Jump to content

Avatar

Rebel Hearts
  • Posts

    351
  • Joined

  • Online

Posts posted by Avatar

    1. Frozen

    2. Like a Prayer

    Secret

    Erotica

    American Life

    Like a Virgin

    Living for Love

    Hung Up

    Music

    Live to Tell

    Give Me All Your Luvin'

    Everybody

    4 Minutes

    If I was to rank them on how I love them today, it would be different, but I mostly ranked them on the fact how hyped I was to hear them for the first time and if they delivered to that hype.

     

  1. Damage control at its worst, like everyone else pretty much stated.

     

    AL is my fav album by Madonna and I do suspect it will be appreciated with time, like "Erotica" is nowadays, but the EP spent like one week on my music player of the time. Unreleased track is... Not bad. Not good either. It's there. And that MTV live track sounds like a mess, visuals support it greatly. "Into the Groove" didn't do much for me even back in the 80's, so "Into the Hollywood Groove" carried on that tradition.

     

    EP with 3 unreleased tracks from AL/Hello Suckers sessions accompanied by some amazing new remixes of singles that were out there would be perfect. Imagine "The Game", "Miss You", and "If You Go Away", all polished to perfection with "Die Another Day", "American Life", "Hollywood", "Love Profusion" and "Nothing Fails" remixes, or maybe one of them even in demo version?

     

    Now THAT would still be on my iPhone on daily basis, I'm quite sure.

  2. From best to worst

    Drowned World Tour
     - It doesn't particularly stand the test of time, but I remember how hyped up I was for the first M's tour that went full on embracing new form of medias, combining the ever-evolving stage design and a magnificent projections into a cohesive 2-hour dark pop theater.

    Reinvention Tour - As opposed to DWT, the tour went minimal in setting, but delivered some amazing routines, song versions I still love and LaCroix corset alone stands as an iconic bit of M's imagery for me. Adore the musical aspect of this tour.

    Rebel Heart Tour - I'm yet to see a good recording of this tour, since I sadly missed it, but from what I saw, this is Madonna I like the best. Playful imagery, toned down for a couple of darker-themed performances, and shitload of experimenting. Glad she finally fully embraced the 20s as a full section of the tour.

    MDNA Tour - Even with a couple of "misses" in song selections, MDNA is a standout tour. She was in a dark place, and she traveled to light by the end of it. She made the odd choices work here. The opening, dark and atmospheric, an amazing back-to-back performance of "Like a Virgin Waltz" and "Love Spent", the soul of "Like a Prayer". So much to enjoy, and so cohesive.

    Blond Ambition Tour - From iconic to cringe-worthy (Mah-tee-real goil, anyone?), this tour is a display of the classic Madonna world cherished and feared. The chameleon at her full force. "Express Yourself" alone worked wonders for me.

    The Girlie Show Tour - Just a few steps away from BAT, actually, but the tour that delivered somewhat more refined version of concepts that were set just a couple of years prior to it. Great setlist, only overshadowed by some erratic on-stage behavior here and there. Amazing closure of her overly sexual persona, into a more refined mistress.

    The Virgin Tour - Raw, strong and attention hungry, this is the Madonna I fell in love with. As simple as that. Classic for a reason.

    Sticky and Sweet Tour - She seemed exhausted creatively, at least when it comes to stage setting and groundbreaking song reinventions, however, it was a fun, colourful tour with a couple of obvious highlights and some odd choices. It worked, but will never pop instantly in my head when I'm considering her greatest performances.

    Confessions Tour - Somehow it never worked for me, imagery-wise, and I was never able to connect the themes with the setlist. Choreography was either all over the place or nothing would happen. "Jump" was a mess of on-stage visuals. As opposed to that, some of the tracks got the renditions that trample all over other performances, namely "Erotica" or "Paradise", for example. Fell in love with "Future Lovers" thanks to this tour.

    Who's That Girl Tour - Seen it on DVD. Once. Glad she had fun with it.

    EDIT: I fucked up, just realized the title of the topic. Damn it. XD

    Anyhow, stages, from best to worst:
     
    Drowned World Tour
    Rebel Heart Tour
    Blond Ambition Tour
    Reinvention Tour
    The Girlie Show Tour
    MDNA Tour
    Confessions Tour
    Sticky and Sweet Tour
    Who's That Girl Tour
    The Virgin Tour
  3. Ugh, fun, but so hard. :D From today's perspective LAP wouldn't rank as the top one, but that trak did ultimately make me a fan back in the day, so... Everything from 05-11 took me some time to fully appreciate, where 12 and 13 never worked to their full extent for me. Buth thumpers, both great in their own right, but neither stood with me for very long.

     

    01 Like a Prayer
    02 Frozen
    03 Living for Love
    04 American Life
    05 Secret
    06 Erotica
    07 Music
    08 Live to Tell
    09 Hung Up
    10 Give Me All Your Luvin'
    11 Like a Virgin
    12 Everybody
    13 4 Minutes
  4. Just for the sake of conversation....   Madonna is the most famous woman in the world. Its hard to replicate that publicity for music that doesn't involve her. Since working with Madonna in 98 William Orbit has produced for Pink, Chris Brown, Blur, No Doubt, Britney Spears among doing his own non-pop work. I would hardly say he's in oblivion or any of his pop work with these artists was mediocre. 

