This was a very, very popular album. It changed course for Madonna after a long line of ballads that got progressively boring. She was wise to sidestep hip-hop and adapt to techno. In fact, in a way, this album helped her to get back to her roots.
I liked it a lot when it came out (but I cannot stand NRM and I'm playing all the albums through along with this thread as it progresses and that is the sole track I skipped - along with Evita as I never owned it and have no interest in it). I really like Substitute for love and just played the demo No Substitute for Love which has a completely different melody and sounds like it's from a musical so perhaps Evita rubbed off on her too much when she first went into the project). I was expecting the album to sound more dated than it did and was surprised how much I enjoyed it (literally haven't played it since about 2000). Bedtime Stories though has been the revelation to me, I only listened to the singles really when it came out and now I'm obsessing over it a little bit haha
Note: Post from 8 hours ago. I couldn't post anything last night! Oh well........ Don't count this lady out. She may not burn up the charts or airways anymore, but really does it matter to us? "Ghosttown" being a recent example. I don't always get a good feel for something the first time I hear it. It could be my present mood, or the sound quality of the equipment I was forced to play it on. Sometimes you just need to be alone......or with your headphones, no distraction and just take it in........But you stated that really well and I wanted to let you know that I agree with you 100%. I loved the album "Ray Of Light!" Frozen was the perfect lead single because it showed growth with it's stark, ambient sound and wonderful vocal. The video was awesome too, I think one of her most captivating. The song "Ray of Light" is a unique take on a pop/dance song that is so different from anything from the past. Again a great video treat, and Madonna looked wonderful post baby. "The Power Of Goodbye" one of her best singles and ballads, stalled at #11. I think Billboard had some major chart data collecting changes and that song (and many others) got caught in the midst of it, or it surely would of been a top 10 hit. I like or love most of the songs, and yes it is less warm and fuzzy of a style of music, but Madonna made it come alive with her wonderful performances. Sometimes less is more, and she did an album with a smart producer and the result, to me is remarkable. That said, I still prefer her debut, but I have room in my head to hear both..........just not at the same time!
Great analogies guys! It is true, this is the first time we'd heard her improved singing voice in a true "pop music" setting. Sometimes I don't understand why this album and this sound clicked commercially. Maybe she was lucky, or maybe she won some new fans with her recent movie roll? She was still an MTV favorite at that time. I remember all the publicity about the birth of her daughter. She sang well, the songs were good, maybe it was still "her" time. This is an album I can digest to from start to finish, like her debut, totally different, but totally listenable.
There are clearly different views of Ray of Light on here - for what it's worth I loved it when it was released and love it now. I loved the use of electronica and I feel the album holds together as one cohesive piece of work. But I also want to look at it from a different angle. If you look at most pop artists, they usually have a 'golden period' at the start of their career and then begin to tail off. I think Ray of Light is an example of how Madonna has broken that pattern. I would argue she did a similar thing with Confessions too. The moral of the story is that you write her off at your peril!
Ray of Light is one of my favourite songs by anyone ever. It is 5+ perfect minutes of screeching, whirling, genius pop madness. By the end of it I always feel lifted and positive. I got bored of her dragging out the guitar for it on her tours though, I prefer it electro all the way. This album pulled a lot of waning fans back into the fold. The production was spot on for the time and her vocals are great. The difference to her voice ten years earlier is huge. That along with the tones and subject matter of the album gave her the kind of critical acclaim she'd long been craving. A couple of the songs feel a bit too long now (Skin & Mer Girl) but back then I really didn't notice. Frozen was huge. The club mix got played endlessly at Heaven and other big clubs I used to go to every weekend and it was never off the radio. In fact, all 5 of the singles were top ten hits here. The Power Of Goodbye will always remind me of a relationship that ended around the time the album came out and it still brings back memories whenever I hear it. I think the album flows really well and would only make one change by booting off Little Star and swapping in Has To Be.
I really like Ray Of Light. The album opened a brief but great phase of her career along with Music and the Austin Powers single "Beautiful Stranger". Madonna's singing had matured and the best tracks reflect this. "Drowned World / Substitute For Love" is one of my all-time favorite Madonna songs. "Ray Of Light", "Frozen", "The Power Of Goodbye" and "To Have And Not To Hold" are all great. "Candy Perfume Girl" is a near miss, but none of the songs really feel like filler to me. This is definitely one of her best works.
