Sticky & Sweet Tour

Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour began last night. Although the set-list inevitably concentrates on her latest album, Hard Candy, there's also a surprising amount of classic songs (significantly more than her previous Confessions Tour). The show is divided into four themed sections: 'pimp', 'old school', 'gypsy', and 'rave'. After Ray Of Light, she announced that she would take requests, and started to sing Express Yourself a cappella - but then she changed her mind: "I'm in charge. I choose the songs".

The full set-list is: Candy Shop, Beat Goes On, Human Nature, Vogue, Into The Groove, Heartbeat, Borderline, She's Not Me, Devil Wouldn't Recognize You, Spanish Lesson, Miles Away, La Isla Bonita, You Must Love Me, 4 Minutes, Like A Prayer, Ray Of Light, Hung Up, and Give It 2 Me.

The English Roses & Madonna autograph

The English Roses features two children's books by Madonna, The English Roses and its sequel (Too Good To Be True) in a box set limited to 1,500 copies. The set also includes a letter autographed by Madonna and a print signed by the illustrator, Stacy Peterson. Madonna's autograph in this set is genuine, though it's more of a hasty scrawl than a proper signature.

The English Roses: Too Good To Be True

Too Good To Be True is the sequel to The English Roses, Madonna's first children's book. The central character, Binah, is broadly autobiographical (Binah says: "my mother [...] died when I was little", just as Madonna's mother did). The theme (jealousy) is interesting, though the moral could be more subtle. The illustrations are by Stacy Peterson (who can draw female characters but not males).

Sweets feature heavily, with one of the characters being called Candy Darling (named after the Andy Warhol acolyte) and one page being decorated with drawings of assorted candies - a theme which would later develop into the album Hard Candy and its title track, Candy Shop.

Madonna at Big Weekend 2008

Yesterday, Madonna headlined the 2008 Big Weekend festival, at Mote Park in Kent. The show was broadcast live in the UK by Radio 1 and BBC3, and is also streaming online at bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend. The set-list was: Candy Shop, Miles Away, Four Minutes, Hung Up, Give It To Me, and Music (the same as her performance in New York a fortnight ago). Before Hung Up, she sang (or at least attempted) the first few lines of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones.

Ring My Bell

Ring My Bell is a bonus track available on the Japanese version of Madonna's new album, Hard Candy. It's similar in tone to the rest of the album - unlike Fighting Spirit, the bonus track on her previous album, Confessions On A Dance Floor.

This is not the first time that Madonna has added bonus album tracks for the Japanese market: Ray Of Light included the extra track Has To Be, and Music featured Cyber-Raga. These additional songs were both eventually released outside Japan, as B-sides to singles. Likewise, Ring My Bell is also available internationally, via iTunes.

Hard Candy concert

Yesterday, Madonna performed a mini-concert at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, to promote her Hard Candy album. Streaming video footage of the show is available online at music.msn.com/madonna. The set-list was: Candy Shop, Miles Away, Four Minutes (featuring Justin Timberlake), Hung Up, Give It To Me, and Music.

Hard Candy

Madonna's new album Hard Candy will be officially released at the end of this month. Last week, vh-m.com briefly leaked the intros to every track. Yesterday, however, the entire album was leaked via thepiratebay.org.

The cover photo and font look terrible - but don't judge a book by its cover, as they say. There are some extremely catchy tracks, especially She's Not Me, which I've been playing endlessly. Candy Shop (the title track) and Four Minutes (the first single) are great fun, too. The album as a whole could be described as 'Hip Hop lite'.

Leaks of individual tracks, in various stages of completion, have been trickling out since last year: Four Minutes (leaked from a live performance and an unauthorised radio broadcast), Give It 2 Me (the second single), Beat Goes On, and Candy Shop (a demo extract).

The full track-listing is: Candy Shop, Four Minutes, Give It 2 Me, Heartbeat, Miles Away, She's Not Me, Incredible, Beat Goes On, Dance 2night, Spanish Lessons, Devil Wouldn't Recognize You, and Voices.

Give It 2 Me (extract)

A fourth track from Madonna's forthcoming album has leaked online: an extract from Give It 2 Me. The track will also be released as a single. Demos of Candy Shop, Beat Goes On, and Four Minutes have also leaked.

Four Minutes

Madonna's next single, Four Minutes (from her forthcoming album), leaked online after it was played on French radio and at a Philadelphia concert. Now, a better quality recording has also leaked.

Four Minutes (radio edit)

Madonna's next single, Four Minutes, taken from her forthcoming album, was played on the French radio station FG DJ Radio on Friday, and an off-air recording of the broadcast is available online. (Timbaland played it at one of his concerts last year, and a short clip leaked online.)

