The first word is, its music for sex and working out. Sounds good to me! Justin Timberlake helped write several songs on the new cd. Can't wait as usual.

I hope the rest of it is better than "4 Minutes of Your Life You'll Never Get Back" because that "song" is a total non-event especially considering everyone involved.

There were two early leaks off of the cd, "The Beat Goes On" and "Candy Shop", both of which are horrible in my opinion. I wish Madonna would stay away from R&B, but what do I know? "Candy Shop," in particular, is heinous. My expectations were so low that "4 Minutes" sounds like the best song ever written compared to the other two. Granted, they were leaks, so hopefully they've been given some polish and production by now. But the lyrics are God awful.

In "The Beat Goes On," Madonna sings with Pharrell and they start by saying "I'm tired of doing the same old thing ... let's give them something to think about." Well, all you will think about is how stupid the song is when she sings, "Always the bride's maid, never the bride. Two steps behind, you've got too much pride. Always supporting, never ze star. Get it together, because the beat goes on." Huh?

I ask you, would someone who's always a bride's maid and always supporting have too much pride?

Confessions was such a brilliant cd, it was always going to be hard to follow. And I'm sure there will be some good songs on Hard Candy. But, if you want music to dance and have sex to, I'd check out Janet Jackson's new cd.

"Candy shop" is one of the highlights, in my opinion, and the overhauled version of "The beat goes on" is pretty dreamy. The rest of the album (apart from the forgettable "4 minutes") is more reminiscent of the last two Kylie Minogue LPs than anything else - state of the art dance pop with flourishes of 80s electro and hip-hop and "r&b" (whatever that means anymore). It's a much more interesting and cohesive album than her last few, certainly, even if the cover art is just astonishingly hideous.

As for the lyrics, well...it is Madonna, after all.

After I listened to Damita Jo once -- and never again, and didn't even put it on my iPod once I bought one -- Janet dropped off my list of automatic buys. Nothing I've heard on the radio from her last two CDs has made me change my mind about that.

Madonna is still on the list, though. I do like "4 Minutes" though I hope better songs are on the album.

Ursa, sounds like the sound style might be alot like "Ray of Light" maybe? Hope so. I LOVED "Ray of Light."

No, it's much more gritty, much more direct than Ray of Light. It's got some ass to it. And it's not as ethereal, sonically or lyrically.

If I had to compare it to anything in her catalog, it'd be closer to the first album-meets-Music. But even that doesn't really do it justice.

At first, I was not a big fan of "Candy Shop". I removed it from my "Now" playlist weeks ago after only a few spins, but only recently put it back on. It's growing on me, but I still find myself skipping over the song more often than listening to it. The same goes for "4 Minutes". I will buy "Hard Candy', but I'm finding myself less interested in Madonna with each passing year. Miss Kylie has definitely passed her on my "must buy" list.

I have heard over the weekend some more leaks from cd and it's much better than I had expected it would be. "The Beat Goes On" has been completely overhauled and the corny lyrics are all but gone. It's much improved. And a couple of the songs are everything I'd ever want from Madge, like "Heartbeat", "Miles Away" (my favorite so far) and "She's Not Me." So I am actually much more excited for Hard Candy now than I was on Friday when I added my thoughts.

That said, "Candy Shop" is exactly the same and still horrible to my ears. I am not expecting Madonna to give you anything mind-blowing lyrically, but that doesn't mean her lyrics have to be bad. So much of her best music - "Sorry", "Live To Tell", "Isaac", "Nothing Fails", "What It Feels Like For A Girl" - has lyrics that are actually perfect, emotionally deep if not philosophically so.

For me, in terms of "Candy Shop," that sugar is stale.

A couple of weeks ago, Madonna was interviewed on The Mix - Eric & Kathy morning show. She talked about her song with Justin 'Timberland' ... she called him 'Timberland' twice!!

She doesn't even know who she is working with anymore, scary. Of course nobody corrected her. :-)

Maybe she was referring to Justin Timberlake and Timbaland as a team -- Timber-land? They both worked on the album with her.

Gaga Baby, I totally agree with you. The cd is much better than I was expecting. Some of the tracks I'm really enjoying are "Voices", "Beat Goes On", "Miles Away", "Give It 2 Me" (except for the break mid way through the song...to the left to the left....). "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" definitely sounds like a Timbaland song.

