Immaculate is the right word! (The Immaculate Collection: The Best Of Madonna - Madonna)

Member Name: josh_debbarman

Product:	The Immaculate Collection: The Best Of Madonna - Madonna
Date:	09/05/02 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: two new songs to maintain interest, the best greatest hits album ever?, all the classic Madonna songs of the 80s on one CD

Disadvantages: remixes not always an improvement, q-sound a bit disappointing

What can you say about Holiday? It is one of the most famous songs ever. It has charted three times, doing well every time. It may come as a surprise to people who weren't around at the time, but Holiday wasn't Madonna's first song, though it was her first big hit. Fresh, with a supremely catchy and uplifting tune, you couldn't get away from this song for a few months in 1984. A huge huge hook ensures that this song is as infectious as the plague and this is emphasised by the fact that this track has no structure - it is in effect a prolonged chorus. The song starts with a chord sequence which is reminiscent of Cyndi Lauper's 'Time After Time' and most of it is based on a four-bar sequence which just keeps moving around. A Chic-guitar flickers away in the background, accompanied by electronic handclaps and synthesised strings, which adds just the right touch of glamour to the melody. The only thing that changes in the music is the arrangement, like the piano break that comes towards the end. A massive hit, Mary Wilson (formerly of The Supremes) must be kicking herself for turning this song down prior to Madonna and then boyfriend John 'Jellybean' Benitez taking it and reworking it. A six-minute monster of a chorus, this song is sheer genius.

Lucky Star starts with a sparkle of synth notes. A medium-paced dance track, the music features heavy electronic drums with strong emphasis on the backbeat reinforced with electronic handclaps, flickering soul guitar licks and bubbling bass synth (which was to become her trademark). Add to this a cutesy voice that drew comparisons with the then first lady of pop, Cyndi Lauper. This is the first song that Madonna wrote herself as a signed artist, and while the lyrics aren't too deep, she does come up with a good hook and she explores the ambiguity of the star/heavenly body - again this lyrical ambiguity would feature heavily in her later work. A good and catchy start to this album
, this song was Madonna's first top five hit in the US.

Borderline has a more Seventies theme - indeed you could almost imagine ABBA singing it, and the chord invertions look back in general to Seventies disco, to the sound of Philadelphia and to mid-Seventies Elton John. Like 'Lucky Star' this song has a pretty intro, provided by keyboards and apparently renowned session bass player Anthony Jackson played on this track. Another classic, and many people's favourite, the theme is of a jealous boyfriend pushing Madonna's love to the borderline. Again, Madonna sings in her higher register but in a soul style and this lends the track an intangible endearing quality - you really care what happens to the girl in the plot of the song. The video for this song was the first one to give her exposure to the public.

Famous and infamous in equal measure, Like A Virgin was frowned on, condemned, ridiculed, but it was extremely successful. It may have dated, but for many people, this is the song they first think of when they hear Madonna's name. I know this song first made me aware of Madonna's name, and I was only four years old! This has become one of the most distinctive songs ever written. Actually, this is a really clever song, the intro has two hooks in it, a Four-Tops-influenced three-note bass motif and chordal stabs taken from Chuck Berry. On top of this unholy stew, Madonna puts a little-girl-lost voice, leaving the audience totally defenceless. Madonna's deliberate lyrical ambiguity and innuendo do nothing to save the audience from the clutches of this ruthless song (far from it!). She may be 'like' a virgin, but is she one? Is she saying she doesn't want to be a virgin anymore?? Apparently, the message was more simple than that: from the horse's mouth, we learn that the song is about something that makes her feel brand new and fresh...er yeah, that helped a lot! For the real virgins this song could hel
p then anticipate the 'event' or maybe hold off a little longer, for more experienced girls could use this song to feel how going with a new guy could make them feel like it was the first time all over again; and the boys could fantasise about a girl whose previous sexual history would be annihilated as soon as they got their paws on her (couple this with some live performance where she rolled around on the stage in a lacey wedding dress with the cameramen being naughty with their choice of camera angles in relation to the said dress, and you can see the lads just didn't stand a chance!). See? It's damned clever in a subliminal subversive way! Maybe this was why it provoked such a fuss when it was released. Madonna and songwriter Billy Steinberg look very innocent when they say this wasn't the aim, but the hooks even got producer Nile Rogers who wasn't too keen on the song at first but quickly got ensnared (it stayed in his head for four whole days!) and even apologised to Madonna for doubting the song! This baby has more hooks than a fishing-tackle factory. If a seasoned pro like Rogers succumbed, what chance did the poor public have?!

