Madonna is a multinational superstar she has been in the music business for a couple of decades now and she has released many superb albums: Madonna, Like a Virgin, Vision Guest, True Blue, You Can Dance, Who’s That Girl, Like A Prayer, The Early Years, I’m Breathless, The Immaculate Collection, Erotica, Bedtime Stories, Something to Remember, Evita, In The Beginning, Ray Of Light, The Next Best Thing, Music and GHV2.

However, I am going to tell you about her MUSIC album as this is -I feel- by far her best album. I can only tell you about the UK version of this album as I purchased it in the UK but I will tell you the difference between this and the USA version.

I received my album as a Christmas present in the year 2000 from my mum and dad. It was then priced at £13.99 from Virgin. However, it is now available at Sainsbury’s for £9.99. You may even find it cheaper at smaller CD outlets, or in the Virgin/HMV sales.

Appearance of the Album
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From just looking at the front of the CD you see Madonna wearing a baby-blue cowboy’s hat. She has a very, pale face with blonde deep waved hair to just below her shoulders. She is wearing a blue, long-sleeved satin shirt with sequins sewed on across the shoulders and mid-chest. Exactly opposite her face there is her album logo. It is quite small and is dark green at the top fading through to a dark yellow as you go down. This is outlined in what is meant to look like pink ribbon. At the top of the crest there is the Madonna logo written in white, gothic style curving in an arch, which has its point upwards. Directly below this there is a picture of a cowboy on a horse, this is all in white, which looks as if it is in motion. Then below the horse there are several small green stars. Then beneath these in speech marks is the name of her album in yellow, capitals and bold ‘Music’. Beneath this in white, small print is ‘Maverick/Warner Bros’ On the left hand-side at the bottom of the CD cover, there is a sticker showing the tracks that are popular in the CD these are Music and American Pie. To the write if this is a special, silver, hologram sticker saying UK on it to show that it is the UK version. This is important as the USA version has slightly differing tracks.

As you open the case, you will see where the CD is placed and where the description of the CD is. The CD is brown and has a pink horseshoe with a clover above it. It also has in silver around the outside rim the address in silver. At the top where the horseshoe finishes there is a giant, silver, gothic style ‘M’. When you lift out the CD, you see beneath it hay with a red, high-heeled shoe. The red shoe has sequins stuck all over it and a thin, slender, 2-inch heel.

When I look to the left side, there are two leaflets. One is about all her CDs and videos it shows you in the inside all the Madonna ‘Videography.’ This has pictures of each video and there catalogue numbers. The videos available are Madonna, The Virgin Tour Live, Justify My Love and Vogue (from MTV’s Video music awards), The Madonna Collection 3-VHS Box Set, Ciao Italia: Live from Italy (also with a DVD version available), The Immaculate Collection (also with a DVD version available), The Girlie Show-Live Down Under (also with a DVD version available), The Video Collection (DVD version available) and The Ultimate Collection Twin-Pack (DVD version available). On the other side there are all the albums with their cover pictures, all of which I listed at the start.

The other inlet has a variety pictures for the Music single. On the first side it just has hay. On top of this her ‘Music’ logo in baby blue in the shape of a gold gun, beneath this again are red stars. On the next side it has Madonna posing as a Cowboy in a car-park wit the same outfit she was wearing on the front cover, except she is posing in a ‘boogie’ position. There is also the quote ‘Hey Mr.’ The next side just a picture of a pink cowboy hat. The next side has a quote from her Music song (‘DJ, put a record on I wanna Dance with my baby…’). This is inside a rope lasso in the shape of speech bubble. All the words are written in Pink except for ‘Dance’, which is written in baby blue. The next page shows Madonna lying on hay with the pink cowboy hat on. She appears to be sleeping and is wearing blue jeans with a beige shirt decorated with silver tassels and Red squiggles.

On the next page it has another quote. This quote is outlined in pink, again placed on the hay, with silver circles around it. The quote is ‘And when the music starts I never wanna stop.’ The next two pages are a double spread. It shows Madonna again sleeping on the hay, this time her pink cowboy hat is on the hay. She is wearing the same as I described before. On the bottom right hand-side is the word ‘Music’ in white. The next page shows a star outlined by blue cloudy sky. Then outside this are the silver circles. Beneath this it has some more quotes. These are ‘Do you like to…Boogie Woogie?’ ‘Do you like to…Boogie Woogie?’ ‘Do you like to…Boogie Woogie?’ and ‘Do you like My…Acid Rock.’ The ‘Do you like to’ is all in red. The ‘Boogie Woogie’ is in baby blue. And the ‘Acid Rock’ is in black. The next page shows Madonna doing another Cowboy style pose in the car park, she is wearing the same as described in her other car-park scenes but is pulling a different pose (side face showing). The next page shows an acoustic guitar on hay.

