Madison Park - In The Stars
By: Evelyn Miska |
Monday July 24, 2006 |
 
|
Genreelectronica PublisherBasicLUX Records External Links |
Contrary to popular belief, slick looking album art with a pretty girl on the
front will not provide salvation (or record sales). Especially if it is 2006
and your music sounds like a bad knock-off of Madonna circa 1998. Too bad for
Madison Park because no matter how nice singer DeAnna Cool looks on the front
of the packaging, it doesn't make up for what's found inside. In The
Stars will get your heart rate up and your body moving, but it will be
towards your sound system to stop the music before your eardrums try to
strangle your brain.
Before I am written off immediately as a dance/electronica hater, let me say
that there is something special about a truly good dance track. The good ones
magically compel even the most embittered soul to get up and boogie, at least
for one song. All that matters for a dance track to be good and fun is whether
or not it makes you want to get up and move your butt. This is not one of
those
albums. Of the twelve tracks, there are two, at most, that would make this cut.
Madison Park's second album is so lacking in enthusiasm, originality or joie de
vivre that it was work just to make it through the album for the sake of
writing this review. Rather than beginning the album with a killer track to
hook any listener brave enough to pick up the album, the duo begins with "All
About the Groove," a track that can only be described as a desperate attempt to
be hip but the only people that might find it so are mid-40 ex-sorority girls
that think they're still in their twenties.
What might have been a better approach would have been to open up with one of
the two songs that actually have a fast enough tempo to encourage listeners to
both keep listening and not fall asleep. "More Than This" comes a bit late in
the album and verges pretty close to sounding like Cher's "Believe," I suppose
there are worse artists Madison Park could select to emulate. Similarly,
"I'm Listening" has a bit of that Cher influence as well, but it results in one
of the best songs on the whole album. It still isn't terribly original, but of
all twelve songs, probably stands the best chance of being played at a club.
Overall, though, the album isn't much to write home about. "Dancing Away All My
Time" is a poorly done Madonna rip-off and the vocals don't even seem to fit
with the over-produced electronica in the background. Also, if you, for some
reason, need a song about stars by a questionably talented blonde chanteuse, go
for Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind" over Madison Park's In The Stars.
Oddly enough, Paris' song actually appeals more than this track.
In general, In The Stars suffers from overproduction and a lack of
originality. Cool's voice is pretty good but one has to wonder if it might be
better displayed in a different musical genre.
