jillybean said:

ditto

PFunkjazz said:

I've got a lot of love for this album because of the nostalgia for Madonnarama at that time. But if you strip away the production, there's very little "Madonna" to be heard.

It sounds like 90% William Orbit and 10% Madonna.

Frozen is still heart-stoppingly beautiful though.

Justin1972UK said:

The unspoken truth about Frozen is that half the credit goes to WO and half to Pat Leonard. His contribution is NEVER mentioned, but listen to that melody. I was surprised at how good it was when it came out. Considering that William Orbit is better known for creating soundscapes than melodies I just presumed that Madonna must have written the tune. It was only a few years later when I saw Pat Leonard's name on the credits that it suddenly made sense.

I like it, but I prefer Like A Prayer, or anything with just Pat Leonard/Stephen Bay as collaborators... I know that makes me old fashioned... but...

I used to like the beat.

Um, no.

'Mer girl' was done in 1 take..the vocal is quite dry & mixed 2 the
fore..that's a big no-no in the guide 4 pro tool divas. I think
she sounded brilliant in that song especially..

Martinelli said:

were you in the studio? if not, how are you so sure of this?

i'm sorry but when ol' girl showed up at the mtv awards singing ray of light/shanti ashtangi, she sounded like a dying cat. please don't tell me she did not have some studio work done to her vocals. i know she liked to use the excuse "i decided to be a dancer that night and not a singer" but that's some boolshit!

its all good. i still love 'er!

purplecam said:

YES Sir, We came out of the Closet together on ths one.

She did sound AWFUL on the VMAs, but when she did Ray of Light on Oprah, she was pretty spot-on; also most of the Ray of Light stuff came off well on the Drowned World tour.

I do agree with whoever liked her Papa Don't Preach voice better; that deep, growl thing she did (also in Rescue Me) is my favorite Madonna voice. It's way more soulful and heartfelt than her technically better Evita-era voice.

Axchi696 said:

maybe it has something to do with her standing totally still? on oprah she didn't move much, if i remember correctly. when i see her perform live, she sounds good when she stands still but when she starts moving (which is most of the show) she gets pretty rough. that doesn't mean she can't sing, it just means she hasn't trained her muscles to control her voice. its why she needs a click track like most other singer/dancers.

that said, on record her voice sounds flawless and that is most certainly some studio clean up.

sallysassalot said:

I remember reading somewhere that Madonna was using the wrong kind of ear-piece during this performance. Apparently, she couldn't hear herself sing. Does kind of sound like a lame excuse, but it is believable. I think she rectified it during the Drowned World tour.

Axchi696 said:

really?

i thought she sounded only alright on that tour. she sounded great on reinvention...i was really shocked at how much i enjoyed her voice. i go to a madonna show expecting great visuals and wonderful spectacle but i don't go expecting to hear much in the way of her voice. she really surprised me with reinvention.

I have heard that she did sound better on Re-invention, but I also thought her voice was pretty good on The Girlie Show. Madonna's worst tour vocally was probably Blond Ambition, but didn't she get some sort of throat infection or something around that time?

Anyway, I agree that no one goes to a Madonna show to hear vocal gymnastics; she probably could pull off a great vocal show if she stayed in one place, but that's not really what I'd want from a Maddy show.

Axchi696 said:

i don't remember her vocals from girlie show. its been ages since i've watched it (though it is my favorite tour of hers - until reinvention, that is).

I never understood why "Ray Of Light" was so praised before but I do now. It's a pretty impressive album with great production, a unique sound for the time, deeper lyrics than usual, a return to dance and her best vocals yet. That being said, I still find "Bedtime Stories" to be her best album because even though it features her with the most collobrators ever on one album, it's shockingly tight due to Madonna's excellent writing (although she shockingly isn't a writer on the title track) and heartfelt vocals. She's into this album even if the public wasn't. Madonna can honestly do whatever she wants for my money after "Bedtime Stories"....even if the bitch chooses to ignore her hometown when she tours!

On the European VMAs she did The Power Of Goodbye, stood dead still all the way through, and sounded terrible. Enough of the excuses already.

I loved the album when it came out and played it a lot after I got it.

I gave it a listen again about a year ago and was disappointed. A few of the songs I still enjoyed but overall it left me unmoved, and I wondered what it was about the album that I ever got so excited over. I have to agree with the others on this thread who say it hasn't aged very well.

