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Madonna: American Life (The album)
46 replies
pietROxette said on April 22, 2003 13:21:
Have you heard the album? Well, I’ve heard it...
For a long while, Madonna was for me the person who, if we are talking about music, made an album, it kicked ass. She was able to create brand new sytle songs, keep herself up-to-date. Her album “Ray Of Light” meant a kind of great revolution for me in pop music. It was full of new ideas, new sound. Then came “Music”, which was still quite fresh and new, but not as new as Ray Of Light was.
Infortunately, the album “American Life” is a huuuuge Music-leftover. Most songs are absolutely the same as the ones on Music. There two types of songs, as on Music: songs with electric base, and ones that have a slower, acoustic guitar base. (And I think the acoustic guitar is pretty much the same everywhere...) The only difference between Music and American Life is that the latter has more irritating sound effects that makes your head explode.
Great disappointment for me.
Stormkeeper said on April 22, 2003 14:31:
what a disappointment.
And AL is her worst single in years.
For a long-time fan this day is soooo sad :(
Jud (moderator) said on April 22, 2003 15:54:
Pietro: just my words, I already said this in some other thread about this album, the first time I heard it i thought it was a bad copy of Music... and boring :/ I still think the same after listening to it 4-5 times.. sigh - another disappointed Maddy fan here :/
joyrider said on April 22, 2003 18:29:
i love “love perfusion” but i expected a kind of rock album this time...
but with her clothes style she will make a new trend - again - uniform/millitary vs. cowboy/western
;)
vaxjoe said on April 23, 2003 11:25:
Just bought it...when i heard it online i wasnt thrilled so i agree with pietro...but i think it needs time to grow on me!
so far favourite song: American Life :D
boykie19 said on April 23, 2003 12:11:
hi there
2 be realistic... when u look at the whole album... do u think there will be a song on this album that will be remeberd in years time :eg like a virgin,music, ray of light... i dont think so... this album has nuthing special on it or am i wrong??
animalkingdom said on April 23, 2003 16:39:
Fuck! boykie, of course there is. “Nothing Fails” for one, “American Life” itself for two.
joyrider said on April 23, 2003 16:52:
yeah that the madonna-effect ... you have to listen to her songs a few times until you are able to say you like it or not. i like the album as much i liked the music album.
animalkingdom said on April 23, 2003 16:53:
I ’like’ every one of them (even Die Another Day (a bit anyway)) but Easy Ride hasn’t quite opened up for me yet. No idea why. On the other hand I am IN LOVE with the majority of the LP. :)
boykie19 said on April 23, 2003 18:48:
without counting DAD becus it was from a movie...
an besides who would be proud of a song like DAD its such craap lyrics
joyrider said on April 23, 2003 20:12:
sth different:
DO YOU LIKE MADONNA WITH THIS “MARIE A LIKE” HAIRDO?
http://www.madonna.com/madonna/images/media/imagegallery/set_8/S8_LM9.jp...
Chester said on April 23, 2003 21:48:
X-static Process, Mother and Father, Intervention and Love Profusion are great. I’m So Stupid - not so good. The rest are O.K.
sweet_stalker57 said on April 24, 2003 00:27:
” I liked her earlier stuff, borderline, but when she hit that pappa don’t preach faze I tuned out” ;)
Mfan28179-Jason said on April 24, 2003 04:44:
I think this album is fantastic! I’m liking it more than “Music” right now. On first listen, there were a few songs I was unsure of, but after more listens, I am hooked.
For example, at first I didn’t really care for “Nobody Knows Me.” Now when I hear it, I really like it. “Nothing Fails” is one of her best ballads in years, in my opinion. And “Easy Ride” really grew on me. It’s such a mellow, slow tracks. It’s so cool!
I really think “Love Profusion” would make a great single. It didn’t strike me at first as a single, but I found myself singing it over and over again in my head today at work.
I won’t ramble about each track. But I can say that this album has impressed me with the first 10 or so listens. It’s bringing me back into the Madonna craze for the moment, which I somewhat lost in the past year.
boykie19 said on April 24, 2003 11:13:
by the way i would like 2 see your comments about the new album in about a month or 2 time...
seems whenever an artist releases an album.. the fans r its the best one ever! then a month later no 1 likes it...:)
so let me know in a month :)
ill admit when i first got the album i was like oh yea this is sooo much better than music she got better again!! but now i dont even listen 2 the album its so boring...
coyboyusa said on April 24, 2003 11:49:
lets see how fast american life disappears of the american charts...honeslty she’d be nowhere if it wasn’t for her legions of gay fans
animalkingdom said on April 24, 2003 15:31:
@ boykie19
Yep, and I have realised that folks like to call it bad but later find it good and wonder if they ever really thought it wasn’t something they would’ve listened to...
animalkingdom said on April 24, 2003 15:38:
@ coyboy
Excuse me...How irrelevant! (And who lost his relevance?) A fan is a fan - or are you, yet again, trying to enhance your own almighty status?
