Madonna no lightweight

She's done it again.

Madonna has manufactured yet another startling new image for herself - the Mother of All Dance Divas. It's set in plastic on her latest self-indulgent, groove-laden CD, in stores Tuesday.

Marked by the space-age electronic creations of dance music producer William Orbit - often entertaining in themselves - Ray of Light is Madonna's darkest and most personal album yet. Given the safe, lightweight crap she's released up to now, it represents a giant leap forward.

Possessing a merely ordinary voice and a knack for writing trite rhyming couplets that wouldn't be out of place in a high school poetry contest are only minor, not major flaws on this album. The opening Drowned World/Substitute for Love reveals mature reflection among a myriad of shifting rhythms. It's like an inside look at the history of a pop superstar who marketed herself as a sex object: "I traded fame for love/without a second thought ... had so many lovers/who settled for the thrill/of basking in my spotlight."

Some tracks, like Swim - with its stream of "conscience" theme - look outward into a catalogue of the world's problems, while others exude the steamy sexuality Madonna's been famous for in the past. Candy Perfume Girl and Skin are two examples.

As you might also expect, at least two songs turn out to be tributes to her baby daughter. Most obvious is the slight but charming Little Star ("God gave a present to me made of flesh and bones" and so on). Motherhood has clearly had a profound effect on her music.

In a career that's spanned Material Girl, Aluminum Queen and Sex^TM Goddess, Madonna's latest incarnation could be the most interesting yet. She's still got style, but this time there's a little substance to go with it.

Track Listing 1. Drowned World/Substitute for Love (5:08) 2. Swim (5:00) 3. Ray of light (5:20) 4. Candy perfume girl (4:36) 5. Skin (6:21) 6. Nothing really matters (4:26) 7. Sky fits heaven (4:47) 8. Santi/Ashtangi (4:28) 9. Frozen (6:12) 10. The power of goodbye (4:12) 11. To have and not to hold (5:22) 12. Little girl (5:18) 13. Mer girl (5:31)		Album rating