Stood the test of time (The Immaculate Collection: The Best Of Madonna - Madonna)

Member Name: amnoangel

Product:	The Immaculate Collection: The Best Of Madonna - Madonna
Date:	22/01/02 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great pop collection, It's Madonna!, Emotional, catchy and powerful tuines and vocals

Disadvantages: Booklet aimed at US market, Some later songs edited from original versions, Not all her singles up to point of release are included

This is, quite rightfully, one of the best selling albums in the world ever. Madonna is definitely the Queen of Pop - as I've said in my review of the 1998 Ray of Light album, it appears in the last year many are claiming that Kylie has taken this title off her. As much as I love Ms Minogue, her greatest hits and most of her albums are insignificant compared to Madonna's.

The opening notes of Holiday set the beat for this CD. Fun, classic pop. The great thing about this, her debut single, is that the instrumental itself is just as memorable as the vocal part. As with Madonna's few early releases, this song did not really indicate what was to come, but still firmly established her as a pop artist.

Lucky Star sticks with the style of Holiday. Fun, high-pitched vocals, a memorable backing track and good to dance to keep it a classic record.

Borderline begins with a sweet, poppy instrumental, before kicking in with the most memorable of the first 3 songs. This has a tinge of gospel backing singers in the chorus, making a great combination. Once again with this track, as much attention is given to the backing music as the vocal itself.

Track 4 is where the 'classics' come in. Like A Virgin was alwasy going to be a huge hit. As with most of Madonna's songs, it kicks off with an instantly recognisable beat, before her unique vocal kicks in with some of the most memorable lyrics of her career, even if not the best. The song's brilliant and was incredibly innovative for the time.

Material Girl further continues with the scandal. Why not fuel the haters and critics with a song like this - admitting to everything they were criticising her for? And what better way to do it than with this fantastic song. It had a great video, very witty lyrics and the best part has to be Madonna's high pitch yelps. Once again, the music is instantly recognisable without a vocal even beginning.

Crazy For You a
nd Into The Groove are the two songs on this compilation that were not new at the time of release nd had never actually been on one of Madonna's studio albums. Crazy For You is the most powerful of Madonna' slow singles - beautiful, soaring vocals, filled with emotion, make it one of her earlier tracks that remains brilliant and also undated.

Into The Groove, her first UK number one, is very catchy, good fun, but not one of Madonna's best. It's perhaps the most repetitive of all the songs here with the most obvious lyrics - it's still a feelgood song that fits in well.

Live To Tell, the next of the ballads, is another example of her vocal talent, with haunting music, a great beat and an emotional vocal performance. As with all Madonna songs, you can never truly tell if she the lyrics are autobiographical or not, although almost all of them have what I would call 'personal' lyrics. Speaking of which...

Papa Don't Preach, track 9 of this epic CD, is the most personal here. Another classic, the opening violin solo fits in perfectly with rest of the track. This has one of those choruses that you never forget. Brilliant lyrics and a brilliant tune make this eclectic track surprisingly emotional.

Open Your Heart harks back to Madonna's earlier releases but with her vocals much stronger. This song is one of Madonna's best party, feelgood songs. The lyrics are cheesy - "Open your heart to me/ I hold the lock and you hold the key... one is such a lonely number" - but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

La Isla Bonita paved the way for Madonna to start experimenting with different styles. This is the best song of its genre ever recorded, the lyrics are beautiful and the Spanish guitar fits in amazingly, making you want to be lying on a beach somewhere like no other song can ever do. This is one of several songs that has unfortunately been edited from the album version - on the
True Blue album this song closes with lots of 'lalalalalas', giving it a more gentle closing.

Like A Prayer marked a return to controversy for Madonna. A firm favourite of mine, this is one of her best vocal performances, with one of her best videos. However controversial it may be, her decision to do a gospel track was an amazing one. Nobody really thought she would be able to carry this off, but she did and it took her career to another level. It's a clap your hands, dance, sing, scream, holler type of song. Like all of her best songs, it is music that goes beyond the realms of words - indescribable. Again, this is a different version to the album version. It depends on my mood, but normally I prefer the Like A Prayer album opening, beginning with a rocky instrumental. The version here opens with Madonna cheekily calling 'God?'

Express Yourself is my current favourite - once again a slightly different intro to the album version. It is the ultimate in feelgood, with brilliant lyrics. "Satin sheets are very romantic, what happens when you're not there?" and "Fancy cars they go very fast, but they never last oh no" are the complete opposite to the lyrics of Material Girl. Perhaps Madonna was righting the wrongs of Material Girl with this song, but it goes to show her changing views, music and image through the years.

Cherish is a pure pop record. One of the most simple on this CD, the phrase delightful ditty is appropriate. Following on from Like A Prayer and Express Yourself and followed by Vogue, the innocence of this track makes it a sharp standout. I think this is a highly underrated track with some great lyrics - "Romeo and Juliet they never felt this way, I bet". As a useless fact, Romeo and Juliet appear in several Madonna songs later in her career - Deeper and Deeper & Fever being two I can think of.

You know Vogue is a special song from the opening words of 'Wha
t are you looking at?' before you get a minute of clicking a soft background music leading up to one of the finest pop records ever. The simple backing music makes the continuous clicking a brilliant rhythm which perfectly compliments Madonna's vocals. This is a brilliantly produced track and another favourite of mine.

Justify My Love is brilliant - saucy, breathless vocals against a moaning background vocal unbelieveably make this a great track. It's another one that's tough to pinpoint what is so good about it.

Rescue Me is a cross between the sexually charged vocal of Justify My Love, the gospel of Like A Prayer, the rhythm of Vogue and the emotion of Open Your Heart. This is an underrated track at the ned of an amazing CD.

As so many people have said, this collection is Immaculate. There are some criticisms though. Firstly, the editing of some songs is a shame. The ommission of others is disappointing as well - True Blue, Dear Jessie and Who's That Girl are notable songs not here. Who's That Girl should definitely have been here as it is not on a studio album of Madonna's. One of the later tracks could have been taken off instead. The earlier tracks are all great to be here, becasue Madonna's first two albums don't really stand up to listening in full length, so two or three tracks from each of those is good.

The booklet of the CD itself is disappointing. Yes, there is a good biography of Madonna, but it is written discussing her American career and chart positions. It is a shame that a separate edition was never produced. The photos also are some of the worst to appear in any of Madonna's albums and it wasn't a good look she had at the time. Still, this CD is brilliant.

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