Material Girl is a vintage Madonna hit and drew comparisons with Cyndi Lauper because of the shrill voice used. The theme is materialism, but it is decidedly tongue-in-cheek (actually mocking materialism), a fact that many people actually missed. The video is based on a scene by Marilyn Monroe in her film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' (where she sang 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend'), and watching it helps to see the true meaning behind the theme. One of the most famous of Madonna's songs, it coined a nickname she is still known by today, though it is known that she dislikes this. This is a song that superbly captures the spirit of the time, relationships being presented in a capitalist manner in terms of commodities and possessions. It was inspired by some lyrics from an earl
y Police song and also refers to The Miracles' 1960 Tamla hit 'Shop Around'. The music is signature Madonna, with synth figures all over it and a strong backbeat. A robotic male voice repeats the hook of the song, which features Madonna singing in a strangely robotic manner.

From the film 'Vision Quest', Crazy For You is a more country-style of song. True country fans may see this as mediocre, but it is an interesting diversion for Madonna and one that underlines her versatility and willingness to experiment, especially as this song was recorded in 1985 when no-one thought Madonna could do anything except dancepop music. It's an increase in sophistication from her previous material, though the boldness that is Madonna's signature is also evident here. The intro to the song has electic guitar chords with woodwind supplementation - which is a theme that recurs through the song. The other strong feature of the music is the snare drum that kicks in at the end of each bar. Otherwise, there is harp, guitar and bass synth. Vocal-wise, this track shows Madonna's increasing, as most of the song is deeper than her wont at the time, and yet she goes pretty high at times. The song may sound raw compared to some of the other material on this album, but given the eleven-year difference in time, that is not surprising (and it is actually pleasing), and it helps underline Madonna's journey through the years.

Not part of the original 'Like A Virgin' album, Into The Groove was added when the album was re-released a year later following the success of the film 'Desperately Seeking Susan', from where the song originated. It is superb; a dancefloor classic that is pop at its best. Drum and synth bass lines burst straight in, and after a spoken line, Madonna is into the first chorus. Her voice is double-tracked and given a typically trebly quality, and the synth line that counterpoints the tune really adds something.
The bridge "live out your fantasy here with me" has a delicious harmony in which Madonna adds a lower register voice to the main one. At its simplest level, this song is encouraging people to get up and dance, however like the title track there is a subtle sexual undertone manifested in the form of a lyrical hook for shy girls to get and do their thing "at night I lock the doors so no-one else can see". Apparently the song was inspired by a gorgeous Puerto Rican boy sitting across from Madonna in a fourth-floor walk-up on Avenue B in New York whom she wanted to ask out on a date. With this kind of song, it matters not whether you get the boy/girl as you hover uncertain on the edge of the dancefloor - you just feel great either way. This is the song that finally and irrevocably hooked me to Madonna, as she encourages the listener to dance with her. She says "...boy, you gotta prove your love to me..." - I'm still dancing all these years on.

