Maybe I've noticed it more since shes become more preachy and sorry I'm not going on a Madonna bashing mission the selfie bidding just feels a bit wrong especially when fans are paying a hell of a lot for a ticket it would just be nice if something is given back to us as a reward for supporting her for all of theses years.
I think just the total opposite. She was a real class act during being married to Guy Ritchie and her musical work was top notch during those years. Nothing cheap or trashy during the Ritchie years.
Funny, that was my exact experience at seeing the Rebel Heart tour in Manchester. Hours late, no atmosphere, songs cut. Was beyond disappointed. MDNA I saw twice (Birmingham and Edinburgh) and loved it each time. Theatrical, daring... the 90s tour that never was!
1996:
August 3, 1996: Madonna has approached DJ Robert Miles – a trance/progressive house composer from Switzerland who lives in Italy - about working on her next LP (due next year) after she heard his worldwide No. 1 hit, “Children.” She is apparently eager to experiment with “dream” and “trance” music on her new album. (MLVC Mailing List rumor)
Also of note in 1996 - Christine Leach records "Sepheryn" to backing music made by William Orbit one night while they were working together. That recording is among the first he sends to Madonna in the Spring of 1997. - from Q Magazine (August 2002) The Making of Ray of Light
Madonna Interview : Q Magazine (August 2002)
https://allaboutmadonna.com/madonna-interviews/madonna-interview-q-magazine-august-2002
http://allaboutmadonna.com/images/madonna-library/2002-madonna-q.jpg
1997
January 1997: In a radio interview with WKTU in NYC, Madonna says she and Babyface start writing next month for her next album.
February 26: Rick Nowels meets Madonna in a random encounter at Barney’s in NYC today. Later, they will have a meeting and end up writing 9 songs together – 3 of which will make the album.
March 1997: "Guy [Oseary] rang and suggested I send some tapes to her [Madonna]. I didn't take it very seriously, so I didn't send anything. Then he rang again, so I sent a DAT with 13 tracks on it. (William Orbit from Q Magazine - August 2002 - The Making of Ray of Light)
In an interview that will be published in November 1997, Italian dreamhouse DJ, Robert Miles talks about his new album, 23a.m. and how it started to take shape this month (March 1997) with a song he wrote for Madonna called, “Enjoy.” Scheduling problems prevented them from recording it together so he hired another singer to do it for his album.
March 17: Madonna is currently working with Pat Leonard and Babyface on her new album, which she will record in the spring. (ICON Newsletter)
March 20: Madonna is working on a new album, collaborating once again with the heavily-booked producer Babyface. However, whether or not she's reaching out to Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor to produce a track for her, a hot Internet rumor at the moment, remains to be seen. (MTV News)
April 11: Madonna has just arrived in London for a two-week stay. The UK papers say she will be recording her new album there with Nellee Hooper.
April 18: MTV News’ Kurt Loder says: Madonna is in London laying down tracks with producer Nellee Hooper (from the Bedtime Stories album) and will soon return to L.A. to record with Babyface.
Apri: In a March 1998 interview with MuchMusic, Madonna said she did approach Tricky to work with her but his management said he was busy finishing his own album. She also said she contacted Goldie and he initially agreed so she sent some demos and he “fell in love” with “To Have and Not to Hold” but never called her back after that. “I tried to get him to work on one of the tracks from Ray of Light. Nellee Hooper played a bunch of early demos for him and he fell in love with 'To Have And Not To Hold'. We sent him the master tapes and he said he wanted to work on it by himself, and then we never heard from him. Oh well, I guess he was busy."
May (early): "Five days later, sitting in my garden, I got a call from Madonna. She said she was working on my tracks and would I like to come out and meet up with her. They sent me a plane ticket and off I went." (William Orbit from Q Magazine - August 2002 - The Making of Ray of Light)
Additional notes collected:
LATER: After receiving the initial phone call from Madonna and when meeting her in person, Ørbit gives her a tape of five instrumental tracks. One becomes “Swim” – which was among the first of their collaberations. Orbit says once they completed this track, they both knew they were “onto something special” as it gave him shivers. “Frozen” was originally over 10 minutes long, and Madonna says it was “heart-breaking” cutting down to a manageable length.
