Music
Store

I recall a poll back in 1985 that begged the question: "who's career would still be around in 1990- Whitney Houston or Madonna?" At the time, most stated Ms. Houston as the champion. True, in 1990, both still had very successful careers, however flash forward to the year 2001. While Whitney has tried her hand at acting- a little more successfully than Madonna has, her creative output has stalled. Between 1990 and 2000, Ms. Houston eked out a mere TWO studio albums and THREE soundtracks that consisted of maybe 5 of her own songs. Her last offering, "MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE", tried to get Whitney up to speed with her younger competition. Sadly, her hits came in the form of heavily altered club edits, which dismayed and confounded those who purchased her disc looking for the versions they heard on the radio. Madonna, on the other hand, has managed to bring us FOUR studio discs along with the EVITA soundtrack and a small helping of soundtrack "theme songs" and new tracks which were included on her "greatest ballad hits" disc, "SOMETHING TO REMEMBER".

Through the last decade, Madonna has explored so many styles of music and spearheaded the mainstream acceptance of some underground music. Madonna brought a personality, voice and a face to trance, electronica, French-techno and London two-step.

The 1990s started with her "EROTICA", a very dark disc that had elements of house music and hip-hop as well as jazz. One only needs to go back to that disc today to appreciate the sheer musicality of it. Her second offering for the decade was "BEDTIME STORIES". Madonna is very matter-of-fact in her feeling of this disc stating that it was a very difficult one for her to make. She had five producers and no real unifying sound, but the result was a very good step back from the hype surrounding "EROTICA". This album, while mostly rooted in R&B and hip-hop, gave us our first glimpse into what was to come (the title track "Bedtime Story"- an electronic track penned by Bjork and Nellee Hooper that was out of place on this album).

1996 brought us "EVITA", a stylised musical in the tradition of the great musical films from the past. This was Madonna's true moment to shine. She employed the assistance of a vocal coach and she tackled the music like a champ. Madonna WAS Eva Peron. She managed to sell this to the stubborn Argentine public and was granted permission to film at the Casa Rosada, the "palace" of the Perons at the time of their power.

It was at this point that Madonna turned her gaze inward and really started to discover who she was and where she fit into the scheme of things. The result was the universally acclaimed "RAY OF LIGHT". She won numerous Grammys for this disc...not bad for someone who, by "hip" opinion wore out her welcome years ago. It was here that Madonna came clean with her past and was truly honest about how she felt and what she saw in life. With the help of William Orbit, she fleshed out these ideas in the form of lush electronica and gritty modern rock, both touched with a bit of eastern culture. "Frozen", the lead off single is one of her most gorgeous tracks ever. The following disc was "MUSIC"- this was more of a burst of energy that paired her, again with William Orbit, and this time Guy Sigsworth and mostly Mirwais. The result was a natural extension of the previous two studio discs. Hip-hop and funk elements intelligently blended with electronica and house gave us some of the most memorable moments to preface the next millennium.

Throughout all of this, Madonna has not only survived, but also redefined "pop" by truly making it her very own "alternative" form of music. There will never be another Madonna as there will never be another Elvis, Beatles, Aretha, Dylan, Joplin, Morrison or Hendrix. She illustrates the reason why TRUE artists endure and we thank her for this. "Ms. Houston, the exit is right this way."

p.s.- the limited edition packaging on this is excellent. It comes in the form of a small hardbound book, filled with pictures spanning Madonna's entire career as well as an hilarious essay written by Dan Cadan. This is the proper way to package something as significant as this Greatest Hits disc. No new tracks, but why SHOULD there be? They wouldn't be hits... yet! There has also been a complaint or two about the length of the tracks. Again, this is a greatest hits package and these are the versions that made the songs radio hits.


Drowned in Madonna again   December 11, 2001
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

The second greatest hits from the most significant female artist of our time! Undoubtedly so, for Madonna has sold over 150 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide. Not only a commercial success, Madonna has managed to come off as a talented musician and performer while juggling the roles of a mother and a wife.

This greatest hits is the companion to 1990's 22-million selling The Immaculate collection, something everyone should have known by now. It spans the years from 1991-2001. At the very first glance, the lack of a new song but yet a massive promo campaign might have seem like an attempt at lame commercialism by Warner Bros. In fact, reports said that Madonna didn't want this release so soon. Whichever the case, this 15-track collection stacks up quite nicely with The Immaculate Collection. Obviously, Madonna has enough hits to fill another CD, and these hits were left off to prevent the cannibalization of past catalog album sales. The ommission of new tracks or unreleases songs has again touched the nerves of some fans, nbut no one is ever happy with any tracklist, so these 15 songs are what you'll ever get.

The limited edition offers no extras but does come with another lavish paackage this time with more pictures than the standard edition and a nice layout by Grammy-winning art director Kevin Regan who seems to be Madonna's staple creative personnel.

Though The Immaculate Collection was largely energetic and truly a milestone in Madonna's career, GHV2 represents a different era for Madonna altogether. It's Madonna constantly rediscovering herself in the 90's with the earlier hits Erotica and Deeper and Deeper. Though excellent songs, they really suffered at the Sex backlash. Erotica, for one, still evokes the kind of mystism and sensuality today. Human Nature, in its clean form (...), shows the world that Madonna had no regrets for what she had done, with a ooh-so-hot video to accompany. When Madonna was hot and sexy, where were those Jennifers and Britneys? Don't Cry For Me Argentina may seem like a sore thumb sticking out of nowhere, but it is really to show the evolution of Madonna into the next stage and paving for her second milestone with Ray Of Light. 4 tracks from the Grammy-winning album show up here including the incredible song Drowned World/Substitute For Love where Madonna lamented about the price of fame over love. This song and Ray Of Light, are some of the highlights here. From her Music album, there's of course the huge title track and the two splendid follow-ups Don't Tell Me and What It Feels Like For A Girl.

Once you pop this CD into your player, you are unlikely to stop cos the 15 tracks here, believe it or not, capture the true essence of Madonna in the last decade. From kink to art to spirituality and funk. No one can beat Madonna and no one ever will, in artistry and craft.

Long live, the Queen!!!!


Great Collector's Item   December 20, 2001
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Madonna has been known to release her work as specially packaged editions. I have this one and it's really nice. The cover is the same as the original, but inside, more pictures are included and the CD itself is a beautiful picture disc made to look like a phonograph record. The track listing is great, but it would have been much better if the songs were in chronological order. Because they aren't, this CD doesn't flow as easily as The Immaculate Collection. Madonna has been interviewd about this CD and she said that these are the songs she enjoys listening to, so it's not really a Greatest Hits album, it's a "Madonna's Favorite Songs From The Last 10 Years" album! All in all, this limited edition is a great collector's item, but if you're not a Madonna collector, the original is just as good and cheaper!


lo mejor de lo mejor esta aqui   January 5, 2002
 3 out of 5 found this review helpful

realmente soy fan de madonna desde pequeno (tengo 30 anos) y siempre estoy al tanto de su music... ok o sea lo que venga a poner aqui es que realmente es buena. Sorry friends, i speak in spanish, but she is great, I mean She is the ONE.