The next page shows another quote from her ‘Music’ song. This time it is just simply in a square. ‘It’s gonna drive me’ is written in red with a green star after ‘it’s’. Then there is the word ‘Crazy’ in bold and baby blue in a Tattoo-style nameplate. Below this are three columns where each word is listed beneath each other for each quote ‘Music Makes The People Come Together Come Together.’ This is on either side of the quote ‘Music Makes The Bourgeoisie And The Rebel Come Together.’ All of these quotes are written in Baby Blue. In the bottom in very small print is the quote ‘Don’t think of yesterday, and I don’t look at the clock.’ Written in black. The next page shows yet another picture of Madonna in a cowboy pose in the same clothes and the same car park. However, this time she is drinking a chocolate milkshake. It also has the quote ‘I like to Boogie Woogie.’ This is in white and then in very small print and yellow beneath this is with the quote it’s like riding on the wind and it never goes away touches everything I’m in. Got to have it everyday.’ The last page is just simply credits listing the people and companies that helped make the album.

Tracks on the Album
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1. Music
2. Impressive Instant
3. Runaway Lover
4. I Deserve It
5. Amazing
6. Nobody’s Perfect
7. Don’t Tell Me
8. What It Feels Like For A Girl
9. Paradise (Not For Me)
10. Gone
11. American Pie

Music
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This track is 3 minutes 47 seconds long. It was written by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzai. This is properly the best selling single off of the whole album. This may well be due to the video as it had Ali G (Sacha Baron-Cohen) on it. The video showed Madonna in a Limousine that Ali G was driving, surrounded inside by her female friends. The video also had a mixture of a cartoon where Madonna turned into a super-woman who flies out of the dance floor’s roof.

The song is a typical pop song but is very catchy it has a constant base throughout the song. Which sounds like people clapping. It is easy to dance to and ultimately gets the atmosphere going. Madonna’s vocals go from high to masculine throughout the song, there is also computer generated ‘Music’s’ as well. This was a hot for Madonna topping the charts. It has several bursts of just music with no vocals. I have never got bored of this song and people who dislike pop will find themselves liking this song. Drums, electric guitars and Voice Generators are used.

I give this single 10/10.

Impressive Instant
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This track is 3 minutes 37 seconds long. It was written by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzai.

This song starts of with a garage beat like one you hear in a nightclub. It also sound very retro and uses a variety of instruments. Her voice is computer generated through out as if a mouse was speaking through a microphone. Her voice also fades in places to give it a nightclub feel. There is a loot of heavy breathing, it uses trance, which is a typical dance song. The base is very catchy and easy to dance to. She also repeats words such as ‘singy’ ‘rumba’ and ‘samba’. This is a very moving song, it sounds as if she has taken drugs and what she is feeling, it is describing her feelings to what she see around her, and this is a boy who she spots across the room who she feels attracted to who she doesn’t know. Keyboards, electric guitars, voice generators and drums are used.

I give this single 9/10.

Runaway Lover
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This song is 4 minutes 46 seconds long. It is written by Madonna and William Orbit. This starts with similar base to the Flat Eric version. The Intro is all music, which is very striking. Then Madonna’s vocals kick in which are very passionate and strong. She shows her mothering side in her voice. The base is very fast and upbeat but the words sang above it are more suited to a more emotive song e.g. Dido’s song Hunter. All of her songs seem to revolve around men. However, it is again very catchy. Electric guitars and drums are used.

I give this 7/10.

I Deserve It
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This song is 4 minutes and 23 seconds long. This song is written by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzai. This is a very slow song; it has a strong acoustic guitar feel and is very emotive. It makes you feel happy for the woman who has found the perfect man. And how they are there for each other. It is very catchy and explains how love is hard to find and how it is important to keep it when you have found it. The chorus easily blends into the verses, the only way you can tell there is a chorus as certain parts are repeated! The acoustic guitars are great, they are strummed to give it a great country feel.

I give it 8/10.

