Members Angela Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Being it's a UK paper, I'd say this is a less biased to the positive side review, heh. The critic is Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph. I'm looking forward to hearing Falling Free. I've always liked Madonna's ballad side just a little bit more than the dance side: http://www.telegraph...ack-review.html I see the paper also recently did a Pop's 20 Greatest Female Artist of the Rock & Pop Era list: http://www.telegraph...le-artists.html 10. Patti Smith 9. Lady Gaga 8. Adele 7. Amy Winehouse 6. Aretha Franklin 5. The ABBA Girls (For realz?) 4. Debbie Harry 3. Kate Bush 2. Tina Turner 1. Madonna ETA: PopJustice Review: http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6074&Itemid=9 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 The ABBA girls were vastly underated as vocalists undoubtedly but that's a hella weird list. Aretha hasn't had a great voice since the mid 70s--it just seems like they lopped together a lot of random female vocalists haphazardly--some who write all their own stuff, some like Madonna who co-write most of it (mainly lyrics--something sometimes I think Madonna should ask for more help with lol), others like Aretha who never wrote anything. I dunno, I think people still seem to find it hard to list female artists and categorize them (would a similar list lop Bob Dylan with The Rolling Stones and say Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake or someone together--I don't think so, but maybe). Thanks for those reviews. I'm a regular Popjustice poster, and I usually agree with their reviews, although they have a tendency similar toAttitude of blind gay fandem (I guess they're not all gay but in my experience talking with the people who write there, they are ) and a somewhat annoying habit of claiming such and such track is the best track they've heard all season, and then when it comes out and flops turning around and dissing it. Still, it's good to see it's getting positive press. I take it that the last half of the album (on the standard edition) which is produced by William Orbit who did all of Ray Of Light will be the moodier, more ballad heavy part (a bit like her Music album I guess which is front ended with more dance tracks, and then becomes more moody and sombre by the end). I admit, I still like a Madonna album to be more dancey than not, but I do love her ballads--I just think if there are too many the album can get mired in Madonna's teenaged poetry navel gazing. American Life isn't nearly as bad an album as its reputation and sales would show, in hindsight a lot of it is interesting and I like Mirwais' production, but listening to at a whole it really is too filled with slower Madonna songs where I think she thinks she's deeper than she is, which is fine for a few songs but can become a chore to listen to. I do like Masterpiece and am glad it's on the album. Speaking of--the deluxe edition of MDNA will have four or five bonus tracks on the end (and sounds like it won't end on a ballad heavy side). I kinda don't understand this recent thing about Deluxe editions. I know in the past, partiularly in the UK, they often reissue an album a year or so later with a new single and extra tracks to boost sales, but the current thing is to releae Deluxe and Standard versions together--Gaga did it last year too. I'm one of the few people my age I know who still buys CDs, at least for the performers like Madonna I tend to collect, and I don't understand why anyone who is enough of a fan to buy the album wouldn't pay the 1-2 dollars more for the five extra tracks (right now on Amazon.ca the deluxe edition of MDNA is actually cheaper on presale). I suppose it's a gimmic like everything else, but this isn't a case of buying it from Target or somethign and getting bonuses, or the deluxe edition being limited... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angela Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) The lists. This one obviously has a british lean. Yeah, it's not the easiest thing to mesh the different genres and the different elements each artist brings. Ontop of that it's kind of a WTF to include the younger kids with, so far, much shorter spans like Gaga and Adele (both who are IMO very talented) so high up (more like VH1 did) when you're doing 30-40 year lists but I get that to a point. I've always been more of a ballad lover with every singer except maybe Eminem, Missy Elliot and Jay-Z. I am that music fan, lol. I loved Mariah Carey when she was doing ballads and couldn't stand her behind when she started with hip-hop. I love pop friendly dance music though. Madonna is obviously a great pop dance hit singer and I enjoyed all of her dance singles pre-dating the Erotica album (and after - Ray of Light, Music, Don't Tell Me, Sorry are all good quality, catchy songs) but I've always gotten more hyped about the ballads. Also, from the first two singles from this next album I don't feel she is exactly putting much effort in her dance music. Sort of weak lyrics, the beats overriding the singing. Maybe my mind will change on that, maybe it won't. I haven't really given any mind to a Madonna album since Ray of Light or Music. Since I will be listening to this album due to it being attached to my concert ticket and due to her most likely singing at least several singles from it during her concert, I'm looking at this one with a more critical eye. Edited March 8, 2012 by Angela Tina Turner ISN'T British. Oops. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I think they added the newer names to the list largely to seem relevent. Really, if they're going to include people like Aretha, shouldn't they consider people like Barbra Streisand, even if I personally have found her unlistenable since at least the early 80s? Yeah her tours usually are about half based on her new album, which I appreciate considering she lately has toured nearly every album, and it would be so much easier for her to just do more Greatest Hits tours (her Reinvention Tour after American life was advertised as a Greatest Hits tour--partly because of the lacklustre interest in American Life--but Madonna had it her way, and really it was modeled as much around American Life setlist wise as her past hits). I know this has made some fans unhappy--when I saw the Confessions Tour which i loved, we were surrounded by (I assumem, due to the ticket costs) fairly wealthy middle aged people who really only knew her old hits, and would leave to get more beer every time she'd do a new track--which was often. I think you have a fair point about her dance singles--while she's guaranteed to get every track at the top of the dance charts due to her name alone (the dance charts seem to largely be based more around gay clubs anyway--in the US even acts who don't do well there like Kylie routinely top them), I think maybe she's not sure how to approach the dance stuff lyrically now with the common belief that dance songs should be more about having fun and dancing, etc. That said Gaga (whether you like her heavy handed messages in her lyrics or not) seems to have avoided that--and even Madonna who claimed that her Confessions album would be all about having fun and dancing basically only had a lyrically vacant song with her lead single for it Hung Up, many of the other songs, for good or bad, being shoehorned with very personal lyrics (It also has some great midtempo songs, despite claims of it all being dance all the time, like Forbidden Love, which was so great live, and Push anbd Like It Or Not, we'll ignore the overtly religious Isaac). For the record, I much much prefer Mariah in full ballad mode (or at least some of her early C+C Music Factory dance pop like Emotions) than her hip hop/R&B work... