Madonna: where to start in her back catalogue!

[Voguerista 11,781]

What four albums of Madonna's would you tell a new Madonna fan to listen to first? I think The Guardian nails it with the first three ("Like A Prayer","Ray Of Light", and "Music"), but, I'd replace "Madame X" with "Confessions".

Madonna: where to start in her back catalogue

The album to start with

Like a Prayer (1989)

Madonna’s 1980s hits such as Holiday, Into the Groove and Like a Virgin are brilliantly captured on The Immaculate Collection (1990). If you want a deeper exploration of her musical psyche and kinetic songwriting though, I’d advise listening to the post-True Blue albums. In the late 80s, having conquered the charts with 19 hit singles, she was ready to challenge herself with more personal lyrics and a richly collaborative approach with her producers and musicians. Dubbed her “divorce album”, 1989’s Like a Prayer was recorded at the worst point in Madonna’s marriage to Sean Penn, as the giddy pace and crashing glass of Till Death Do Us Part testifies.

As well as capturing the emotional chaos of her marriage, Madonna delved into her Catholic girlhood and family dynamics with some Freudian pop songwriting. Producer Pat Leonard was the yang to Madonna’s yin, his deeply melodic music providing the ballast for her vivid lyrics. The standout song here is easily the iconic title track, with its fiery gospel choir, Guy Pratt’s runaway bass line and the lyrical celebration of the sacred and profane. Also lovely is the tender piano ballad Promise to Try (in memory of her mother), and Express Yourself – a funky, feminist call to arms that she wrote with Stephen Bray, stepping out, as he put it “like Daenerys in Game of Thrones, emerging from the fire”.

The three to check out next

Ray of Light (1998)

Recorded in her late 30s, after the birth of her daughter Lourdes, 1998’s Ray of Light marks out Madonna’s maturity as an artist. Study of Kabbalah and yogic philosophy had taken her down an experimental path, and William Orbit’s trippy, electronic production created the space for questing lyrics about the death of the ego and personal transformation. Singing a set of robust, theatrical songs for the Evita movie soundtrack two years earlier had made Madonna’s voice stronger and more expressive – especially for the techno-driven title track, in which Orbit made her sing a semitone above her comfort zone.

This record is a triumph, more of a concept album than a collection of songs. It’s not just Orbit’s icy production that makes it so rewarding, but Pat Leonard’s dramatic arrangements for tracks like Frozen and Nothing Really Matters (the latter featuring glorious backing vocals by Donna De Lory and Niki Haris). There is a sense of personal revelation in the chilling final track Mer Girl, where Madonna creates a poetic, nightmarish vision of her dead mother buried beneath the earth.

The album won her four Grammys, and conclusively proved her worth as a musician and executive producer, willing to take artistic risks. On the track Nothing Really Matters, for instance, Orbit wanted to get rid of co-producer Marius De Vries’ strange, strangled intro. “Sounds like a broken DAT,” he protested. Madonna, who had the casting vote, kept the noise in, adding another layer to the album’s futuristic, otherworldly sound.

Music (2000)

Driven by producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï’s fractured disco and acid bass, the opening track is classic party Madonna. “Music makes the people come together / Music makes the bourgeoisie and the rebel.” What a fantastic line – and, sung in that choppy, insouciant way, one of most memorable in 2000s pop. On this album, Madonna explores what love and music mean to her, moving easily from the sinuous country grooves of Don’t Tell Me to the space age ambience of What It Feels Like For a Girl (complete with Charlotte Gainsbourg’s soft spoken-word intro). What’s most striking now is the track Paradise (Not for Me). Somewhat overlooked at the time of the album’s release, with its pitch-shifting chanson, trip-hop bedroom pop and melting strings, it’s very of this pop moment.

Madame X (2019)

Madonna went a little off the boil after 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor with a few albums (Hard Candy, MDNA, Rebel Heart) where she seemed less engaged, less excited. With last year’s Madame X, she rediscovered her mojo. Reflecting on her new life in Lisbon, this album is about exile and liberation, incorporating everything from reggaeton, mournful Portuguese fado and devotional Moroccan Ganawa to trap-inspired hip-hop. Dark Ballet (produced by Mirwais) has a rococo brilliance, while I Don’t Search I Find is an almost mystical return to the dancefloor. And Batuka, performed with the mighty Orquestra Batukadeiras, has a dark, percussive female power. When you think about where Madonna began, with the heady New York beat box sound of 1982’s Everybody, hers has been an amazing journey. 