Four Minutes (live extract)

Following Candy Shop and Beat Goes On, an extract from another Madonna demo has leaked online. The song, Four Minutes, will appear on Madonna's forthcoming album, and will also be her next single. Timbaland played the demo at a concert in Philadelphia on 17th December 2007.

Four Minutes features both Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. In the leaked extract, Timbaland sings live, accompanied by a recording of the demo.

Josephine Baker In Art & Life

My Madonna website has been referenced in the notes and bibliography of a new book by Bennetta Jules-Rosette, titled Josephine Baker In Art & Life: The Icon & The Image. The book explores the creation of Baker's public persona, and analyses its influence on modern culture.

In my online Madonna discography, I discuss the Catholic reaction to the confluence of sex and religion in the Blond Ambition concerts, which Jules-Rosette compares to Baker's world tour of 1929-1930.

Candy Shop (demo)

A brief extract from Candy Shop, a Madonna demo from her forthcoming album, leaked online in August. Now, however, the full demo has also leaked.

Songs Of Mass Destruction

Madonna is featured on the new Annie Lennox album Songs Of Mass Destruction. She appears on the track Sing (also released as a single), along with Anastacia, Isobel Campbell, Dido, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Fergie, Beth Gibbons, Faith Hill, Angelique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Gladys Knight, KD Lang, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Pink, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Joss Stone, Sugababes, KT Tunstall, and Martha Wainwright. While the others make brief, barely distinguishable contributions, Madonna sings the entire second verse.

Beat Goes On (demo)

Following the extract from the Candy Shop demo, another new Madonna demo has leaked online. Beat Goes On, featuring Madonna with Kayne West, will appear on her forthcoming album. It was played on the Ohio radio station WNCI on 17th September.

Candy Shop (demo extract)

An extract from a demo version of a new Madonna song, Candy Shop, has leaked online. The song will be included on her forthcoming studio album.

Live Earth online

Streaming video footage of the 7th July Live Earth concerts are available online at liveearth.msn.com, including all of Madonna's performances from Wembley.

Live Earth

Madonna performed at Wembley Stadium, London, for Al Gore's consciousness-raising Live Earth event today. The first song in her set, Hey You, was written especially for Live Earth, and is the first Madonna single to be available exclusively as an online download. She also sang La Isla Bonita, Ray Of Light, and Hung Up.

Hey You

Madonna has recorded a new song, Hey You, to promote Live Earth, an organisation raising awareness of global warming. The song is available at liveearth.msn.com (download) and madonna.com (streaming).

The Confessions Tour

Today is the official launch day for Madonna's Confessions Tour CD/DVD.

Like I'm Going To Tell You A Secret, it features a CD with selected live tracks and an on-stage/backstage DVD, though this time the DVD includes the complete concert (last year's Confessions Tour, filmed in London) with only minimal backstage rehearsal footage.

After the heavily re-edited Reinvention Tour extracts in the I'm Going To Tell You A Secret documentary, it's great to see the full Confessions Tour show on this new DVD. Madonna's voice sounds amazing (better than some of her previous tours!), and, as in Reinvention, she is surrounded by dazzling video walls.

The show begins with the frankly incoherent Future Lovers (though her performance is so good it makes you forget that the lyrics are nonsense), but compensation comes in the form of Like A Virgin, which still sounds amazing after all these years (it was the only true classic missing from the Reinvention Tour).

The DVD set-list is: Future Lovers, I Feel Love, Get Together, Like A Virgin, Jump, Confessions, Live To Tell, Forbidden Love, Isaac, Sorry (plus a remix version), Like It Or Not, I Love New York, Ray Of Light, Let It Will Be, Drowned World/Substitute For Love, Paradise (Not For Me), Music Inferno, Erotica, La Isla Bonita, Lucky Star, and Hung Up.

The CD track-listing is: Future Lovers, I Feel Love, Like A Virgin, Jump, Confessions, Isaac, Sorry (plus a remix version), I Love New York, Let It Will Be, Music Inferno, Erotica, Lucky Star, and Hung Up.

History

History is a track recorded during Madonna's Confessions On A Dance Floor sessions, though omitted from the album. It is included as an extra track on her new single, Jump, reportedly the final single from the Confessions album (the previous ones being Hung Up, Sorry, and Get Together).

I'm Going To Tell You A Secret

I can finally relive the amazing Reinvention Tour, with Madonna's new live album and documentary - both of which have the same (slightly cumbersome) title: I'm Going To Tell You A Secret.