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members quartermainefan Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 <object width="512" height="288"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/zoAGHGgX4a9t2BqMBjKd-Q"></param><param'>http://www.hulu.com/embed/zoAGHGgX4a9t2BqMBjKd-Q"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/zoAGHGgX4a9t2BqMBjKd-Q" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512" height="288" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object> here you go 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angela Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 Thanks, q I think that's probably my favorite clip due to the genuine surprise and shock. That, and because it was an epic grouping and Coffee Talk was funny s--t. Eric, yeah I watched Forbidden Love (CT) way back when I was looking at old concert footage. It's pretty good... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUGaBEKpfnw I know she'll probably never work with her brother again (for good reason) but the BA tour was so tight. Excellent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD7abnTQBzk 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 Some more reviews: http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/going-out/music/mdna-review-madonnas-new-album-754626 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/first-listen-madonna-mdna-interscope-7544751.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/mar/07/first-listen-madonna-mdna?newsfeed=true 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members YRBB Posted March 8, 2012 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 So, I gather most reviews have been good so far? (Read a few of them) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 They have yeah. The common consensus seems to be that the two singles so far aren't the best tracks on the album, and the dance stuff and a few of the ballads have been getting some praise. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 (edited) She needs ot get her [!@#$%^&*] together and release Blonde Ambition to DVD--I know they keep promising it, and I have a bootleg of the DVD but... (of course Reinvention Tour is also sitting, all edited for DVD release, with nothing there--maybe she's waiting for a break in her career). I see that her old label, through Rhino is releasing a box set of all her major albums (so exclusing compilations, I'm Breathless and soundtracks--which means no Vogue or other major tunes) this month to capitolize on her promo I imagine. It's not a bad deal--$50 or so for all the albums in a box set, in individual paper sleevs, but I have them anyway I agree that I would love to see her work with Chris again--I love both Blonde Ambition and Girlie Show. I'm a bit surprised he never worked on any other concert tours. And yes of course she won't be working with him anytime soon again lol. As I said earlier in this thread, I think Jamie King who she's worked with ever since is getting a bit tired--at least Sticky and Sweet seemed to show that--besides which now nearly every pop star works with him, a change could be good... But I guess not this time around (I still have high hopes for this tour, regardless) Edited March 8, 2012 by EricMontreal22 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 Blonde Ambition had an iron-clad contract with Pioneer that stipulated that it could only be released on laser disc (remember that?) for a certain amount of time. Neither Madonna or Warner Brothers own the DVD rights to it, despite conflicting claims. Though, I'm sure it could be purchased or at least licensed. The 1990 HBO broadcast of the Blonde Ambition Tour was such a huge event during the summer of 1990. It really helped set the stage for a lot of modern pop tours. I still consider that era her peak in not only popularity and cultural relevance, but in artistry. In a lot of ways Girlie Show is a better produced tour, but nothing can top her raw energy and her audience interaction on the Blonde Ambition Tour. Her sense of humour was great back then too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I certainly agree with that. I do think Girlie Show is the more "theatrically" satisfying overall--the segues between acts, for instance, were much better done--, but there's no doubt that Blonde Ambition broke new ground (even if artists including Kate Bush and Bowie had done some majorly staged tours before then, they didn't quite make the same mainstream impact), and perhaps has some of the more memorable sequences (aside from that Dancing with the Stars judge sliding down a pole topless with Girlie Show of course ). I thought there was more to the Blonde Ambition thing. I know Guy claimed online last year that a release of it was in the planning stages. I also know many fans are hoping they can somehow get all the footage filmed of the concert for Truth or Dare and edit it together, as many think that's the best filmed version, though I can't see them going through that trouble... I know a different date, from the Japanese leg was released in Japan though again I think it's tied into the laser disc deal--and then in Canada and some of Europe we got yet another date that has a lot of mishaps, and Madonna probably doesn't want released again--that aired on TV but I have an old video tape of most of it I recorded (I missed the beginning). Ah well, I guess it'll pop up eventually. The situation with ReInvention is odder--I know CBS was going to air it but then it fell through, though the concert edit has popped up in full online... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 Several versions of Blonde Ambition were filmed. The one from the Japan show, which is widely available online, and there's one from a date she did in Spain that aired in Spain and the UK. That's the one where the weather was reportedly 100 degrees and Madonna's hair was frizzy... The show from Nice, France of coursed aired on HBO, and one of the Paris shows was apparently filmed entirely during the making of Truth or Dare - which many consider the best recorded show of the lot. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I know the Blonde Ambition tour performances of Express Yourself is considered iconic, but I prefer the faux-disco Girlie Show version: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1p9hVbvl4wQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Another highlight for me. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/STJaPzwi2zc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I still consider this the best closing any of her tours: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/emFWmJjsR_A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Though, I think this one was perhaps her most heartfelt: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9x0M3mK-TO4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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