Say which flavour you like and I'll have it for you: Suedey's Madonna top 50

POP! said:
she covered You Must Love Me, not You’ll See🤔
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Oh shit, you're right

the incredibles falling GIF
 
POP! said:
she covered You Must Love Me, not You’ll See🤔
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Speaking of You Must Love Me when I was a student my housemate threw a party when I was staying over at my boyfriend’s house one weekend. I had three items stolen from my room by some cunt.A watch, an electric razor and the You Must Love Me cd single. I demanded a list of gays who had attended the party when I found out.
 
Loufoque said:
A Price-PSB album would have been just ahead of the curve as electro-bop came storming back into fashion at the end of 08. Whereas the Timba-lake R&B sound was already dead by early 08.
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What I can't get my head around @Suedey is how an artist of her stature could get strong-armed into a watered down RnB album and two songwriting camp albums. After COAD she should have been able to do whatever she wanted.
 
Beverley said:
What I can't get my head around @Suedey is how an artist of her stature could get strong-armed into a watered down RnB album and two songwriting camp albums. After COAD she should have been able to do whatever she wanted.
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Well that was just a quote from Neil Tennant - i.e. what he thought. I think the truth is probably different. I expect Warner did have something to do with her going down the R&B route because COADF was a smash everywhere but comparatively less successful in the USA ("Hung Up" went top 10 and the album sold just under 2 million but it wasn't the blockbuster it was everywhere else in the world.) So I think there was some discussion about trying to get the American market back on board..

As for the songwriting camp albums - she herself recently all but disowned them in the Mojo interview for Madame X..
 
Suedey said:
Well that was just a quote from Neil Tennant - i.e. what he thought. I think the truth is probably different. I expect Warner did have something to do with her going down the R&B route because COADF was a smash everywhere but comparatively less successful in the USA ("Hung Up" went top 10 and the album sold just under 2 million but it wasn't the blockbuster it was everywhere else in the world.) So I think there was some discussion about trying to get the American market back on board..

As for the songwriting camp albums - she herself recently all but disowned them in the Mojo interview for Madame X..
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Def, but she also complained about essentially being forced into them by her manager. It was an odd strategy in the first place, since so much of her best work has been created in intense creativity with another person.
 
By songwriting camp albums do you mean MDNA and Rebel Heart? I didn’t know she’d all but abandoned them. But didn’t she perform some of them on her recent tour? She’s done that many tours recently I can’t keep up.

I’ve all but abandoned them myself to be honest. Only Livin For Love and Ghosttown would trouble my Top 50, and barely.
 
The idea of funky being that ageing w-hite homosexual, getting his life to Living For Love was... inevitable
 
funky said:
By songwriting camp albums do you mean MDNA and Rebel Heart? I didn’t know she’d all but abandoned them. But didn’t she perform some of them on her recent tour? She’s done that many tours recently I can’t keep up.
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Yes - those two. I don't think she was particularly harsh but she said something to the effect that she didn't really want to make those two records. It sounded to me like they were made to drive the subsequent tours. She didn't perform any songs from either of those two albums on the Madame X Tour.

I think both albums have highlights and merits, particularly Rebel Heart.
 
Right, we shall carry on today with the top 20. I'll post a quick recap of 50-21 and also update the first post.

In the meantime, here are my top 10 unreleased Madonna tracks - the order isn't too well thought out:

1. Gone, Gone, Gone (Ray of Light sessions)
2. Liquid Love (Music sessions)
3. Broken (Hard Candy sessions)
4. Never Let You Go (Rebel Heart sessions)
5. Little Girl (Ray of Light sessions)
6. Nothing Lasts Forever (Rebel Heart)
7. Dear Father (Erotica sessions)
8. Angels with Dirty Faces (Like A Prayer sessions)
9. Shame (Erotica sessions)
10. Keep the Trance (American Life sessions)
 
21-50 recap:

21. Hung Up
22. Papa Don’t Preach
23. Rain
24. Till Death Do Us Part
25. Borderline
26. Bad Girl
27. This Used To be my Playground
28. Burning Up
29. You’ll See
30. Express Yourself
31. Nothing Really Matters
32. I’ll Remember
33. Keep It Together
34. Impressive Instant
35. Dress You Up
36. Take A Bow
37. Spanish Eyes
38. Don’t Tell Me
39. Skin
40. Who’s That Girl?
41. Masterpiece
42. Sanctuary
43. Dear Jessie
44. Rescue Me
45. Angel
46. Joan of Arc
47. Promise to Try
48. Hollywood
49. Like A Virgin
50. God Control
 
Still to come (I hope)... Drowned World / Substitute for Love, Paradise (Not For Me), Forbidden Love (Confessions), Get Together, Intervention, American Life, Nothing Fails, Gone, Frozen, The Power of Goodbye, Secret, Erotica, Vogue, Like A Prayer, Lucky Star, You Must Love Me, Beautiful Stranger and... yes, American Pie.
 
ROL.jpg


20. Ray Of Light (Ray Of Light, 1998; GHV2, 2001; Celebration, 2009)
UK chart position: 2
Key remix: William Orbit Liquid Mix (1998)
Key live performance: Drowned World Tour (2001
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Ah, 1998 - what a time to be a Madonna fan! 'Frozen' was such a leftfield turn after Evita but 'Ray of Light' took it to whole other level that the entire world couldn't help but stan (again). The Earth Mother reinvention went into full overdrive at this point. Essentially, 'Ray of Light' is a cover of a cover (with one additional verse written by Madonna), but by God does she sell the hell out of it and, together with Orbit, they both elevate it into something altogether exponentially euphoric. It is probably her best recorded vocal ever, with her post-Evita training being applied to full use here as deftly scales those octaves.