Lots of synths on the cd and the cd is a toe tapper/head bobber.

I'm definitely buying the physical cd of "Hard Candy".

I love people who are in total agreement with me!

A lot of the songs have those odd breaks in them. Why Madge, why? All that "get stoopid, get stoopdid" and "shake my booty" blah blah holds the music back.

I am nonetheless in love with
"Miles Away" and "She's Not Me". The retro 70s whistle in the latter rocks my world. And I think "incredible" is gonna be a grower, not a show-er. I like the turn of verse at the end.

If I had to compare it to a past Madonna cd, I would pick American Life: a cd with hidden gems that is bogged down by Madonna trying too hard at an image.

Ok, my least favorite song on the cd is "Spanish Lesson". I just can't listen to the entire song.

"Incredible" sounds like a song that is a hybrid of Madonna & Kylie.

I just got done reading a very favorable review of "Hard Candy", in my Sunday paper. Rolling Stone gives it 4 stars, and another music review gave it a B+. Will have to invest in this one on Tuesday me thinks.

Entertainment Weekly gave it a good review, for what it's worth. I'm getting it anyway (my Amazon order shipped today, they e-mailed), though, no matter what the reviewers said.

I caught some of Ellen Degeneres this morning and she opened with one of Madonnas new songs, whose name escapes me, but the song was hot, Hot HOT!!!!! Ellen said she LOVED this album....loved the song whose name escapes me. I saw a commercial for it though at Target where its on sale for like $9.88, a must !!!

The local record store was $16.98--Amazon $9.99. I'll report back on Thursday

So I listened to it a couple times last night. First impression is that it'll have to grow on me a little. I don't instantly love it the way I did her last album.

Its is a grower versus a show-er . I picked it up today. Hard to classify if one must. I would say, sophisticated uptown urban...I guess. But, its got a few MONSTERS on it. Toe tappers, hip shakers. Hard to keep from moving kinda songs. A couple songs, that initially didn't do too much for me, but overall I am most pleased, and I am sure it will grow more on me. I would also say its perfectly suited to a boom boom car stereo as well. The inside notes are quite nasty.

Hard Candy debuts at number one. It's her 7th number one album -- among female artists only Barbra Streisand has had more.

It's Madonna's 4th straight #1 studio album. Oddly enough, says the article, she had three #1's in the 80s, none in the 90s, and now 4 in the 00s.

It sold about 280,000 in its first week -- higher than American Life (241,000) but lower than Confessions On A Dance Floor (350,000).

I'm still trying to decide whether Hard Candy is Madonna's re-entry into the mainstream or a final admission that she just isn't relevant any more on an innovation level. It's probably both. Either way, most of the songs have burrowed their way into my head the last few days, especially the collaborations. Some of the lyrics are embarrassing but that's not a huge deal.

"Some of the lyrics are embarrassing but that's not a huge deal." That's normal for her, but the songs are usually fun or affective just the same.

While listening to "Dance2night" the other day, which I LOVE, it occured to me, this kind of reminds me of Grace Jones' "Pull up to the bumper" quite a bit...

It reminds me of some other song entirely. I haven't quite placed which one. I should look at the credits and see if they sample something in the recording.

I love her music, she is my idol

This is probably needless to say, but the album has grown on me.

She's supposed to be touring again at some point.

I love Madonna, but thus far I'm not crazy about this album. A lot of it sounds like a generic Timbaland-produced dance album. The infectious beats from "Confessions on a Dance Floor" are missing, and her vocals sound diembodied and, well, disinterested.

Of course, that didn't stop me from buying tickets online this morning - October 7th at Madison Square Garden, and then again the night before Thanksgiving at Dolphin Stadium. BTW, Madonna has realized that her fan base is aging - performances begin at 7:00 instead of 8:00!

That might be just a night-before-Thanksgiving time. She's listed for a Phila. show Nov. 19th at 8 pm. Tickets aren't on sale yet.

Talk about product placement. Besides the four songs from the album used in the Ugly Betty season finale, at the movies today I saw a new "turn off your cellphone" message featuring some of the cast of the new Get Smart movie, and they used "4 Minutes" in the message.

I've got me 2 tickets to Madonna's show here in November. Not very good tickets, thanks to the high prices, but still...