In the three plus years that I've been writing album reviews, I don't think I ever hated an album more that Madonna's 2003 release American Life. In one listen of that piece of garbage, it almost wiped out all memory of how great her previous two albums Ray Of Light and Music were. Thank the good Lord that Madonna has dropped her self-righteous political stance and elementary guitar playing and rightfully returned her skinny ass back under a disco ball for her new aptly titled album Confessions on a Dance Floor.

I'll give Madonna credit where credit is due; she knows how to stay one step ahead of the production game. On Ray Of Light she hired William Orbit to lift her out of that dated 80's sound. French techno wizard Mirwais was brought in on Music and American Life to take that sound even further. Now Madonna has shifted gears again (though not too drastically) and brought in Stuart Price of French faves Les Rhythmes Digitales to give her sound a fresher, more trancier approach. This approach works like Magic on the excellent first single "Hung Up" which exquisitely samples ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)." The next three tracks ("Get Together" "Sorry" and "Future Lovers") are just as winning, clipping along at fun, brisk pace.

Sadly, I must confess that the next track "I Love New York" brings the Dance to a screeching halt. If we're using Dance Floors as a metaphor, this song has about the same effect on the proceedings as Carrie after the pig's blood. When the first lines of the song are "I don't like cities, but I like New York. Other places make me feel like a dork" you can't help but wish Madonna would hire a new personal trainer, who's got the green light to bitch slap her any time she tries to get away with lyrics that retarded. After that huge misstep however, she rights the ship and it's pretty much clear sailing for the rest of the voyage. Although, there are a few times where it feels like she's just copying herself, like on "Let It Will Be," which feels like nothing more than a "Die Another Day" from American Life rehash; and "Isaac," which I like to refer to as "Fiddler On The Roof" meets "Frozen" from Ray Of Light. But overall, I have to hand it to Madonna. At age 47, it's impressive that she can still make an album that's this fun and at times quite enthralling. You certainly won't see something like this from Britney Spears in 25 years.