Curtains

My main issue with it is that there are some spots were her mouth isn't going along the dubbed vocals (on the beginning of La Isla Bonita it is very obvious and painful to see) making it look like she's lipsyncing very badly, while she was not during the actual show. There are also moments where her original unpitched vocals can be heard in the background as it echoes in the stadium, making it very obvious that there is some tuning / dubbing going on (notably the Human Nature and Hung Up pre-choruses). Also the Borderline vocals in general are very unrealistic. A shame because the DVD looks great otherwise.

But the case is different in the last few shows in Mexico. Everybody was playback during the choruses on all the shows but she was singing along the playback on the verses. Now she's miming to an autotuned pre-recorded vocal on the spots were she was previously singing live. With Ray of Light it's the same thing, she was singing live with the loud backing track, but now it is also an autotuned pre-recorded vocal playing instead.

It is indeed a common thing to do that in order to get the best vocal mix, especially if there's also a live album with it. The Confessions Tour DVD actually didn't use full audio from the London show, but a mix from different shows as well as parts from the rehearsal before the opening night. There is also some tiny pitch correction. This is why you can see Hung Up with pre-recorded vocals on the DVD although it was sung live in London. The Sticky and Sweet Tour had almost all the vocals entirely redubbed, and the few songs left with the live vocals had pitch correction (You Must Love Me, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, Like a Virgin and Hung Up). The list goes on.

I actually hear the vocals on the right spot here too, the distorted audio doesn't help, but the pre-recorded vocals are still there.

So many easter eggs, i love it a lot, TRULY!

There might have been a sound mixing issue on this night. At the very beginning the album vocals are super loud to the point we can't hear her (maybe her mic wasn't working and playback played). However, we can hear her real live voice as the song goes on, starting from the middle of the intro. Indeed when it starts it is weird to see the performance with the album vocals like that.

Yes a few songs in Mexico seemed to be lipped to pre-recorded vocals as far as I can tell, probably to be able to show more energy on the video release. This happened for the Sticky and Sweet Tour as well. A possibility is that it will help her protect her voice for the Rio broadcast coming next week. I didn't analyse all the mexico shows yet, but from all the snippets I saw, it seems that Eveybody was fully lipped, as was Into the Groove and Ray of Light. The breath control gives it away. Mother and Father was also partly lipped from what I could tell, it is pretty noticeable during the last section of the song. I really don't mind it though, she sang the show almost fully live during the entirety of the tour, and this will make she show look slightly more energic on the DVD, which i prefer than redubbed vocals on post-production. These new vocals also sound really good.

It's true that the way the singles for this era were released seemed very strange. 2003 American Life 2003 Hollywood 2003 Nobody Knows Me (promo only) 2003 Nothing Fails 2003 Love Profusion 2005 Mother and Father (promo only) It's highly likely that Nobody Knows Me was actually planned to be the third official single from the album, given how many remixes were done for the song. But when the previous singles didn't chart well in the US, they went for more radio-friendly options for the next singles instead and quickly released them in order to try to have a hit as soon as possible. But this failed and is probably one of the reasons why the American Life remix album (where the Mother and Father and Easy Ride remixes were likely going to appear) was cancelled and we got the Remixed & Revisited EP instead. Love Profusion was probably not planned as a single in the original schedule but seemed like the most radio-friendly song left to release after all the previous singles flopped.

It was for his project. Since they broke up and nothing was released before that happened, it's safe to say that this collab was shelved.

Wonder if the Madonna x Sickick original tracks will surface one day... This was posted almost 18 months ago.

Get Up from the Gotham demo tape would have made an interesting b-side. I find myself listening to it more than I Know It and Ain't No Big Deal. It's no masterpiece, but I'm glad it exists and leaked, as it's unlikely to appear on the first album reissue.

The Q-Sound Mix is actually my favorite version of Live to Tell. I like that the intro is slightly shorter, for my taste the album version drags a bit too much. I don't mind the echoey vocals at all either.

Let's say that they'll reissue the first album along with Like a Virgin this year, what do you think could be the tracklist? Realistically, and if they're willing to package this as a boxset, they could do something like this. CD 1 - ORIGNAL FIRST ALBUM WITH 4 BONUS TRACKS: 09-Ain't No Big Deal 10-Burning Up (Steve Bray Demo) 11-Everybody (Steve Bray Demo) 12-Ain't No Big Deal (Steve Bray Demo) CD 2 - ORIGINAL LIKE A VIRGIN ALBUM (+ ITG) WITH 4 BONUS TRACKS: 11-Desperately Seeking Susan [Unreleased] 12-Angel (Steve Bray Demo) 13-Over and Over (Steve Bray Demo) 14-Shoo-Bee-Doo (Steve Bray Demo) CD 3 - THE REMIXES: 01-Everybody (UK 12" Mix) 02-Burning Up (12" Mix) 03-Lucky Star (US Remix) 04-Borderline (US Remix) 05-Like a Virgin (Extended Dance Remix) 06-Material Girl (Extended Dance Remix) 07-Angel (Extended Dance Remix) 08-Dress You Up (12" Formal Mix) CD 4 - THE VIRGIN TOUR Of course we can always wish for more but if these two albums are packaged together, this will limit the possibilities for the tracklist to be truly expanded as I don't see a 8 CD Boxset being released. Also, as much as I would like the Vision Quest tracks along with these, I feel like they won't get included, though I'd like to be proven wrong and have Crazy for You (with its Jellybean demo), Gambler (with its Steve Bray demo) and of course Warning Signs.

Glad to see the video being released at last. She looks great in it. I wonder if the Fortnite deal is the reason it's out latter than we expected.

There were two versions of the cover, like the Bedtime Stories album. The cover on the digital release isn't what it looked like on most releases but it was like that for some.