[Blue Jean 15,204]

Everyone should start at the start!

[Guest Nobody Knows Me]

34 minutes ago, Blue Jean said:

Everyone should start at the start!

Agreed. Her discography needs to be listened to chronologically otherwise people will have no idea what she’s referring to in songs like Human Nature.

[PWCCA 2,498]

You would have to pick 4 good ones, and that wouldn't include anything from the past decade or so. So.... 

Like a Virgin

Like a Prayer

Ray of Light

Confessions on a Dancefloor

Though some of these wouldn't rank in my personal top 4, I do feel that these four perfectly represent her artistry to a new listener. Though, one could also take away the first two and substitute it with the Immaculate Collection for extra goodness

[Guest Nobody Knows Me]

10 minutes ago, PWCCA said:

You would have to pick 4 good ones, and that wouldn't include anything from the past decade or so. So.... 

Like a Virgin

Like a Prayer

Ray of Light

Confessions on a Dancefloor

Though some of these wouldn't rank in my personal top 4, I do feel that these four perfectly represent her artistry to a new listener. Though, one could also take away the first two and substitute it with the Immaculate Collection for extra goodness

I’d switch Like a Virgin with True Blue but I’d agree that Like a Prayer, Ray of Light and Confessions on a Dance Floor would be the essentials. 

[wtg1987 10,159]

Mine would be 

True Blue

Erotica

Ray Of Light

Confessions On A Dancefloor

LAP narrowly missed my top 4 by just a pubic hair ?
 

Madame X is my fave album of the last 4 - it’s really grown on me as all good albums should imo 

[Voguerista 11,781]

22 minutes ago, wtg1987 said:

 

LAP narrowly missed my top 4 by just a pubic hair ?
 

Thank you All so much so far! Loves your choices. 

[Gilbert 501]

5 hours ago, Blue Jean said:

Everyone should start at the start!

totally agree. but anywhere in the 80s is a good start.

[Ayham 5,483]

I think with Confessions on a Dancefloor this album is listenable to everyone. Then maybe Madame X, Music & then Ray Of Light ?? But why not listening to Celebration? ☺️

[Ayham 5,483]

Her 80’s work won’t be a good start! That’s my opinion tho... don’t @ me! ? except few major hits like (La Isla Bonita / Live To Tell / Like A Prayer) ??

[valinecode 291]

The Immaculate Collection. The Girlie Show Tour. The Confessions Tour and Remixes 1998 - 2006

[Andymad 10,345]

I don’t know. I honestly think she should start with her music videos. Something released with newly mastered music videos. The new Immaculate Collection. I’d love to say tours but seriously we have more luck getting the music videos remastered than a full tour mastered release.

[Gilbert 501]

1 hour ago, Ayham said:

Her 80’s work won’t be a good start! That’s my opinion tho... don’t @ me! ? except few major hits like (La Isla Bonita / Live To Tell / Like A Prayer) ??

"won't be a good start"?  why not start where it all started to show her growth?  80s was a huge decade for her and i dont think she would achieved the success she has today without the 80's. when it comes to the mention of Madonna, thats where most people go when they think of her.  of course i am not referring to just hard core fans. but an average person off the street who may have little to no appreciation for Madonna will immediately think of something from the 80s that made her the iconic superstar she is today.

[Ayham 5,483]

14 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

"won't be a good start"?  why not start where it all started to show her growth?  80s was a huge decade for her and i dont think she would achieved the success she has today without the 80's. when it comes to the mention of Madonna, thats where most people go when they think of her.  of course i am not referring to just hard core fans. but an average person off the street who may have little to no appreciation for Madonna will immediately think of something from the 80s that made her the iconic superstar she is today.

Yes true, however we’re in 2020... ? that’s my opinion as I said lol!

[Gilbert 501]

12 minutes ago, Ayham said:

Yes true, however we’re in 2020... ? that’s my opinion as I said lol!

yes it is your opinion. you are welcome to it, but i dont see how we being in 2020 matters when this is an artist who has a music catalog dated back to the late 70s, starting with her early bands. seems sensible to me that one would get a good idea who she is if you start from the beginning.

