MADONNA 
MDNA (Universal)
Madonna returns with her first album since the misfiring 2008 effort Hard Candy. That album was a misstep where the Queen of Pop tried her hand at hip-hop. Here she’s back in top form with a dance album that seems to meld her better work on Music and Ray Of Light.
It’s almost Alice in club land, with a dancing, druggy, vibe, as Madonna takes everything up a notch: put simply, there’s a massive rave going on inside the grooves. Producers Benny Benassi and Martin Solveig make their presence felt, but the man who helms the better collaborations is William Orbit. His fingerprints are all over highlights such as ‘Love Spent’, ‘Gang Bang’ and ‘Some Girls’. To hear the sublime, Solveig collaboration, ‘Beautiful Killer’ you’ll have to shell out for the bonus edition.
Already #1 in forty-five countries with iTunes, who else, thirty years into a career, could clock up two million sales in a day?
A return to form: the piece hangs together as an album. There’s a journey in the music, but there’s also violence [often cartoon like], bloodshed and lots of gun power in the lyrics. It’d be fair to call this her ‘divorce’ album, just as Like A Prayer was informed by her separation from Sean Penn.
Madonna has produced an electronica infused club album with bite. At 53, she continues to break the rules of pop. Welcome back. 

[rating:4.5/5]

Trent Titmarsh