Madonna's 'Hard Candy' aims for urban dance

"Hard Candy," Madonna (Warner Bros.)

Madonna may be a 49-year-old working mom, but she still loves her dance floor, her catsuits 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 Confessions on a Dance Floor with thunderous, uptempo 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. But while the tunes are not edgy, they still make your booty shake.

However, there's still a tendency on Hard Candy toward too many throwaway dance cliches. "Get stupid, get stupid, don't stop," she proclaims 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 call out: "Get down, beep-beep, gotta get up out of your seat."

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.