The Madonna album that has stood the test of time for me is "Like A Prayer".

WillyWonka said:

this is almost exactly how i feel! there are songs that still grab me but for the most part i'm bored midway through. after frozen i feel there's nothing left to listen to.

sallysassalot said:

silly ballad hater.

GangstaFam said:

you know, i never really thought about it that way. but you're totally right. i only like a handful of madonna's ballads: oh father, take a bow, you'll see, promise to try, and rain. that's about it. yeah, most of ray if light is ballad set to electronic blips and beeps.

Personally, if she'd included "Has to Be" on the album, it would probably go up another half star in my book. I do like most of Madonna's ballads, but "Little Star" is a little too schmaltzy for my tastes, and "Mer Girl" is too left-field for me.

Axchi696 said:

personally, i find that most songs artists write about their kids are boring. maybe its because i just can't relate or maybe its because i just don't care much for kids. either way, they don't hold my interest. one exception is prince's comeback...and that's because its more about a loss of a loved one rather than simply a about a kid. tori amos also has a song about her daughter, ribbons undone, and even that took me a loooong time to enjoy.

I think it's her best album. Productionwise, it was jumping on a bandwagon. That's when she's at her best. She takes what is most interesting, adds her pop sensibilities, and makes it accessible to a broad audience. On ROL, she did that and also injected a peek at herself, in the most interesting way she had done on an album since Like a Prayer.

madartista said:

i honestly don't believe we've ever, ever, ever had a peek at the real madonna. sometimes i wonder if madonna has even had a peek at the real madonna. all we've ever seen is the character she wanted to be at any given time. maybe...and i think its a BIG maybe...she's used her real self as a starting point from which to exagerate and build from.

personally, i think she has distanced herself from her past - and her former life - so much that she is desperately trying to be anyone but herself. yeah, i know this gives a whole new meaning to "pop psychology." she moved to new york and created a new accent. she's constantly reinventing herself...to the point now where she pretends she's british. until she pretends she's asian, you can't get a whole lot further from detroit than europe!

When 'Ray Of Light' was released,there were rumors of a planned remix album.Madonna even mentioned it herself in several interviews.It was titled Veronica Electronica (the name of the alter ego that Maddy came up with for this project) and was set to be released in late 1998 or early 1999.It was supposed to be a 2-CD set.The project was cancelled,but here is the rumored tracklist:

VERONICA ELECTRONICA
CD1 (Veronica)

"Frozen" (Thunderpuss 2000 Vocal Remix)
"Candy Perfume Girl" (Tee's Freeze Mix)
"Nothing Really Matters" (Club 69 Speed Bump Mix)
"Ray Of Light" (Hani's Num Club Mix)
"Sky Fits Heaven" (Victor Calderone 12" Mix)
"Skin" (Orbit's Flirtation Mix)
"The Power Of Goodbye" (Fabien's Club Mix)
"Drowwned World" (BT and Sasha's Alternate Vocal Mix)

CD2 (Electronica)
"Little Star" (Roni Size Project Dub)
"Nothing Really Matters" (187 Lockdown Future Vox Dub)
"To Have And Not To Hold" (Daft Punk Remix)
"Swim" (Attica Blues Dubstrumental)
"Frozen" (Way Out West Mix #1)
"Shanti/Ashlangi" (Talvin Singh Anokha Dub)
"Drowned World" (Orbit's Liquid Mix)
"Ray Of Light" (Sasha's Nite At Twildo Dub)

Don't know whatever happened to this project,but my theory is that it was planned as a promotional CD for the 1999 'Ray Of Light' tour which never materialized.She cancelled the tour and chose to make a movie ("The Next Best Thing") instead.Thus,the remix album was cancelled as well.

whoknows said:

I think "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" is one of the Top 5 Madonna songs ever.The candid lyrics,the arrangement,her Evita-styled vocals....90s pop music doesn't get any better than this! Honestly,when this CD came out,I stopped listening to her 80s albums.This album is MILES ahead of her previous albums.

.
[Edited 4/20/06 5:20am]

DavidEye said:

Good career move.

VinnyM27 said:

what's funny is,everytime Maddy releases a new album,there are rumors of a remix album.Actually,with the last two album,we got them...

American Life/Remixed and Revisted

Confessions On A Dancefloor/Confessions Remixed 3-LP vinyl set