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Overplay has reduced its brilliance somewhat, and I don’t think her guitar-driven live performances have helped either. I would much rather she just let loose and perform it free-style really. The Oprah Winfrey performance is often used by fans as an example of excellent live vocals but to this day I am not convinced that vocal is live. I really enjoyed the Live8 performance as well actually. The less said about the MTV VMAs performance, though, the better.
 
God, Ray of Light still sounds so cool.

I'm not with you on overplay. I feel it's oddly forgotten in her back catalogue (I agree with your earlier point that the general public seem to go for the 80s or Hung Up these days). But that's what makes it all the more special.
 
Like another 1998 diva high-point (My All), Ray of Light is also impossible to sing live. But we appreciated the commitment to serving us (studio) vocals.
 
Ray of Light was one of the first Madonna songs I was drawn to as a kid. I feel like it was on the radio a lot (along with Music). Weirdly, I don’t think I noticed it was a dance song until much later.

I still like it now, but there’s stuff I like more on the album.
 
It's weird that both Michael Jackson and Madonna's 90s catalogues feel very overshadowed these days, when they delivered some of their most interesting material. I don't feel either the singles from Dangerous or Ray of Light get the flowers they deserve, at all!
 
Loufoque said:
It's weird that both Michael Jackson and Madonna's 90s catalogues feel very overshadowed these days, when they delivered some of their most interesting material. I don't feel either the singles from Dangerous or Ray of Light get the flowers they deserve, at all!
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100%

Dangerous and History has not only some of his best singles but also best album tracks. I mean Remember The Time, Give In To Me, Keep The Faith, Stranger In Moscow, Scream, They Don’t Care About Us, Money...

And 90s Madonna was Erotica/BS/ROL. Enough said.
 
ROL the song isn’t even in my Top 5 from that ALBUM, but it’s still fabulous
 
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Loufoque said:
It's weird that both Michael Jackson and Madonna's 90s catalogues feel very overshadowed these days, when they delivered some of their most interesting material. I don't feel either the singles from Dangerous or Ray of Light get the flowers they deserve, at all!
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It's true - her streaming numbers are pretty low for Ray of Light. It feels like it goes from '80s Madonna to 'Vogue' and straight to 'Hung Up' with the GP..
 
OYH.jpg


19. Open Your Heart (True Blue, 1986; The Immaculate Collection, 1990; Celebration, 2009)
UK chart position: 4
Key remix: Extended 12” mix (1986)
Key live version: Who’s That Girl Tour (1987)

“Watch out!” That bassline. Those synths. The drums. And then that rock’n’roll vocal. ‘Open Your Heart’ is another sentimental favourite of mine, this time thanks mostly to the Who’s That Girl World Tour. I was utterly mesmerised by this as an opening number for the tour, and I don’t think any of the live recordings quite captured just how tightly executed this was – and I don’t mean just for 1987.


​

The song itself had existed by another songwriter and there is a very long convoluted story that has been discussed on several recent Madonna podcasts as to how it landed on the True Blue album, but apparently it was very late in the day. The original demo was sung by Donna DeLory (not yet part of Madonna’s team of back-up singers) and apparently Madonna did little to change many of the vocal inflections.

giphy.gif

I just love how utterly determined and joyful this song is. The multi-tracks for this are available, and listening to the instrumentation in isolated format just highlights what a big number it was production-wise. She has revisited it in recent years with mixed results. It’s one of those songs which in my opinion does not need to be ‘reinvented’ because the original version is just so flawless. And the video – well, another iconic moment of course but quite an important one in the canon in that she was now really starting to push the ‘Madonna/whore’ paradox and a more subversive approach to sexuality that would later become one of her trademarks.
 
Suedey said:
View attachment 1557

19. Open Your Heart (True Blue, 1986; The Immaculate Collection, 1990; Celebration, 2009)
UK chart position: 4
Key remix: Extended 12” mix (1986)
Key live version: Who’s That Girl Tour (1987)

“Watch out!” That bassline. Those synths. The drums. And then that rock’n’roll vocal. ‘Open Your Heart’ is another sentimental favourite of mine, this time thanks mostly to the Who’s That Girl World Tour. I was utterly mesmerised by this as an opening number for the tour, and I don’t think any of the live recordings quite captured just how tightly executed this was – and I don’t mean just for 1987.


​

The song itself had existed by another songwriter and there is a very long convoluted story that has been discussed on several recent Madonna podcasts as to how it landed on the True Blue album, but apparently it was very late in the day. The original demo was sung by Donna DeLory (not yet part of Madonna’s team of back-up singers) and apparently Madonna did little to change many of the vocal inflections.

giphy.gif

I just love how utterly determined and joyful this song is. The multi-tracks for this are available, and listening to the instrumentation in isolated format just highlights what a big number it was production-wise. She has revisited it in recent years with mixed results. It’s one of those songs which in my opinion does not need to be ‘reinvented’ because the original version is just so flawless. And the video – well, another iconic moment of course but quite an important one in the canon in that she was now really starting to push the ‘Madonna/whore’ paradox and a more subversive approach to sexuality that would later become one of her trademarks.
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ICONIQUE....every single thing about it. From song to video to single cover!
 
Oh I adore Open Your Heart. ADORE. If it wasn't for the otherworldliness of Live To Tell, it would be my favourite track on that album.
 
Impromptu True Blue singles rank:

1. Live to Tell
2. Papa Don't Preach
3. La Isla Bonita
4. True Blue
5. Open Your Heart

Literally all 10/10 though...
 
"Where's the Party" would've been an easy transatlantic top five too, but she had to move onto Who's That Girl...
 
I think True Blue is actually my favourite of the singles from the album. I kind of like that it's the "hidden gem" of the album's singles. And it's just so lovely.
 
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