American Life, TIPS

The Material Girl won8217;t give up so soon. Not for another decade at least.

Madonna hangs onto her Music wave in her new album American Life, which will kick up a ruckus on the club scene, but won8217;t do a thing for those who8217;ve grown up on her music.

The title track is a techno-based feel-good number that waxes eloquent about the Yankee way of life. Its video, surprisingly, packs in none of the punch, making do with the done-to-death imagery of national flags.

Unfortunately, both Nobody Knows Me and I8217;m So Stupid are very similar to Die Another Day because of the digitised vocal overkill. And only the more mellow Nothing Fails, very reminiscent of the singer8217;s True Blue days, gives away that Madonna isn8217;t a complete electronica convert. X-Static Process is a soul search and a love song that lifts the entire album with its impeccable string arrangement.