Madonna - Like a Virgin
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Free Music Notes for Like a Virgin
Free Music Review: Like a Virgin...
Hit: 5 Stars
I agree with everyone who likes this remastered disc. For me, "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin" showed the new direction of Pop Music in the 80's with Madonna leading the way! Five stars!Free Music Review: Madonna - Like A Virgin
Hit: 5 Stars
Product Quality is quite excellent but the case is broken. Amazon please check before shipping out. This made me angry.Free Music Review: She's Madonna
Hit: 4 Stars
Madonna's self titled album from the previous year gave her a few powerful dance-pop hits like "Lucky Star", "Borderline" and "Holiday" but it didnt't make her a superstar and neither was the production very varied, hence it was just plesant dance-music. In 1984 when this album was released she became the female pop artist on everyone's lips and her singles here, especially "Material Girl" and the title track were huge hits and made her what she is today. Apart from her debut there is more pure pop here even if the majority of the album are uptempo songs. Many diffrent songwriters were also including Stephen Bray that would have a huge impact on the following album and Bill Steinberg, but the executive producer Nile Rogers from Chic was in command, but since Disco was over in 1984 he did the best he could to merge Pop and Dance and the record is stunning and ahead of it's time. "Like A Virgin" went Diamond (ie. 10x Platinum) and it's not hard to understand why.
It starts with "Material Girl" an 80's standard and one of Madonna's top hits reaching #2 in the UK and #3 in US. The topic is typical for it's time, "Materialism", In the video we'll find Madonna living the glamorous life surrounded by handsome men. "Angel" one of four singles from this album is a great dance-pop song 80's style, the hook is not the best but the bass and melody are memorable. While it isn't among Madonna's best it fits the cheesy album format perfect. it reahed position #5 on both sides of the atlantic. "Like A Virgin" co written by Bill Steinberg (who was a very popular songwriter at the time) and Tom Kelly, uqually good. The song was #1 in US and #3 in Uk and is one of her alltime best. "Over and Over" yet another great dance-pop song that deals with ambition to succeed at the highest stage, which Madonna defenitely did. A cover of Rose Royce "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is among her first ballads, but it's perhaps the weakest song here and doesn't really fit in. "Dress You Up" is next which also is a dance-pop song reaching #5 on both sides of the atlantic in 1985. Just like the title track it got vague sexual lyrics. The next song "Shoo-Bee-Doo" was actually written by Madonna. The last two are called "Pretender" and "Stay" but neither of these 3 were hit singles. "Like a Virgin" only had 9 songs and some of the songs were even recorded at the same time as her debut album. I guess the last 3 were among those.
Overall, This album is far from perfect but it's a very strong album with a winning format with catchy dance-pop, not disco but a hybrid between 80's pop and dance music. Madonna the female artist on everyone's lips after this album overshadowing many others. Some songs are very lightweight, just like her debut but apart from the Rose Royce cover they feel like they are well calculated into a winning concept. Other then the great album this defenitely is, Madonna's charm, personality, looks and lack of fear to try new things also was a great factor to the success of this album and upcoming projects. Song by song it isn't her best, but as a whole it's great and worth a look. 4'5 stars.
Free Music Review: A mid-80's touchstone.
Hit: 5 Stars
With her second album, Madonna exploded into the popular stratosphere, and deservedly so. Expertly produced by Nile Rodgers, with the best session musicians on the planet, Madonna here staked her claim as being the number one music star on the planet with staggering confidence.
Yes, her "boy toy" image and slinky, lingerie-clad cover shot may not have aged well, but there is no denying the genuine pop thrill of that kick-drum explosive opening to "Material Girl". That song's terrific video will still probably play in your head, but this remains one of the great singles of that era. And as much as you would NOT like to admit it, it was one of those pop songs that kids and their parents could both like.
The album continues with "Angel", a song that seems so much better now than it did back then...beautiful strings, an irresistible beat and vibrant vocals by Madonna. Most impressive.
Not much more can or should be said about the song, "Like A Virgin", but listening to it after all these years with fresh ears...it's a monster song with only one goal: to top the charts and dominate radio/MTV. Which it did. Handily.
