Madonna Like A Virgin album Poll. Pick Your Favourites & Discuss.

That's been there for some time, with good reason. It's far too expensive.

 

Agreed!

 

I don't think it was actually OOP, but the target is hard to find in the UK. Madonna fans must have bought them as soon as they appeared.

 

There weren’t many CDs in my local shops when I got my player. I did seek out LAV. Even ordered it, but I think they said it was ‘on back order’.

I did get a copy of the Target disc for £10 last week on eBay.

 

I’ve got 32.


By this I mean I currently own 32 of those on CD. I’m not counting the ones I have/had on LP and cassette or CDs I’ve gotten rid of. If I did the number would be much higher.

Thought it a was pretty good chart. Lots of classics in there.

 

A fair price given the demand. You would have to find one in the shop to get it for cheaper, or find a clueless ebay seller who lists it at a cheap BIN price.

 

Agreed, there are some good albums in that chart. Charts have always had a mixture of classics and albums that you would never want to hear again.

 

Believe me I’ve looked.

I’d like the Target of the Madonna album too, but that’s just as pricey.

I did have the latter once but must have sold it for some bizarre reason.

The LAV Target is in good nick. A couple of light scuffs but the artwork and booklet are mint.

 

Here’s my thoughts on LAV from the album-by-album thread last year.

It's been said (mainly by me.) that 1984 was a great year for pop albums. Debuting in November, "Like A Virgin" was one of the most notable. True, it didn't have the flow of the previous LP, "Madonna", but this was designed to take the singer to the next level and show off her range. It's fair to say that all the singles are quite different to each other. The title track being an obvious standout coming at a time when the word "virgin" would have made DJs think twice about playing it.

LAV is very much like a mini greatest hits album. The only 2 tracks that fail for me are Madonna's cover of "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and "Shoo-Bee-Doo". Admittedly, I've never been a fan of the former song. Even the superior original by Rose Royce. Madonna's version is ill-advised. Granted, she probably wanted to put her own "unique" spin on it. She wouldn't have wanted to trill it like, say, Diana Ross, but she does sound out of her depth here. Thumping her way through the song, her vocal all over the place. It's the one track, for me, that should have been relegated to B-side status.

"Shoo-Bee-Doo" isn't bad. Just too long. The slow intro drags it down further. Let's face it, there's no need at all for this slight piece to be five and a half minutes long. A remix/edit would have helped no end, in my opinion.

After that, its uphill all the way. "Material Girl" ramped up her appeal in the UK with possibly her first truly excellent video. Madonna wasn't widely known or even photographed that much in the UK at this point and this clip helped show her in a new light. "Angel" was a big hit, but truth is, after the first two singles, practically anything from the album would have sold well. I always really liked the closing track, "Stay".

In the UK, as I've said before, the LP was repackaged in the autumn and the huge summer hit, "Into The Groove" was added. Here, it remains the only #1 single "from" LAV. I'd recommend this version as ITG isn't that easy to find in it's original mix on CD. I wish they'd have included "Gambler" too, though I suppose they had to give people a reason to buy the "Vision Quest" soundtrack.

The album cover, for me, is genius, and goes well with her debut. They managed to make Madonna's rather trashy image look quite classy on the LAV photos. Still a beautiful cover that hasn't dated at all 30-odd years on.

So, yes, I'm extremely fond of LAV. It did enough to move Madonna into the next phase of her career without upsetting the applecart. She was wise enough to know that this kind of bright "pop" album couldn't be remade forever though. "True Blue" would, effectively, be more of the same, but even on that there were signs of growth and a bit more depth.

 

I think it would be better to stick "Into the Groove" at the end, after a discreet interval of several seconds (like a hidden track), but I guess record companies didn't think like that at the time. The track was added to boost CD sales.
Strangely enough, the only copy of "Into the Groove" that I own is the Ciccone Youth cover version from The Whitey Album.

You could be right about the production.

 

Into The Groove was also added to the LP and cassette versions, wasn’t it? I seem to recall I had the LP

 

You're right, they reissued the LP with "Into the Groove" at the beginning of side two. Come to think of it, this reissue might be the version my sister owns.

 

While Like a Virgin lacks some of the charms of her debut, it's still a fantastic record. The singles are all terrific and I really enjoy "Over and Over" as well. The ballads aren't quite there yet (they're good, but not great) and while "Stay" and "Pretender" aren't as distinctive as the other tracks, they're still quite good. Getting Nile Rodgers to produce was an inspired decision and this is a great sounding album (especially for an early digital recording).

The UK reissue that adds "Into the Groove" makes an already great album even better and that CD is my go-to copy. I also have a copy of the original Canadian pressing on vinyl that sounds excellent. I'm not a fan, though, of the 2001 remastered CD, although I've kept in my collection for the bonus 12" mixes.

 

I'm the opposite. Despite having the version of the CD with "Into the Groove," I don't think it fits onto that album and I don't ever listen to that version of the album. It just doesn't sound "right" to me. That's probably because I listened to the original version of the album about a million times before getting the version with "Into the Groove."

Back in the day, I made myself a pair of cassettes of the album to play in the car. One had the original album, with the Madonna album on the other side. The other had all the songs from 12" singles and movie soundtracks. In my mind, "Into the Groove" should always follow the extended version of "Angel," because that's how the songs were on the cassette I made. Those two songs should then be followed by "Crazy for You" and "Gambler."

 

I still own 37 of these albums...

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with that! Hold your head up high

 

That’s the one I own.

 

I enjoy this album, although not as much as her debut and True Blue. I was 10 when this was released and the first memory I have is of the video for ‘Material Girl’. I don’t believe I bought the record until after I had bought True Blue in 1986 and then I backtracked and picked up her first two.
I voted for Material Girl, Angel, Over And Over, Pretender and Like A Virgin and also Into The Groove which I didn’t know had been added to the European release in 1985 until much later.

I own the original Australian vinyl, the West German Target CD that I found for $25 a couple of years ago, the UK CD with Into The Groove on it and the 2001 reissue. I like the album but for me it’s not as strong as the debut or True Blue. At times it seems a little novelty-like and if I never have to hear Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, I will die a happy man.

 

I just picked this up on vinyl (along with True Blue) yesterday. Still-sealed, original pressings, mint condition. Looking forward to going back in time. It's been a while since I've listened to it.

 

JohnnyQuest RIP!

 

That's why I love the song "Without You" on Bowie's Let's Dance. It's the three core members of Chic, with Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, backing a Bowie soul ballad. I mean, come on.

 

Her best album by far, although I don't know the albums after ROL. I just love the crisp production and especially the drumming and voted for everything except "Over And Over", which is a little too predictable.

The 4 (5) singles are all uniformly brilliant, which is also reflected in the poll - at present, they all have near identical numbers. Along with "Live To Tell", "Into The Groove" might just be her best single. Of the deep tracks, I particularly enjoy "Pretender" and "Shoo-Bee-Doo", while I can take or leave LDLHA, which was never a great song.

If only the follow-up had been half as good...

 

Wish I’d have had the sense to pick up the UK picture disc of this back in the day..

 

I love the whole album!

 

Like A Virgin is not without its flaws, but I think it's a pretty solid sophomore album. It runs out of steam by the end, "Pretender" and "Stay" were never two big favorites of mine, but before then you have four big singles and the underrated "Over And Over" to keep the party going. The ballads do not have strong vocals but Madonna improved and found her range on "Live To Tell" two years later.

My favorite copy of this LP is no doubt the white vinyl promo. I am kind of surprised it hasn't been reissued this way yet. My 15 year old heart was so happy to find one of these and the sentimental value has never diminished.