Ok, downloaded this at 1.04am, here are my groggy first impressions. Only the regular edition by the way, not deluxe. Not made of money.
Girl Gone Wild
Sounds somewhat better on record, maybe it was a grower after all. Although the "forgive me father" spoken word intro is pretentious as hell. Moving on.
Gang Bang
"Impressive instant"? Very gay disco pulse. Could've been on "Music" if it wasn't for the somewhat superfluous dubstep breakdown. The shouting "drive bitch/die bitch" outro is self-indulgent, but actually fits the whole "drug/club" atmosphere.
I'm Addicted
Pretty addictive... a very "Confessions on a Dancefloor" electrodisco number, with a ravey euphoric breakdown. "MDNA" chant at the end is perhaps a bit of a cop out, but this is still better than both the singles combined.
Turn Up The Radio
Ah, we're back to genericity, just when I was beginning to get into the druggy feel. Some nice chord sequences, but this is "Girls Gone Wild"-esque sing-song chart Guetta-dance.
Give Me All Your Luvin' (feat. Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.)
Sounds pretty dull in the context. This isn't classic Madonna.
Some Girls
"Fake tits and a nasty mood?" Ew, Madge. This is similar to "Gang Bang" in it's 70s gay disco feel. "Confessions"-esque again. Vocoder-tastic, but actually kind of quirky and enjoyable.
Superstar
Oh god, another "Give Me All Your Luvin'" style 'Hey Mickey' sugar-sweet pop number. Oh wait no, it's worse. A sing-song yawnfest that sounds a bit all over the place too, unfinished like. Oh and what the hell is this?! A dubstep-lite breakdown?! WHY?! Definately the worst track so far.
I Don't Give A... (feat. Nicki Minaj)
Trust Madonna to have a lyric like "Walk outside, shake my ass, I know how to multitask". Mid-tempo swagger-pop, but something strangely likeable about it... a pretty good hip hop beat. Nicki Minaj sounds much better here, less hysterical, more "gangsta". Has a wiff of "Let Me Blow Your Mind" by Eve. Dramatic choir outro that N-Dubz would've loved.
I'm A Sinner
Typical latter day Madonna thanks to William Orbit. Could almost fit onto "Ray of Light" or "Music" with its crunchy dance beats and dusty guitar loops. Very "Beautiful Stranger" actually. The lyrics cheapen it a bit, but it's nice to hear Orbit use some "RoL" tricks.
Love Spent
Banjo... sharp electro beats and nintendo synths. This is very "American Life" in its melancholy robot ways. Goes a bit Hi-NRG at 1.40. Not bad, but loses it's way a bit towards the end. There have been a lot of 'pleasant' tracks in a row by now, need some wowing here.
Masterpiece
Heard this one too. It's a very soothing ballad with a lovely chorus. Not as good as "Devil Wouldn't Recognise Me" from "Hard Candy", but still heads and shoulders over almost everything else here.
Another ballad, sweeping, subtle yet symphonic. This is actually very elegant sounding and quite beautiful, like most of Madonna's latter day ballads. A great closer, it's hard to believe that "Masterpiece" and "Falling Free" are from the same album as "Girl Gone Wild" and "Give Me All Your Luvin'"
So first impressions are mixed. "MDNA" is a bit inconsistent, unsure of what it really wants to be. You've got the chart-hungry stuff, which is fairly dire, the underground disco stuff, which could've dominated this album successfully, the closing ballads which are rather gorgeous, and then a couple of tracks that don't really know where they stand.
Would've been nice for her just to work with one producer rather than two as different as Martin Solveig and William Orbit. But on the whole, I don't think she's totally shot herself in the foot here, there's the occasional inspired stroke here and there. But truth be told, not enough to really warrant coming back to more than about 4 tracks, 5 tops.
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