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Your Opinion on True Blue


50ft Queenie
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1 hour ago, RUADJAI said:

The songs are undeniable but White Heat, Jimmy, and LMTWGR can take a walk. If you replace them with Causing a Commotion, The Look of Love, and Who's that Girl it would be absolutely majestic. 

I agree with this, the album starts off incredibly strong but starts to lose momentum for me as time goes on, still a fantastic listen though.

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I think that the only way to understand what an album really means and why it's considered good or not is living at the time the album was released. Is like saying after watching a science-fiction movie from 1950 "That's an overrated movie. The one premiered two months ago has much better special effects".

"True blue" (and her other albums) are big not just for the songs. You can like them or not but you have to understand the album as an album made in 1986. You have to see what other artists were releasing albums and what kind of videos were made. You have to see which other women were in music at the time and what were they doing and most of all you have to understand how was life at that time. The way people thought, how they lived, what kind of access did they have to the information and the way of listening music, news and things like that.

A lot of people say "Jimmy, Jimmy" and "Love makes the world go round" are just fillers, or bad songs or... But in 1986 they were funny songs and nice to listen and much better than lots of the songs that were playing on the radios.

Madonna was big in 1986 and what made her big is that in 2022 some see "True blue" as an overrated album but in 1986 was one of the best albums ever made. I can understand that today people can see it as dated but that's because music evolved and now artist don't make music that way... But with all the 80's revivals we see today I only can say... "All of them are nice, but they are far away of having a glorious production like songs like "Papa don't preach", "Open your heart", "White heat"... or even "Love makes the world god round".

Is overrated "True blue" as an album? For me the answer is a big No. The problem is that it misunderstood for judge it just like an album instead of judge it as a whole.

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And well, after Like a virgin and Material girl she showed she still had so much to say, and very differently. And I think it´s since this album that she started to change her public image for each album, so important for her carreer. A different persona each time, the pop chamaleon. She never has done two albums alike, NEVER. That´s one of her charms.

 

I remeber this one being on cassete on my home in 1986, because my sisters had it. One of my first memories ever is the true blue video and the cover of that album, LOL. Then I started following her on my own around 1999, but she was really there since the very beggining. And while her last era might be not really for my taste, I still have faith this true artist still has something out there for me forthcoming, she has been with me since 1999 and I know what she is capable to do when she is inspired.

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To have an opinion other than enthusiastic on the first 3 albums of Madonna is absolutely incomprehensible to me ... as a fan from the beginning I find it even rather funny.........Imagine worshiping Madonna and leaving her with The Virgin Tour to see her reappear with Live To Tell ..... no you can't unless you experienced it back then:hearteyes::fire::dead:

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2 minutes ago, Tony Fortin said:

Imagine worshiping Madonna and leaving her with The Virgin Tour to see her reappear with Live To Tell ..... no you can't unless you experienced it back then:hearteyes::fire::dead:

This!! Everyone was shocked with Live To Tell... And every single and video-clip from True Blue was a global event. In my opinion it was her more successful era. With Like A Prayer the public began to hate her (too controversial for narrow minds)

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19 minutes ago, steady75 said:

I wouldn’t say the public started to hate her but the uk press started to to really turn on her around Who’s That Girl Era. It was the first time I remember reading negative articles about her. The UK public never really fell out of love with her til the Guy divorce. 

I remember people and press hating her with the "Like A Prayer" video-clip (religion,  kissing a saint...). And a few old fans from the "Like A Virgin" era because she began to defend gay people (mainly straight male fans). It was the first real division among fans. But the real hate started with Erotica/Sex.. 

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It was the first album I ever bought. My older brother had got it on cassette as a present in 1986, and I borrowed it from him and played it over and over. I didn't want to give it back so he charged me for it and 12-year-old-Me handed over all my pocket money.

I understand other posters in this thread who are saying that you had to be there to understand just what this album meant. I guess at just 9 tracks it does feel thin, especially when 5 of them are already such hugely well-known singles. By that I mean if anyone's approaching the album as a newcomer they're really only gonna find 4 tracks that they don't know already. 

