tomasjohn

I’ve always loved MATM! The original solo demo version really showcases Britney’s deep vocal tones. The released version is great too. Madonna really added to the song and it almost feels like the two are battling it out while having a duet at the same time. I can understand why it wasn’t a massive #1 smash hit on Billboard because it was sort of different and not your typical Pop song. They video definitely captures that battle duet too with the two of them having a sort of cat and mouse hunt with each other. 
 
I’ve been a Britney stan since 1998 when “…Baby One More Time” was released. During this time period is when Britney performed with Madonna and talked highly of her in interviews. It clear to see that over the years how much of a stan of Madonna Britney is, which in turn turned me into a Madonna stan. My mom was already a Madonna stan so Madonna’s music was already a constant in our household, but during this era is what turned me into a stan. 

Tell me about it!!

Tour started and no deluxe reissue announced to tie in 

The bassline player to Dear Father had beef with M back in the very early '80s due to him got secured the release for her own penned song Crimes of Passion (her demo version got released nonetheless through Stephen Bray's Pre-Madonna/In the Beginning), basicly some sort of thievery in M's mind. Once she knew who was behind the bassline, she scrapped Dear Father. Until then, she was adamant to include it as the fourth track of Erotica.
It was Betts indeed. He discussed the song (including M's reason to not include it on Erotica) with Lucy O'Brien for Like an Icon biography. Of course not with all these details; I checked up later on the real thing.

I think something mentioned a Nobody Knows Me single cover here...?
This is the one I'm using, in case anyone is interested:

And these for Nothing Fails, Love Profusion & Mother And Father (the new Hollywood cover is not finished yet):


 
 

This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the Hollywood cover I did,without borders in full glory

This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Did this remaster or "master" should I say and it sounds now coherent to the rest of the Love Profusion EP sound
Has an upscale on it too of the Love Profusion artwork
 

I’m sorry you have to listen to Madonna only on platforms... where it seems that you don’t find much
Here it is

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The question shouldn’t be “what happened,” the question should be why were they ever friends in the first place?

Madonna has some close friends for even longer. Not that this is a contest, but besides Rosie and Debi, she has others, some not even celebrities or well known. I believe she's got a couple "Semtex Girls" friends who have been assistants for her as well since the 90's.
But I get what @kesiakis saying, many people are lucky to have one or two close friend for more than a few decades. We know Madonna and Debi have been friends for over 40 years. She also is close to a sister of hers as well.

On a side note, the only time I thought to myself, 'ok this is damage control' was when we got the endorsements in the American Life era (Gap Jeans, Estee Lauder) a softer image in the Love Profusion video - then RIT which I think would have been very different if AL was well received like Music - and then Confessions was a whole reestablishment 

I agree it wasn't the song that was the issue - it was just the accumulation at the time. The book,  the movie and then the single - perhaps the strategy should have been the book + single  - then an album a year later maybe.
I also agree with @Blue Jeanif they were doing any damage control - Rain would have been the natural follow up single! 
But, at the end of the day, despite the intense press good and bad - it didn't hurt her career - Bedtime Stories the album was a hit - Take A Bow her longest No. 1 single in the US and the GS was a knock out!

Was it damage control by Warner really? I remember reading some reviews saying the album didn't have obvious singles apart from "Deeper" and I somehow agree. It's a great album but didn't have the obvious commercial super smashes the previous ones had.
The 2nd single was supposed to be "Bad Girl" with a super sexually charged video, but "Deeper And Deeper" was rush released after the initial backlash of the album release and the book. They needed old pop commercial Madonna back in full mode... yet she chose to do a super arty video for it.

We all know the brilliant Erotica album got a bit of damage control treatment by Warner Bros, who desperately tried to get it back on track commercially, and make some cash once the public turned against Madonna with the release of the lead single & video, Sex book and Body of Evidence movie. 
What do you think the singles and videos would have been, had it all gone according to the original plan? Here are my thoughts:
1. Erotica 
single and video (released as planned) >>> September '92
2. Deeper and Deeper
single and video (released as planned BUT earlier I think. they tried to make the people forget all about Erotica single as soon as possible- I think the originally planned date was about a month later) >>> December '92
3. Bad Girl / Fever (remixes)
single (released as planned, together with Fever remixes) BUT the video was supposed to be directed by Mark Romanek- as confirmed, who, the previous year directed K.D. Lang's Constant Craving, which Madonna loved, and was supposed to look similar to that one, kind of like the Secret video- b/w, smokey club performance. Instead, Warner opted for Michael Jackson-esque blockbuster video in style of "Who is it", also directed by Fincher who took over. All in effort to boost the MTV plays which declined with the previous 2 videos. Fever was supposed to remain only a club song >>> March '93
4. Waiting (feat. Everlast of House of Pain) / Bye Bye Baby (remixes)
This is where it gets interesting because this track was released as a b-side to Rain. House of Pain was the hottest band in the country at the time with "Jump Around" and Everlast was obviously recruited for a main single release (no way anybody would agree to a feature for a b-side). But Warner couldn't deal with another adult-themed song and lyrics (especially in Everlast's bit), so they pushed this one out. Instead, they got Daniel Abraham to remix 2 songs in more of a commercial pop style- "Fever" for video play (which was also not planned originally, and to try to capitalize from Fever remixes already being in stores and boost her MTV presence) and "Rain", for subsequent radio play and single release #4. Madonna obviously hated this decision because all this was in contrast to the image she was building for Erotica era, and she has largely ignored this song throughout her career, including this year when the single was released digitally and received ZERO mention on her IG, unlike all other digital releases >>> June '93
Bye Bye Baby remixes were obviously finished earlier and ready to be released, but I'm not sure if they were supposed to be the B-side of Waiting, or a separate 5th release to coincide with the tour. They were obviously cancelled in the US for not being commercial enough, because at that point Warner was trying to save a sinking ship and Madonna was no longer in control. 
So to summarize, in my opinion, the Erotica damage control consisted of: Bad Girl -Fincher video, Fever video, Rain single and video.
I could obviously be wrong, but this makes sense to me. Any thoughts?
 