From a Dotmusic Interview with W. Orbit:
“Power Of Goodbye” - Another of the songs for Madonna fans (this time one of Nowels'), it is all keyboard and drums and circus-like swirls and stands out for its all-knowing lyrics.
WO: "This track took a long time. I really did struggle. This was the midnight of the tracks. There was a
point on the album when I thought I was going to give it up. But like Robert the Bruce and the spider in the cave, I kept cracking away on it and then we were flying."
“To Have And Not To Hold” - A delicate chant-like track in which Madonna's voice weaves through the melody.
WO: "It was pretty straightforward, the sound just fell into place. Rico Conning put bells on and a great
descending bell-line and I totally neglected him in the credits."
“Little Star” - A lullaby-like track not least for its lyrics, which show Madonna's daughter Lourdes as being the most important thing in her life. The most ambient track which has restrained beats and complex effects held back by sweeping strings.
WO: "I had nothing to do with this track, apart from being around when it was done. Marius came in and went down the
corridor to come up with that. I walked by, loved it and gave them the thumbs up."
“Mer Girl” - From its landscape and the emotional resonances, this is a powerful ending to the album.
WO: "I'm very proud of this one. I set out to do something complex and I felt like I'd pulled it off. It has a lot more structure than it would first appear. She sang it so incredibly beautifully - in one take - early in the project. It's just a moment in time I'll cherish. Most people don't get that far on an album."
May 23: From Liz Smith's column: WHAT'S NEW on the Madonna front? The once-outrageous star is busy communing with the muse. In other words, songwriting for her next album. She will collaborate on a few tunes with Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds. The last time Madonna and "Face" pooled their resources, it resulted in the zillion-seller, "Take a Bow."
Early June 1997: "It was a day of sun and showers, and I remember I got drenched just as I arrived at her apartment block. Her living-room hi-fi wasn't working, so we adjourned to her gymnasium with another hi-fi. She played me the stuff she'd written with Babyface and Pat Leonard, and I'm sitting thinking, "These tracks sound very slick. What can I contribute?"
We spent the next week at the Hit Factory getting my backing tracks up in stereo, and she sang what she'd worked out, and it was clear that something was happening. At the end of that week, she said, "Would you work on my record?" and I said. I'd love to."
(William Orbit from Q Magazine - August 2002 - The Making of Ray of Light)
June 15-22: Per a rumored letter between Madonna and Pat Leonard, Madonna is in Michigan around this time visiting her father. In the letter (if it is true), Madonna informs Pat that she wants William Orbit to be the primary producer of the album. (mid-to-late June): Work begins at Larrabee North Studio, Universal City, LA.
William Orbit:
"The first day, I was in paralysis because I was used to going off and being left to get on with it, but she said, "I'm not the kind of girl that leaves the guy to get on with it. Get used to it." It took me a while to get used to someone looking over my shoulder.
Larrabee was a real state-of-the-art studio. I'd never even worked on an automated desk before. It wasn't so much a learning curve as a learning cliff. I realised right away that my equipment was really superannuated, like my old Atari 1040, held together with gaffer tape. It caught fire twice on the sessions.
One minor hazard was that Lola (Lourdes) would come in every day and, like any toddler, she'd make a beeline for the knobs and buttons. We'd look away and the whole sound had changed. We had to keep an eye on her.
There weren't a lot cf musicians around. Mostly it was just me, Madonna, Pat McCarthy, who was a briliant engineer, and a tape-op called Matt. On Ray Of Light every guitar you hear is me. On a lot of tracks I did everything. Most of the tracks pre-existed, so Madonna would work on vocals and lyrics at home, or driving around in her car. It's Important to point out that I wasn't the only producer working on the LP. Patrick Leonard did some great work...
Madonna: As a classically trained musician, Patrick brought a whole other element to the mix, particularly his string arrangements...