Madonna IS Madonna after all; it does feel sweet to be able to put her down like that...Doesn’t it? :p
Jud (moderator) said on April 24, 2003 20:06:
i just saw the new video, what’s that??? Akerlund confused Madonna with Roxette and directed another crapy video? ;)
*still disappointed for dropping the video* After all, the war is over, or?
Mfan28179-Jason said on April 25, 2003 03:15:
“Akerlund confused Madonna with Roxette and directed another crapy video?”
Haha! Was it the edited version you saw? If it is, I think it’s horrible. The unedited version is pretty good I think.
Jud (moderator) said on April 25, 2003 06:27:
:D
I saw the new version, showing Madonna with all the flags behind her... I think it is the most unoriginal and boring video I have seen for a long time!
animalkingdom said on April 25, 2003 08:30:
@ Judith
Most unoriginal? Hmm...Can’t recall anyone doing it before.
StillFar said on April 25, 2003 12:57:
Nothing Fails is amazing!!!!!!! The rest of the album..well nothing much new.
s-czopek said on April 26, 2003 00:22:
Die Another Day
American Life
Hollywood
Love Profusion
Mother And Father
X-Static Process
Six (6 !!!) killing potential (or actual) singles...
That’s not that bad if you ask me.
Jud (moderator) said on April 27, 2003 23:07:
buaaah :(
Actually it makes me sad that this album makes me fall asleep / bored :( It already happened with Roxette that their latest work disappointed me, argh I hope it doesn’t go on like this or soon I will just be able to listen to old stuff! :P
My fave is Love profusion, then I like Hollywood and American life (esp. the “rap” part :)) but the others zzzzzzzzzz
Th_Th said on April 28, 2003 07:49:
Now I finally got the Album too and have to say, there is not one song on the Album I don’t like! I love them all! I think it is such a great Album and much much better than music... on music, there are only like 5 songs I really like, but this time, I like ’em all! I seriously do!
I wish I would have written the song American Life myself! ;-)
pietROxette said on April 28, 2003 10:34:
There was a Madonna weekend on MTVE last weekend. They broadcast a live gig where Madonna talked to her fans and performed a few songs because of the release of American Life.
I didn’t see the entire performance, but I saw Like A Prayer. Jesus, it was horrible. That woman has completely forgotten how to sing. It was a disaster. I was seriously asking myself: is this the same woman who sold millions of albums and had dozens of chart-topper songs? She was off-tune all the time. Shame on Madonna.
Jud (moderator) said on April 28, 2003 10:42:
uh! when I saw her live in 2001 the concert was super, weird! Maybe she had a bad day :P
coyboyusa said on April 28, 2003 12:25:
the drowned world toru was horrible too remeber when she sang ray of light at the mtv music awards now that was the most off key out of breath live performance i had ever heard
pietROxette said on April 28, 2003 13:32:
Nope, the most off-key performance award definitely goes to Cher for performing “Believe” at last year’s VH1 Diva’s night. Uhhhh, now that was shocking.
animalkingdom said on April 28, 2003 15:20:
I think you’re being too critical on Madonna, especially Pietro. I didn’t see this performance (wasn’t even mentioned in the paper nor the MTVE website) but I have seen her sing out of tune before...For instance her performance at 1998 MTV Europe Music Awards when she sang The Power Of GB was not very good if you only consider her vocals...But she does have the charisma that no other singer has - and I don’t think many people even notice this supposed bad singing ’cos they are just too busy just staring at her (omg- that’s Madonna..).
BUT her record sales & chart topping hits have nothing to do with her live performing - to be honest, I don’t think she has EVER sang perfectly live. Not even when she was at her most popular stage (guess she still is :). I would like to ask if Marie Fredriksson can still deliver IMHBL as well as back in the day... ???
I think you’re just turning your anger against American Life into something else and like to find fault in everything now!
Cheer up!! I am just beginning to LOVE HER!! :D
animalkingdom said on April 28, 2003 16:21:
@ Pietroxette
Okay, I managed to see the showcase on MTV’s website and all I can say is that your comment is on a very weird basis. Oh my goodness, what is your idea of a good live performance then? Hello! Go to a concert!
Jud (moderator) said on April 28, 2003 18:39:
this starts to sound like the time sb was critizising God-Roxette and sb was defending them to death pretending to then appear as a “non-freak”..... hello! people have different tastes!?
animalkingdom said on April 28, 2003 19:24:
Yeah, yeah, yeah...Almighty Jude.