It’s a Ferrara film. His movies are not “let’s make some popcorns and enjoy a film”. I’m pretty sure if it was for Madonna she would’ve cut the best parts where she was actually acting (didn’t Ferrara put in it stuff from the rehearsals when she didn’t knows cameras were rolling?) and release the film with her usual  “I’m acting” performance where you can clearly see she can’t relax and be natural. 

Hours of filming where she played a major role was canned/ cut. The movie makers were an unconventional bunch. 
@14 min
 

Madonna is a mediocre actress in both films, but Shanghai Surprise is also badly made, where Swept Away is average, yet inconsistent. Her voice projection in Swept Away is terrible. In fact, her determination to control her voice as an actress (so as not to sound shrill?) has always been her biggest handicap in my opinion. It was at its worst in Dick Tracy, in which she decided to play several characters in one scene alone (when she meets up with Dick and encounters the little boy 🙄), with oddly inconsistent delivery of her lines. With hindsight, aside from Desperately Seeking Susan and Dangerous Game, I think Body of Evidence and Who’s That Girl are actually her best fictional filmic performances, something the critics would have laughed at thirty years ago, but might be inclined to agree with today. I think she was almost always too self-conscious as an actress, which is why SA was her last true film role. She knew it herself. She couldn’t seem to move past her own persona. I can understand why as in many ways she’s the greatest performance artist of all time! She has always been in character, which must have been confusing and exhausting as such an exposed public figure. I wish she would be chosen to play an insanely over the top role directed by a conceptual team like The Daniels. It would be such a dream for her to return to the cinema with something truly grandiose and mind-bending. I’m sure she’s been approached by so many unknown or new directors over the years. I’m not sure what has stopped her…it can’t be the fear of being ridiculed. Surely she’s over that? Vanity? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Such a wasted opportunity after so many years of making it a priority. Her abandoning film has always seemed like the most un-Madonna thing she’s ever done. 

it's from this newsreport
 

💛

https://www.maryevans.com/weekly/barnabys2/barnabys.php
Yes... The fan in Spain is me 

Yeah the "Calderone & Quayle Edit" is actually a different mix, instead of just an edit of "Calderone & Quayle Glam Mix". It was originally included on this promo CD: https://www.discogs.com/release/216223-Madonna-Hollywood
It's the same situation with "Beautiful Stranger (Calderone Radio Mix)" and "Beautiful Stranger (Calderone Club Mix)".

I actually love the Immaculate mixes, always have. I always had had a preference to the 12" remixes/extended dance mixes over the album versions for many of her 80's songs. So Immaculate is like the perfect combo of the extended dance mixes edited down to a single format.

The original release of the album is perfect.  Sure, I question the absence of Who's That Girl, True Blue and Causing A Commotion, but what was included was great.  And it's not like her team didn't react to the absence to those songs, by releasing the "Holiday Collection".
My issue with this album is what is now on streaming and digital platforms. The mixes they substituted for the original versions such as Lucky Star.  To me, it falsely represents what the album stood for. Madonna purposely remixed and mastered all those songs in a way, to be different to what was already released to the public. She didn't want to just release a typical Greatest Hits of versions that were already available. She wanted to present the songs slightly different, yet still true to form. 
Nothing will be better than the physical release of this collection. A double disc wasn't necessary back then.

Something immediately caught my attention in the new rehearsal pic ! M is wearing her infamous Bob-Lo t-shirt that she wore when she was 16yo ! (Or maybe a reproduction). I think it's an amazing wink to her pre-fame days ! I def think there will be major winks to her past clothes involved in the tour. I thought it would be nice to share !

I found the article!
Steve Barron wrote this back in 1999, and here's whet he had to say about this song:

Many are surprised to learn that the song that won Madonna over to
Sire Records company president Seymour Stein has never appeared on
any of her own albums. Madonna's first Warner Brothers single
"Everybody" was released in April 1983 and was produced by club DJ
Mark Kamins (a rare remix by Rusty Egan was used on the vinyl 12"
for the UK release only). Bray revealed, "Everybody was supposed
to be her second release, not her first." After Madonna was signed
in late 1982, several versions of "Ain't No Big Deal" were
recorded with different producers in an effort to get the most out
of the song. The first production was a 24track master recorded
with Stephen Bray. The second production was done with Mark
Kamins, and the third version was done with Reggie Lucas. The
final production was a remix by Jellybean Benitez based on the
Bray version. Once the record company decided to spend the time to
produce several different versions of "Ain't No Big Deal",
"Everybody" was issued as Madonna's first single instead.

Bray however got the sole writing credit for "Ain't No Big Deal"
and in the meantime sold his publishing rights to July Fourth
Music. Disco act Barracuda then recorded and released their own
version on Epic Records before Warner Brothers had selected which
Madonna version to use for her release. The song was then dropped
from her first album and Madonna's then boyfriend Jellybean
Benitez found and produced what would later become Madonna's first
American top 40 single "Holiday" as the replacement. Years later
the Reggie Lucas production of "Aint No Big Deal" was released on
the B-side of the "True Blue" single, but the other versions
remain unreleased. Bray added; "There was also another version of
"Everybody " that Madonna used during club performances remixed by
Jellybean Benitez, which has also has never been released."
So I misremembered who did what.
If someone wants to read the whole thing, you can find it here:
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.fan.madonna/c/Tdex7sSpUEw?pli=1