Ray of Light - There's no Dita, nor Ballad-Donna present here. They've been purged as youthful transgressions - "a phase" as she would say years later on Letterman(?). Motherhood, with its life affirming empathy, her constant need for artistic growth and her career accomplishment with Evita have moved Madonna to a more spiritual side of her life. The album is an inspired blend of Electronic, Rock, Dance, Trip-Hop and Singer-song writer with occasional doses of Hindu and middle-eastern for spice & texture. And while she certainly isn't the first artist to go "world-music" on an album, the musical influences here are more textural, visual and conceptual, rather than hiring an indigenous group to pitch as your own music. There's also a shift towards indie, likely inspired by the recent huge success of her Maverick label star, Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill," but by no means a direct musical influence. The vocal training for Evita pays huge dividends here as the range, delicacy and her singing in full-voice achieve greater heights and depth never before on a M studio album. They are the centerpiece for the album, as they often carry the slower ballads. The delicacy of a track like "Little Star" shines here, whereas previously, it may have come off weak. She worked with several song writers and when some of the songs (mostly ballads) are broken down to their most basic level, they do draw similarities to previous work. But the collaboration with Orbit would add dimensions in sound and texture. Some of the songs would be turned inside out from their original form, including the complete re-imaging of the "cover" of "ROL." There's also greater depth in the songwriting, as many would have various levels of meaning, standing in contrast of her more obvious sexual double entendre of the last decade. William Orbit is a master of the atmospheric, molding analog electric & acoustic instruments with electronic sounds. He avoids the sometime trite sounds found on some of his earlier M remixes, but he does revisit various tracks from his solo work. But thanks to the collaboration with Madonna, these revisits are taken to a whole 'nother level. And to a smaller degree, Marius de Vries also adds to the atmosphere on the album. Drowned World-Substitute For Love - A reflective and confessional Madonna surprises by leading off with a slow tempo track that sets the tone for the album in atmosphere, confidence, maturity, vocals and lyrical content. Two select lines in the opening layout the meaning behind Substitute for Love, a confessional as the first part of a trinity of songs to open the album: I got exactly what I asked for, wanted it so badly And now I find I've changed my mind The video for this song (not released in the US) is the weakest one amidst several great ones for this album. Swim - With a nice transition from Drowned World, there's a slight step up in tempo, as the confessional has turned to a purging of the past (swim to the ocean floor/let the water wash over you/so that we may begin again) in a build up to: Ray of Light - Head bopping, rock thumping, upbeat blend of drive and dance beat amidst electronic atmosphere. The spirit is released to complete the Trinity of the opening tracks. This is a masterful reworking of a song and bears little resemblance to the original. Madonna's vocal range is on full display and soars on this track: "And I feeeee-eeee-eeee-eeellll" Candy Perfume Girl - Grungy, heavy bass & guitar driven seductive track that builds and builds to its …, well …, … climax. It's a passionate interplay, with sometimes intentionally loopy, interchangeable lyrics, between a man and a woman, with its 3-part beat as an ode to tantric sex. She would make this a rather emphatic guitar performance in concert. Nothing Really Matters - Uplifting dance number with a nice shuffle beat and straight forward lyrics. Lourdes and the transgressions of the past have led to the realization of the importance of good karma. The modern, quirky, geisha Madonna dance moves in the video are a must watch - especially as she breaks form at the end. Sky Fits Heaven - Or your "fate fits karma" and the whole natural order of things. And yet this is a Patrick Leonard song, turned inside out by the music. Shanti / Ashtangi - A trippy, Trip-Hop Madonna chant. Complete with lyrics translated in the booklet, if you want to know what they mean. Frozen - A brilliant, sad, and touching song. One of the strongest of her career. Once again here, the sincerity and depth of her vocals play a big part. Partly about emotional separation between lovers, partly about turning from her past (again inspired by motherhood) and also inspired by the film The Sheltering Sky (a tough film to enjoy). Orbit's middle-eastern musical textures beautifully contrast the weight of symphonic backdrop. The Power of Good-Bye - Saying goodbye to a loved one has never sounded more beautiful. The pulsating rhythm, the tempo and the lovingly sang chorus reinforce the empowerment of parting ways from a relationship that needs to be severed. But there's a mixed message here as the drive for empowerment can be destructive as well - i.e., suicide. Despite the heavy green tint of the video, the close up of the brunette Madonna singing into the camera with those amazing eyes are a thing to behold and shows off her beauty more so than any previous video.
Some really well-written and thoughtful reviews of Madonna's albums and songs!!! I wish I could be so affluent! But I really enjoy the music!
I'm really enjoying reading everyone's posts about Ray of Light. Fittingly, some of the most insightful and evocative posts in this thread have been about the Madonna album that most exhibits those same qualities. If Madonna ever releases a deluxe edition of RoL (I know, I know, wishful thinking), she should hire @sunspot42 and @GreenDrazi to write the liner notes.
It's rare that Madonna releases non-album tracks as b-sides; this is possibly the best out of the handful that she has. "Has to Be" (b-side of "Ray of Light"):
The box does show signs of wear and tear, but is in reasonably good condition. The discs and sleeves are all flawless. Overall, I feel like I scored a real bargain here. I could have held out for a copy where the box was in better condition, but I'm sure I would have paid a lot more.
Ha! Thanks! Bitch can't afford me... "Has To Be" is very interesting. I've never heard it before. She should release a B-Sides collection is what she should do...
Are you a singles collector, sunspot42? B-side collections are convenient, but it kind-of spoils it for us who have painstakingly collected the singles on all formats to get all these extra goodies, just to have them appear for 13.99 on a Cd collection. That from a collector's point of view, and in no way personal. And that's for any artist, not just Madonna. Goodnight from Hawaii.
