Didn't one of you all say Warner was going to reissue Madonna's 1989 album, Like A Prayer? One of you all said it was going to be released this year in March. I wonder when that's going to be released. If it is going to be released, what do you guys want to find in it? Anybody have any infomation on this?

If this reissue happens, I want unreleased tracks considered for the album. And I don't mean Supernatural. Furthermore, I've got every version of Like A Prayer, Cherish, Express Yourself and Keep It Together known to man. No need to tack on remixes like the other reissues have. There are simply too many versions of these songs for 1 or 2 to be satisfying.

I would be satisfied to have whatever remix of "Express Yourself" is on the video tacked on the end.

CinisterCee said:

Hell yeah. I've been searching for that one for years and still can't find it. That's easily the best version.

if it's going to be as half-assed as the last 3, i'd prefer them to just wait and do them all the right way.

Tessa said:

What was half-assed about the last 3? What did you expect for the Madonna debut remaster, for instance?

MADONNA 'LIKE A PRAYER' DELUXE EDITION


DISC ONE---
"Like A Prayer"
"Express Yourself"
"Love Song"
"Til Death Do Us Part"
"Promise To Try"
"Cherish"
"Dear Jessie"
"Oh Father"
"Keep It Together"
"Spanish Eyes"
"Act Of Contrition"

DISC TWO---
"Possessive Love" (previously unreleased 1988 outtake,produced with Patrick Leonard)
"Love Attack" (previously unreleased outtake,produced with Stephen Bray)
"First Is A Kiss" (previously unreleased outtake,produced with Stephen Bray)
"Supernatural" (previously available as B-side to "Cherish")
"Like A Prayer" (12" Club Version)
"Express Yourself" (Non-Stop Express Mix)
"Cherish" (previously unreleased Hank Shocklee remix)
"Keep It Together" (Extended Remix)
"Like A Prayer" (Live Version from the Blond Ambition Tour,1990)




Madonna is stingy when it comes to remastering her albums and adding bonus tracks.How hard would it be for her to come up with something like this?? I don't think too many of her fans would complain about a remaster like this.

CinisterCee said:

For starters,she could have included outtakes like "Ain't No Big Deal" and "Don't You Know",as well as the 1981 demo version of "Everybody".That's more exciting than remixes that most Madonna fans already have.

GangstaFam said:

I think you guys are referring to the Non-Stop Express Mix,which absolutely KILLS the album version.

silverchild said:

Unfortunately,I think it was just an Internet rumor.There has never been any confirmation from Madonna's camp.

it was me who posted it but i read it on drownedmadonna.
Over the past weeks i've learned to take drownedmadonna.com with a grain of salt, everything i've read from it was rumors, besides the magzine and newspaper clippings.
[Edited 3/29/05 3:33am]

jayaredee said:

For the most part,Drownedmadonna is pretty accurate.Most of the time,anyway.

I was just thinking about this last night as I was listening
to "Promise to Try". The sound could be so much better and
have so much more warmth to it if it were remastered in a
good way.

DavidEye said:

VoicesCarry said:

True,but there are only a handful of outtakes from this project (basically,three unreleased outtakes,an unreleased remix,and a b-side).In order to fill up a bonus disc,she would have to add some remixes that have already been released.(btw,I don't like the idea of tacking the bonus stuff on the same disc with the original album,so a 2-CD set is necessary).Yes,I have the maxi-singles already,but I don't mind having the crucial remixes on a set like this,along with the outtakes.This entire set would give you a complete overview of that entire era.

VoicesCarry said:

I always get confused(lol).I want the bass-heavy remix that was used in the second video for the song.Isn't it called the "Non-Stop Express Mix"? Or is the "video edit" an entirely different mix? I'll have to go pull out the "Remixed Prayers" EP

DavidEye said:

CinisterCee said:

VoicesCarry said:

Actually, I had the same thought in regards to the first 3 remasters having 2 bonus tracks tacked on (common-ass remixes), so actually I understand why Tessa was saying they were half-assed.

I don't care about the extras as much as having the original tracks remastered.
I hate listening to the cd because there's no bass, and it's too quiet.

I usually pop in my LP....

In my opinion, Like A Prayer needed a remaster WAY more than her earlier albums.

In the same manner that Sign O The Times needs a remaster way more than Purple Rain for instance.

