New Stephen Bray interview about Warning Signs and other unreleased tracks

[wonderboy 1,886]

3 hours ago, Material Girl said:

Poor Stephen Bray must be fed up with always being questioned by fans on the same subject.

I can understand that after a while, embellishing things or sometimes avoiding subjects must be instinctive.

It reminds me of Mark Kamins and his never-released demo. I think Stephen Bray has a much more interesting artistic activity though

this is what makes the most sense to me. He was probably being coy or cheeky sayin it was terrible just bcz he's over being asked about it. "Its terrible, now go away!" lol

[Shoful 8,549]

We need a list of all the unreleased songs that we don’t have. Anyone with a lot of knowledge up for the challenge?

[Prayer 14,278]

9 minutes ago, Shoful said:

We need a list of all the unreleased songs that we don’t have. Anyone with a lot of knowledge up for the challenge?

I used to go by this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unreleased_songs_recorded_by_Madonna

[Spanky1995 2,813]

He also mentioned a song ( unfinished) called Crushed To Bits another previously unknown title 

[Material Girl 4,603]

I also hope he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s or we’ll be in trouble

[Spanky1995 2,813]

1 hour ago, Material Girl said:

I also hope he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s or we’ll be in trouble

I have worked in E.M.I care for years and this kind of comment makes me sick and the little laughing thing at the end.........

[mattchewd 76]

2 hours ago, Spanky1995 said:

He also mentioned a song ( unfinished) called Crushed To Bits another previously unknown title 

Think thats part of the lyric to the Head over heels song from the way he described it ie "Head over heels and crushed to bits..."

[steady75 9,566]

Warner will have completed songs and probably copies of completed demos or stuff that was submittted to show works in progress.

Its highly likely that Madonna and her collaborators have lots of half songs, unfinished songs and demos that got to a really substantial stage / fully formed songs that she just abandoned because the vibe wasn’t right or didn’t fit the theme. 
 

Warner won’t have these. They live on the drives on producers. Not everything is submitted. 
If a producer offers up these recordings as lost works Warners automatically claims them as they are works that were written while she was under contract. 
 

The song writing process is not some hermetically sealed process. It’s full of improve and mood boards and ideas that often don’t make sense in traditional format. Look at songs like Hollywood. Didn’t it have multiple different incarnations before she settled on the AL version? 
 

it’s possible she had a killer verse and chorus but no bridge for a song or the synth part wasn’t right or she didn’t have time to come back in and do that vocal or they had enough tracks already and the release schedule was creeping up and she has filming commitments. She’s not one to pour over things like MJ. She worked quick and if the vibe wasn’t right bin it and move on. I bet there’s absolutely heaps of half done stuff. We’re only used to hearing about completed stuff that didn’t make the final cut. 

[deathproof 10,555]

18 hours ago, mattchewd said:

Think thats part of the lyric to the Head over heels song from the way he described it ie "Head over heels and crushed to bits..."

Ya that’s how I took it

[The Ghost 1,566]

1 hour ago, deathproof said:

Ya that’s how I took it

Yes me too sounds like the same song.

[deathproof 10,555]

This is one of the most fascinating things I’ve listened to in awhile. I thank the MLVC crew for getting Bray on and him being so open to talk about all this stuff.

It goes to show that just because a song isn’t registered on a publishing database, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. There’s so much more out there that we don’t know about ;)

Also, how great does “First There’s a Kiss” sound? For something that was infamously regarded as a slow ballad about HIV/AIDS, turns out it was a bubblegum pop diddy all along! I’d love to hear that one!

[deathproof 10,555]

On 10/30/2022 at 11:58 AM, Shoful said:

We need a list of all the unreleased songs that we don’t have. Anyone with a lot of knowledge up for the challenge?

 

On 10/30/2022 at 12:08 PM, Prayer said:

I used to go by this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unreleased_songs_recorded_by_Madonna

I had one that I posted on that MadonnaNation1814 cess pool place about 10 yrs ago, not sure if I ever migrated it here, but it would need some revisions and additions. I have tons of notes saved in my iPhone from over the years with tidbits of info from producers, engineers, collectors, etc etc.