William Orbit: About a third of the way through, I thought I was going to get fired. Madonna was used to working with super-slick producers, whereas I'm very lateral which she saw as being disorganised. I went to her house to playback “Power Of Goodbye”. We'd taken the wrong DAT with us and she was not amused. I ended up saying "Gimme a week and I'll turn this one round".
I virtually lived in the studio for that week, and from then on, it was great. She became confident that I knew what I was doing. – From Q Magazine (August 2002) The Making of Ray of Light
July 8: Freddy DeMann told WEA Italian executives that Madonna is recording her new album right now from songs she wrote this past spring. The recording will be finished in September but he said she wants to have plenty of time to promote it, so it is unlikely it will be released until early 1998. (MLVC Mailing List)
July 15: Madonna recorded the vocals for “Swim” today. Orbit later claims the vocals have “emotional resonance” to them because of how the death of Gianni Versace (murdered today) affected her - as she got the call about the designer just before she started recording the vocal in the studio. From Q Magazine (August 2002) The Making of Ray of Light
July 31: Madonna reportedly asked Liam Howlett of The Prodigy to produce the album with her but he declined saying to do so would be like “selling my soul to the Devil.” (MTV News, I think)
August 15: Madonna spent the spring and most of June writing material. On June 30 she went into the studio to record material with William Ørbit. On July 7 she was supposed to start recording with Nellee Hooper but the two had a falling out. Hooper is reportedly very upset. (I have no idea where I got this info - possibly a rumor ffrom the MLVC board)
August 25: A representative at Chrysalis Records reports that Susannah Melvoin (former Prince flame and half of the Paisley Park duo Wendy & Lisa) says that Susannah just completed a song ["Candy Perfume Girl"] with William Ørbit for Madonna’s next album. Susannah also just got married and will be taking a few weeks off now before re-entering the studio with Lisa again. (MLVC Mailing List)
August 26: Red-hot British producer Nellee Hooper, who has produced records for Soul II Soul, Massive Attack, U2, and Bjork, has refused to work with Madonna. Madonna and Hooper had originally agreed to record in London, so Hooper booked studio time along with some of London's top musicians. But when Madonna met with him in Los Angeles to discuss plans, one of the details was a switch of locale from London to L.A. Nellee agreed, on the condition that Madonna pay for the cost of canceling the London sessions. She refused. So he refused to do her album, or ever work with her again. Of the Hooper situation, Madonna's manager Caresse Norman says, "The stars weren't properly aligned."
[NOTE by Nightshade]: I know somewhere there is a print interview with Madonna where she says that she took her demos to Nellee Hooper in London and he "wanted to change the music" and get a writing credit, and that angered her so she took him off the project. However, considering she allowed William Orbit to write and change music from the demos - most notably, "Drowned World" which was her and Leonard's "Substitute for Love" - I am not sure who to believe.
Mid-September: In an interview for the 30th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone (which hits stands next month with M, Tina Turner and Courtney Love on the cover) she says Lourdes is always in the recording studio with her now. She also says she has a month to go on the recording process and that it is likely she will tour next summer (1998) to support the album. (Rolling Stone 11/13/1997)
During the photoshoot for the Rolling Stone cover, she is (reportedly) constantly playing a remix of Tricky's "Makes Me Wanna Die" (remixed by the Stereo MC's) - this will lead her to having them [stereo MC's] remix her lead track, "Frozen."
October 2: A Turkish magazine leaks 3 song titles: "Substitute for Love," "Sky Fits Heaven" and "Candy Perfume Girl." (as reported by the MLVC Mailing List)
October 3: Today, MTV films the ULTRASOUND episode of Madonna in the recording studio.
October 9: Donatella Versace unveiled the new Versace spring-summer collection in Milan, Italy. Madonna was unable to attend so instead she contributed the catwalk music. The song she supplied is from her forth-coming album. It was called “Candy Perfume Girl” and is described as “very Prodigy” – quite hard edged. (MLVC Mailing List)
October 12: BET reports Babyface has done a few tracks for the album but didn’t know if they would all be included. One is funky, one is a full-on jam (like TLC’s “Creep”) and one will be a smooth, beautiful ballad. They also mentioned that last time the two worked together, one cut didn’t make the Bedtime Stories album.