[Ayham 5,483]

6 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

yes it is your opinion. you are welcome to it, but i dont see how we being in 2020 matters when this is an artist who has a music catalog dated back to the late 70s, starting with her early bands. seems sensible to me that one would get a good idea who she is if you start from the beginning.

Maybe you’re right... for me her first few albums are the weakest compared to her recent albums... I don’t see anything special in LAV or TB or even LAP... “”except”” few major hits!

[Gilbert 501]

12 minutes ago, Ayham said:

Maybe you’re right... for me her first few albums are the weakest compared to her recent albums... I don’t see anything special in LAV or TB or even LAP... “”except”” few major hits!

well we all are just offering our two cents and i appreciate reading yours. thats what makes these forums so fun. we can discuss our ideas and understand the diversity of the fandom of Madonna. we all connect to her in different ways in different phases. i guess since ive been a fan since early on, it makes sense to start from the beginning. i do see something very special from her in the early 80s. the drive and ambition is so there. people who met her even before she became famous saw that "special" something in her that was going to take her far.  a lot of her early music is fun and care free which is what many connected with. by the late 80s she started maturing more with her music and LAP shows a step in the direction of being a good song writer and activist. it showed how she was more than just a song and dance girl. but even in her earlier albums she knew what would connect with the public. just think about her insistence of leading with the song Like a Virgin when her producer of the album of the same name Niles Rogers felt Material Girl was a better lead. Madonna always knew from the beginning what would connect. she still has the drive and ambition. i do think her more current work just show much more creative she can be, but its the more simple times of the 80s that is a great start to give someone new a sense of where she came from to whom she is today.

[Blue Prince 995]

For any university pal interested I'd suggest Rebel Heart and Confessions first, as they are modern sounding still and show what she is capable of in terms of dance quality and variety. After that probably True Blue. I'd start off with the most fresh sounding, care free albums of the bunch as the others might be a little passé or too specific for a non fan. Depends on their tastes too really. But great albums like Erotica, American Life, Ray of Light, Bedtime Stories (?) and Madame X should probably be listened to later on.

[Guest Nobody Knows Me]

Personally, if one were to start in a non-chronological order, then I’d suggest starting with Confessions on a Dance Floor. A modern-sounding and accessible dance album that feels very ‘Madonna’. Dance music is what she is often associated with and it’s a fantastic album so that’s where I’d begin. Then I’d probably move onto her ‘80s efforts and leave the more experimental moments until later on. Beginning with an album such as Madame X will most likely not end very well.

[Aiwa08 16,212]

I never recommend albums to a new Madonna's fan at first. I always recommend the best singles.

After that, if the new fan loves the singles, then I recommend the albums True Blue, Like A Prayer, Ray of Light, and Confessions.

If they love these fours albums, then I recommend to listen to all the albums since "Madonna" to "Madame X" to see the evolution. 

[Guest Nobody Knows Me]

7 minutes ago, Aiwa08 said:

I never recommend albums to a new Madonna's fan at first. I always recommend the best singles.

After that, if the new fan loves the singles, then I recommend the albums True Blue, Like A Prayer, Ray of Light, and Confessions.

If they love these fours albums, then I recommend to listen to all the albums since "Madonna" to "Madame X" to see the evolution. 

That’s actually a great method. I always consider those four albums to be her most essential albums. I agree it is probably best for someone to listen to her well-known singles first. Perhaps The Immaculate Collection is a better way to start than a full-length studio album. 

[gonna dress u up 185]

interesting question, i started with their hits, then, the first album i heard was True Blue and Madame X (Just because it was the new one and i was interested on how madonna sounds now), after listening some hits, Jimmy Jimmy was the first "new song" i heard by accident ).

But if i have to recommend someone where to start, i'll choose Like A Prayer, that album is a masterpiece. then you can listen to any 80s album she had, and, finally, listen to Erotica, is a completely different album from the previous ones, with that House/Dance sound, and i think it maybe interesting for a new fan (Me )

and the other option is just listen to her discography chronologically

[heikeeduardo 925]

Hard Candy

MDNA

Rebel Heart

Madame X