Mattress
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Posts posted by Mattress
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UK #1's that did not reach the top 10 in the US:
Into The Groove
American Pie
Sorry
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wouldn't it be better if they base the tracklisting on top 10's from both the US and UK?
Then it would basically be a four disc box set featuring every single she's ever released, lol. Most of her singles have been released in the UK, and have almost all made the top 10. I'm pretty sure just Lucky Star, Take A Bow, Oh Father, One More Chance, Love Profusion and Miles Away missed. The first three were US hits.
I think they need to look at her US top 10's, UK #1's and then cull from that list what will fit on two discs with however many new songs they have planned.
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Into The Groove was ineligible to chart, but a massive "hit" all the same.
Songs that fell between positions 10 and 20:
Holiday (#16)
Oh Father (#20)
Rain (#14)
You Must Love Me (#18)
The Power Of Good-Bye (#11)
Beautiful Stranger (#19) - this would have charted much higher (top ten) had there been a commercial single. It made it to #19 on the strength of airplay alone.
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Madonna's US Top 10 Singles:
Borderline (#10)
Lucky Star (#4)
Like A Virgin (#1)
Material Girl (#2)
Crazy For You (#1)
Angel (#5)
Dress You Up (#5)
Live To Tell (#1)
Papa Don't Preach (#1)
True Blue (#3)
Open Your Heart (#1)
La Isla Bonita (#4)
Who's That Girl (#1)
Causing A Commotion (#2)
Like A Prayer (#1)
Express Yourself (#2)
Cherish (#2)
Keep It Together (#8)
Vogue (#1)
Hanky Panky (#10)
Justify My Love (#1)
Rescue Me (#9)
This Used To Be My Playground (#1)
Erotica (#3)
Deeper And Deeper (#7)
I'll Remember (#2)
Secret (#3)
Take A Bow (#1)
You'll See (#6)
Don't Cry For Me Argentina (#8)
Frozen (#2)
Ray Of Light (#5)
Music (#1)
Don't Tell Me (#4)
Die Another Day (#8)
Hung Up (#7)
4 Minutes (#3)
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^A song cracking the Top 40 can be considered a hit, but in the case of Madonna, she has 38 singles that went to the Top 10 and that's more than enough for 2 CDs.
I was set to say this very thing.
In the US she has 38 top 10's, and none of those are "Holiday" or "Into The Groove".
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She was the best during this period; at least in terms of giving interviews.
I agree. Erotica launched her fallout with the media which came to a boil with the David Letterman interview in 1994. Post-Letterman, Pre-Evita interviews, where the shit had just been kicked out of her, are her most interesting to watch. Most of the artifice and nerves were stripped away and was at her most vulnerable and authentic.
Once media focus lovingly shifted to "Mama Madonna" and the good marks for Evita through Ray Of Light came in, her ego fully rebooted, she began using interviews as a platform for waxing Kabbalah-sophical and she fast became the Madonna we see in interviews today. For better or worse.
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Oh that's going too far surely.Yes.
It is limp after hearing the single mix though.
Is that your favourite version of "Keep It Together", rather than the "Back To Life" one? I don't know.. it sounds pretty cluttered and synthetic. Those mixes at least are very close to the originals but I don't like Pettibone's discofication of everything. Makes everything sound more disco-y and fluffier - and thus more dated.I like both, but would use the commercial single version (Single Remix) instead on a compilation. Posted these three to show that Shep didn't simply do the "cliche'-dance-cha-cha-mixes" as was implied. He spruced up the original sound and then did his dance versions to feed the club crowd. It isn't his fault that Madonna and the pop public's tastes temporarily moved into that direction.
And this 7" Remix is only as cluttered as the original. Seriously, play bits of it alongside the original mix and you can see the instrumentation is actually more "real" sounding on Pettibone's version.
Also, the songs on Like A Prayer were always going to sound dated. All versions sound like '70s songs recorded in the late '80s.
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of course!!! i LOVE the mixes. but as for LAP, that guitar intro from prince and the door slam are just perfect.
express yourself & keep it together lose its old school 60's/70's gritty groove for me, in the mix.
BUT, i LOVE the mixes. the album LAP, for me, has the best mixes of an album.
Oh, I disagree. The remixes still have the integrity of what the original producers did... they sound raw, gritty and "live"... but to me are infinitely more alive.
