1998 Madonna: Frozen

Though a fixture on these pages during the eighties, it's been quiet on the Madonna front of late. Top ten singles have been plentiful in the meantime, but it's been eight years since her last number one, a long time between hits for any dance/pop act. Why? Well any number of reasons could be offered up for debate, but I'm happy to put it down to a series of weak singles and weaker albums where an eye off the ball Madonna moved away from what she does best (i.e. dance music) to firstly flog a more overtly sexual image in seemingly a Cnut type attempt to deny the passing of time before a handbrake turn into the much coveted lead role in the 1997 film version of 'Evita'. Either way, there wasn't a lot of fun to be had for the average fan.

There's not much fun in 'Frozen' either; lead single from the heavily trailed 'Ray Of Light' album, the whole was hyped as a re-boot and relaunching of the Madonna brand to slip it into something more serious, and from the opening bars even the casual listener could tell a change was in the air. Not so much in terms of the music I think - much of 'Frozen' has too much precedent in 'Like A Prayer' before the beats started rolling for this to be completely virgin territory, but in Madonna herself. Never a convincing balladeer on past releases, the vocal lessons undertaken as part of her work on of 'Evita' have paid off and she delivers 'Frozen' with a hands off, measured maturity as the one time 'boy toy' tries to melt the heart of a man who doesn't care.

Is it surprising to report that a song called 'Frozen' sounds cold and distant? Not really - being deliberately more Sunday morning than Saturday night was part of the package, but what is surprising is how badly William Orbit's once famed production has dated; what once was hailed as fresh and innovative now only serves as a distraction. The cold burn Eastern string flourishes and rain on tin drum shuffle still create and maintain an atmospheric drive, but Orbit's trademark echo drenched percussive skitter and bursts now bleep like cashed in and tacked on trip hop throwbacks in a song which would in any case shimmer in its own cool frigidity without them.

Frigid? That's not something you can say about too much of Madonna's work and the asexual longing of her vocal is a move away from the norm for an artist not averse to lacing her output with rampant sexuality. Neither siren, flirt, tease or predator 'Frozen' is Madonna painted as vulnerable, an older, wiser being with the understanding that, unlike the cocksure "I've had to work much harder than this, for something I want don't try to resist me. Open your heart to me, baby" on 1986's 'Open Your Heart', love is isn't an asset any material girl can demand. Hindsight has shown that the maturity didn't last and Ms Ciccone would soon revert to type in releasing inconsequential albums ('American Life' anyone?) and wiggling her arse to let sex sell her product. 'Frozen' , however, remains an impressive statement from the 'new' Madonna for as long as she lasted, and in the final analysis it will be as indicative of her talent as anything in her catalogue.