October 18: The lyrics to "Little Star" leak online. Two more track names are also leaked: "Ray of Light" and "Skin." Also, Marius de Vries is mentioned as a producer. (MLVC Mailing List)
October 29: According to her website, Madonna has decided on a name for the album and she has renamed the song “Substitute for Love” – “Drowned World.” The first single is due in February. As of today, she is still in the studio doing mastering for the album.
According to spokesperson Liz Rosenberg, Madonna considered titling the album Mantra, which she thought was a "really cool title". However, she changed the title to Ray of Light, as her albums were always titled after one of the songs from that album. ~ "Newsbytes". Icon. 7 (2): 15. 1997
November 18: Madonna has brought on some new management. Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch (of Q Prime Management) will co-manage Madonna along with current manager Caresse Norman. Their first priority will be the new album in March of 1998. Burnstein says the new album is “groundbreaking” and “It’s unlike anything else heard on the radio.”
November 20: This week Madonna invited top WB execs to a listening party for her new album. The party was held in a London recording studio she had decked out in Moroccan décor. WB president Phil Quartararo and the heads of the international labels were pleased with what they heard. The album is a dance disc that gets back to her original audience while mining the latest trip-hop and drum-and-bass grooves…courtesy William Orbit. One insider said: “It’s very ‘druggie’ sounding.”
November 21: Madonna christens the album RAY OF LIGHT. Madonna changed the title five times before deciding on this name. Previous names included: Mantra, Drowned World, Heartbreaking, and Electronica.
November 26: Madonna previews 5 tracks from the record at LIQUID (club) in Miami. While in Miami this weekend, she shoots the album cover with Mario Testino.
December 2: Marius de Vries tells an informant he worked on 3 cuts on the album, including Madonna’s drum-and-bass lullabye to Lourdes, “Little Star.” (MLVC Mailing List)
According to reports from Warner Europe, the first single will be called “Frozen” (produced by Madonna and William Orbit). It will be released to European radio January 23, 1998.
December 15: Chris Cunningham will direct the video for “Frozen,” a slow and spacey song according to an insider. Black Dog is the production company and the video will be shot January 5-12 in a location outside L.A. The casting calls for two body doubles and reports that one may “hang from a rig” while being scantily clad.
December 25: Madonna calls Victor Calderone today to inform him his up-tempo tribal remix of “Frozen” will be chosen for the maxi-single. (from an interview with Victor Calderone)
TEARS OF THE AUDIENCE TOUR
1. Video Introduction (includes samples of Like a Virgin, Holiday, Into the Groove, Ray of Light, Music, Vogue and Hung Up - all fooling the audience into thinking she's gonna start with one of those)
2. Candy Shop
3. Superstar (Eddie Amador Full Remix)
4. Incredible (2nd half only)
5. Auto-Tune Baby
6. MDNA Skin Creams (VIDEO INTERLUDE)
7. B-Day Song
8. Give Me All Your Luvin' (Party Rock Remix with LMFAO present)
9. Hey You
10. S.E.X.
11. 4 Minutes / Dance 2night (performed solo by Justin Timberlake)
12. MDNA Skin Rollers (VIDEO INTERLUDE)
13. Spanish Lesson
14. Candy Shop Reprise (Acoustic)
15. History (Jump single version)
16. Santa Baby
17. Highlights from Arthur and the Invisibles (VIDEO INTERLUDE)
18. Crazy for You (Benny Benassi Remix)
19. Revolver
20. Turn Up the Radio
21. The Power of Good-Bye (Luke Slater's Super Luper Remix)
22. The Incredible Auto-Tune B-Day Candy Shop (Martin Solveig vs. Kanye West vs. LMFAO Remix)
Danton got a reaction from Homogenic79 in Madame X Tour | New York City
Danton reacted to MattyMads in Madame X Tour | New York City
Danton got a reaction from Voguerista in Madame X Tour | New York City
Danton got a reaction from Madame Madonna in Ranking the Tracks: Music
Danton got a reaction from Zaktkoons in What songs do you want to hear on tour?
