Collectibles #5: Madonna Confessions On A Dance Floor (2005)

Madonna had high stakes for this album, after her previous album, American Life, flopped spectecularly, both critically and commercially. Well, the title track did indeed take it a little too far (I'm drinkin' a soy latte, I get a double shotte...), but there were a few good tracks in there to be fair (Love Profusion, Nothing Fails).

However, Madonna, being the Queen of Re-invention, never fails to change her image and her musical style. And she has done so again with her latest album. Confessions is like a mega remix album, with all the songs bridging seamlessly into the other. As expected, all the songs are dancy and it is best evidenced by the first single Hung Up.

Already a huge hit all over the world, Hung Up made Madonna cool again and made the world forget about American Life. Its intelligent sampling of Abba's Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! was totally appropriate and it was a metaphor for Madonna herself--the ability to reinvent and make something old new.

Second single Sorry hit UK number one recently, and its bassline samples Can You Feel It by The Jacksons. It's not a blatant ripoff like Hung Up but a more subtle one. It's not as good as Hung Up but still very catchy.

The Special Edition of the album comes with a 44-page colour photo album of Madonna as well as an "80-page blank notebook with Madonna sketches for your confessions". Trying a bit too hard here I feel. But anyway, there's one bonus track, Fighting Spirit, to appease the fans who shelled out a bomb for this package.

It's not an excellent package but like all Madonna releases, this one should gain in value with time. It's still available in shops out there, but the price is rising soon. The cheapest is at Music Junction, going for $45.90, while HMV and the others are selling around $70 already. Grab it now.