"Over and Over" is the overlooked gem of the collection. An awesome uptempo track that'll have you dancing in your seat as you head down the highway. The melody sticks with you like a virus. Check out that sweet guitar threaded throughout the tune.
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is her first, and almost successful, stab at an epic ballad. She'd nail it later in her career with other songs.
"Dress You Up", for me, is a junior version of "Over and Over", but it is yet another nearly perfect pop song on an album nearly made up of nothing but.
What's worth mentioning here is that Madonna still has a limited range, but she's consciously expanding it, and never pushes it needlessly. She knows her vocal limits, and finds settings to best show it off.
"Shoo-Bee-Doo" shows her interest in "retro"-style tunes, something she'd master with "True Blue" and in another sense, the entire "I'm Breathless" album.
"Pretender" and "Stay" still sound like filler to this day, but pretty tasty filler nonetheless.
This excellent remaster adds two dance mixes of the biggest hits, but they're just an additional bonus. The real treat here is getting a chance to listen to one of the decade's highlights in exquisite fashion.
A necessary addition to any serious pop fan's collection.
Free Music Review: Way Better Than You Remember It
Hit: 4 Stars
Madonna has never exactly been a critical darling, and Like A Virgin often catches the most flack from the opinionated masses. Through its two biggest singles her second album introduced both the idea of Madonna as "Boy Toy" and originating her virgin/[...] image. However, discounting this effort as a simple paean to eighties culture or debating whether or not the popular music Reagan's first term in office was truly better than disco ignores Madonna's first fully realized piece of pop masterpiece, one of only two discs that were released free of the immense baggage that her image and reputation would soon provide.
Both "Material Girl" and "Like A Virgin" were written for Madonna by outside songwriters, a practice she would forever escape starting with her next full-length effort. Take these hits for what they are - a move just as calculated as Madonna's wardrobe. In fact, a team that was also writing for Cyndi Lauper, who was Madonna's prime competition at the time, penned one of the two.
It was "Like A Virgin" that launched Madonna into the stratosphere after she performed it as a slutty wedding-day centerpiece on the MTV Music Video Awards, wisely escaping before the cake was cut only to wind up writhing around on the stage in a wedding dress and famous "boy toy" belt. However, the massive single that it often obscures is the much-less squeaky "Dress You Up," whose delivery defuses accusations that Madonna wasn't much of a singer. Here she is desperate, insisting that she will dress you in her love at the top of her lungs. You are inclined to believe her.
Also, feel free to ignore the weird dancehall bounce and edgy synthesizers of "Material Girl," which don't have much of an effect on the rest of the proceedings. That massive hit all but erased the memory of the Madonna penned single "Angel," which neatly takes all of the musical themes of her first album and moves them inexorably forward towards pop perfection with the help of Nile Rodgers hip production. Despite the overpowering array of synthesizers brought to bare on this disc, there's something very real here: chirping guitars and the subtle under-harmony to Madonna's wisely under-delivered chorus are both details that make this a classic.
Like A Virgin also offers the first two ballads of Madonna's career; the later-remixed turn on "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (a cover, which is rare for Mad), but also "Shoo Bee-Doo" -- the classy b-side to "Dress You Up." On this solo Madonna writing-credit we almost manage to lose the synthesizers entirely, and along the way pick up live piano and drums as well as the classic callback backing vocals that would go on to be a Madonna trademark on "Express Yourself" and "Vogue."
There are only three other songs on this short effort. "Over and Over" features frantic tic-tok percussion and is a perfect embodiment of pop, more-so than either of this album's infamous singles. "Pretender" is dramatically overwrought, but watching Madonna get worked into frenzy has never been boring. And album closer "Stay" sounds genuine and bounces throughout, an easy bridge from underdeveloped fare to the more adult hits from the more acclaimed True Blue.
Is there anything so horrible about this disc? If you still resent Madonna's international superstardom, then maybe yes. However, when it comes to popular music from the eighties this is one of the absolute zeniths, and it also bears the mark of an important step in Madonna's unstoppable journey towards becoming the most famous woman on the planet. And, to top it all off, it's her best and most under-appreciated disc up through the masterpiece Like A Prayer.
Really, when was the last time you listened to it?