Probably, my favorite Madonna Album!!

TrivialPursuit said:

I've been in a reflective state of mind. I've done lot of soul searching and I just felt in a romantic mood when I was writing for [the album] so that's what I wrote about... I decided that I wanted to work with a whole bunch of different producers. [Icelandic singer-songwriter] Björk's album was one of my favorite for years—it's brilliantly produced. And I also wanted to work with Massive Attack. So obviously, he was on the list. Nellee was the last person I worked with, and it wasn't until then that I got a grip of what the sound of the whole record was, so I had to go back and redo a lot.

TheFman said:

LOVE IT! Definitely her best to me, even before Ray of Light.

The Bjork influence is well heard, but I love Bjork just as much, so that's a win-win.

Let's get unconscious honey

I like how Bedtime Stories sorta prepared us for Ray of Light

OldFriends4Sale said:

"Inside of Me" isn't just my personal favorite, I feel it's the track that best encompasses the overall sound of the record... I've won over some non-believers with that one. Just fantastic.
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And I was just getting misty-eyed to the "Take a Bow" video the other week... Babyface contributed some serious heat to this album, the whispery backing vocals he does over her verse in "Forbidden Love" makes the combination some of my favorite sounds ever. Just a mellifluous record/era/project top-to-bottom. Like a pillow.

[Edited 10/24/19 1:18am]

Like Erotica, I think this album has become more and more appreciated as times goes by. It got a some-what muted response at the time, probably because of the SEX backlash, but it contains some solid music. Unlike some of her later albums, I feel this doesn't have a bad song on it. Every song has it's place. Also, the videos from this era were exceptional. Each one was unique and completely different in style. Just a shame she didn't tour this album.

rlittler81 said:

Like Erotica, I think this album has become more and more appreciated as times goes by. It got a some-what muted response at the time, probably because of the SEX backlash, but it contains some solid music. Unlike some of her later albums, I feel this doesn't have a bad song on it. Every song has it's place. Also, the videos from this era were exceptional. Each one was unique and completely different in style. Just a shame she didn't tour this album.

That's exactly right. The only reason it is lost in history is Erotica/SEX backlash and no tour.

alphastreet said:

She wanted to tour, but was focusing on filming Evita

Cinny said:

rlittler81 said:

Like Erotica, I think this album has become more and more appreciated as times goes by. It got a some-what muted response at the time, probably because of the SEX backlash, but it contains some solid music. Unlike some of her later albums, I feel this doesn't have a bad song on it. Every song has it's place. Also, the videos from this era were exceptional. Each one was unique and completely different in style. Just a shame she didn't tour this album.

That's exactly right. The only reason it is lost in history is Erotica/SEX backlash and no tour.

It still certainly had a group of videos - "Secret," "Bedtime Story," "Human Nature," "Take a Bow". And she played only a couple of those songs (bolded above). So the album really did get overlooked in the timeline. Remember that the DWT covered mostly Ray of Light, Music, and Evita music. It makes it hard to find any real material from the BS era. However, there is video of her reading a bedtime story at Studio 54 (or somewhere) as part of the promotion. But it's almost like Something To Remember is a companion piece to BS, because the BS mood continues on STR (especailly with stuff like "You'll See", which also served visually and aurally as a bridge between BS and the then-forthcoming Evita project).

OldFriends4Sale said:

TrivialPursuit said:

She did Take A Bow for certain dates on Rebel Heart Tour, which was a nice surprise if not a little unbalanced live (IMHO). I do love Babyface's Forbidden Love but I also really really love the Stuart Price/Confessions-era song Forbidden Love, almost a little more than the Bedtime Stories song. It is really an unprecedented dream team kinda song with Nellee Hooper and Babyface contributing. Wasn't the rumor that Forbidden Love was about her falling for a drag queen/crossdresser? Or was that Secret with the "happiness lies in your own hand"/"a penis lies in your own hand"?

StrangeButTrue said:

I know Madonna fans and articles alike always go heavy citing Evita as an evolution of her vocal technique and quality... am I the only one who preferred her vocals in every department pre-Evita? They all sound kinda stilted after she did that project. Her vocals reached their peak on Bedtime Stories.

WhisperingDandelions said:

I know Madonna fans and articles alike always go heavy citing Evita as an evolution of her vocal technique and quality... am I the only one who preferred her vocals in every department pre-Evita? They all sound kinda stilted after she did that project. Her vocals reached their peak on Bedtime Stories.

I was thinking the same thing. But I think it happened during/after Ray of Light. Somewhere around Music, when she shacked up with the Englishman. I think her vocals on Confessions were looser and felt like her Erotic/Bedtime Stories period. It was stuff a think most M fans wanted more of. Ray of Light her vocals were very good and meshed well with the vibe of the themes.

I also like that the majority of her dancers from the Erotica era were also her dancers for BTS videos and the one or two performances she did

WhisperingDandelions said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

alphastreet said:

I imagine that take a bow and forbidden love would be performed back to back and also include the newer version of love don’t live here anymore. It would have been so elegant on a tour

AGREED!

TrivialPursuit said:

Cinny said:

That's exactly right. The only reason it is lost in history is Erotica/SEX backlash and no tour.

It still certainly had a group of videos - "Secret," "Bedtime Story," "Human Nature," "Take a Bow". And she played only a couple of those songs (bolded above). So the album really did get overlooked in the timeline. Remember that the DWT covered mostly Ray of Light, Music, and Evita music. It makes it hard to find any real material from the BS era. However, there is video of her reading a bedtime story at Studio 54 (or somewhere) as part of the promotion. But it's almost like Something To Remember is a companion piece to BS, because the BS mood continues on STR (especailly with stuff like "You'll See", which also served visually and aurally as a bridge between BS and the then-forthcoming Evita project).

I always felt that STR was a response to the (US) success of TAB. She maybe wanted to capitalise on it and focus on her ballads more than dance songs while they were succesful. The uptempo songs from BS weren't hits in the US, but the 2 slower singles were. Even the video for 'You'll See' was a sequel to TAB. It's interesting that TAB was such a huge hit in the US but was considered a flop in the UK because it didn't reach the top 10.

[Edited 10/25/19 4:26am]

Take A Bow also owes alot to Babyface who was having a creative renaissance at the time. I wonder if the UK chart performance may be due to Babyface not being as huge in the culture there.

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Have a look at this list, Take A Bow fits like a glove with the rest of these solid hits. It was brilliant timing for such a beautiful song.

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https://www.buzzfeed.com/...-the-bible

[Edited 10/25/19 7:11am]

TrivialPursuit said:

Cinny said:

That's exactly right. The only reason it is lost in history is Erotica/SEX backlash and no tour.

It still certainly had a group of videos - "Secret," "Bedtime Story," "Human Nature," "Take a Bow". And she played only a couple of those songs (bolded above). So the album really did get overlooked in the timeline. Remember that the DWT covered mostly Ray of Light, Music, and Evita music. It makes it hard to find any real material from the BS era. However, there is video of her reading a bedtime story at Studio 54 (or somewhere) as part of the promotion. But it's almost like Something To Remember is a companion piece to BS, because the BS mood continues on STR (especailly with stuff like "You'll See", which also served visually and aurally as a bridge between BS and the then-forthcoming Evita project).

That's exactly correct. At least that is when music videos mattered the most to me (because I was 14).

Cinny said:

It's gotta be the 25th anniversary of this album very soon.

Hey! Today's the day! Bedtime Stories released on October 25, 1994.

alphastreet said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I also like that the majority of her dancers from the Erotica era were also her dancers for BTS videos and the one or two performances she did

My favourite is the bedtime story performance on the Brit awards