CinisterCee said:

Absolutely, Sign O the times drives my nuts with its poor sound quality.
Put we don't have any Prince remastered cds and im suprised Warner didn't take advantage of Prince's big year to do so.

jayaredee said:

it's so bad,that when I wanna hear 'SOTT',I just stick to my old vinyl copy.I can't tolerate the weak sound quality of the CD.Ditto for 'Dirty Mind' and 'Controversy'.

but enough about Prince

http://www.prince.org/msg/8/139246

I post on another message board and my avatar there is:

CinisterCee said:

Cute.

CinisterCee said:

Is Madonna's Lucky Star dance!!!!

I still haven't mastered it yet. I've been trying for years

WHAT EACH REMASTER SHOULD HAVE ON THE BONUS DISC:

-7'' versions of all the singles, which are more often than not much better than the album versions (in this case the 7'' Version of LAP, 7'' Mix of Express Yourself, and the Single Version of KIT at the very least)
-RARE MIXES ONLY! I'm talking the Bass Hit Dub and Instra Dub of LAP that were only on the US 12'' promo. I don't want shit that you can find on CD elsewhere.
-UNRELEASED MATERIAL (DavidEye had great suggestions).

Of course we will never see this. Madonna's an idiot when it comes to her remasters - I have no idea why she doesn't want to revisit her past for the sake of her fans.
[Edited 3/29/05 7:08am]

There is plenty of stuff to go on these remasters. The first 3 were poor, not because the sound quality wasn't remastered well, but because the extras were so shit. It would have been quite cool to have had the whole demo tape she produced with Stephen Bray on there, plus the Jellybean versions of songs such as Lucky Star and Everybody. And why Aint No Big Deal wasn't on there I dont understand. There's also Sidewalk Talk, a track Im sure there's a Madonna demo of.

On Like a Virgin, there are rumoured outtakes such as a Desperately Seeking Susan title track, and I desperately need a remastered original version of Into The Groove, perhaps even the demo as well. I understand it wasn't on the original album, but it forms part of that era. According to Nile Rodgers, Madonna had the whole album already recorded in demo form (bar Love Dont Live Here Anymore), and it sounded a lot more electronic, it would have been cool to hear some of these. In addition to that there's Crazy For You (the film version perhaps??) and Gambler.

For True Blue, there are a couple of tracks around. Firstly that Nick Kamen song she produced, im sure she'll have done a demo for that (although it is a shit song), and a couple of rumoured tracks around. It would be nice to hear some of the original demos of some of the stuff, and there's spotlight also. She could even have included remastered Who's That Girl tracks.

With Like A Prayer, I agree with all of what has been written above, although how you can include the 12" dance version and not the 12" extended version is beyond me, the 12" extended is quite simply brilliant.

I'm Breathless, there are plenty of rumoured tracks around, and considering she took 8 months to record this album, im sure there's plenty of stuff in the vaults. That and a few mixes of Vogue, the oscars performance of Sooner or Later too, there's enough even for this one to justify a re-release.

Erotica Im sure could fill a few cd's. There seem to be loads of rumoured tracks, be they working titles of stuff or complete songs. This is very much an album where i think they should tell the story of its making. By the sounds of Shep Pettibone's diaries, it sounds like quite a cool collaboration period between the two, and it would be nice to hear how some songs develop. There's also This Used To Be My Playground and Goodbye To Innocence.

Bedtime Stories, there's the B-Side Let Down Your Guard, the track Freedom, the unreleased track Love Wont Wait and also Your honesty. There are also several rumoured tracks, most of which are probably the original demos done with Shep Pettibone, Id love to hear these. That plus I'll Remember, & the orbit remix, and a live version of Why's It So Hard, this would be a wicked re-issue.


Re-issues seem to be principly to remaster the sound quality, however some acts take it as an opportunity to treat their fans and paint a greater picture of the album. I think REM are re-releasing all their Warners albums with enhanced CD's containing videos, unreleased tracks, b-sides, live performances. This is what we dream of as fans, but I know is something madonna will never do. Maybe she's stockpiling it all so that one day when she's dead a set can be released containing all her unreleased stuff, but i really doubt its of a good enough quality to do her any justice.

IMO WB have missed a great opportunity to increase the profile of these old albums. I think that Madonna's camp and the people at Warners have been really shoddy over the last few years. The single(s) choices for the last album, the fact that there's no DVD issue of the Blond Ambition and Virgin tours, that stupid random video collection they released a few years back, and making us wait for over a year to see a dvd release of the reinvention tour, all in all, its quite frustrating being a madonna fan. They should start listening to what we actually want more often.

silverchild said:

I was thinking about this, too. Add that to the list of all the things that have thus far been "promised" this year and see what we get by December. I don't see it happening anytime soon.