MadonnaDiscography

Alright, I have to admit that I am now really excited about hearing MDNA,Madonna’s latest album which arrives in stores on March 26th.  I recently wrote on my blog about how much I hated the first single, “Gimme All Your Luvin'” and I still do.  The second single off the album, “Girl Gone Wild”, arrived next and despite its really vapid lyrics, I found myself listening to its inescapable hook over and over again on my iPod.  The video was released today, and I have to say that I think it’s great – the most inspired video Madonna was done in years.  Then the early reviews started coming out for the album and they have been glowing – the most recent being from USA Today,saying that the album was Madonna’s most personal to date (!) and that it was revelatory.  Wow.  I think I was making a real snap judgment here, basing my feelings of her “calling in this one” on song titles like “Gang Bang” (which apparently has nothing to do with orgies) and “I Fucked Up” (which I have heard and it is quite revealing and funny at the very end too).

So I wait…

I have loved Madonna and her music for years now, ever since I was a little boy.  I can’t really explain why on earth at the beginning of her career would I have gravitated to her, other than really thinking she was beautiful and being in awe of her freedom of expression.  For me it has always come back to the music.  I loved that she is a songwriter AND a producer on nearly ALL of her albums – something that always gets lost in the shuffle because I believe people are more comfortable thinking of her as a businesswoman, a machine if you will than as an actual musical talent.  I always loved the fact that she had a media ready public persona, and yet inside there was an artist wanting to create that was also there.

With that, here is my take on each of Madonna’s 11 (and soon to be 12) albums.  They all reside happily in my CD collection.  (Note that I am not including I’m Breathless or Evita on this list – those are more concept albums or soundtracks.)

1. MADONNA – her debut.  Light as air pop songs, notably all songs written by her.  On this album, I feel like she’s singing as though her life depended on it.  You can hear that she’s  trying to get a break.  I don’t know whether her initial intention was to be a singer, but this album was going to be her way of getting in the door.  Who knew!  Not a great one, as far as I’m concerned (I abhor “Lucky Star” – sorry!) but it does contain her most timeless song (and still one of the best songs to dance to bar none!)

NOTABLES:  “Holiday”, “Burning Up”

2. LIKE A VIRGIN – Ok, I seriously never listen to this album EVER.  I understand its pop culture relevance – I mean this was the one that catapulted her into the MTV stratosphere but it’s also pretty airy.  She writes on most songs her but doesn’t produce.

NOTABLES: “Angel”, “Dress You Up”, “Like A VIrgin” (fine, fine!)

3. TRUE BLUE – Bingo!  A songwriter and  producer emerges! She writes and produces every song on this one – and this is her ode to love as she is clearly in love with her then husband Sean Penn.  The songs contain a bit more weight to them, and are so catchy.  Something’s happening here.

NOTABLES: “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Open Your Heart”, “Live To Tell”, La Isla Bonita”, “True Blue”

4. LIKE A PRAYER – A perfect pop record.  Again, producing and writing all tracks, this was her first REAL foray into using music to be confessional and poetic.  The songs are all about her life – the ending of her marriage, the death of her mother, her relationship with her father and men.  It’s got a killer duet with Prince that no one knows about.  Yup, people sat up and noticed with this one.  Still holds up.

NOTABLES: “Like A Prayer”, “Till Death Do Us Part”, “Cherish”, “Oh Father”, “Keep It Together”, “Act Of Contrition” (yup!!)

5. EROTICA – Following I’m Breathless and her immaculate Immaculate Collection greatest hits, she released this sex drenched, cold, angry, weird, arms length album.  I hated it for years, only liking some songs here and there.  But, twenty years later, I think I “get” what she was trying to do with this one.  It’s not one that I would listen to repeatedly but it’s definitely not as bad as I had initially thought. Wrote and produced everything.

NOTABLES: “Erotica”, “Deeper and Deeper”, “Waiting”, “Secret Garden”

6. BEDTIME STORIES – Bliss.  This was a straight up R&B album.  While “Erotica” made the listener feel disconnected from the artist, this one welcomed them back.  It’s soulful, confessional and once again written and produced by herself.  There is a sense that she is warming up for Evita on some of these tracks, as her voice had never sounded stronger.

NOTABLES: “Secret”, “Human Nature”, “Take A Bow”, “Bedtime Story”, “Survival”

7. RAY OF LIGHT – Jackpot.  Her best record to date, one of my favorite albums in life.  Her voice is crisp and strong from all of that Evita training, and the songs are all reflective of rebirth since the birth of her first child.  She’s bringing the walls down, and it’s sonically beautiful.  Still stands up today.

NOTABLES: Seriously, can I put all of the tracks here? If not, then I will do  “Drowned World (Substitute For Love)”, “Skin”,  “Frozen”, “Mer Girl”, “The Power of Goodbye”, “To Have And Not To Hold”

8. MUSIC – She’s on a roll.  While “Ray Of Light” was clean and smooth, this one is dirty and sonically surprising (still). The songs are so different from each other, it’s ridiculous.  It’s fun, moody and clearly she is still beating down new paths musically.

NOTABLES: “Impressive Instant”, “Nobody’s Perfect”, “Gone”, “Paradise (Not For Me”, “Don’t Tell Me”

9. AMERICAN LIFE – Everyone hates this one.  I think it’s known as Madonna’s worst album ever.  I, however, LOVE it.  Here was the guitar record I had wanted her to make for years.  It’s also her “I’m a Kabbalist!” album as well as her beliefs in this religion are shown in each song.  For all of its lacking of dance floor calls, I think this one will be looked upon more favorably as time goes on.  Yes, I think the rap in the title song is shit, but don’t hold that against the entire album.  Try it again, people – you’ll see!

NOTABLES: “Intervention”, “Hollywood”, “Nobody Knows Me”

10. CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR – or as I like to call it the “Hey, I’m still Madonna! Don’t forget me because my last album was a little dull to some!”  I don’t particularly love this album, but I admire its thematic and what she was trying to do.  She’s not trying to totally confess on this one (despite its title), but she is wanting to bring people back to the dance floor and she most definitely does.

NOTABLES: “Get Together”, “Hung Up”, “Issac”, “Jump”

11. HARD CANDY – Oh, Hard Candy…you are definitely hard.  Like when most Madonna albums get released, I get excited and listen to it right away and think that it’s a stroke of genius.  I know that I kinda did at first with this one.  It’s again a nod to R&B and hip hop, and while there are some songs that are really nice, it wreaks of someone trying to compete with the musical times, rather than paving new ground as she had been doing always  She is still writing and producing, though her high-profile writers and producers take more of a central figure here than she does.  The results are patchy.

NOTABLES: “Heartbeat”, “Miles Away”….and I do like “Spanish Lesson” (alright, alright…)

So, there you have it…my thoughts on her stuff.  All in all, she doesn’t release total shit in the end.  I invite you all to try them out.  But don’t take my word for it…

5 more days till MDNA…..and my slice of humble pie is ready to be eaten.