midnightmover said:

Yeah being what 15 and knowing Maddy for doing uptempo dance anthems and all of a sudden some drone out trip underground hindu music was odd for a High Schooler.

paisleypark4 said:

when i was younger i couldn't stand ballads... except for Madges. Live to Tell, Look of Love, Promise to Try, Oh Father, Something to Remember, What Can You Loose, Rain, This Used Be My Playground, I'll Remember, Inside of Me. those were my favorites.

from wiki

Madonna began writing songs with Leonard in 1997, marking the first time the two had worked together since "I'll Remember", three years earlier. Unlike on her previous albums, Leonard's song writing collaborations were accompanied by very little studio input. Madonna believed that Leonard's production "would have lent the songs more of a Peter Gabriel vibe", a sound that she did not want for the album.[2]

Madonna began working on Ray of Light in May 1997, meeting with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, whom she had previously worked with on her 1994 album Bedtime Stories. The two wrote a couple of songs together before Madonna decided the collaborations were not going in the musical direction she wanted for the album. According to Edmonds the songs "had a 'Take a Bow-ish' kind of vibe and Madonna didn't want, or need, to repeat herself."[2] After abandoning the songs she had written with Edmonds, Madonna turned to musician Rick Nowels, who had previously co-written songs with Stevie Nicks and Celine Dion. The collaboration produced seven songs in three days, but did not display the album's future electronic musical direction.[3] Instead, Madonna took her collaborations with Nowels and Leonard to British electronic Music musician William Orbit. Madonna had been a fan of Orbit's work and loved the "sort of trancy, ambient quality" he gave to the songs he worked on.[4] She began working with Orbit after he had sent her tapes of musical snippets he was working on, which were usually eight or sixteen-bar phrases and stripped down versions of tracks that would later be heard on the album. Madonna would listen to the samples over and over again until she would be inspired to write lyrics. Once she had an idea about the lyrical direction of the song, she would take her ideas back to Orbit, who would expand on his musical ideas.[2]

The album was recorded over four and a half months in Los Angeles, California in 1997, the longest Madonna had ever worked on an album. For most of the recording process, only three other people were in the studio with Madonna: William Orbit, engineer Pat McCarthy, and his assistant engineer Matt Silva.[2] The recording process was initially plagued with machinery problems, as Orbit preferred to work with samples, synth sounds, and Pro Tools, and not with live musicians. The computers would break down, and recording would have to be delayed until they could be repaired. Orbit recorded the bulk of the album's instrumentation over the four month period. Orbit recalls playing the guitar and having his fingers bleed during the long hours he spent in the studio.[2] Madonna's vocals were much easier and quicker to record, as many of her vocal tracks were recorded in one take.

Cinnie said:

"Into the Groove"?

Moonbeam said:

That hardly counts. It was only a b-side in some places. But yes, that would trump "Has to Be."

AlexdeParis said:

I would think of that more as a "Soundtrack cut"

AlexdeParis said:

It's kind of hard to categorize. If it doesn't count, I would definitely agree that "Has to Be" is her best B-side.

Wow, doesn't seem 10 years old at all...


I remember the era really well... I was a freshman in high school, and I about a year before I'd really gotten into harder rock. I was into pop from a young age, and always loved Madonna, Janet, etc, but by about 1996, I'd begun listening to a lot of Metallica, Manson, Nine Inch Nails, etc...

I hadn't lost track of Madonna, and did get Evita when it came out, but it hadn't really been a "Madonna" CD for me, and I didn't like it tons. Instead of playing the "new" Madonna record, I was playing Load, Antichrist Superstar, The Downward Spiral, and Razorblade Suitcase. I actually didn't even know a new Madge CD was about to drop until about a month before, when I saw something on MTV news (remember that?) about "Frozen" leaking to the internet.

And then about a week or two before the album came out, MTV's promotion for the album really kicked into high gear. I remember taping the "Ultrasound: Making of Ray of Light" and the world premiere of the Frozen video, and getting really excited for the new record. I think this was one of the last times that MTV really got behind a record like they had in the past; they devoted entire days to playing Madonna videos, interviews, and specials. She was EVERYWHERE, and I think it really got everyone pumped up for the disc.

The day it dropped, I remember going to Sun TV and buying ROL and Ozzy Osbourne's Greatest Hits. Ozzy's CD grabbed me before Madge's (believe it or not), but Madonna's CD was the one that stuck with me for the long haul.

Ten years later, I still think that "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" is one of the greatest things she's ever done; even better than most of her "classic" singles like "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Papa Don't Preach", and "Crazy For You". I still remember the rush I got the first time I saw the video for "Ray of Light"; I can still remember loving the fact that there were guitars all over the album. Ten years later, I still think that the artwork is superb.

Along with the Immaculate Collection, Ray of Light is the Madonna CD that I find in most people's record collections. Between my aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and cousins, I'd say that 10 of them have a copy of this disc (I do have a pretty large family); add my close friends into the mix and I'd say that I know over 20 people that own the album. And, most of my friends aren't into "pop music" or Madonna.

