Tag: Madonna

Closing the chapter on the Erotica/SEX book era, Madonna continued into the 90s with a gaggle of co-songwriters/producers/arrangers on 1994’s Bedtime Stories. Initially working with producer Shep Pettibone, Madonna decided to move in an R+B/New Jack Swing direction with several producers including mega producers Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Brit Nelle Hooper.

The album starts off promising with “Survival” a decent track with this new sound before the acoustic guitar driven single, “Secret” appears. A simple but effective beat creates a groove and while the chorus is also simple, the “mmmm, something’s coming over me” was easy for 20 somethings to sing on a drunken dancefloor. However, the nifty bass work from Meshell Ndegeocello cannot save the inane lyrics of “I’d Rather Be Your Lover”, better is the pop fun of “Don’t Stop”

Nellee Hooper lays down laid back grooves on several tracks including “Sanctuary” that contains a Herbie Hancock sample. Intriguingly, Bjork co-writes “Bedtime Story”, a throbbing beat that sees Madonna’s vocals float over top. The song points to the future sound that Madonna will carry on with on the Ray of Light album. 

The two other single released from Bedtime Stories are “Human Nature” and “Take a Bow”.  The former is a response to the backlash that followed the SEX book. The slinky number barely scraped into the US top 50. Far better is album closer, “Take a Bow”. A true collaboration with Babyface sees them co-write/producer together where he also handles the background vocals.

The bittersweet ballad sees Madonna say goodbye to a relationship where she’s “always been in love with you” before the stinging lyric “the show is over say goodbye” appears a few lines later. The lush production makes the song one of Madonna’s very best on an album that is warmer in sound than Erotica but doesn’t have enough truly great songs on it to make it a really good album. A 30th Anniversary edition is due for release in late November.

7/10

The first studio album for Madonna after the Immaculate Collection greatest hits album wrapped up her first era was Erotica in 1992. For this album, Madonna worked with Shep Pettibone on a set of songs that was released at the same time as her infamous Sex book. The title track was the first single released. More explicit than past recordings, the club beat and catchy chorus took the song to #3 in the US. For “Deeper and Deeper”, a disco house vibe is worked into her sound with a couple of lines from her song “Vogue”.  The song has references to Mommy and Daddy with a story of a deeper sexual awakening.  The memorable 70s inspired video helped push the track into the top 10 and is one of her best tracks of the 90s.

The album is front loaded with singles.  Her remake of the Peggy Lee classic “Fever” fails to ignite while “Bye Bye Baby” has a slight Everly Brothers feel to the chorus on a single released outside of the US. “Bad girl drunk by six/kissing someone else’s lips” on “Bad Girl” sees the protagonist torpedoing yet another relationship.  Other tracks feel like rehashes of what has come before. “Where Life Begins” is filled with terrible sexual double entendres and covers similar territory as “Erotica” but not nearly as well. Worse is the studio joke song “Did You Do It” that has the beat from an earlier track with Andre Betts freestyling about whether he’s slept with Madonna.  It’s atrocious.

Erotica is tailor made for the burgeoning CD era. The beats are digitally crisp and the running time comes in at 75 minutes, about 35 minutes longer than most of her previous albums.  The second half of the album features the stellar ballad “Rain” that has a warmer feel than what came before it and the album closes with the minimal hip hop beats of “Secret Garden”.  With the extended running time, Erotica simply does not have enough good songs to make listening all the way worthwhile.  But with the digital age, also came the skip button that comes in handy when listening to Madonna’s first album of the 90s.

7.5/10

The third Madonna album released in June 1986 cemented her as an 80s superstar, right up there with Prince and Michael Jackson.  True Blue contained 5 hit singles and went to number one across the world.  A staggering achievement for the still 27-year-old who was fresh into a marriage to actor Sean Penn.  Even with all the tabloid headlines and endless distractions, the determined popstar co-wrote and produced every track on the album along with Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard.

True Blue opens with the unmistakable string arrangement of “Papa Don’t Preach”. The controversial song about a woman opening up to her dad and deciding what she wants to do with an unplanned pregnancy regardless of what others think.  The tumbling drums of “Open Your Heart” open up the infectious dance pop track. Ballad “Live to Tell” from the Sean Penn movie At Close Range was the album’s opening single and went to #1 in several countries. A touching vocal performance is most effective in the bridge when the music fades and Madonna’s voice comes back in. 

The title track is an upbeat 50sish pop track is a lighthearted romp that sees Madonna happily sing, “I searched the whole world for someone like you”. The #3 US single was sadly left off the Immaculate Collection hits collection released a few years later.  Final single, “La Isla Bonita” started as an instrumental for Michael Jackson that was turned down before Madonna turned it into a Latin flavoured, slightly melancholic track that recalls time spent on the tropical paradise of San Pedro.

What makes True Blue a step up from Like a Virgin is the quality of its album tracks.  Songs like “Where’s the Party” and “Jimmy Jimmy” are not such a drastic departure from the more famous singles.  These songs are as good as pop music gets in the 1980s and continued Madonna’s successful run of singles.

9.5/10