Madonna

[KEY9481]

I love Hard Candy.
And it served the modern day classic Candy Shop.

[Angeman]

Hard Candy is incredible. Every song except Spanish Lesson and Incredible are bops. Voices is a choice but I respect the thought. Also Beat Goes On was robbed.

In all honesty its more of a fun listen to then Confessions.

[madfan13]

I also love Hard Candy. The only song I skip is “Incredible”. It’s long ang uneventful. As the previous poster, I also feel “Beat goes on” was robbed. It deserved stellar single treatment. Alas!

[jio]

Everybody except Madonna probably feels the same way about "Beat Goes On". Anyway, what's the point of having Kanye on a track and waste it like that???

[beredy]

Hard Candy aged better than it had any right to. If you told me back then that I would dig it this much now, I would've told you were crazy. I always liked the album, but it did feel back then that it was like an uneeded derivation of the JT/Timbaland/Pharell sound. A step back for Madonna.

That being said, the album and its collection of songs, aged much better than majority of JT/Timbaland/Pharell songs from that time. Hard Candy surprisingly comes off as more polished and less dated in sound.

It's a fun album through and through, with some true gems (Miles Away, Beat Goes On, Devil). And I don't get the hate for Incredible. I like it's relentless tempo and the mid switchup ("It's time to get your hands up, it's time to get your body movin'") is nice too.

[BodyShop]

Love Incredible .
Its only fault is that it should be around 1:30 min shorter. Same for She's Not Me.
Both are Unnecessarily long songs.

[UnapologeticKenny]

I agree. Also, I think Spanish Lesson is probably the worst song on the album.

[MrLeonix]

That being said, the album and its collection of songs, aged much better than majority of JT/Timbaland/Pharell songs from that time. Hard Candy surprisingly comes off as more polished and less dated in sound.

You're really delusional if you think this terribly sounding and dated as f*ck album with awful vocals sounds better or aged better than JT's "Future Sex / Love Sounds" or even Nelly Furtado's "Loose".

Songs like "Sexyback", "What Goes Around .." , "Promiscuous", "Maneater" , etc still quite sound thrilling and edgy today while HC songs sound like they were recorded and mastered in a bathroom. It didn't age good.

---

Having said that, "4 Minutes" have grown on me recently, despite being generic I loved it back in 2008 (as it was instantly catchy) then I spent some years not caring a d*mn about it until just recently that I've warmed up to the song again. It was a killer lead single and IMO the last amazing moment of her career (regarding a musical recording).

Most say her career was Top-notch from 1983-2005 (Debut - COADF) but I'd say it was from 1983-2008 (Debut - 4 Minutes).

[beredy]

You're really delusional if you think this terribly sounding and dated as f*ck album with awful vocals sounds better or aged better than JT's "Future Sex / Love Sounds" or even Nelly Furtado's "Loose".

I'll actually take that as a compliment as I find most of your musical taste appalling.

[MrLeonix]

I'll actually take that as a compliment as I find most of your musical taste appalling.

Then you're automatically saying Madonna is appalling since she's part of my musical taste

[beredy]

Then you're automatically saying Madonna is appalling since she's part of my musical taste

Hence the word - most.

[jio]

Mmm not a Justin fan so I am not familiar with his albums but Nelly's "Loose" has definitely aged far far better than "Hard Candy"

[MrLeonix]

Hence the word - most.

Look, I don't give a d*mn if you like my taste or not.

That really subpar mastered and soundig album doesn't sound better or hasn't aged better than JT's FS / LS album and that has nothing to do with taste , it has to do with having a pair of ears and common sense.

[MrLeonix]

Mmm not a Justin fan so I am not familiar with his albums but Nelly's "Loose" has definitely aged far far better than "Hard Candy"

Definitely. It's just common sense.

[beredy]

Did I ever mention Nelly though? It's a clear Mr. Leonix strategy to insert "arguments" to make a point nobody was trying to make. And though I do love FutureSex/LoveSounds, a lot of the songs on that albums sound very abrasive and demo like today, which is not something I can say for Hard Candy as it has much smoother and polished production when you listen to it today.

Though it can depend on taste I guess of what you sonically might prefer.

[beredy]

That really subpar mastered and soundig album doesn't sound better or hasn't aged better than JT's FS / LS album and that has nothing to do with taste , it has to do with having a pair of ears and common sense.

Good sound system too. And luckily my speakers are great.

You are free to come and listen FS/LS and HC back to back and we can discuss.

