Never one to forgo controversy, Madonna was the first celebrity to publicly taunt Catholicism, flaunt her body and vaunt gay culture, and all within the first 10 years of her career.

Strong, tough, and in-your-face, Madonna is known for her don’t-give-a-f*ck attitude and widespread opinions, so it should be no surprise that her latest video has managed to yet again rock the foundation of popular music to its core.

But how brave is throwing hand grenades during a fashion show, cavorting with a brigade of female soldiers and flashing images documenting the atrocities of war, when at the end of the day all she has to do is go home to her rich husband and darling children?

In fact, on her latest CD, Madonna makes having a lawyer, a manager, an agent, three nannies and a jet sound like a pretty sad life. And a weird one at that. But such is the American Life that Madonna unveils today — an overall interesting, personal record you too often have to peel back a lot of layers to find.

Just trying to listen to this CD (prior to its release) required a lot of extra effort in itself. Attempts at downloading the tracks off popular media-sharing databases such as KaZaA will only turn up phony tracks with a recording of the Material Girl ostracizing the listener with the words, “What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?” That leaves only MTV.com as a place to preview the new album, and the time and effort required to download each song track by track leaves the listener hoping that the songs themselves will really be worth all the extra effort.

From the moment American Life comes on, it’s clear this isn’t the super-confident pop star we’ve heard for more than two decades now. The first lines: “Do I have to change my name? /Will it get me far? Should I lose some weight? Am I gonna be a star?” Then come the annoying keyboard twangs, followed by an almost incongruous acoustic guitar, followed by some semblance of a song structure, followed by the title track’s final insult — a crappy “rap” listing her managers, talking about double shots of soy latte and so on.

The dismal pattern continues on other songs. Madonna has insightful and obviously pressing things to say about topics such as her lonely upbringing, as evidenced by the track “Mother and Father,” the pursuit of fame, shown on “American Life,” and the effects that that fame creates, in the aptly titled “I’m So Stupid.” But just when she’s got the listener’s attention, in comes an abrupt turn in arrangement or lyrical direction that distracts listeners from the interest she worked so hard to create.

Sometimes, what seems to be Madonna’s newfound insistence that all her music have a techno beat works really well for her, as on the track “Nobody Knows Me.” Other times, the annoying and unnecessary digitalization of songs like “I’m So Stupid” leaves the listener wondering when she will realize that enough is enough.

Madonna has a pretty good voice, and when she allows the music to focus on that rather than trip-hop musical stylings, the album manages to achieve some of the success her earlier works perpetuated.

Breezy tracks such as the second single, “Hollywood,” glide along with the theme of early ’70s folk music, and it’s on tracks such as this that fans will truly appreciate the Material Mom for who she is.

Although Madonna often tries to stay “fresh” and “hip” in her constant rejection of the establishment, it is only through adherence to the musical standards that she truly achieves cohesion.

Grade: B/C