I'd go to bed with this any day... (Bedtime Stories - Madonna)

Member Name: aebone

Product:	Bedtime Stories - Madonna
Date:	17/08/01 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: smooth grooves, another change in direction, flows brilliantly

Disadvantages: ummmm...none really

‘Bedtime Stories’ is not Madonna’s most popular album, but was described by many at the time of its release (1994) as her best. With 6 million copies sold world wide, it hasn’t come close in sales to such albums as ‘True Blue’ (20m) and the most recent ‘Music’ (12m so far!), but it is definitely worth a listen.

The music industry thought so too, giving it favourable reviews. It ranked at #30 in the NME top 50 albums of that year, and Rolling Stone gave it 3.5 stars out of a possible 5! Madonna also received a Grammy Nomination for the album, and won an MTV award for the video to ‘Take A Bow’, the last track on the album.

It marked another change for the Material Girl, being the follow up album to ‘Erotica’ (1992) and the extremely well publicised ‘SEX’ book. ‘Erotica’ was made to shock, and ‘Bedtime Stories’ does not abandon the sex theme entirely, but it is not so brazen and is extremely subtle about things. Madonna herself described it as “a very, very romantic record”.

In fact, this album is pretty personal, and some of it refers to the backlash she faced after revealing SO much about herself. I think at this point, many people had grown tired of her, and thought that ‘Bedtime Stories’ was going to be another album about sex, thus didn’t really give it a chance. They should have done!!!

The album begins with ‘Survival’, a fluid and very soulful track which seems to offer some apologies for her antics, with the lyrics “I’ll never be an angel, I’ll never be a Saint its true”. The backing singers are great, and the opening song is just a taste of what is to come. What follows is a collection of songs that are funky, with some great deep bass grooves and R and B influences.

The more acoustic ‘Secret’ is up next, a song that was a hit bo
th sides of the Atlantic. This is a song about happiness being in your own hands, not in the hands of others, and being kind to yourself and those around you. It has that bass beat I was talking about and some very catchy guitars. It is actually a pretty sexy song.

The next song on the album, ‘I’d rather be your lover’, I personally consider weakest. The lyrics are not great, for example “I could be your sister, I could be your mother, we could be friends, I’d even be your brother, but I’d rather be your lover”. However the music carries it along, and this is almost as sexual as it gets on the album you’ll be pleased to know.

This is followed by the funky ‘Don’t stop’, a very R and B influenced song with some more cool beats that make you want to get up and dance. As Madonna sings “ Don’t stop, doing what you’re doing baby, don’t stop, keep movin’ keep grooving”. You do want to keep grooving.

My personal favourite is ‘Inside of Me’. A very smooth tune with a few suggestive “oohs” and “aahs” thrown in. Again there are the stunning bass rhythms, and keyboards thrown in. This always seemed to me as a personal song, about love lost. And indeed it is, it is actually about her mother, and explains why Madonna throws a little emotion into it when she sings it. In fact this song is fast becoming one of my favourite songs, outstanding.

Next up ‘Human nature’. You may have seen the video, lots of leather is what I remember. This song does refer to the backlash after SEX. She lashes out at her critics (“Did I stay too long?, oops I didn’t know I couldn’t speak my mind”) and says that she’s not sorry. And you know she’s not sorry, her voice tells you it! She does sound a little angry...and at times sarcastic. And all the way through she encourages you to R
20;Express yourself, don’t repress yourself”. At the end she reminds us that she is indeed just like the rest of us...(although with much more money). This is most certainly the funkiest track on the album, with a thumping bass line. I love it, although admit it took a while to do so. The end of 'Human Nature' marks the start of the more ambient section of the album.

Flowing into ‘Forbidden Love’, another very sexy song, with whispers in the background, and some great leading vocals. A slower less thumping rhythm backs it up. It feels very forbidden!

Then we have the ballad “Love tried to welcome me”. I like this song too; the music is great and the lyrics not half bad. The beat has a more tinny feel to it, and there is not the bass of previous tracks. This is great to relax to.

‘Sanctuary’ is a return to more bass rhythms, but not speeding things up particularly. Madonna’s vocals are almost echoed, and seductive with it. This track merges beautifully with ‘Bedtime Story’, a more trancy song which has one thing written all over it. Yes, Bjork. You can really tell Bjork wrote this song, the lyrics just smack of her in the way they are put together. Some critics said that this was in fact very reminiscent of Bjorks own material. It is still very ambient, and you can really chill out to it.

Concluding the album is ‘Take A Bow’; this video also caused a little controversy, with its bull fighting themes. The song is another Madonna ballad and there are some orchestrals in the background and silky vocals. A nice end to a stunning album!

And this album is stunning. It flows so well; everything fits together and does not rush off on tangents. Madonna is vocally better than on Erotica, and her voice is smooth and at times very sensual. The whole thing just oozes smoothness in fact. It’s certainly good to relax to and would make great backgr
ound music. As Madonna’s seventh album of totally new material, at the time it was again a surprise, as a totally new direction was embarked on.

Also collaborating on the album were the likes of Babyface and Dallas Austin, and this does show. It was a match that worked extremely well.

I rate this album as one of her best, I personally love the early stuff, but of the later albums this is coming close to the best. I would probably have to rate it as one of the top 3 Madonna albums. It’s a total treat.

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