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American Life
Madonna
Retail Price (not our price): $18.98
Release Date: 2003-04-22
Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1

Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...

Disc 1

Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com
Judging by her current pose, the Material Girl has mutated into the Military Girl. Indeed, this time out Madonna launches an assault on the miscalculations of her past while also airing her grievances with a troubled world. Madonna has always jumped on trends, but, for the first time, she leaps and falls as she revisits the minimalist synth-pop that she helped define in the `80s and raps like Debbie Harry about lattes and nannies. She also divulges career and personal missteps that her audience recognized all along, and had already forgiven--or embraced. With the exception of the entrancing Bond film theme "Die Another Day," the music doesn't measure up to 1999's Ray of Light and '00's Music. And while Madonna has never been a stunning wordsmith, there is a distinction between the introspection on those albums and the self-absorption of American Life; the lyrics here often put one in mind of a cathartic letter one writes but never mails. --Beth Massa

2) Album Description
Madonna's first album in three years. Includes the title track for the controversial video, 'American Life', as well as 'Die Another Day' from the MGM motion picture of the same name. 11 tracks plus enhanced material (Madonna extras). Produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzai. Maverick. 2003.

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

1) not a great fan   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
American life is the best, cohesive album of Madonna. Although i am not a particular great fan of her earlier work, after listening to this album, it somehow made me discover some earlier gems on ray of light, erotica and music. But American Life stands out.

2) Criminally under-rated!   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Despite numerous opinions to the contrary, "American Life" is actually one of Madonna's finer career moments and should have pride of place in any Madonna fan's collection right next to "Like A Prayer" and "Ray Of Light"! These are Madonna's more incisive and intuitive bodies of work, where the social, political, and spiritual come to the fore! This isn't everybody's cup of tea, of course, but sometimes you just have to drop the disco dolly persona and make comments about the world you're living in! It should come as no surprise, for example, that the anti-Bush sentiment expressed in the title track is as much a statement about America post 9/11 as it is about the fears that Madonna, mother and wife, has about the kind of world her children will grow up in! Likewise, "Nobody Knows Me" is a dig at the critics who have earned their living by inventing untruths about celebrities whilst skimming the profit off their misery! Cynical it may be, but sometimes you just have to quash malicious gossip and tell it like it is! Open your mind and give this album a much-deserved listen! It has a musical sophistication and lyrical sense of humour that Madonna has long been criticised for being deficient in! On "American Life" she easily puts this criticism to rest!

3) don't believe what you've heard   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
this is known as madonna's worst cd. but it is only really unsuccesful in terms of sales. as a cd of pop music, it is actually quite good. unfortunately, with most madonna cds, they release the best songs as singles. in this case, they released the weakest songs. if you take out the silly "american life" and the hard-to-swallow "hollywood" (not to mention "i'm so stupid") you are left with a very solid cd. "die another day" is an excellent-sounding song with remarkably meaningful lyrics for a soundtrack cut. "mother and father", "nobody knows me", "love profusion" and "xstatic process" are all catchy, meaningful songs. my only real complaints for the cd are that 1.) there doesn't seem to be a focus for the cd. madonna may have tried to do too much (make too many "statements", try rapping, play guitar, etc.). 2.) the co-producer steered madonna toward a "folk", acoustic-sounding cd (but the music and lyrics are strong enough that had the more-dance/electronic-sounding remixes of ALL of these songs been released instead, this could have been one of madonna's best and most successful cds.) the production makes the album stand out as an oddity in madonna's catalog. but if anything, isn't it good that an artist who has been around for so long takes chances and tries new things, even knowing she might stumble, rather than recyling the same old sound and formula over and over again. clearly, the type of "success" madonna is striving for here is something very different for her. and, for the most part, she does succeed. it's not perfect, but there is beauty in her imperfection.

4) Hits from one end to the other   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
You say you really like Madonna but you don't have this album? Waaaaa???Just go buy it already! And to those who don't like the fact that Madonna is growing and evolving and her music is changing alone with her--GET A LIFE YOU PEOPLE!This is one of her best albums ever. Yes, I have Ray of Light, and this one is just as good if not better. I thought Ray of Light had a several less than stellar songs, but not this album. Nothing but hits through and through--at least that's my opinion.Thanks for listening!

5) Excellent.   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I think is a good album, but not necessarily cohesive. The marketing was bad and it seems as if Madonna was pushed to portray a militar girl instead of the spiritual and honest person she tries to achieve on this album. Along with Ray of Light and Confessions on a Dancefloor, this ranks among my Madonna favorites.