One half expects to lick open the case of this CD and see a free gift of Madonna's public hairs float to the floor. 'Sex', her new book, contains a free CD featuring the title track from this album and alongside one of its many sexually explicit photographs contains a caption written by Ms. Ciccone who claims "I love my pussy. I think it's the complete summation of my life".

Maybe she's kidding. Maybe she's not. But few would deny that if ever a woman tapped into her vaginal juices to create music it is Madonna. Not that there's anything fundamentally wrong with that. Male singers have exploited the same source of sexual energy since the days of Rudy Valee, the early 20th century crooner secretly known by his fans as "the man with a cock in his voice".

And true to her increasingly manipulative role as the ultimate tease in pop music, the opening track of this album delivers far less than its title promises. A stick on the CD warns that Erotica contains language that some people may find offensive but playing it safe Madonna never finishes the couplet "I'll hit you like a truck/I'll give you love/I'll teach you how to…" Clever woman.