November 22, 2005
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Madonna's 'Confessions' Move Body & Soul


Get "Hung Up ", "Sorry" and "Forbidden Love ", the standout tracks from Madonna's new album, Confessions On A Dancefloor.		 Madonna is 47 years old but she still retains that alluring sexiness and musical craftiness that allows her to continue making music. She is a woman who is able to transcend the double standards of feminine beauty and youth, the gridlock that forces so many females out of the limelight. But she wholeheartedly thrusts herself back again, reinvented as she always manages to be, forever current. Somehow and somewhere, she has managed to crack the code to eternal relevance and it allows her to draw on a creativity that is always fresh and new.

Confessions on a Dance Floor is an unadulterated dance album, pumping and pulsing, ebbing and flowing as the music cascades over you and wraps you in its discothèque glow. This is music that begs you to dance, to move your body in sweaty rhythmic sways in tight, dimly lit dance halls with scantily clad, sexy club goers. Confessions is a hedonistic jaunt into aural bliss, something that hints to the pre-Kaballah pleasure that Madonna once was. A few songs are already on heavy radio rotation such as “Hung Up”, the first song on the album, which throws us headfirst into dreamy and atmospheric synthesizers, and hypnotic, dance floor beats. “Sorry” is another hit song, defiant and biting words for a scorned lover. On “Forbidden Love” a retro disco vibe is dropped over futuristic robotic vocals. “Jump” is a mature and introspective piece, with its inspirational lyrics about independence and finding one’s own path. The song that was a subject of some controversy “Isaac” is a tribute to the famed 16th century Kaballah philosopher Isaac Luria. This song is a beautiful synergy of old style Hebraic chants over electronic beats and modern vocal styling.

Madonna is as sharp as ever, perpetually on the front line of creative expression. But despite her unquestioned preeminence she still feels the need to justify herself. To squash the naysayers and the finger- pointers, she defends herself on “Like It Or Not”, which is a defiant rebuttal to her detractors. Confessions will undoubtedly set fire to dance floors the world around with repetitive and undulating beats, it gets the body moving.

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Diamond's Latest Album Loaded With Gems


Get "Hell Yeah" and "Brooklyn Roads" the standout tracks from Neil Diamond's new album, 12 Songs.		 Producer Rick Rubin, who has been responsible for coaxing career-defining albums from acts as divergent as the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Public Enemy and Tom Petty, has done it again—this time, for a most unlikely artist.

To call “12 Songs” by Neil Diamond a successful comeback is to dismiss what the Red Sox did to the Yankees in the 2004 Championship Series as “a job well done.” That’s how good this record is. Rubin uses the same approach on Diamond that worked so well with Cash. Diamond’s vocal is placed way up front, the backing musicians (including long-time Tom Petty band mates Mike Campbell on guitar and Benmont Tench on piano and organ) play sparsely, with deep feeling, and Diamond’s acoustic rhythm guitar anchors every song. And what songs they are.

This is Neil Diamond like he was, back before he became an icon, when he was turning out understated autobiographical gems like “Shilo”, “Brooklyn Roads” and “I Am…I Said.” On “12 Songs,” Diamond looks middle age squarely in the face and doesn’t back down—he’s a survivor and proud of it. “Hell Yeah” and “Man Of God” are declarations of faith in just being alive, “Save Me A Saturday Night” “Oh Mary” and “Evermore” prove you’re never too old to believe in love and “I’m On To You” and “What’s It Gonna Be” take such a caustic look at an ex-lover, they wouldn’t be out of place on a Leonard Cohen record.

Taken as a whole, “12 Songs” just might be the highlight of Neil Diamond’s 40-year recording career.

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