Madonna - Lucky Star album (scrapped debut)

[steady75 8,148]

Was just wondering about this and wether anyone has any more info.

Her friend Martin Burgoyne did the art direction and according to various websites the album was already printed and pressed. 

I'm thrilled that they ended up changing the design to the iconic debut that we got but I wonder? 

Does anyone know of..or indeed has heard of anyone who has a copy of the original pressed album?

I was also reading the notes for Lucky Star the single on Wiki and it said that Lucky Star was going to be the 3rd single release after her initial 2 single deal for Everybody / Burning Up, but Holiday was already being picked up and played in clubs and stuff. Weird that they actually released the album with no lead single..just plonked it out there months after Everybody and Burning Up had being released.

Anyways the article said that she didn't want it as a single because she needed money and was being sued at the time. I wonder who by. Do we thing it was Reggie Lucas after she dropped him from the album sessions and bought Jellybean in. 

I wonder if those original copies of the pressed album contain the versions that Reggie worked on.

Anyone got any more info. Find it fascinating.

[Gilbert 498]

i feel it was early stages and the direction changed when she got more backing.  i am glad the original idea didnt happen. i very much love the current official iconic cover. 

[ScottyX 7,420]

I love her hair in the top pics. reminds me of la isla bonita in the rocking chair and prayer scene

[deathproof 9,124]

I don’t think any copies ever got pressed. That artwork that’s available is from a proof sheet.

 

[lucasciccone 4,078]

The Maripol photo for the cover would've been so iconic! 

[steady75 8,148]

Wiki states that copies were pressed but how accurate that is I suppose we can’t verify. 

[deathproof 9,124]

5 minutes ago, steady75 said:

Wiki states that copies were pressed but how accurate that is I suppose we can’t verify. 

I’ve yet to see any proof of that!

There were some copies in I believe in South Africa of the Madonna album, where the LP label states the album title as “Lucky Star.” But the album artwork and title was thr Gary Heery cover

[kesiak 2,690]

I think Madonna terminated her contact with Camille Barbone in 1982 so my guess it would be Barbone who was suing her around that time (the case would eventually get resolved in 1992). 

[Enrico 14,820]

I have the Burning Up 7" from the Netherlands who announces the forthcoming album "Lucky Star". Although the real cover is much more iconic, I'd love if the original title had been kept!

[Ian 2,081]

Glad they went with the final choice

[Guest Nobody Knows Me]

I’m glad it was scrapped as well. What we got was iconic.

[thegoldencalf 11,902]

3 hours ago, steady75 said:

Was just wondering about this and wether anyone has any more info.

Her friend Martin Burgoyne did the art direction and according to various websites the album was already printed and pressed. 

I'm thrilled that they ended up changing the design to the iconic debut that we got but I wonder? 

Does anyone know of..or indeed has heard of anyone who has a copy of the original pressed album?

I was also reading the notes for Lucky Star the single on Wiki and it said that Lucky Star was going to be the 3rd single release after her initial 2 single deal for Everybody / Burning Up, but Holiday was already being picked up and played in clubs and stuff. Weird that they actually released the album with no lead single..just plonked it out there months after Everybody and Burning Up had being released.

Anyways the article said that she didn't want it as a single because she needed money and was being sued at the time. I wonder who by. Do we thing it was Reggie Lucas after she dropped him from the album sessions and bought Jellybean in. 

I wonder if those original copies of the pressed album contain the versions that Reggie worked on.

Anyone got any more info. Find it fascinating.

Lucky Star did get released as the 3rd single in U.K. as “full length version” and “edit” and got the gorgeous sunglasses cover in color. But it flopped while Holiday was getting a lot of traction. I still haven’t managed to get my hands on the 7” which is extremely rare and expensive.

The flop of LS is the reason why Holiday never got a video. They were afraid to invest more money before they had proof her music will sell.

After she promoted the song on every relevant TV show and the album was a hit they quickly shot back to back videos for Borderline and Lucky Star.

[AModSquad 512]

4 hours ago, steady75 said:

I was also reading the notes for Lucky Star the single on Wiki and it said that Lucky Star was going to be the 3rd single release after her initial 2 single deal for Everybody / Burning Up, but Holiday was already being picked up and played in clubs and stuff. Weird that they actually released the album with no lead single..just plonked it out there months after Everybody and Burning Up had being released.

Anyways the article said that she didn't want it as a single because she needed money and was being sued at the time. I wonder who by. Do we thing it was Reggie Lucas after she dropped him from the album sessions and bought Jellybean in. 

So you have to go back to 1982.  This girl from the clubs was putting out a new sound so she only got signed for 3 singles initially (im sure someone more involved in her story may know the details) and when those 3 singles were successful she was then offered a new contract with a full album or maybe 2 and then they released her first album that contained those singles that had come out the previous year.

I wouldnt look at it as they plonked the album with no lead single but more like, they created a lot of excitement for her debut album by essentially releasing 3 lead singles.  Its almost like weve gone back to that formula nowadays.  Several "songs" come out before an album with the hopes that one will catch on with the GP and be officially known as the lead single.  So many artists do this now but for some reason Katy Perry comes to mind.....how many songs has she dropped in the past 6 months hoping for one to catch to then announce her brand new album? 

[Roland Barthes 4,667]

1 hour ago, kesiak said:

I think Madonna terminated her contact with Camille Barbone in 1982 so my guess it would be Barbone who was suing her around that time (the case would eventually get resolved in 1992). 

That's exactly it.