[MrLeonix]

Good sound system too. And luckily my speakers are great.

You are free to come and listen FS/LS and HC back to back and we can discuss.

Actually, thanks to you I'm listening JT right now and "My Love" sounds great

.. Anyways let's not forget the superiority, the one that brought the sound to the table was FS/LS not HC, the one that got more acclaim and awards was FT/LS not HC , the one that gets more recurrent streams for sounding better today is FS/LS not HC and the one that inspired the entire recording of HC was FS/LS (said by Madonna herself).

I'm not even a fan of JT .. But seriously HC isn't better than FS/LS .. I don't even know how or why anyone could / would say that.

[beredy]

.. Anyways let's not forget the superiority, the one that brought the sound to the table was FS/LS not HC, the one that got more acclaim and awards was FT/LS not HC , the one that gets more recurrent streams for sounding better today is FS/LS not HC and the one that inspired the entire recording of HC was FS/LS (said by Madonna herself).

I'm not even a fan of JT .. But seriously HC isn't better than FS/LS .. I don't even know how or why anyone could / would say that.

Are you not able to separate technical sound quality with the overall quality (taking everything into account from how the songs were written, lyrics, etc.)? Did I say HC was better than FS/LS overall or that it sounds more polished? I'll repeat it and stand by the fact that to me HC sounds more polished. I wrote it in my first post and I will repeat it because it's true. You don't agree? Fine, but don't put words in my mouth I never said. Take most of the Edith Piaf recordings and honestly they sound like shit if you're gonna grade the production only, but that doesn't make them any less great when you take into composition, lyrics and how Edith delivered them. Do you get what I said now? If yes, great. If not, don't care, continue grabbing at random stuff that I never even referenced or talked about if that makes you happy.



Also your obsession with numbers which you pull out as some kind of definitive proof... I guess Drake makes the best music today. That's why it has more streams, breaks records, etc. right? Oh, remember the days when Macarena was the pinnacle of musical art in the 90's because it ate up every record released in its time?

[RayRay]

Look, I don't give a d*mn if you like my taste or not.

That really subpar mastered and soundig album doesn't sound better or hasn't aged better than JT's FS / LS album and that has nothing to do with taste , it has to do with having a pair of ears and common sense.

Just wow. Really mature way of giving an opinion... not.

[RayRay]

Although I am not very fond of the Hard Candy album, it did give me some songs I still enjoy today:
Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
Miles Away
She's Not Me
Beat Goes On

[trebor]

Don't let this escalate and always keep good manners first.

[spiritboy]

I hate Hard Candy except for a few songs. Beat Goes On, Give It To Me, Miles Away and Candy Shop are the only songs i like and use.

[MrLeonix]

Are you not able to separate technical sound quality with the overall quality (taking everything into account from how the songs were written, lyrics, etc.)? Did I say HC was better than FS/LS overall or that it sounds more polished? I'll repeat it and stand by the fact that to me HC sounds more polished. I wrote it in my first post and I will repeat it because it's true. You don't agree? Fine, but don't put words in my mouth I never said.

You're now making it seem like you were only talking about the technical aspect of the sound and nothing else when in fact you were confident enough to say HC had aged "much better" than majority of JT / Timbaland / Pharell other works

aged much better than majority of JT/Timbaland/Pharell songs from that time. Hard Candy surprisingly comes off as more polished and less dated in sound.

... Of course you're free to post anything you want and that's fine but please don't get shocked if you get a reaction for comments like this as you directly compared different materials. I admit that is quite bizarre reading stuff like HC aged "much better" than most of JT/Timbaland work, even prior to FT / LS with "Cry Me A River" JT still sounded miles ahead of HC and definitely aged way better than HC.

[beredy]

... Of course you're free to post anything you want and that's fine but please don't get shocked if you get a reaction for comments like this as you directly compared different materials. I admit that is quite bizarre reading stuff like HC aged "much better" than most of JT/Timbaland work, even prior to FT / LS with "Cry Me A River" JT still sounded miles ahead of HC and definitely aged way better than HC.

There's a reason FS/LS + Timbaland sound stayed in 00s and never carried further...

[beredy]

Also, I'm not making it seem like anything. If you don't understand next time ask for clarification instead of aggressively attacking.

[MrLeonix]

There's a reason FS/LS + Timbaland sound stayed in 00s and never carried further...

That doesn't mean there's something wrong with it or that HC aged "much better" though ... But yeah let's move on.