Despite the different quality of 'Crazy For You', Live To Tell must have been a great surprise at the time that it came out in 1986. Madonna's voice suddenly sound several shades deeper and more mature. The theme tune to then-husband Sean Penn's film 'At Close Range', it is a real tear-jerking ballad. Madonna describes how her man proved unworthy of her love ("a man can tell a thousand lies, I've learned my lesson well. Hope I live to tell the secret I have learned, 'til then it will burn inside of me"). This has some really beautiful lyrics and another example is "if I run away, I'd never have the strength to go very far. How would they hear the beating of my heart ?". Madonna tackles the theme of child abuse, a very brave move, as her lack of experience in this area of songs could have made the song fall flat on its face with the critics. Music-wise, the strong snare drum adds drama to the track, but this quality is most well pro
vided by the synth strings and electric piano, with heavy metal guitar adding twists of style in tightly controlled doses. Another very compelling ballad, it is surprising to learn that it was recorded from a single take onto a demo (producer Pat Leonard says you can hear the lyrics sheet in Madonna's hand rustle faintly, though I can't quite make that out) - done this way because of the shy, naive, raw and yet powerful delivery by Madonna. It is well worth a listen, and especially since it is one of Madonna's earliest ballads. It is very important in the history of Madonna's musical progression and recognition by others as a serious artist. To this date, the song remains shrouded in mystery but it was the song that made other musicians join in the worldwide fever for this exciting new star. The song is a complete antithesis to her previous songs about love and sex. It was haunting and dark and instead of the customary shrill bubbles resonating from Madonnas vocal cords, we hear a deep, measured, plaintive sound that only makes the world even more astounded by the new object of their affections. Could Madonna be more than just a sexy pop tart with great dance songs and Marilyn Monroe aspirations?? Could she actually be a great singer/songwriter? America hadn't seen a great female singer/songwriter who was also a star. Carole King decades ago, Joni Mitchell wrote but rarely troubled the summit of the worlds pop charts. And here was Madonna, showing the potential of being all things to everyone.

Papa Don't Preach is a real corker of a song. It is more than a bit 'rock' as well as pop. A teenage Madonna tells her father that she is seeing the boy he warned her about and that she is pregnant - and asks him to accept her boyfriend, whom she won't give up. A common if controversial story, this shows how in touch Madonna was with the public. Yet more controversially, she won't give up the baby either, which at the time was
taken by anti-abortionists in the US an anthem! Another message is self-empowerment, a theme which would recur through Madonna's lyrics, as the girl takes control of her situation herself and rejects her father's moralising. Lyrically, this is the strongest piece of work Madonna had done up until this point, skilfully picking out a number of aspects of the situation from the father's attitude to abortion to early marriage, to the boy's offer to marry her and the imminent loss of freedom that pregancy will bring. Music-wise, it starts with an orchestral intro before drums kick in, the chorus is punchy and there is a pleasant acoustic guitar solo. Madonna's voice is grainier than her wont, perhaps emphasising the gritty subject matter. A real kick-ass classic Madonna song, bits of the music appear all over the place, e.g. the Vauxhall adverts on TV in 1998-2000 (if you're in the UK).

Open Your Heart is another stonking song, punchier and more upbeat than the previous track, opening with a cry of "watch out!". Over a continuous percussive battery and through a two-part verse, the song unfolds a tale of unrequited love for someone seen on the street. She won't take no for an answer ("don't try to run, I can keep up with you"), and the song is filled with innuendo ("I hold the lock and you hold the key...I'll give you love if you, you turn the key"). The song was originally written with Cyndi Lauper in mind, but as we well know, Madonna's previous successes torpedoed the Lauper bandwagon. The Temptations also considered this song before Madonna redid some of the lyrics and Pat Leonard but a bass line in to turn it into a rock'n'roll/dance song rather just a rock/pop track. This song has a great rhythm and Madonna really pulls out the stops and also provided us with a controversial video set in a strip joint with a child (her brother?) waiting outside for her and fantasising about bein
g a stripper (but they choose innocence in the end over decadance and depravity)!

The album just gets better with La Isla Bonita. Madonna's love affair with all things Spanish is clearly evident - many years before Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez and the new Latino sound. Originally written with Michael Jackson in mind (can you imagine that?! Good job he turned it down!), this is a real beauty, as Madonna reminisces about a beautiful tropical island (inspired by the mythical Spanish island of San Pedro) she once went to and the love she found there. The conga-littered intro ushers us quicker than the sweep of a flamenco dancer's skirt and the click of castanets into Madonna's tale of balmy romance. A real classic Madonna track and one of the gems of the album. A health warning, though: this is not one to listen to after your boss has told you that you can't have any leave, scuppering your vacation plans to the Seychelles, or wherever. It'll make you feel sick! Maybe play it on a cold wet afternoon in the city for some well-deserved escapism..."just like I'd never gone, I knew the song" - er ahem! Moving swifty on...

