"Warner Remasters" of MADONNA

I found both her debut and "Like a virgin" lately.

The debut album is muddy sounding and overcompressed compared to the original cd...with "Like a Virgin" the difference in dynamics is HUGE!

Even though this was a 1984 digital recording, the remaster was squashed to all hell. WTF?

 

It's the "modern style". Sounds better on earbuds, I guess!

 

Better with earplugs!

I thought the True Blue remaster was even worse. So boomy and unnatural.

 

I don't use earbuds

 

Didn't buy that one....Was sort of when Madonna started getting more commercial than on the first two.

 

True Blue was the most commercial album Madonna ever did. It's probably my favourite too. I don't think she put a foot wrong in the 80s. Well, with her music anyhow!

 

Well...it was commercial..to the extent that I only liked "Open your heart" & "Live to tell". The rest seemed a bit too contrived. I bought that the day it came out along with Steve Winwood's "back in the high life" and played that one a lot more at the time. By "Like a prayer" I was rapidly loosing interest. On that album I could only tolerate a couple of songs..."Keep it together" being my favorite. After that, I stopped buying her albums.
The debut is still my favorite...it has that lovely 1983 boogie/funk aesthetic that never really went out of style for me. (I love me some linn drum & prophet-5)
The "Like a virgin" album is a very tasteful pop album..Nile Rodgers rules.

 

I bought Back In The High Life too, but I played True Blue the most! Did you like the Diana Ross album Rodgers & Edwards wrote and produced?

 

"Getting more commercial"? Not sure how that was possible - Madonna was "commercial" from day one...

 

Nor do I - I'm just explaining the possible mindset behind masterings that are super-loud. They seem to be oriented toward people who listen to cheap, portable playback devices where lots of compression makes the music "sound better" because it's loud all the time...

 

I have nearly everything Nile & Bernard ever did...they are my heroes.

 

Her first album was 100% urban. Even "Borderline" was produced by a guy known for urban/r & b music, not top 40 pop. (that song only got top 40 play because Madonna was white..oherwise it would only be on the urban stations) Songs like "Physical attraction" & "Everybody" were nothing like the contrived soulless pop drivel on the "True Blue" album. These songs were only played in underground clubs & urban radio.
"True Blue" was a far cry from this.

"Like a virgin" had some awesome ballads like "Love don't live hee anymore"..dig that string arrangement and tony thompson's drumming. And with "Shoe be do" you have one of the funkiest sax solos by Lenny Pickett....not exactly contrived top 40 fare is it?

 

"Contrived top 40 fare" seems to be a judgment call. A lot of people would've called "Madonna" and "LAV" that 30 years ago. I think you view those albums as more daring and "urban" than they were - and I sure think you underrate "True Blue" by a lot...

 

Yeah, those remasters are ear bleeders. Stick with the earlier pressings for those albums.

 

Yes...it is an opinion. It's one I've held since 1986 when I heard "True Blue" and this will not change. And yes...those first two albums, to me were more daring in lots of ways than what followed for Madonna.
Were you listening to urban radio in the early 80's? If you were you would know that Madonna's first album wa exactly what r & b artists were doing at the time. The funkiness is what makes it "daring" as far as I'm concerned.
With "Like a virgin", Nile's production, arrangements, and musicianship are quite apparent....as well as Tony Thompson's drumming, which is some of his best work (along with the Power Station LP).
I did not find this type of musicianship in her later albums as much.

 

Yup. and "Madonna" didn't sound daring or "urban" to me. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that opinion...

 

I was hoping they would be tasteful remasters, but alas..NO!

 

Evelyn King, D-Train, Leroy Burgess, etc....If you were listening to that stuff, you'd know that the only difference between those artists and Madonna were the color of their skin. Madonna's debut was basically an r & b alum...in the NYC style at the time.

The bulk of her debut album was produced by Reggie Lucas of MTUME/lucas fame.....r & b producers. Jellybean Benitez did "Holiday"..again, he was an underground/urban DJ at the time (and still is)

 

Warner's did a batch of these remasters around the same time. All with the gold CD label design. Rod Stewart and the Eagles were a couple of the others.

 

You win - "Madonna" and "Like a Virgin" weren't commercial albums. We know that because neither one sold - they both bombed horribly with the record-buying public. Madonna was on the verge of utter failure until she sold out with the smooth smooth commercial sounds of "True Blue" - it took her willingness to abandon her hardcore urban audience to make her a star...

 

....and Dire Straits too. So far, I don't like any of them.

 

I have the UK CD of Like A Virgin which I bought in 1985. It contains Into The Groove, which was a #1 hit here at the time. What's nice is that it's the single version of the song, not the remix that later featured on The Immaculate Collection.

Did The Gambler ever get put out on CD? Used to like that one.

 

Yes, on the Vision Quest OST, it has Crazy For You too, sound is good, and still in print.

 

Oh right, thanks. I forgot about Vision Quest! A shame the song never made it to one of Madonna's comps.

 

You didn't put them back?