DANCE/POP

"Hard Candy"

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Madonna. "Hard Candy." 12 tracks.

Grade: B

Madonna may be a working mom pushing 50, but she still loves her dance floor, her cat suits and her pop hooks.

She's also an expert chameleon, co-opting current musical tastes for her own pleasure. In the case of "Hard Candy," her final studio album for Warner Bros. following a landmark deal with concert promoter Live Nation, Madonna aims high, enlisting two of music's heavyweight producers — Timbaland and the Neptunes.

The album jumps off the disco of 2005's "Confession on a Dancefloor" with thunderous, up-tempo club grinds but also some surprisingly dark moments. The Neptunes — the production duo of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo — add retro-synth beats while Timbaland punches up the power R&B, along with Justin Timberlake and Nate (Danja) Hills.

Madonna co-wrote and co-produced the album's 12 tracks, which swerve from the psychedelic-horn blitz of the Timbaland-produced hit "4 Minutes" to the swooping drama of "Voices."

The album's sound is not original: After all, the Neptunes and Timbaland are arguably the most ubiquitous hitmakers in the business, and have done the urban dance pop treatment for the likes of Gwen Stefani and Nelly Furtado (Chad Hugo and Timbaland are even on the new Ashlee Simpson record — enough said). But while the tunes are not edgy, they still make your booty shake.

"My sugar is raw / Sticky and sweet," Madonna intones on the Neptunes-produced intro "Candy Shop," fusing heavy beats with "Like a Virgin" coy sex appeal and a later falsetto reminiscent of Britney Spears.

"4 Minutes," one of the album's best tunes, explodes with Timbaland's repetition of "fricke-fricke-four minutes!" as Madonna and Timberlake exchange shout-outs. Their voices, oozed through thick production, complement each other nicely (although their sexual repartee can feel a bit forced).

On "Confessions on a Dancefloor," Madonna delved into her religious beliefs with a song about Kabbalah; on 2003's "American Life," she jumped into political commentary.

Here, she steers clear of family, religion and politics, sticking to mainstream fodder: sex, dancing, relationships. But there are three tunes that shed the party vibe and reveal some necessary vulnerability.

"Miles Away" laments being far away from a love, while "Voices" focuses on demons plaguing a romance.

However, there's still a tendency on "Hard Candy" toward too many throwaway dance clichés. "Get stupid, get stupid, don't stop," she proclaims teen-style on "Give It to Me," a catchy synth jam with sputtering riffs sure to be another single.

Disappointingly, "Beat Goes On," Madonna's outing with Kanye West, recedes into retro disco territory with a tired callout: "Get down, beep beep, gotta get up out of your seat." Yawn.

Still, the beats boom out loud and clear. Madonna may be strutting her way into AARP territory, but she still belongs on that forever shimmering dance floor.

— Solvej Schou, Associated Press