Like A Prayer is a classy song, one of Madonna's most famous. The intro features a a choir and an organ before Madonna, sings "Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone, I hear you call my name, and it feels like home...". There follows a clattery rhythm track and the immortally catchy chorus "When you call my name, it's like a little prayer, I'm down on my knees, I want to take you there. In the midnight hour, I can feel your power, just like a prayer, I want to take you there..."; who she is talking to is not clear - God? Her father? A lover? All of them?? Madonna's earnest voice (sounding at times child-like, at other times fiery, seductive and pleading), the able backing of the gospel choir and Prince's inspired guitar (flickering silkily left and right w
ith a bubbled sequence bass line) interact perfectly, producing one of the greatest songs ever. The great sense of drama and building atmosphere is heightened by interruption to the percussive rhythm and this is musically a far more complex song than anything she had ever done previous to this, though elements of her old sound are there too, resulting in a richer sound. The extremely controversial video, featuring burning crosses and her kissing a black saint, was a blow for racial equality, but ended in the Catholic Church and the Pope condemning her for sacrilage as they did not approve of the connection drawn by Madonna between the passion of sex with the passion of worship (nor, I suspect with the notion of a black saint!). The song is actually about the mystery, fear, oppressiveness, passion, discipline and obsession with guilt of Catholicism in a devotional way and how it profoundly affected Madonna's life. Safe in this knowledge and regardless of the fact that the Church did not get this song, she fearlessly reconfirmed she was a Catholic and continued undaunted, a typical 'Madonna'reaction. The version of the song on this album features an extended section of the mix with funked up tropical effects and messed-around backing vocals.

If the video of Like A Prayer was partially about racial equality, then Express Yourself is all about sexual equality and self-empowerment. It is a typically upbeat number inspired by Sly and the Family Stone. She urges women not to "go for second best, baby, put your love to the test, you know, you know, you've got to...". She says that women shouldn't be bought with material gifts but must choose for themselves and have the right to do so. Crucially, while it is a feminist song, it is not aggressively so (and real feminists might have a problem with the notion of women being pampered by men!), as it exhorts women to get their men to express themselves too. Perhaps she is also trying to lay
the ghost of Material Girl (which people didn't get as being a mickey-taking exercise against materialism) to rest. Even ignoring this message, this is still a real belter of a song, with powerful vocals which have a thicker texture. The version of the song on this album is less exuberant in the instrumentation and relies more on a synth dance groove.

In Cherish, Madonna tells her boy that she really cherishes his love and his strength. This is a tune of true devotion, told in a wonderfully sunny and romantic way. A fast dancing 12/8 beat with a great bouncy bass line and strings deftly sketch in the passing minor chords like the memory of a sadness that won't quite go away. The chorus is one of Madonna's finest, with a much faster rate of harmonic change. The bridge has a lovely sliding push rhythm before the harmonica solo adds its sweetness with a subliminial allusion to all those early Stevie Wonder Motown Sixties sides. Surprise is added when, instead of going back to a chorus, the song reverts to the bridge, a clever delaying tactic. In addition, there is a brief 'dub' section where Madonna's backing vocals are supported just by a brass line before the drums kick back in with an exhilarating re-entry. Finally, Madonna stuns with no less than three excellent counter-melodies in the closing section going on simultaneously! 'Cherish' contains generally some of the best songwriting and song structuring Madonna has ever managed. One line ends as another begins, all blending into one "so tired of broken hearts and losing at this game (before I start) this dance I'll take a chance in telling you I want more than just romance". Madonna's voice has never sounded like this before or since. Warm, girlish, gentle,and bright as a ray of sunshine. "Romeo and Juliette, they never felt this way I bet"...I think that communicates to us what sort of trip Madonna is on here.

