Aaron Evans

LOL what a piece of bad and ill informed "journalism" Madonna did not touch a guitar while recording any of AL so if the guitar playing is rudimentary blame Mirwais who has played the thing his whole life Just as you can't talk about Erotica without taking about the sex book, you can't not mention the AL video and the major backlash she experienced. Also Americans should really stop talking about "the world" when they mean their own little narrow minded continent, Europe was in full electroclash and folktronica mode at that time. Still AL wasn't anywhere near as succesful as it should have been

I do remember that. American Life is a better name. But I think Hollywood would have been a better lead single.
The thing is it was this exact time where literally everybody was starting to believe they could become famous. Regular Joe was flocking to reality tv. So I don't think people really wanted to hear that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
I always found it interesting that Lady Gaga launched her career with a pro fame/money theme. It was a complete turnaround from Madonna's message.

OK let's get into the weeds on the "Borderline" mixes:
 
Album version (sometimes erroneously labeled as the US Remix or Remix in streaming services) the version everyone hates and no one listens to US Remix a.k.a. New Mix a.k.a. Extended Mix a.k.a. Jellybean Remix a.k.a. Extended Dance Remix a.k.a. 12" version acoustic drums instead of drum machine cowbell added glockenspiel added during the intro echo-ey, booming snare drum hits here and there echo-ey vocals here and there ("borderline...line...line") Longer than album version Probably some other stuff in the mix too Dub also remixed by Jellybean but it's a dub though Single Remix used in the music video An edit of the US Remix but: no added cowbell at all no echo-ey, booming snare drum hits here and there no echo-ey vocals here and there ("borderline...line...line") Brazilian single edit a.k.a album edit a fade of the album version It's That Girl remix a.k.a. radio remix a.k.a. radio version a.k.a. remix edit just like the single remix, but: with echo-ey, booming snare drum hits here and there  with echo-ey vocals here and there ("borderline...line...line") The Immaculate Collection remix just like the single remix, but: mixed in Q-Sound with cowbell added no echo-ey, booming snare drum hits here and there no echo-ey vocals here and there ("borderline...line...line") Celebration remix (erroneously labeled as Single Remix on the new streaming releases) very similar to The Immaculate Collection remix, but: not mixed in Q-Sound with echo-ey, booming snare drum hits here and there with echo-ey vocals here and there ("borderline...line...line" & "lose my mind...mind...mind") those added elements weren't added in exactly the same places as the It's That Girl Remix  
See, it's super simple and not annoying or frustrating at all. 

@tscott I just found this specific one: https://www.discogs.com/release/13631641-Madonna-The-Universal
and this one: https://www.discogs.com/release/14945989-Madonna-The-Universal-1985-Radio-Broadcast-Recording
All released by: https://www.discogs.com/label/1024637-Parachute-Recording-Company
Edited: Parent company (or whatever each time) that don't even exists. Leftfield Media
"Issues semi legal releases using a hole in the European copyright laws concerning recorded public broadcasts.
It should be noted that many of the released recordings are infact audience or soundboard recordings - and no broadcasts as mentioned on the releases."

Imagine taking a Madonna hit, making the beat shittier, cutting out the verses and dance breakdown that basically MAKES the track, pitching the vocals down and presenting it to the world as if you accomplished something?!?
Like….   WTF is going on with the music industry?!?

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

HD remastered video for "Sorry" now on YouTube.
 

Thanks @tscottfor bringing this to my attention!

Warner were really messy with Madonna's digital catalogue for years (also pre-streaming, during the iTunes glory years) but they started to take it more seriously when she got back with them in 2020. But the messy things we have now all come from back in the day (2005? 2006?) when they started to make her albums available on digital.
Also, Warner were VERY protective of their catalogue on digital for some reason, they even included some black borders with their logo on the covers in the beginning on some digital stores:

MESSY. Apple didn't allow them to do this on iTunes.
Basically their approach to digital was to generally not repeat the same version of a song on more that one release. That means, if the Album Version of "Holiday" was used on "Celebration", then an edit of it would be use on the digital version of the "Madonna" album, etc. etc. No idea why is that but I suspect it was about being easier later for collecting/separating royalties and stuff?
Back in 2015 even "What It Feels Like For A Girl" on the "GHV2" digital album was tagged as "GHV2 Version" (and it's of course the album version).
The issue with "Celebration" are the versions used back in 2009 when the compilation was originally put together. Some of them are simply not the album versions or they did subtle changes that make them different from their parent album versions. "4 Minutes" in "Celebration" is a shorter edit so of course it can't and shouldn't be merged in numbers with the longer original "Hard Candy" album version.
This happens with "The Immaculate Collection" too: the songs are different enough to the original album versions to be counted as the same versions. And it's right in my opinion: the streams of "Like A Prayer" or "Express Yourself" on TIC shouldn't be merged with the original album versions. They're not the same, TIC are basically remixes.
There are only two songs on "Celebration" that are not merged and should be: "Material Girl" (on "Celebration" they switched the left and right stereo channels for some reason and that makes the algorithm to think it's a different song) and "Like A Prayer" (slower than the original album version, so same issue). Those both should be merged and I guess they will eventually: they did it with "Papa Don't Preach" when they released "True Blue 35th" (they fixed the Extended Version on the album on Spotify, changed it to the proper Album Version and combined the streams with the "Celebration" version).
Apart from that, I guess it makes sense that "Celebration" is her most streamed album. It just screams "greatest hits" album and it's, indeed, full of hits. For the general public on the streaming era is the compilation to go, just like "The Immaculate Collection" was for years in the 90s and 00s for the physical buyers.
Right now what Warner should do is:
- Updating the dates on all the latest old digital singles: "Bad Girl", "Deeper", "Gambler", etc... they were released as 2022 singles to take advantage of Release Radar BUT they should have their original year dates by now.
- Merge "Material Girl" and "Like A Prayer" on "Celebration" with their original parent album versions.
- Maybe release an updated digital version of "Celebration", with the excuse of the tour, with some fixes ("Music" still sounds bad there) and even more songs included.

It isn't about the album's charting no, but it is handicapping certain songs by having their streams split and it handicaps the albums themselves when that is where the emphasis has turned. 
Catalogue streaming is what's in right now. Rather than hits being priority, acts with a legacy are emphasizing their catalogues to great effect. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and more have all seen a massive increase in their album''s engagement with tracks that are not just their hits finding success. 
It's just silly to be drawing attention to a compilation album rather than the album itself. 
For example, Material Girl on Celebration has 314,507,744 streams--it's one of her most popular songs on the platform. But the Material Girl that's on Like a Virgin--the exact same song with no remixing or edits--only has 44,857,570 streams which means that when people listen to the song, they're not being taken to the album but rather Celebration. If they combined the two versions into one tag, then a song that gets a massive amount of engagement will in turn shine a light onto it's parent album, not a slapped together singles collection. 
Warner has made it clear that they want to reemphasize her discography, not just her singles. If that is their goal, then it's dumb to be actively pulling attention away from the album and instead giving it to a compilation album. It's showing that her team is out of touch with what the trends are for legacy acts right now and they're causing her to miss out on a lot of the benefits that other acts are receiving by choosing to emphasize their actual discography. 
It doesn't help when there's different versions of many of the albums that are on there sitting right alongside maxi singles. Her page is clogged with a lot of superfluous things that don't serve much purpose (there is no need for both versions of Erotica to be on there for example). For those who're just discovering her, there is no sense to be made of where you're meant to begin, what's what, and where to find what you're looking for. 

Hopefully this will trigger Emily to upload the Sorry video in HD, the current "official" version is a 4:3 letterbox.

Hopefully this will trigger Emily to upload the Sorry video in HD, the current "official" version is a 4:3 letterbox.

Hopefully this will trigger Emily to upload the Sorry video in HD, the current "official" version is a 4:3 letterbox.

I think a re-issue of Celebration would be a good idea. There's demand for a physical re-print for sure. But they would need to fix it for streaming so that the glitches and correct edits of certain songs (I'm looking at you Dress You Up) aren't continuing to divide her catalogue streaming numbers and confuse new fans with bastardised versions (i'm looking at you Express Yourself). A re-release for physical and a tidy up of the old one for digital would satisfy needs I think.
We all know there'll be Ultimate Madonna for her 50th anniversary which will be the definitive Best Of as she sails into retirement. Not much point in doing another one for the current times.
 

I think Warner should re-release Celebration 4 LPl with an extra OUTER COVER inspired by the poster of the tour.  
Something like this (I made): 
 

After I Found Love: #1’s Remixed, and Rebel Heart (Demo Assembly), it’s time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Madonna’s career with a series of remastered EPs !

These EPs will be released chronologically and regularly (2 eras per week) to be enjoyed progressively. Yes, every single era got the same treatment. Let’s start with the First Album era. You’ll find the tracklists in the second post right below.
While these remasters were initially done and compiled by myself back in late 2020 – early 2021, new mixes (such as the Finally Enough Love ones) and quality upgrades were taken into account since then and are also present here in remastered form.

Hidden Content
Give reaction to this post to see the hidden content. Available in MP3 and Lossless. Enjoy!

The official source is the lyric video... Spotify lyrics are taken from Musixmatch and any fan can upload lyrics there.