There’s no shortage of Madonna books on the market, though the white heat of her global celebrity means that publishers often have a tendency to overlook the actual music she’s made. Blond Ambition may not reveal much in the way of fresh biographical detail, but it scores in its detailed critique of every song on every album, as well as extra-curricular studio activity and the nuts-and-bolts of her stage shows.
Unusually, the co-authors write separately, the latter taking over from the former in the mid-90s, at the point where Madonna campaigns for (and wins) the role of Eva Peron in the film version of Evita. Hence, Easlea has the more substantial elements to get his teeth into: the Nile Rodgers magic that made Like A Virgin such a pivotal album, the slick pop makeover of True Blue and the daring high watermark of Like A Prayer.
It’s in these pages that we learn of Madonna’s drive and ruthlessness, Easlea’s brilliant analysis pulling together the threads of not just the singer’s past but of the changing face of dance and pop music. With the exception of 1998’s Ray Of Light (the last truly great album), Fiegel is tasked with chronicling a career of diminishing creative returns, both in the studio and on the film set, a patchwork of so-so music and shrug-inducing gossip column mentions.
