have more songs like this :(

 

Anyway, I am loving the album overall tbh. It's trash but done fabulously.

 

When will your 60-year old faves sing 'Jesus loves my pussy best' tho

On my 5th listen of the entire album and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'll be cutting the fat next time, though! I'll let you know.

I listened to Hard Candy in full yesterday. Never been a fave of mine but the songs are all well produced, well mastered and reasonably well sung, and I didn't get the urge to press skip once. I think she can easily make an album of that quality again, and this is maybe a step in the right direction, but nothing here is quite as good as the best of mdna.

Not even 'Spanish Lesson'??? I'd agree that it's more cohesive than 'MDNA' but like you say, the highs on 'MDNA' are too addictive. I always find myself going back to tracks on it which i don't do for as many on HC.

 

Relistening to this now and i still can't quite get over 'Holy Water'. Will probably by the 'Gang Bang' of this era, aka the track that sends me batshit crazy with every listen <3 'Iconic' sounding much better too.

Umm, INCREDIBLE. I can't even listen to a few seconds of it without the cheap beats bringing me out in a rash.

So here it is.

 

 

The Keepers

01. Living for Love

02. Ghosttown

03. Bitch I'm Madonna

04. Hold Tight

05. Joan of Arc

06. Iconic

07. Body Shop

08. Wash All Over Me

09. Messiah

10. Rebel Heart

11. Queen

12. Borrowed Time

13. Graffiti Heart

14. Addicted

 

The Fillers

01. Devil Pray

02. Unapologetic Bitch

03. Illuminati

04. HeartBreakCity

05. Holy Water

06. Inside Out

07. Best Night

08. Veni Vidi Vici

09. S.E.X.

10. Beautiful Scars

11. Autotune Baby

 

I know a lot of you like the above tracks, but they're quite underwhelming really. The production of the album in general sounds very cheap.