badujunkie said:

oooh props to whomever posted "Love Tried to Welcome Me"

LOVE that joint!

other best M ballads:

"You'll See"

"Live To Tell"

"Forbidden Love"

"Inside of Me"

"Rain" (!!!!!!!) <------------------------- sooo fucking underrated / underappreciated

"Shoo Be Doo" (Shut the noise)

"Promise to Try"

"The Power of Goodbye"

I really don't get all the fuss over "To Have and not to Hold" - i like it, but it always sounded / felt like a b-side, and people go nuts for that one. Same on "Drowned World" - good tune, but not as awesome (for me) as the stans think it is.

I love Shoo Be Doo!! I guess we're the only ones...

Promise to Try is the perfect example of giving an A+ performance without having a huge vocal range or power.

badujunkie said:

I really don't get all the fuss over "To Have and not to Hold" - i like it, but it always sounded / felt like a b-side, and people go nuts for that one. Same on "Drowned World" - good tune, but not as awesome (for me) as the stans think it is.

"To Have And Not To Hold" should have been a single instead of "The Power Of Goodbye" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" is quite possibly the best song she has ever done.

SoulAlive said:

badujunkie said:

I really don't get all the fuss over "To Have and not to Hold" - i like it, but it always sounded / felt like a b-side, and people go nuts for that one. Same on "Drowned World" - good tune, but not as awesome (for me) as the stans think it is.

"To Have And Not To Hold" should have been a single instead of "The Power Of Goodbye" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" is quite possibly the best song she has ever done.

i know i know...99% of her fans agree with you on both counts

i'd take "miles away" any day over those two...and justin timberflake co wrote that mess

badujunkie said:

oooh props to whomever posted "Love Tried to Welcome Me"

LOVE that joint!

other best M ballads:

"You'll See"

"Live To Tell"

"Forbidden Love"

"Inside of Me"

"Rain" (!!!!!!!) <------------------------- sooo fucking underrated / underappreciated

"Shoo Be Doo" (Shut the noise)

"Promise to Try"

"The Power of Goodbye"

I really don't get all the fuss over "To Have and not to Hold" - i like it, but it always sounded / felt like a b-side, and people go nuts for that one. Same on "Drowned World" - good tune, but not as awesome (for me) as the stans think it is.

"Love Tried to Welcome Me" is the song which got me into Madonna's ballads...

SoulAlive said:

badujunkie said:

I really don't get all the fuss over "To Have and not to Hold" - i like it, but it always sounded / felt like a b-side, and people go nuts for that one. Same on "Drowned World" - good tune, but not as awesome (for me) as the stans think it is.

"To Have And Not To Hold" should have been a single instead of "The Power Of Goodbye" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" is quite possibly the best song she has ever done.

HohnerCatcher said:

For me I really liked that she stepped away from the high-energy sound of 1992/1993 Erotica singles. Erotica had "Rain" and "Bad Girl" for singles but the era was stamped with that house/club sound.

In 1994 she had the huge hit "I'll Remember" and then "Take A Bow" from Bedtime Stories.

THEN in 1995, she delivered that collection of ballads (Something To Remember) that made you realize... she wasn't simply a quote-unquote dance artist. She had enough ballads to carry a 71 minute disc!

Her albums had that balance before, but Something To Remember is when I realized it.

'Something To Remember' is an incredible compilation.It shows you exactly how underrated her ballads are.It was a wise idea,too.She was getting ready to do 'Evita' and needed to show a different side of herself to the public.The strategy worked.

"To Have and Not to Hold" is my favorite ballad of hers.

Followed by..

"Bad Girl"

"Live to Tell"

"Love Tried to Welcome Me"
"Paradise (Not for Me)"

"Sooner or Later"

"Easy Ride"

"I'll Remember"

"Something to Remember"

"Oh Father"

Have and Not to Hold is also very pretty. I didn't come to appreciate it until years after the album's release.

SoulAlive said:

badujunkie said:

I really don't get all the fuss over "To Have and not to Hold" - i like it, but it always sounded / felt like a b-side, and people go nuts for that one. Same on "Drowned World" - good tune, but not as awesome (for me) as the stans think it is.

"To Have And Not To Hold" should have been a single instead of "The Power Of Goodbye" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" is quite possibly the best song she has ever done.

"The Power of Good-Bye" is the best song she has ever done, so it definitely should've been a single. That being said, "To Have and Not to Hold" and "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" are also some of my favorites. Of course, just about everything on Ray of Light could've been a strong single; that's one of the reasons it's her best album.

Fave Madonna ballads

1)Take A Bow

2)Frozen

3)Live To Tell

4)Love Don't Live Here Anymore

5)Rain

Sooner or Later won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1991 at the 63rd annual Academy Awards. My fav song by her. You'll See in Spanish is my second.

AlexdeParis said:

SoulAlive said:

"To Have And Not To Hold" should have been a single instead of "The Power Of Goodbye" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" is quite possibly the best song she has ever done.

"The Power of Good-Bye" is the best song she has ever done, so it definitely should've been a single. That being said, "To Have and Not to Hold" and "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" are also some of my favorites. Of course, just about everything on Ray of Light could've been a strong single; that's one of the reasons it's her best album.

i agree that POG is INCREDIBLE. ONE of her best songs, ever.

Why has she never performed it on tour? Is it because all of those award shows performances of those songs were such a hot mess?

i also never understood why it wasn't a bigger hit. with all of the hype/heat on M during the ROL era and Frozen and the title track being EVERYWHERE - i thought for sure a catchy ballad was a number 1 no brainer. but in the US i feel like it wasn't that big...

"The Power Of Good-Bye" is a nice song but it's not one of the songs that I would have chosen as a single Imo,these should have been the ROL singles,in this order...

"Frozen"

"Drowned World/Substitute For Love"

"Nothing Really Matters" and "Power Of Good-Bye" should have remained 'album tracks'

badujunkie said:

i agree that POG is INCREDIBLE. ONE of her best songs, ever.

Why has she never performed it on tour? Is it because all of those award shows performances of those songs were such a hot mess?

Yeah I just don't think she's capable of performing it live without the chance of it totally derailing.

I personally think it stands with Drowned World as her strongest work.

Bad Girl, Live to Tell, and Take a Bow are my faves. I like her ballads, on record.