     

    On top of that, Madonna deals in pop music which is made to appeal to a mass audience. William Orbit didn't really make pop music before Madonna. His solo work like Strange Cargo is definitely not pop. To judge his solo work or any producers solo work next to their work with Madonna doesn't make sense when their initial sound wasn't anything near pop. Madonna brings the pop element to any project she works on including Mirwais. 

     

    But I know what u mean. Because I too looked to William Orbits work after Ray of Light and was not impressed. Except for Pieces in a Modern Style which I would put on to do yoga or relax. 

     

     

    Orbit did some amazing work with Blur, All Saints, Mel C, and his own solo material. Water from a Vine Leaf was an underground crossover sensation. The point regarding producers and the appeal of their non-Madonna works is a testament to her personality, talent and vision and really what makes her the star. Say what you will about the sway of hit producers, collaborations with next gen pop copies, grills, wigs and outfits this woman is an amazing writer, musician and artist of her own hard earned merit. A true, devoted producer would open their talents to M's world, that's when the magic happens and why I still don't really care for producers like Timbaland, Benassi, Mr. West, even Diplo's work with Madonna to an extent because I felt she was following their way a bit too closely. I also think this is why the stuff with Pharrell sounds so stiff because our icon is parroting demo singers. Just my O. With Orbit, Stuart, Mirwais, Shep you could feel that they sat together and created something and kept building on it. A fan can only connect so many of the dots when playing leaks and demos.

     

    This is actually why I added that it's just my taste and opinion in the end. :) As previously said "different folks, different strokes" - I didn't expect any of M's producers to go and do the same ol' thing after working with her, God forbid.

     

    Sans Madonna, I rarely even listen to music that could be classified as "pop", so I do tend to stray away in between her albums, and her latest collaborators are kinda the direction I wanna explore and find out more about their own work. That's why I said Mirwais stands out as he yet has to deliver something that doesn't work for me. I daresay that even his weaker tracks on "Production" and "Arabology" stand out.

     

    As for M's DJ "producers", I didn't follow even one after their departure from her, because they mostly relied on the somewhat similar sounds they perfected with her, but never managed to fully bring it "out there", again, imo. Sure, they bring their most outstanding to Madonna, but one would expect they also bring something out of that collaboration, something she, apparently, can't teach them.

     

    Of course I wouldn't want another Madonna album fully produced with Mirwais. I was quite happy with the monstrously big "Rebel Heart" album, even with going all sorts of directions, and I'd always opt to see where she'll take me for a ride, far more than relying on the tested out formulas one would repeat over and over again.

  5. This was the first and tour that had her in my home city, Belgrade, on her 2009 leg.

     

    It was my 10th time seeing her live and 3rd being up front, directly in front of her. Even though I do agree to a certain extent that this tour lacks some of the icon Madonna we all know and adore, it was amazing for what it was, and I got to see Madonna more as a person who entertains and enjoys every second of it, far more than the relentless perfectly scripted performer. She was handing out smiles left and right in Belgrade, and even sent me kisses for my birthday by mistake - a girl next to me held a sign, and I pointed her towards it, she thought it was my b-day.

     

    So, yeah, underwhelming for some, but it was a blur of colours and memories and fun for me.

  6. Sooo true! He might be the sole truly experimental main album producer she has worked with. Everyone else was either some DJ who had remixed her years before she let them on an album of hers, or someone who has had several top 10 hits in the US or UK under their belt.

     

    I have to add on this, I always found it interesting how none of her producers, sans Mirwais (and sometimes Shep) managed to capture my attention with their non-M related work, which only leads me to notion that there is more than some direction Madonna takes with her collaborators.

     

    They all had a good thing going, met M, made a great thing with her and went into mediocrity or oblivion. I'm yet to be proved wrong, in my honest opinion. It surely is my taste, no disregard if any of you like what anyone else did on their own after M.

  7. Different folks, different strokes, I presume. I could survive in a world where "I'm a Sinner" never existed. It's a fun song'n'all, however, "Love Spent" and "Falling Free" are among Orbit's rare after-ROL masterpieces for me, all the while "Future Lovers" stands out as a thumper "farewell" track imo.

     

    Mainly talking outside Madonna collabs, Orbit never managed to repeat the peak he had with "Ray of Light" on his own, although "Purdy" single came close to that experimentation, where there was the "Arabology" project with Mirwais that stands as high as "American Life" album for me.

     

    And I agree "Super Pop" and "It's So Cool" are cheesefest, however, extremely fun, both of them! :)

  8. He's had band "Taxi Girl" with one EP "Chercher Le Garçon" and one album "Seppuku" in 1981. a self-titled album in 1990. and after "American Life" had been working with Yasmine Hamdan (Y.A.S) on a brilliant album called "Arabology" in 2009. Since then he produced another underground album for a French indie artist, but it kinda went completely under the radar. It was that bland.

     

    To date, I don't think Madonna ever worked with a more creative producer than he is. Even his "farewell" tracks from COADF run circles around anything Orbit has put out ever since "Ray of Light".

     

    If you haven't already, check "Arabology", that one is a gem, and a fast grower. I love listening "American Life" and "Arabology" back to back, kinda like "Music" and "Production. :)

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use