Madonna did not like the Edo Bertoglio cover (that looked a lot like what he did for another singer Cristina who passed away this year). In his book "Siren Song", Seymour Stein says that Madonna asked the art direction at Warner to not go with this cover and told Martin it was a decision made by the label   Another version came from Michael Rosenblatt who was in charge of Madonna at the time, he thought she was not blonde enough on the pics.

Warner US had no interest in Madonna at that time. She was in fact signed under WEA the european branch of Warner so she had no real support and hence why she did so much promo in Europe for Holiday. Warner started  getting interested when Borderline exploded and the album sales went up. It's all in Seymour Stein's book.

 

[A. A. Aardvark 3,492]

Zimbabwe !
You will need to head for 'Sowt Efrica' any how as that's the only two countries I can see that actually called it that.
Same artwork though......

https://www.discogs.com/Madonna-Lucky-Star-Madonna/release/2223793

[PWCCA 2,497]

Madonna should do a special RSD release using this cover. The Gary Heery one is better, but this early version is gorgeous

[A. A. Aardvark 3,492]

I thought that 'from the album' picture, [on the back of a 7'' ?], was just the only photo they must have had ?

[me1981 1,291]

On 6/12/2020 at 9:06 AM, Roland Barthes said:

That's exactly it.

Madonna did not like the Edo Bertoglio cover (that looked a lot like what he did for another singer Cristina who passed away this year). In his book "Siren Song", Seymour Stein says that Madonna asked the art direction at Warner to not go with this cover and told Martin it was a decision made by the label   Another version came from Michael Rosenblatt who was in charge of Madonna at the time, he thought she was not blonde enough on the pics.

Warner US had no interest in Madonna at that time. She was in fact signed under WEA the european branch of Warner so she had no real support and hence why she did so much promo in Europe for Holiday. Warner started  getting interested when Borderline exploded and the album sales went up. It's all in Seymour Stein's book.

 

I am pretty sure Madonna was only signed through Sire, a subsidiary of WB. I think she went to Europe because the dance music scene was stronger and the sort of image Madonna had fit in more with that scene. The UK press were quite nice to her in the early days. Seymour or Michael Roseblatt knew Rusty Egan as well and he was big enough in the UK to give Madonna some clout when he mixed Everybody for that market. Which Madonna hated and had no qualms telling him. When she did a promo trip to the UK in Feb 83, she refused to perform his version and later told him she hated it and he was a shit producer/remixer.

I think in terms of the Lucky Star album. From what I have heard, Madonna was being pushed to be more like Pat Benatar and that album cover seems more like something she or Cyndi Lauper (who was not well known at this point) might have done. Rock/Pop was still a thing in 82-83, but was also dying out in the US. This might explain why they went with Burning Up as the second single and why this track was eventually scrapped in Europe/UK. 

Madonna stated in interviews in 83 that she wanted a more raw sound, more rough and street (one of the reasons she was unhappy with Reggie Lucas' more polished production) I'd go along with the idea that Madonna hated the cover and Rosenblatt agreed. Michael doesn't get enough credit with pushing Madonna mainstream and working hard on helping her to build her career. The album cover we got is more in line with Madonna's image. Madonna herself said the reason Dance music artists were failing bac then was because they didn't have the image to back up or compliment the music. She saw, even in 83 with MTV in its infancy, that image was important. So I would go with the idea that she managed to convince Rosenblatt and Stein to scrap the original concept.

[Roland Barthes 4,667]

You can read some pages of Seymour Stein's "Siren Song" here https://books.google.fr/books?id=8c0rDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=seymour+stein+madonna+siren+song&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjyhfuqlYHqAhXyx4UKHeCDBmQQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q= madonna &f=false

[Brobud 3]

Imagine if this version of the debut had given ahead. With this strange and dated artwork, and without jellybean remixing the tracks lucky star, burning up and physical attraction. And no Holiday, but Ain’t no Big Deal in its place. It would have been so inferior and might have been a total flop. Interesting to imagine 

[Fabiolous 4,808]

A copy of this is available to see at the Hard Rock Cafe in Dublin 

 

[Ian 2,081]

On 8/18/2021 at 9:44 AM, Brobud said:

Imagine if this version of the debut had given ahead. With this strange and dated artwork, and without jellybean remixing the tracks lucky star, burning up and physical attraction. And no Holiday, but Ain’t no Big Deal in its place. It would have been so inferior and might have been a total flop. Interesting to imagine 

or maybe Ain't no big Deal would've been released and gone to #1 for 10 weeks and M would've been a one-hit wonder and we wouldn't be talking about her at all

 

also: ANBD is great  and nothing M makes is inferior !  how very dare you! lol 

[A. A. Aardvark 3,492]

On 6/11/2020 at 9:36 PM, steady75 said:

Wiki states that copies were pressed but how accurate that is I suppose we can’t verify. 

Anyone can register for Wikipedia and edit/alter the text onscreen.
I corrected the entry for a Donna Summer single that didn't exist.
I'd emailed the Producer to make sure !
It's since been edited a few more times by others.
What's on there ala politics etc is a hot topic [ie wars] in some countries.

[GregVsMatt 2,707]

I own a 1983 Australian 12" of Burning Up / Physical Attraction with a promo bio attached that refers to the upcoming album 'Lucky Star' 

[Candy Perfume Boy 5,525]

On 6/12/2020 at 12:06 AM, Roland Barthes said:

That's exactly it.

Madonna did not like the Edo Bertoglio cover (that looked a lot like what he did for another singer Cristina who passed away this year).

 

https://www.discogs.com/Krisma-Nothing-To-Do-With-The-Dog/master/353776
 

probably this cover that has similar lighting and composition…