I'm going to have to throw together a few side-by-side comparison clips later.
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Did you download them? Just to make sure we're talking about the same mixes.
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mattress, i prefer the album versions of KIT, LAP, and EY to the single mixes. :hide:
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No one is ever going to be able to convince me that the original album versions are better than these three single remixes, all by Shep Pettibone. Download them and if you get a chance listen to them side by side with the album mixes.
Like A Prayer [7" Version] | download
This is the single version that I demand appear on the new compilation. More percussion, more bass, more atmospheric strings. Oh, and Prince's soaring guitar work (listen to that solo on the end, compare that to the lifeless album version.)
Express Yourself [7" Remix] | download
This, too, is the proper single version. All kinds of new stuff here... thicker bass, zippers (
), strings --fittingly-- straight out of "Hot Thing" (a Prince track). The vocals are also placed much better in the mix. 
Keep It Together [7" Remix] | download
This was released on the promo CD alongside Shep's more dramatically reworked single version. Love this one too. Kicks off with "1-2-3" and then her actual voice yelling "Hit it!" and doesn't let up from there. Like the previous two, this is such an improvement over the album mix. And that cold ending?!
Fuller. Funkier. Forever and always, okay? Learn it.
Enjoy!
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....sadly most casual fans probably think that is the REAL LAP.
One would assume that even the most casual fan would have seen the music video at some point.
Radio stations don't typically play the dance version.
Really, everyone should just own the Like A Prayer album. Then this wouldn't be a problem.
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I think "American Life" should not be included. It's not a case of "Bedtime Story" or "Human Nature," in the sense that songs may not have been huge huge hits but they genuinely were Madonna fan favourites; there is just such a disdain for "American Life" amongst the public and the fanbase and I'm sure Madonna is perceptive enough to know it. It's just not a very well-written song. She may not have seen that in 2003 but hindsight is a wonderful song and I think she can see it now.
It took me awhile to sort out why I perceived the lower charting Bedtime Stories singles differently than the ever-increasing amount of latter day 'flops'. It's because they were MTV staples during its heyday. Hell, "Bedtime Story" was an event... so, regardless of radio, they were still given a healhy amount of exposure and are "known" even outside of her fanbase.
It's a shame artists no longer have that outlet.
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Shep gets such a bad rep with the fans, I don't get it. He's really underrated. Some people only seem to focus on the Immaculate remix versions and Erotica and hold that against him personally. You may not like his work but it's not like he had the final word on what goes on in the compilation or forced Madonna to promote Erotica with SEX and come across as an oversexed power freak. Those were all her own choices.
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Don't forget "Into The Groove" on YCD/TIC, fans often say that "Shep took out the R&B of the track".
But for "EY", even if there was the Local Mix, it's the Non-Stop Express Mix and it's various editions that got popular, Stephen's funky arrangement was completely overshadowed. It was just probably disappointing for Stephen, and by then he earned enough royalties from all the hits to be able to say no to Madonna. He might have not been asked for I'm Breathless, but there was still that "Get Over" track done around 1990, no? Or was it an outtake and they never really met in the studio after 1988?
I meant the edit, instrumental etc. for 5 versions, I think the maxi-single has 5-6 tracks but only the 12" Mix is credited to Stephen Bray.
He got his little "Bonus Beats" onto the 12".
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Yeah, but that was one remix among like 5 versions of Shep's remix. The main single and the BAT versions were also based on Shep's mix.
Shep did two mixes... one that sounds like the album arrangement and the very-Soul-II-Soul-"Back-To-Life" remix. Both were available on promotional and commercial releases for DJ's and consumers (including Steve and Pat
) to choose from. -
But in the 80s, dance remixes were mostly extended remixes, that stayed true to the original version. I can see why Pat got surprised about Madonna turning "LAP" into a dance song. The promoted version was the Pat version anyway, just that Madonna used the Shep mix on the tour and then TIC (and not the original version anywhere, ever since). But Shep's dance remix of "EY" was the main version, promoted both on radio and tv and apparently Stephen Bray was offended and that's why he refused to work on I'm Breathless.
I am sure it was more along the lines of 'he wasn't asked'.
