Madonna on the Höhepunt her career

Few artists are on their way so much in constant metamorphosis as Madonna. So she has, without ever leaving the path of the mainstream, getting as much vanguard in order to reach a wide audience
Even if everywhere their strong influence on their own albums is praised, it is but the added solid producers who audrücken the albums left their mark, whether Jellybean, Nellee Hooper or here William Orbit. He helps have the like other aging artists there too many attempts at that time almost 40 years on "Ray of Light" to an unprecedented fresh, progressive and contemporary music, without chumming the zeitgeist.
Greatest asset is the strong songs. The very first single "Frozen" with its oriental-style melody shows the excellent songwriting serves as a basis here. In coated Orbit its characteristic sound fireworks from bleeps and blings, wide Synthyflächen with excessive filter sweeps, frequent tempo and mood changes within the songs and intricate rhythms Nevertheless, the tonality of the pieces is not machine-like.
The opener "Substitute of love" begins spotted at poetry, then slowly build up to a large widescreen finale. "Ray of Light" impressed with driving pace.
The incantatory "Shanti" with its dark-Industrial Beat could have well come from a Depeche Mode album.
The voice that on previous albums has little importance is placed here advantageous in scene. Forced through various filter effect gets Madonna's voice almost anything exemplary instrument, without the effects as Cher are exaggerated to the point of caricature. Even a song like "Ray of Light" works in its own way, even though the singer partially acts here beyond their vocal abilities. Properly captivating it is where it ensures intimacy, eg "Frozen" with the gently hummed chorus, or "Little Star" where she sings of her daughter.
The production is detailed and effective love, begrudge the songs but plenty of room to breathe. Unlike the incredibly cool-relaxed predecessor "Bedtime Stories" the music has also in quiet passages a subliminal nervous heartbeat that drives the song forward.
The texts are negligible since time immemorial, so here also. A somewhat crude mixture of self-realization, religious impulses are a step away from earlier "Bobo have fun" texts, make of it but no Carole King.
So this album is one of its highlights, a perfect balance between commercialism and Independent, brittle, yet accessible, modern but not trendy: so Björk was Madonna never before or since. An album without a trailer of the Queen of Pop.