And, even though it definitely sounds like the late '90s, I don't think it's really all that "dated". Apart from some of William Orbit's "bubbly" sounds, I think that it actually had a much more classic sound than people give it credit for.

Cinnie said:

I'd rank it third behind Supernatural and Let Down Your Guard.

Still think it's awesome, though.

This was such a good era to be a fan. I remember Madonna being everywhere all spring and summer. MTV played the music for Ray of Light behind almost every commercial that they did.

Does anyone remember the VH1 "Madonna Rising" interview that was aired around this time? Rupert Everett and Madge went on a tour of her old stomping grounds in NYC?

I also remember getting the Spin magazine with Madonna on the cover and reading the interview about 300 times in a week...

Axchi696 said:

yeha but i much perfer the Making of Frozen speical with Kurt Lauder

ehuffnsd said:

Wasn't that just the MTV Ultrasound: Making of Ray of Light? They had the making of the Frozen video, but they also took you behind the scenes of the new record.

It really has been ten full years, to the month, right?

I just checked RELEASED MARCH 2, 1998


dAAAAAM

I can't believe it! I remember my mom loving Frozen so much that she beat me to it and bought the album, though I was the CD buyer in the house. I liked what I heard, but thought the sound was so different from the Madonna I grew up on, and it took time getting used to her doing heavy overproduced electronica like Ray of Light and Candy Perfume Girl, though I loved songs like Frozen, Swim, The Power of Goodbye, and Little Star, which I remember the performance of on Oprah back then.

A few years ago, we rediscovered the album and it was all we played for almost a year, right now I don't even know where it is, may have to replace it.

Axchi696 said:

something like that.

Speedy72 said:

And you can hear it when you're listening to it...

Axchi696 said:

I still have that Spin magazine The headline reads: "Madonna just made her most daring album in years".It was an excellent interview.

AlexdeParis said:

For several years after it was released,I considered 'Ray Of Light' my favorite Madonna album too.These days,it's Number Two for me,after 'Erotica' which I enjoy slightly more.I go back and forth with these albums.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Yes,this was her first album after Lourdes.Did you ever see the video for "Drowned World/Substitute For Love"? Lourdes appears in it.

SoulAlive said:

How cool!

my 2nd favorite album from her. i mean, Swim?

I bought this album the day it was released.I was totally mesmerized by it.I thought it was the deepest,most revealing album that Madonna ever made.There are moments on this album that really move me.I literally wore this CD out! I had to go back and buy another copy,lol.

Favorite songs from this album...

"Drowned World/Substitute For Love"---quite possibly,the greatest Madonna song ever

"Ray Of Light"---an extremely fast,relentless,take-no-prisoners dance track

"Skin"

"Sky Fits Heaven"

"Frozen"

"To Have And Not To Hold"

"Little Star"

PricelessHo said:

What's your favorite Madonna album?

I noticed that many fans choose 'ROL' as the their Number One or Number Two album by her.

SoulAlive said:

Same here.

The only difference here is that I don't listen to it anymore. It sounds very dated - in a bad way - to me...

Cheek said:

You actually went out and bought a Madonna album?? I thought you didn'yt like her

SoulAlive said:

I really liked her. Ray Of Light was the last temptation to me.

I don't like her music anymore (I mean her recent albums) tho' I've been to Madonna shows with my Madonna fanatic friends since then but only for memories and fun...

And I was headbanging to Burning Up and Lucky Star!
[Edited 3/4/08 2:54am]

SoulAlive said:

Like A Prayer

Has it been that long!?! This was the album that "reaffirmed my faith" in Madonna (as I expect it did for many people).

I came to Madge when I was 10 waaaayyy back in 1990. I got a copy of Immaculate Collection from my cousin on tape and feel in love with her and the music. Erotica was her first new release once I was a fan, and you can imagine how incendiary that was to an 11 year old kid, full of hormones! Bedtime Stories didn't do much for me at the time (love it now though) and I really didn't care for the whole Evita thing (still don't). Ray of Light hit when I was just getting into clubbing and was loving the Trance genre of dance music that was coming to the forefront of the European dance scene...

...so Ray of Light was an absolute God-send. One of my fave artists embracing this new, upcoming dance scene that I was also well into! I was on an A-level geography field trip for a week in the Czech Republic the day the album came out and I remember hunting for a decent CD shop in Prague to pick up the album.....ah! Great memories!!

PricelessHo said:

That's my fourth favorite Madonna album This is how my Top 5 looks today:

Erotica
Ray Of Light
Confessions On A Dancefloor
Like A Prayer
Bedtime Stories

It's funny,I think she made her best music in the 90s and beyond.

This album always takes me back to my junior year in college. My lab partners were so tired of me humming and singing "Frozen" all the time.