The year before, Crazy For You and Into The Groove had both made me prick up my ears and turned me into an intrigued and avid young listener. But it was the True Blue album that made me a lifelong fan. 

For me, Live To Tell stands as one of the best tracks she has ever produced, it sends a shiver when I hear it, always has. The amount of times I would forward to the end of side one after Live To Tell had finished and then flip the cassette over to hear Where's The Party on side two. And then end of side two back over to side one....I literally wore that tape out.

What I would give to go back and relive that time again. 

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2 hours ago, Tony Fortin said:

To have an opinion other than enthusiastic on the first 3 albums of Madonna is absolutely incomprehensible to me ... as a fan from the beginning I find it even rather funny.........Imagine worshiping Madonna and leaving her with The Virgin Tour to see her reappear with Live To Tell ..... no you can't unless you experienced it back then:hearteyes::fire::dead:

Really? Like a Virgin is not that great of an album, I always felt it was a letdown from her debut. True Blue is definitely very good though.

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10 hours ago, Ziggy Stardust said:

Really? Like a Virgin is not that great of an album, I always felt it was a letdown from her debut. True Blue is definitely very good though.

Yeah it was the Like A Virgin era and the gimmicky first two singles that got her all the attention and shifted units. Luckily Into The Groove and Desperately Seeking Susan, her first tour and Crazy For You padded the era out beautifully and here in the UK that was specifically bolstered by the rereleases of Holiday, Borderline and Gambler which made her feel utterly unstoppable. The album is and always was a patchy listen with zero flow.

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37 minutes ago, steady75 said:

Yeah it was the Like A Virgin era and the gimmicky first two singles that got her all the attention and shifted units.

OK but isn't "Papa" gimmicky, too? I mean...

"Like A Virgin", the album, is a stellar production on its original form. It's a shame that the digital versions available now (the 2001 remaster, the digital version) don't reflect that. It needs a great remaster to remind people of how good it is, let's pray it happens. Imagine if Nile Rodgers himself did it: a dream.

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Why do you want a  remaster of "Like A Virgin"? To sound good on tablets or cell phones? Only two albums need a remaster: "Like A Prayer" (to add bass) and Ray of Light (to add treble). The rest (including "Like A Virgin") doesn't need any remaster if you play them in a good Hi-Fi Stereo System. After "Evita", the albums only need to be released without the dynamic range compressed (Loudness War) but they don't need a remaster.

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23 minutes ago, Aiwa08 said:

Why do you want a  remaster of "Like A Virgin"? To sound good on tablets or cell phones? Only two albums need a remaster: "Like A Prayer" (to add bass) and Ray of Light (to add treble). The rest (including "Like A Virgin") doesn't need any remaster if you play them in a good Hi-Fi Stereo System. After "Evita", the albums only need to be released without the dynamic range compressed (Loudness War) but they don't need a remaster.

Of course it's important that it sounds good on tablets and cell phones, and headphones, most of people consume music that way nowadays. It's not 2009 anymore, streaming can sound great today and no that different from CD when it's done right.

"Like A Virgin" only sounds optimal now on vinyl and on digital on the 1996 Japan CD Single Collection box. The 2001/standard CD/streaming version now is not the best version. The 1984/1985 CDs are not that easy to find and general people won't care about it. 

It's 2022, we shouldn't need to be playing a vinyl anytime we want to listen to an album. The vinyl experience is great but it shouldn't be the only one. If some casual new Madonna fan listens to "Like A Virgin" on Spotify or Apple Music he/she will think it's dated and tiny sounding and won't get back to it (it happened to me actually, until I owned the 1996 Japanese box and realized how great this album sounded), when in reality it's a great produced album with a bad version digitally available.

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First album I ever bought. Probably het most iconic record cover. It's also the album that truly broke her internationally (especially in non-English speaking countries). All of the singles are iconic and stone-cold pop classics. Yes, it's of an era sonically but actually stood the test of time better than a lot of albums from that time cause it didn't just rely on synths and programming - those were mixed with live instrumentation played by the absolute top of the game musicians of the era. 

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