The album is fantastic. It's not the whole concert, and the best song - Express Yourself - isn't included, for some unknown reason, but it's great to hear the show again. The track-listing is: The Beast Within, Vogue, Nobody Knows Me, American Life, Hollywood, Die Another Day, Lament, Like A Prayer, Mother And Father, Imagine, Into The Groove, Music, Holiday, and a demo of I Love New York.

In the documentary, she is filmed in her car after (I think) the concert I saw, and she says it was her best Reinvention show thus far and her sweatiest show ever. We have an insight into life with Guy and her children, though the best material is the live footage of Vogue and Nobody Knows Me. The only downside is that, towards the end, it goes into preachy Kabbalah overdrive.

Confessions Tour

Madonna's Confessions Tour has begun. The headline-grabber this time is her performance of Live To Tell, during which she wears a crown of thorns and appears crucified on a giant cross. She is still the queen of pop, and, more than that, she's the only singer who makes world headlines whenever she goes on tour. A Madonna tour is a dazzling theatrical event - the tickets may be the most expensive ever, but they're more than worth it.

I saw her previous Reinvention Tour at Wembley in London (an indescribably amazing experience), but sadly I can't go to the new show. I'm glad I saw Reinvention, though, because she sang Express Yourself, Like A Prayer, Into The Groove, etc. Confessions, like the Drowned World Tour, seems instead to be concentrating on new material. It doesn't even include the once-traditional Madonna tour encore, Holiday.

The tour set-list is: Future Lovers, Get Together, Like A Virgin, Jump, Live To Tell, Forbidden Love, Isaac, Sorry, I Love New York, Ray Of Light, Let It Will Be, Drowned World/Substitute For Love, Paradise (Not For Me), Music, Erotica, La Isla Bonita, Lucky Star, and Hung Up.

Confessions Remixed

Confessions Remixed, a limited edition (3,000 copies) vinyl-only Madonna album, features tracks (Hung Up, Sorry, Get Together, I Love New York, and Let It Will Be) from Confessions On A Dance Floor remixed by Stuart Price.

iTunes: Confessions On A Dance Floor

The CD version of Confessions On A Dance Floor is a continuous mix, with no gaps between each track.

However, Madonna has also prepared a unique version for iTunes which plays each song individually, so that instead of each track blending into the next one, you can hear the full beginning and ending of each song separately. (In particular, some vinyl crackles have been added to the end of Isaac, and atmospheric street sounds now appear at the start and finish of I Love New York; however, the alarm clock at the start of Get Together has been removed.)

Personally, I prefer listening to each song individually, with pauses between tracks, so the iTunes version is excellent.

Fighting Spirit

The special edition of Madonna's Confessions On A Dance Floor includes a bonus track, Fighting Spirit. Unfortunately, it's quite dreary, and pales in comparison with the excellent, upbeat Super Pop (the download-only extra track).

Super Pop

Super Pop is a new song by Madonna, excluded from the Confessions On A Dance Floor album though available as an official MP3 download from iconmadonna.com.

It's a fantastic track, with excellent music and lyrics ("If I was an actor I'd be Marlon Brando / If I was a painter I'd be Frida Kahlo"). I suspect that the only reason it was omitted from the album was that it is too political ("If I was the president I'd be different") and she wanted to keep the new album apolitical after the overt politics of American Life.

Confessions On A Dance Floor

Madonna's new album, Confessions On A Dance Floor, improves every time I listen to it. The music is fantastic, especially Let It Will Be, Forbidden Love, and Push; the lyrics are extremely catchy, especially Hung Up, Get Together, Jump, and Like It Or Not.

There are a few dud songs, mostly because they endlessly repeat the same meaningless lines (Sorry: "I've heard it all before...", inexplicably, the second single; Future Lovers: "In the evidence of its brilliance..."). Isaac would benefit enormously by cutting Yitzhak Sinwani's Kabbalah lines. The rhyme scheme in I Love New York ("New York"/"dork", "mad"/"sad"/"glad") is fairly simple, but it's also perhaps the catchiest song on the album.

The new album has been compared in the press to Ray Of Light and even Like A Prayer. I don't think it's as incredible as those two, though it's certainly as good as Music. There seems to be a general consensus that the previous album, American Life, was awful, and that Confessions On A Dance Floor is a return to form, but actually I really liked American Life.

The album's complete track-listing is: Hung Up, Get Together, Sorry, Future Lovers, I Love New York, Let It Will Be, Forbidden Love, Jump, How High, Isaac, Push, and Like It Or Not.