Vogue is, by any standar
ds, quite astonishing. It has a nice story behind it. Originally coming from a collaboration with Shep Pettibone where Madonna was seeking to create some B-sides, Madonna didn't initially feel it was strong enough to be an A-side, but was persuaded by people at her record company to release it as such - so we have to thank them for preventing such a monumental mistake. The song is inspired by a dance craze which originated in gay and transvestite clubs in New York where dancers would dress up and act out the gestures and stereotypical poses of models as seen on the cover of a magazine like 'Vogue'. It starts off low-key, with a lengthy intro punctuated only occasionally by Madonna's spoken words (e.g. "strike a pose"). But then it metamorphasises into one of the greatest dance tunes ever with an exuberant dance rhythm. High strings persist throughout and there's a punchy piano on the chorus. This song encourages everyone to get up and dance, because "you're a superstar, yes, that's what you are!" and the message is that dance is the medium of self-expression and imagination: "let your body go with the flow". Near the end, Madonna begins a rapping homage of famous Hollywood actors (including Fred Astaire, Jimmy Dean, Marlon Brando - "fellas in the mood") and actresses (including Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Gingers Rogers, Rita Heyworth, Kathleen Turner, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow and Bette Davis - the "ladies with an atitude") on the cover of this magazine. This song is anthemic to the gay community, who took it to mean that coming out is not something to be avoided but embraced. The song also demands racial and gender equality. It includes a tribute to many stars of yesteryear who had 'Vogue'. A great, great song. A perfect, modern ending for a classic album.

One of two new songs on the album, Justify My Love was written and backed by Lenny Kravitz, and M
adonna speaks the whole way through. A very up-to-date hip-hop dance track, it is something of a turning point in Madonna's style of song, representing the shedding of her Eighties style and pointing towards the style of song she would use on her next album 'Erotica'. The elements of the music are simple enough: a drum loop that repeats for the duration of the song, a bass part and a descending four chord sequence moving through the minor keys, resulting in a haunting sound that might have escaped from a Roxy Music track. Kravitz's wordless vocal melody on the backing is bewitching especially when combined with the spoken hook on the chorus. The track doesn't go anywhere, but that's not the point - a hypnotic atmosphere draws you into its own seedy world which supports the imagery of the lyric. The black and white video was very controversial (so much so that it was banned by MTV) with Madonna and people of various contrasting sexual persuasions cavorting in their underwear in a hotel, but has since been recognised as a masterpiece and absolutely fitting. Yet another controversy was sparked when Kravitz's friend, songwriter Ingrid Chavez, claimed that he had appropriated her song, that only the title phrase was his and that Madonna had only changed one line. An out-of-court settlement resulted in Chavez receiving a portion of the royalties. Oh, and the 'Beast Remix' of the song had Madonna reciting Revelations 2:9 which drew charges of anti-Semitism. Phew! Has Madonna ever thought of doing something safer...like bee-keeping, wasp clearance or snake charming?? Will this song ever age? It's so different, that I think not. A pivotal record in Madonna's career.

The second new track on the album, Rescue Me has a great rhythm, and mixes the spoken word with some real power singing. It tells of how the flawed Madonna feels that the listener can rescue her by loving her. Another great line is born here - "love is un
derstanding". Nothing to do with the Fontella Bass Sixties hit, this is a faster dance track with a spoken intro (preceded by heartbeats and the sound of thunder) and many chest-beating declarations of luurve. The overall sound is reminiscent of Yazoo and other Eighties disco acts. The arrangement is thick, with loads of backing vocals. Madonna starts to growl some lines a la Aretha Franklin in a song that sounds a bit like her 'Respect'. The "sending out an SOS" allusion could be on loan from Edwin Starr's Motown hit. The instruments fade away to leave the sound of thunder and rain. This is a truly fitting end to a great album.

WOW. If you don't have any Madonna albums, and you can only buy one and want to know what made Madonna so big, this is the album to buy, as it has fifteen of her most famous songs from the '80s and two brand new songs and shows well her talent and versatility. Even for true fans, who already have many or all of the classic songs in other albums, this is a must-buy. The only slight dampner (only to be realised by fans) is that the much-vaunted Q-sound technology used in the recording to improve the quality of the sound actually makes some of her older tracks sound a bit sterile and bland compared to the originals. But, as I said, most people won't notice the difference - which is for connoisseurs only! This is one of the greatest albums of the Eighties, one of the greatest pop albums of the twentieth century and one of the highest selling greatest hits collections.

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