The Wikipedia page use to be very in-depth several yrs ago, but other people have “controlled” it and made it more about what has leaked rather than unleaked.

Mind you, all of these lists were based on Bruce Baron’s trip to the Library of Congress back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. He was granted access to listen to dozens of tapes because he was working on an article about it for Goldmine magazine. BUT, as per the LOC’s policy, he wasn’t allowed to bring in a sound recorder when listening to these tapes, not even a pen and paper to take notes! He had to exit the building after each session to write down everything he could remember from the listening sessions. So about 75-80% of the things he wrote were accurate. Us fans held onto a lot of inaccurate info about the Rain Tapes for decades until the full tapes finally leaked.

[PlayPause 2,675]

Lovely and one of the most interesting interviews about these years.

He noticeably holds some answers, and shies a little about the biopic so he's either not aware of how it is going or not giving full insight because he doesn't want to spoil things in the making.

Given his relationship with M and what he says here, he wouldn't block any release of this stuff and he is not in the position to refuse anything after the Pre-Madonna shenanigan.

[steady75 9,566]

Yeah the Pre Madonna stuff sounds unfortunate. Seemed other people actually soured his relationship with her but that may be him re writing a bit of the story. 

[Redha DBL 7,276]

There's no way this thread can die already. Someone change the title to "New Stephen Bray interview about Warning Signs and other unreleased tracks", we should get 50 pages of interesting chat.

[wtg1987 10,151]

On 11/2/2022 at 10:17 AM, TonyMontana said:

There's no way this thread can die already. Someone change the title to "New Stephen Bray interview about Warning Signs and other unreleased tracks", we should get 50 pages of interesting chat.

I will gladly keep it open while m “ treats “ us with picture discs of songs we’ve had for 30 years … this interview was the most fascinating thing to listen to ever since they announced the deal in 2021 — M sure as shit hasn’t piqued my interest - she seems more bothered with whoring herself out on Instagram and tired remixes 🤣🥹

[BILLSTER 129]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:17 AM, TonyMontana said:

There's no way this thread can die already. Someone change the title to "New Stephen Bray interview about Warning Signs and other unreleased tracks", we should get 50 pages of interesting chat.

Done!

[MDRA 4,222]

On 11/3/2022 at 5:22 PM, wtg1987 said:

M sure as shit hasn’t piqued my interest - she seems more bothered with whoring herself out on Instagram and tired remixes 🤣🥹

You are an amazing person and you deserve the best! 

[Ian 2,248]

a guy can dream

[Certified Fuck Up 10,494]

On 10/28/2022 at 10:58 PM, sbrombolessio said:

'First is a Kiss' is mentioned too! 

she mentioned the track here 

https://madonnaunderground.com/smash-hits-april-19-1989-madonna/

[forbiddenlove1 387]

On 10/29/2022 at 10:58 PM, wtg1987 said:

On the flip side he could be saying this to maybe hype the songs up so we all lose our shit and then M can announce a 20 vinyl set only that will house these demos in a nice box for $500 🤔

And release it in the us only , and leave her european fans in the cold . Like her last 50 number 1 's compilation .

[Celebration 1,306]

33 minutes ago, forbiddenlove1 said:

And release it in the us only , and leave her european fans in the cold . Like her last 50 number 1 's compilation .

What?

No, it was available here in Europe too, but it was only available from her own web store, based in UK.

And then there was a lot of hassle getting the boxes. I god mine a month after its release date. I felt a bit bummed. The moment had passed and the enthusiasm wasn't quite there anymore...

Oh well, maybe they'll do it right next time.

[thegoldencalf 12,573]

10 hours ago, forbiddenlove1 said:

And release it in the us only , and leave her european fans in the cold . Like her last 50 number 1 's compilation .

It was released in US, Canada, UK, Australia and Japan. And except Australia all these markets were shipping internationally 

I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again. Anyone who wanted to purchase a copy at retail cost had the opportunity…