The Queen of Pop has done it again and offered her fans and music impresarios alike a musical performance to be remembered. Madonna: Drowned World Tour--filmed in her home town of Detroit on August 26, 2001--is an amazing pop concert and a visually stunning modern-dance and multi-media piece encompassing all the recent incarnations of this chameleon-like performer. Never one to shy away from championing new styles, both in clothes and music, Madonna is still as raunchy as she was on her Erotica tour, but the Drowned World Tour also offers a much more effeminate and intelligent side to her performance. This time we see a Geisha/Japanese performance during "Frozen" and a jokey southern-belle line-dancing romp during "Don't Tell Me".

The monarch of performance has also discovered the best way to undergo an elaborate costume change without keeping your audience waiting--simply ply them with stunningly directed music videos on a multitude of screens and hang two solitary male dancers upside down to perform feats of dance perfection. This truly impressive show holds as much for Madonna fans as it does for anyone who is interested in studying modern performance and dance routines--and Madonna is certainly well versed enough to teach in this field with almost 20 successful years in the business. The Drowned World Tour--rumoured to be her last live show--goes to prove that Madonna still reigns supreme.

On the DVD: Although the special features are hardly a ray of light--simply an impressive photo gallery and some Web links--the picture and sound on this DVD are excellent. As a champion of all things new Madonna's DVD uses a picture perfect format of 4:3, and superb sound quality: with a choice of Dolby Digital 2.0, 5.1 and DTS 5.1 you'll feel like you're at the concert in a prime seat. Another impressive feature is the ability to view the song lyrics, allowing you to strut around your living room like a prima donna with this glamorous version of Karaoke! --Nikki Disney

In the world of music video looks are indeed everything and few stars have been better suited to exploiting the constantly mutating tastes of MTV faddism than the woman who literally looks like a million dollars. Showcasing Madonna's gift for associating herself with the prime movers in music and style, all the videos collected in this comprehensive two-disc collection are beautifully shot and instantly evoke the mood swings of popular culture in the 1980s and 90s. The Immaculate Collectioncovers the earlier period from "Lucky Star" to "Vogue", with highlights including the Catholic soap-opera of "Papa Don't Preach" and the videos for "Express Yourself", "Oh Father" and "Vogue" that helped send David Fincher on this way to directing features such as Seven and Fight Club.

A Fincher video for "Bad Girl" also opens the second collection, covering the years 1993 to 1999, with Mark Romanek's treatment for "Rain" the standout offering from the first eight songs. Despite these early highlights, however, there is no denying the degree to which the videos get noticeably better overall when good songs are the driving force in the collection's second half, comprising five tracks from the Ray of Light album and the Austin Powers theme "Beautiful Stranger". Compared to the lightweight covers of "Fever" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore", the pseudo-surrealism of "Bedtime Story", and flimsy flirtation with S&M in "Human Nature" these later videos are marked improvements. Although the Thomas Crown Affair eroticism of "The Power of Goodbye" already seems a little dated, the morphing black witch of "Frozen" and life on speed of "Ray of Light" are both wonderfully realised. Best of all is the closing moment of "Substitute for Love" when, having survived paparazzi harassment and the harsh, transmogrifying faces of the crowd, Madonna and child conjure a truly arresting moment of private joy and vindication. Nowhere is her ability to take the potentially embarrassing and make it both playful and moving more evident.

Neither disc features any extra components, but the excellent sound quality is a reminder of why the music video format has been rejuvenated by DVD; buy The Ultimate Collection and your greatest hits CD will never seem quite the same again. --Steve Napleton