But still, I don’t understand what was wrong with LAP except the fact that the boring, self-repetitive, techno-Madonna went back to the old days.
Jud (moderator) said on April 28, 2003 20:12:
wow now I am almighty, I think soon I will start Jude-ism too!
Th_Th said on April 29, 2003 08:08:
Being completely honest here, I always hated Madonna, I just never liked her as the Person she came across as... but now, I have to finally admit, I really do like her music!! Especially American Life is such a cool record... I don’t even think she is such a bad actress, I just saw Evita on TV two days ago and I honestly think, Evita is a much underated film/musical...
Even though I never liked her Sexy Image from the early 90’s... I found her disgusting in fact... but what I love about her is, that she writes all her songs and produces them herself, I know, most of them she writes and produces with others... I mean, how great is that? There are not many other singers out there today that do it... Madonna Music is great no matter what direction she takes... I think she is quite impressive...
Can anyone give me a link to a website, where I can have a look at her lyrics, especially the American Life Lyrics??
roxtexanet said on October 19, 2003 10:15:
Finally broke down and bought this album (I swore I wouldn’t after hearing “Hollywood” but even that one grew on me) and I can’t stop listening to it. My favourite is definitely “Nobody Knows Me,” (not counting the brilliant “Die Another Day,” possibly my favourite Madonna song ever) should make for a killer club hit. The album’s a bit ballad-heavy, but the ballads are quite listenable so it isn’t too noticeable. The only track I skip is the embarrassing “Mother And Father” with the cringe-inducing lyric “My mother died when I was five and all I did was sit and cry/I cried and cried and cried all day until the neighbours went away/I couldn’t take the loneliness I couldn’t take the phoniness/My father had to go to work I used to think he was a jerk”... that’s quite possibly worse than “I should be alright but Friday I died when you killed me” and “Jefferson got hit by a westbound truck/I guess that didn’t make him look like a million bucks.” I don’t think this album is quite up to the standard set by “Ray of Light” or “Music” but it’s definitely got something going for it, it’s the only album that manages to tear me away from listening to “Mazarin!”
TheRain1981 said on October 21, 2003 05:01:
Glad to see someone else likes the album. Personally, I like it better than ’Music.’ ’Ray Of Light’ just stands on it’s own. But I think ’American Life’ on a whole is really good. I agree with you about the ’Mother And Father’ rap lyrics. They seem so silly! But the rest of the song is quite good.
My top 3 favorites are: Easy Ride, Intervention, and Nothing Fails - all ballads. And ’Die Another Day’ is just a classic, in my opinion, with all the strings and groovy beat! One of her best ever.
’Nothing Fails’ is the new single, by the way. I hope Warner Bros. releases ’Love Profusion’ next. And I would love to have ’Intervention’ as a single. But I guess we’ll be lucky to get ’Love Profusion.’
An EP entitled, “Remixed & Revisited” is also slated for a November release. Too bad the album did poorly (by Madonna standards) in the USA. I guess it was because of that video. There’s a lot of standout tracks on the album. It’s hard to imagine someone couldn’t find at least a few songs that they would like.
*ramble*
purplemedusa said on October 21, 2003 10:51:
Check this out...
http://www.madonnalife.com/madonnaremixedep.jpg
purplemedusa said on October 21, 2003 11:03:
... MMM, and u thought Britney and Madonna kissed for free?
Britney Spears Get In The Zone in Stores November 18, 2003
Me Against The Music’
First Single Features Madonna
NEW YORK, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ – Jive Recording artist Britney Spears is set to release her 4th album, Get In The Zone on November 18. The first single “Me Against The Music” featuring Madonna will ship to radio on September 30 and the video will debut on MTV’s Making The Video on October 13.
“Me Against The Music” was co-written by Britney Spears and produced by Redzone. Britney Spears co-wrote 7 of the 13 songs on the album. Some of the producers/writers on the album include Moby (“Early Mornin’”), Bloodshy & Avant (“Showdown”), Guy Sigsworth (“Everytime”) and R. Kelly (“Outrageous”).
xuxa said on October 21, 2003 13:02:
Do you believe that people like that do anything for free?;) :P
animalkingdom said on April 22, 2003 13:59:
Yep, just bought it, am listening to it right now. I already had heard the album at mtve.com and so there was NO WAY I wasn’t gonna buy it! It is 5 times better than “Music”! But time will tell if it beats ROL... Quite many say they’re disappointed, I am happy & excited! Picking the second single will be hard cos there are so many good candidates!