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MADONNA - Ray Of Light
This is the Material Girl's first collection of new songs since Bedtime Stories in 1994.
To her credit, she is not afraid to change direction from album to album, always re-inventing herself in different ways.
She has tried dance, pop, hip hop, and in Evita, she showed she could even manage Broadway musicals.
The single, Frozen, is a good indicator of where her new direction is. Its midtempo hip hop beat and electronic bleeps and boops in the background and progressive techno arrangements is representative of it.
This time round, she has opted for a futuristic electronic melange of rhythms.
Globally-acclaimed producer William Orbit has helped her come up with an album that combines ambient and electronic music influences, while not straying too far from her pop roots.
Madonna has also called on old friends like Patrick Leonard, who worked on her first few albums, to help out.
The first thing to note is her richer and deeper vocals. She really worked hard to improve her singing ability for the Evita movie, and her range and tone is now much more impressive. And most of the songs here are written by her, showing she can be a mean songwriter too.
The opening track is a brooding introspective effort,...