Amazing
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This song is 3 minutes 42 seconds long. This song is written by Madonna and William Orbit. At the intro there is xylophones twinkling with a few words spoken by Madonna, they are sang very quiet, high pitched and it reminds you of angels. Then the hard parts sets in with the base and Madonna’s true style bad-girl comes through. There are no xylophones; these have been replaces with electric guitars, Drums and keyboards. She signs very 70’s style. The base is catchy, easy to dance too and all the family young and old loves the overall song. The song is sang faster and faster and is a true love song but it is barely noticed because of the speed of the song. It also changes back to the ‘angel’ part again where the piano, drums, and electric guitars are used to give a great harmony. The piano slowly fades out. These steps repeat throughout the song until the song is ended with the same musical intro.

I give it 7/10.

Nobody’s Perfect
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This song is 4 minutes 58 seconds long. It is written by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzai. It starts with Madonna whispering to a soft, electric guitar accompaniment. Then her voice is computer generated to give it an almost spiritual feel with the sane soft electric guitar feel. Then a steady drum base guitar sets in with the soft, electric guitar. Madonna sings very high-pitched and her voice is distorted except for her ‘Sorry’s’. It has almost a soft punk feel. Half way through the song it goes back to the soft electric guitars and Madonna’s soft singing. Then the drum base comes back in. She repeats ‘Nobody’s Perfect.’

I give it 6/10.

Don’t Tell Me
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This is 4 minutes 39 seconds long. It is written by Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzai and Joe Henry. This along with Music and American Pie are my favourite songs on the album. This is a great song. The song starts with an intro of acoustic guitars, which pause. Madonna sings strongly with a slight style of Evita coming through in this song. Drums and a base then kick in. This song is very catchy and typical to a stubborn girl (like myself!). It is very upbeat and great to sing to. It is a pick-me-up song (to make you feel better) it isn’t suitable for clubs. There are constant pauses in the song which add to the feel of the song. It shows Madonna’s vocals off well.

I give it 10/10.

What It Feels Like For A Girl
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This song is 4 minutes 43 seconds long. It is written by Madonna and Guy Sigsworth. This song shows what Madonna’s feelings are, she has always tried to break away from the norm and here she is telling what boys secretly think and how society is pinpointing ‘girls as degrading.’ The intro has a piano accompaniment with Madonna speaking. Then drums kick in for an all music break. She then sings like an innocent girl after each sentence she sings there is an electric guitar piece. She also sings this song high-pitched. It is a soft song, which you would listen to on your own. It is emotive and gets you into one of those ‘what is the purpose of life’ modes. This song is very slow
I give it 8/10.

Paradise Not For Me
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This song is 6 minutes 29 seconds long and is written by Madonna and Mirwais. This song starts with a xylophone intro that is played slowly. Madonna whispers over the music, there is also an electric keyboard sound. It also has a jazzy feel to it. Madonna’s voice gets stronger, but the pace is still is slow and her voice becomes distorted and computer generated. She then sings in French the same as the English first verse. The there is a keyboard solo piece, which is computer, distorted which gives it an old- feel e.g. 1970s style. It then has a dramatic piece where Madonna’s voice quavers whilst the Piano is playing. It then goes back to how it was at the beginning. It ends with the same xylophone intro.

I give it 6/10.

Gone
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This song is 3 minutes 28 seconds long. It is written by Madonna, Nicola Young and Damian Legaffick. It starts fast by Madonna accompanied with guitar. It is quiet and and humble. She doesn’t sing with her normal strong voice. Acoustic guitars, drums, keyboards and shakers accompany her. There is also the sound of computers buzzing. She states that ‘Nothing Equals Nothing’. This song is like a ballad; it is too slow a song for Madonna to sing however she pulls it off! She sounds like a member from The Corrs.

I give it 5/10.

American Pie
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The song is 4 minutes 32 seconds long. This song is only on the UK album, which is a shame as this is one of the better songs on the album. It was originally written by Don McLean but Madonna has produced it for her album. It is a song to respect all the people that dies in the aeroplane ‘American Pie’. It talks about how the Music died as three Musicians dies on this plane these are Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. These were a true talent and I think the song gives them the true respect that they deserve. It is a great song it has a acoustic guitar intro and Madonna sings the song beautifully. It has a good keyboard music piece. She echoes things that she feels are related to heaven e.g. ‘if the bible tells you so’ and ‘The Father,Son and The Holy Ghost.’ She sings it quite fast and it is a song you feel yourself swaying to and can’t help but love. The base is very catchy. Actually the whole song is very catchy! It actually made me cry to remember all of those in the great tragedy.

I give it 10/10

The song that is on The USA album only is Cyberraga. I haven’t heard this song so I cannot analyse it. All I know is that it is 5 minutes 32 seconds long and was written by Madonna and Talvin Smith.

Thank you all for reading. Lisa x x x