The quality I like most about Ray Of Light is summed up by William Orbit himself in this extract from a July 1998 interview in Keyboard magazine: One of Madonna’s favorite phrases was: “Don’t gild the lily.” In other words, keep it rough, and don’t perfect it too much [...] By perfecting, you can lose the character of it, and she always had an eye out for that. It's that sort of 'rough diamond' quality I like about it; it's techno pop with unusual levels of humanity, vulnerability even (which 'roughs' it up). Also, from that interview, because it's Keyboard magazine, they ask Orbit about the equipment he used, so for synth fans, the list is: It’s not a ton of gear. Most of it is pretty retro; a Korg MS-20, a [Roland] Juno-106, a [Roland] JD-800. Much of the album was done on a Juno-106. You can get so much out of that synth. Also a significant amount of it was done on the MS-20 – the more spiky sounds. A few things that people think are guitar are actually the MS-20. And then there were a few more bits and pieces: a few modules, a Yamaha DX7, a Novation Bass Statlon, a [Roland] JP-8000, a lot of Roland stuff. So I think it's kind of cool that her first album in 1983 substantially utilised then-state of the art synths and drum machines (like the Oberheim system and the LinnDrum), and then (approximately 15 years later...) the album that redefined her (almost as if it was the second first album of her career) substantially utilised then-retro synths from the early 80s like the Roland Juno 106 and the Korg MS-20 (which discontinued production in... 1983). The full interview at allaboutMadonna.com: William Orbit on Madonna, Ray Of Light : Keyboard Magazine (July 1998) | all about Madonna
Interesting observation about the equipment. I hadn't thought of that. It sounds very modern and Bjork, but Ray Of Light is actually kinda punk, with its old synths deployed to produce seemingly state-of-the-art late '90s techno.
No, never have been really. Well, look on the plus side - if she ever pumps out a B-Sides disc, you'd have been enjoying them for years - decades even - before the rest of us slobs got to.
I have similar hordes for all her albums bar Rebel Heart, which sadly doesn't have much officially released stuff available. Shame I missed all the early album discussion as my Madonna, Like A Virgin and True Blue collections are bigger. She seems to have stopped releasing singles on vinyl. The last official 12" was the UK Girl Gone Wild picture disc. 7" wise, she went through a phase of releasing 7" for juke boxes only from Bedtime Story to Hung up, so no cover art. Her last properly released 7" singles were: USA - 4 Minutes/Give It To Me (double A side) UK - Take A Bow (7" picture disc) Germany - Secret (very rare) Australia - Rescue Me Cassette wise, the last one was Die Another Day. Odd that the cassette format largely outlived the 7" format. I'm a real vinyl lover and I wish she'd go back to releasing singles in that format.
I have to admit, I've never totally loved Ray Of Light. It's a formidable album, for sure... Orbit's production is uniformly spectacular (especially if you love, as I mentioned in my previous post, 'retro'/early 80s synths, and one guy's ability to extract super cool sounds from them). The mixing (by Dave Reitzas) is brilliant too; the album has so much texture, almost a tactile quality (sorry, don't know the audio term for it). And Madonna's vocals represent her career peak. I never believed she was a bad vocalist as she's so often characterised as, but unquestionably her vocals post-Evita coaching had more technique and versatility. The vocals on ROL are a lot more trained, which is not always a quality I like, but Madonna hadn't lost her main skill, which was to sell a song with shading and nuance (in short: she didn't automatically become Celine Dion thanks to a few voice lessons). And in terms of flow, the album is really nicely structured... it has that coherent, 'of one piece' quality I love in albums. On that metric, it rates with the likes of Erotica, Madonna and Like A Prayer. In fact, it's just about her most album album. Song for song, it's... not quite at the level of her elite albums (I know I'm in the minority in that opinion). It has such truly stellar tracks as "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" (my favourite on the album, and one of my all-time Top 15-20 Madonna songs), "Frozen", "Swim", "Skin" and the unstoppable title song. But a few of the songs, like "Candy Perfume Girl", I find just middling (7/10-type songs). But on the whole, it's such a powerful, well-crafted album (and artistic statement), the fact that 2-3 songs aren't my cup of tea isn't really a problem. In short, I'm always impressed by ROL, even I've never quite had the affection for or warmth towards it I had for LAP or Erotica (and I would say that's more a comment on me than the quality of it).
I do feel that this album is responsible for her longevity from this point onwards. She absolutely needed to release a pop album that would be taken seriously. She had grown personally, and the music definitely reflects that. She could never go back to being 80s Madonna or her career would have been over a long time ago. Like them or not most of her albums from here on took on a maturity that was essential for her to be respected as a musician and not just a pop star. Unfortunately for Madonna, she got older as her career advanced and the media have allowed that to currently define her.
Since you're joining the thread in progress, please feel free to post about any of the albums we've already covered. It's still well within the scope of the thread and I'm sure there are a lot of us who'd be interested.
