Album Review: MDNA

The Material Girl has reinvented herself as many times as she has been loved and loathed over 12 studio albums. Still cavorting in her undies, is Madonna growing old disgracefully in a pop world that's overtaken her own ability to shock? Well, yes and no. On MDNA, her sexuality is still thrust in your face, but she's now more burlesque than XTube. That's not the problem though.

Most of the first nine songs on MDNA suffer from too many cooks in the production booth. Old mate William Orbit jostles alongside a carousel of Euro-DJ's who masque Madge's vocals in too many electro-house and slut-pop grooves. In I'm Addicted and Girl Gone Wild, she's lost in her own bloody record! Gang Bang blatantly copies CSS's moves (whom she once signed to her Maverick label). Give Me All Your Luvin' features M.I.A and conjures images of a lite Go Team with it's cheerleading hook. As a lead single, it's not bad and probably the freshest thing on offer.

When Orbit takes the helm at the end, she finally starts to shine. Masterpiece and Falling Free form a classy finish that deserve much better bedfellows than most of what preceded them. The five-track bonus disc is frustrating as it includes more gold and more shit. I Fucked Up and the swingin' B-Day Song would have buoyed the main album with more quality, but the LMFAO remix is horrid and Beautiful Killer just rips off Madonna's own Die Another Day. Maybe it's time Madge stopped hiring one night stands to help make her sound bankable and just wrote a 'true' album. There's hints here that it'd be her best ever.