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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Madonna's 'Revolver' - Great song, mediocre remixes, February 2, 2010
This review is from: Revolver (Mixes) (Audio CD)
'Revolver' is the second new track released from Madonna's 2009 career-spanning greatest hits album Celebration (2 CD) REMASTERED. While the album's title track was stylistically similar to the sound and vibe of her Confessions on a Dance Floor era, 'Revolver' is a track that is far more hip and urban-sounding like most of Hard Candy. 'Revolver' is definitely one of my favorite Madonna songs of the 2000s; she back to using double entendre lyrics, making some rather bold statements about how her 'sex is a killer' while asking the listener if he/she wants to 'die happy'. The original album track has been compared to Britney Spears' song 'Radar' but I didn't really feel that was the case. This song features a much bolder, fun Madonna that's (in my opinion) been absent from the scene for a while. Instead of singing of political statements (as with American Life) or picking up the disco-queen mantle (as with Hung Up) she puts out a song that, yes, uses auto-tune to create some pretty interesting musical moments. Now, we have a single release that features some remixes. I'll be honest; the best mix of 'Revolver' for me was the original album mix. It felt like a real remix with a sick beat, felt edgy and fresh, even featured Lil' Wayne (though his verse wasn't great; it was nice to hear Madonna paired with her musical polar opposite). The mixes on this release are okay; they're very club orientated, a bit repetitive, but decent. Surprisingly enough, the bonus mixes of 'Celebration' are probably superior to the 'Revolver' mixes.
The Good: I felt the Tracy Young mix of the song was better than the other two. It was fast paced, had a big sound and really made the song feel a bit more epic and exciting. I liked that it incorporated the sound of a revolver toward the end being loaded and shot and with her treatment of the mix and song, I didn't mind that the mix just focused on one or two lines from the song (mainly the 'my love's a revolver' and 'do you wanna die happy?' lines). David Guetta's mixes were the next best; his mix actually uses more verses from the original track and he even offers a mix on here that features Lil Wayne like the original album version. The mix of 'Celebration' featuring Akon happens to be another David Guetta production. Again, it's almost better than the mixes for 'Revolver'. He completely re-made the song and kept with the exciting, party vibe that the original album version had. Though it gets a bit murky and less interesting toward the end, it's still a great mix and after listening to it I wished he'd taken the same approach and liberties with his mix of 'Revolver' that he did with 'Celebration'. I really liked the Fegluk mix of 'Celebration' because it used a line or two that was overlooked in the other remixes featured on the Celebration single release.
The Bad: I wasn't crazy about the Paul van Dyk mix when compared to the other mixes. Again, it felt a bit repetitive and unimaginative, even if it did use more verses from the original. I was hoping for more from all of the remixes in general; the mixes as a whole were a bit underwhelming because it felt like each remixer missed the mark by either not using more material from the original track or by harping on one line played over a generic club beat.
In all, is 'Revolver' a good song? Yes. Is this single release one of Madonna's best? No, not in my opinion. It's a bit generic and repetitive and I wish it had included a few more tracks and remixes from other producers just to add in some variety because the three mixes from Guetta are pretty much the same mix, and the dub from van Dyk seems really unnecessary and skippable and the two 'Celebration' mixes, while being very good, seem a bit random and out of place considering this is Madonna's last maxi single/remix single to be released by Warner before her contract with Live Nation begins. In all, it's definitely a must for any Madonna fan and is still a good buy for the casual music fan and for those looking for some good pop/dance music.
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