The True Blue Era

[groovyguy 63,856]

True Blue Cassette

http://madonnaunderground.com/discography/true-blue/

 

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[groovyguy 63,856]

Happy 31st Birthday True Blue!

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Interview with Stephen Bray and the Breakfast Club

 

Full Interview @

http://www.madonnatribe.com/interviews/madonnatribe-meets-stephen-bray-breakfast-club/

 

APRIL 23, 2016

 

Now, of all the songs you wrote with Madonna, is there one that you love the most?

Stephen: Of the ones I wrote – Into The Groove for sure. Of the ones I produced I’m really proud of Papa Don’t Preach.

 

I was listening to the Papa Don’t Preach Extended Version on the single the other day and it really has a Breakfast Club sound. Did you produce that too?

Stephen: Yes, that is a remix I did with Michael Verdick at what was called the Hit Factory in NYC. I believe that it’s now condos or something – I actually walked by the building recently to see it was all gone…

That remix took a while because we were using a new system called Total Recall from SSL and it wasn’t totally recalling much at the time.

I think that was a 72 hour marathon session but it came out well.

By the way it should be noted that Michael V is the connective tissue between a lot of Madonna and Breakfast Club music. He tracked and mixed Live to Tell and it’s safe to say he is VERY responsible for that gorgeous and lush sound. Not to take anything away from the genius of Pat Leonard, of course! Pat was so taken with Michael that he introduced him to me and suggested I work with Michael on my True Blue tracks.

I then brought Michael into the Breakfast Club world and we’re working together to this day.

 

Papa Don’t Preach was also one of the few songs from that era that was not penned by Madonna with you or Patrick Leonard. Where did it come from?

Stephen: Papa Don’t Preach was a song written by Brian Elliot. It was my understanding that Michael Ostin at Warner Brothers found the song. I remember getting a cassette (1985 or so) of the demo and being excited to dig in. It was a cool challenge working on a song I had not written.

 

Papa Don’t Preach was the leading single off True Blue, the album on which you debuted as a producer. Did you feel the pressure, working on that record that was following the huge success of Nile Rodgers’ Like a Virgin?

Stephen: As far as pressure goes it was a lot to handle following in the amazing shoes of Nile Rodgers but Madonna has a way of inspiring confidence. I do remember playing the album for Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker at Michael Verdick’s studio in Burbank and pretending to be cool and calm. I was VERY relieved when they gave us two thumbs up.

 

In her latest tour, Rebel Heart, Madonna sung for the first time in years True Blue. Apparently she hated the song but now she seems very proud of this new acoustic version. Did you have a chance to listen to it? Do you like it?

Stephen: Okay – thank you again for asking these questions!  Yes, I love it!  We had a LOT of fun working on those True Blue songs. Madonna and I really adore that old school pop and it was a huge part of why we clicked.

 

Do you think there’s a chance you might write new songs with Madonna in the future? The fans would love to hear new music from the old team…

Stephen: In short, I’d love to.  I’ve gone down a different path into music theater of late but I can still find my way around a sequencer.

 

As a last question I’d like to ask you about how you met Madonna. What is the most vivid memory of that day?

Stephen: Oh that’s easy – It’s like that Human League song only I was the waiter in a cocktail bar. I was working at a bar where they had the whole 1977 disco hustle Saturday Night Fever thing going on and she came in to dance with some friends.

Contrary to what she has said in my recollection I bought her a gin and tonic. I felt she’d earned it having cleared the dance floor with her attention getting moves.

[groovyguy 63,856]

Full Album Cover

 

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http://thebeatswithin.blogspot.com/2011/05/b-sides-hits.html

 

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Yearly Most Successful Female Album: The Divas 

http://chartmasters.org/2018/03/yearly-most-successful-female-album-the-divas-1983-1998/5/

1986 – MADONNA – TRUE BLUE

One of the most successful era of all-time, True Blue is the easy winner for the year 1986. Live to Tell, Papa Don’t Preach, True Blue, Open Your Heart and La Isla Bonita were all #1s in the US and/or the UK. The album was the most global female album ever by then selling over 1 million units in each Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. It even came close in Brazil while selling half a million copies or more in markets like Taiwan and Mexico, places were only Michael Jackson‘s Thriller did so previously.

Numbers speak by themselves, the album sold 22,55 million units, its singles over 12 million. On top of that, they are near 3 million digital sales. They are also responsible for nearly 10 million sales of compilations of every kind. Its total of 36 million plus equivalent album sales generated is second only among female albums up to that date, second only to her own album Like A Virgin.

[groovyguy 63,856]

In Defence of: Madonna's True Blue

https://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/103269301/in-defence-of-madonnas-true-blue

It was the album even my father attempted to disavow all knowledge of.

When one of my more flamboyant friends called to ask if he could borrow Madge's 1986 album from where I had left it at work, my Dad told him, jokingly, that in no uncertain terms did his son own "that album". He was right – it was actually my older brother's.

True Blue was my first, real encounter with the constantly evolving artist born Madonna Louise Ciccone, a musical love-affair that would last for the best part of two decades. Like a Virgin had somewhat passed me by and her deliberately provocative headline-making and relationship with acting enfant terrible Sean Penn didn't exactly endear her to me. But that was before I heard True Blue, a nine-track masterpiece that became a soundtrack to my early teenage years and near daily runs around the hills of Dunedin.

Hardly anyone shares my enthusiasm for True Blue as Madonna's Magnum Opus. Most prefer Virgin, Like a Prayer, Ray of Light and Music. At the time of its release, my mates were extolling the virtues of Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, The Beastie Boys' Licence to Ill or Queen's A Kind of Magic (or Paul Simon's Graceland and The Smiths' The Queen is Dead, if they had more hip, esoteric leanings), so I confined my tastes purely to my Walkman headphones and on the stereo at home.

Looking back in 2003, Slant magazine's Sal Cinquemani described at as "the most-dated of Madonna's albums", one home to "some of her biggest clunkers". And I'll concede That Jimmy, Jimmy and  Where's the Party? aren't exactly shining examples of Madonna's finest four minutes.

However, the rest is a perfect showcase of the diverse musical styles and memorable lyrics that the young Italian-American artist was able to muster. And yes it helped immensely that most of them also boasted music videos with intriguing narratives, eclectic hairstyles and generally eye-catching visuals that matched what Madonna was signing about.

Three decades on, Papa Don't Preach still feels anthemic and a cultural touchstone (even if I now wait in dread for the day my Tween daughter quotes the lyrics back at me), with its opening staccato string-arrangement, plaintive lyrics and the Danny Aiello-starring video, which also had our heroine sporting a stunning gamine blonde crop.

Likewise, Open Your Heart is a heart-skipping, joyous song, full of life and with a slightly naughty video to match (at least it was when I was 12) – plus Madonna rocks a cool hat.

La Isla Bonita, while not quite the Despacito of its day, certainly had the same allure of exotic lyrics and sultry sounds, while Live to Tell is a heart-rending and haunting ballad that Madonna tried to recapture a few times later in her career (This Used to Be My Playground, Take a Bow) without exactly the same kind of impact.

For me though, the crowning glory of True Blue is the title track. A toe-tapping 1950s-inspired ditty, it is simply pop-song confection perfection.

Boasting an upbeat tempo, filled with hooks and eminently sing-a-longable, it can still brighten the mood of even the most trying day.

Boasting an upbeat tempo, filled with hooks and eminently sing-a-longable, it can still brighten the mood of even the most trying day.

[groovyguy 63,856]

[bstranger 455]

I think Each time you break my heart would be a better album choice than Jimmy Jimmy. If so, the album would be 100% in my opinion.