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There are few genres in which a live album can be well and truly enhanced. Examples of these that are traditionally favourable include jazz and blues with certain ‘great nights’ being forever preserved in these recordings (case in point is Sam Cooke’s 1963 recording Live At The Harlem Square Club which is undoubtedly one of the best blues albums ever produced). In terms of pop and rock these albums tend to be more disposable. As such, with the release of Madonna’s third attempt at a live album entitled Sticky and Sweet Tour, the question that immediately crops up is whether there should have even been an attempt number one.
Madonna first stepped into the foray of live albums back in 2006 with the release of I’m Going to Tell You a Secret which, to be fair, was a decent stab. However, the signs of promise were immediately dashed upon attempt number two, The Confessions Tour, which was incredibly painful to listen to. Sadly this depreciation has continued further with Sticky and Sweet Tour which can easily be dubbed as the worst album she has ever produced.
The fact that this is so astoundingly poor is not helped by the fact that the majority of material on the CD originate from her last studio album Hard Candy which was one of her weakest efforts to date. The main reason that this album falls flat is that it stands as a mockery of anyone who is unable to afford to attend one of her gigs. There are times where there are musical interludes where movement can be heard which drives the crowd wild but leaves the casual listener bored and confused. Such is the bad editing here that there are moments where there is no music at all only the cheers. This may sound like sour grapes but it calls to memory the morning after a great party that everyone is talking about the next day to which you were not invited (minus the anger/sadness).
Special mention has to be made for the many sincere cringe-worthy moments which lightly pepper this album. Choice examples include orgasm noises in ‘Music’, superfluous swearing (seriously, who is she kidding anymore?) and the fact that she is singing a song entitled ‘Spanish Lesson’ to a group of Argentines. The latter of these stands as one of her worst album tracks and the playing of it in front of a Spanish-speaking audience sits very weirdly. Another strange choice was the mash-up of ‘La Isla Bonita’ with a Klezmer band; whether this was a Kabbalah move or not, someone needs to speak up and tell her when such weirdness refuses to work.
The fact that there is one track that ended up sounding fantastic (the much underrated ‘Devil Wouldn’t Recognise You’) doesn’t detract from the fact that this is something Madonna should never have tried her hand at. All we can hope for is that after Sticky And Sweet Tour she gets bored with this escapade and does something else like her own range of office furniture.
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