Ignoring You Can Dance, of the singles co-written/produced by Stephen Bray only three were exclusively remixed by Shep; "True Blue," "Causing A Commotion" and "Express Yourself". Shep Pettibone made extended mixes maintaining the integrity of the original arrangements for all three.
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I can understand Leonard's not appreciating Madonna turning over their work to Shep. House music, by and large, is shallow...and his reworking of "Like a Prayer" was a near desecration. Not every single needs to have a cliche 'dance remix.' And truth be told, the original album version of "Like a Prayer" is uptempo enough. Yeah, the beat momentarily drops out of the verses, but hook and climax of the song was perfectly danceable in its own right. Makes me wonder how Bray felt. Just about everything he did with Madonna got altered by Pettibone.
But! Shep Pettibone also made a great 12" version based on the original version (beat-drop-outs and all) and was responsible for the superior mix of Patrick Leonard's original arrangement for the 7" single. Bill Bottrell handled a few addtional mixes that are still close to sound of the original. The point is there were plenty of options presented to DJ's and consumers through the many promotional and commercial releases, not just the one. In fact, there is just one dance remix on the single compared to the four that stick to Leonard's sound. So, boofuckinghoo, Patrick. DJ's (and Madonna) liked the dance mix.
The 12" Dance Mix of "Like A Prayer" was actually Madonna's first "cliche' dance remix" and actually helped set a new standard for the kinds of dance floor reworkings that mainstream artists and labels commissioned. She laid the foundation for the cliche'. This led to the excellent remixes of "Express Yourself" and "Keep It Together, and more importantly to one of her biggest hits, "Vogue".
Madonna obviously liked Shep's sound, but it's tempting to say that she performed his house arrangements on tour and allowed their inclusion on her first greatest hits due to their sonic link to "Vogue". All of these decisions occured over a few short months during 1990 while "Vogue" was an absolute phenomenon, she didn't have another song like it to cull from I'm Breathless and she wasn't slated to record a new album.
Regardless, this relationship spawned their collaborations on The Immaculate Collection, "This Used To Be My Playground" and Erotica. You can even thank Shep for helping plant the seed for "Secret". Well worth any "hurt feelings" on Leonard's part.
As for Stephen Bray, his remixes of "Keep It Together" appeared right alongside Shep's on the single.
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I had a little time tonight and finally attempted a realistic stab at a track listing for a two disc career overview. Everything was working itself out frighteningly well until I arrived at that troubling first release of 2003.
Personally, I like "American Life". It's not the monster that many claim(ed) it to be. Still, it doesn't necessarily rank high on my list of favorite Madonna singles. For one, whatever your thoughts on her rapping abilities are, "I'm drinkin' a soy latte'" does not hold up to repeat listens the way that "Greta Garbo and Monroe..." has. And I promise that this has nothing to do with my
painful, so fucking painfulavoidance of all things caffeine.The temptation is to not include it, instead representing the American Life era with "Die Another Day" and possibly Stuart "Jacques Lu Cont" Price's Thin White Duck Edit remix of "Hollywood". (Justification on the latter: It has the MTV Awards kiss familiarity factor, and I figure --like Armand Van Helden's dubbish reworking of Tori Amos' "Professional Widow" on her best of-- the lack of the proper chorus is acceptable. It feels like its own little song now anyway and actually fits well alongside the other hits from that era.)
So... hypothetically speaking... would you be outraged or relieved if Madonna's forthcoming hits package omitted "American Life"? Speak your mind. Be persuasive.
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I'm apparently only responding with emoticons tonight.
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is pink worth discussing...
i think Lady Gaga has the greatest chance of even coming close to succeeding Madonna, given that she's all fun and doesnt give a fuck attitude coupled with overt sexuality and great catchy songs
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I think it'd be better if Madonna had an affair with a lesbian Lesothian called Pythagoras though
Sandra Barnhard the Middle Aged Remix version
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Madonna should name her new, Lesothian child Pythagoras.
At last, Lesothians, lesbians, and Pythagoras all in one thread.
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A little sidebar discussion regarding the forthcoming compilation.
in ARCHIVE - Madonna
Posted
The 12" single release was "Burning Up/Physical Attraction" (Fast Side and Slow Side) and a double-sided "Physical Attraction"-only 7" was issued right after the 12"'s release to promote that particular side. It was also mentioned among her "hits" in official Sire adverts and write-up's as late as 1985.