Bedtime Stories | 
| Artist: Madonna
Label: Sire / London/Rhino
Category: Music
List Price: $7.98
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New (51) Used (302) Collectible (12) from $0.01
Rating:  219 reviews
Sales Rank: 29596
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 45767
UPC: 093624576723
EAN: 0093624576723
ASIN: B000002MUW
Publication Date: 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: few light scratches does not affect play satisfaction guaranteed international orders ship without jewel case
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| Tracks:
| • | Survival | | • | Secret | | • | I'd Rather Be Your Lover | | • | Don't Stop | | • | Inside of Me | | • | Human Nature | | • | Forbidden Love - Madonna, Babyface [1] | | • | Love Tried to Welcome Me | | • | Sanctuary | | • | Bedtime Story | | • | Take a Bow - Madonna, Babyface [1] |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 214 more reviews...
 Her Most Underrated Album May 21, 2002
The Groove (Boston, MA)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
"Bedtime Stories" was Madonna's follow-up to "Erotica," an album so cooly received that it started a nasty backlash against the singer. So, it's not surprising that she comes across as a bit defensive on a couple of tracks: on "Survival" she promises that she's "gonna be living to tell" and she lashes back at her critics in the dynamite "Human Nature." Elsewhere, "Bedtime Stories" was her most self-reflective album at the time, and it's also her most r&b-sounding disc since her debut. Dave Jam Hall, Dallas Austin and Babyface all supply the onetime Material Girl some solid beats and rhythms that wouldn't sound out of place on a Mary J. Blige album. The hits, "Secret" and "Take a Bow" show up here, but other tracks of note are the infectious "Inside of Me" (a tribute to her late mother) and "Don't Stop," which should have been released as a single but wasn't. This album didn't flop upon release, but it sold less than it deserved to, mainly because people were looking for a "Vogue 2" in this record. Nonetheless, "Bedtime Stories" is a straight-up r&b record that deserves a second chance.
 What was I thinking? September 1, 2005
Johnny Heering (Bethel, CT United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Some people have described this as Madonna's "comeback" album after the "disappointment" of the Erotica album. But, both albums sold about 2 million copies in the US, so they were just about equally successful. But, this album did produce the biggest hit of Madonna's career, "Take a Bow" (#1 for seven weeks). It also yielded the #3 hit "Secret". The other two single from the album, "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature", became the first two singles by Madonna to fail to make the Top 40 since her first single ("Everybody"). This is a good album overall, and Madonna's fans should enjoy it.
TAKE A BOW MADONNA October 31, 1999
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Probably my personal favorite MADONNA album, next to EROTICA. BEDTIME STORIES is a further look into relationships. There are great collaborations (BABYFACE, BJORK, DALLAS AUSTIN) and superb songs (TAKE A BOW, LOVE TRIED TO WELCOME ME, SECRET, HUMAN NATURE). Her heaviest R&B album to date its a phat mix of MADONNA's ever changing emotions. She gives it to her critics in HUMAN NATURE " you punished me for telling you my fantasies, i'm breakin all the rules i din't make". While songs like "Inside of Me", "Love Tried To Welcome Me", "I'd Rather Be Your Lover", and "Take A Bow" speak of lost loves or loves that couldn't or wouldn't ever happen. It's the only album that she hasn't toured for and was overshadowed by her EROTICA/SEX antics and forgotten by her EVITA role. But if you didn't know the TAKE A BOW video was sent to the director of EVITA and then she got the role. A stunning MADONNA milestone that deserves a place in history.
Bedtime Stories (1994) March 7, 2005
Dance Floor Junkie (Canada)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
-Bedtime Stories (1994)-
Released in 1994, two years after Madonna released "Erotica", the world was still outraged. Madonna released this album, which again, only peaked at #2, and sold 2 million copies since it's release. This album, along with "Erotica" and "American Life" are probably Madonna most underrated albums. Madonna decided to go with more of an R&B sound for this album, and it turned out amazing. This is another one of my all time favorite Madonna albums. The first single to be released from the album was "Secret", and it put Madonna back on the charts, peaking at #3. It's a really great song. And then Madonna released "Take a Bow", which put her back on top of the charts. The song peaked at #1, and stayed there for 7 weeks, giving Madonna her biggest US single to date. The song is definitely one of Madonna's greatest ballads. Two other singles were also released, "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature". "Human Nature" is a very bass heavy song, directed to the critics that bashed her during her sex phase, and is another great song. "Bedtime Story" is just absolutely amazing, and along with "Frozen" and "Bad Girl", one of my all time favorite Madonna songs. The song was co-written by Bjork, and was years ahead of it's time when it was released. Everything about the song is just amazing, and the video is one of the best I've ever seen. Also, at the time of the videos release, it was the most expensive video ever made.
1. Survival (10/10)
2. Secret (10/10)
3. I'd Rather Be Your Lover (10/10)
4. Don't Stop (9/10)
5. Inside of Me (/10)
6. Human Nature (10/10)
7. Forbidden Love (8/10)
8. Love Tried to Welcome Me (10/10)
9. Sanctuary (10/10)
10. Bedtime Story (10/10)
11. Take a Bow (10/10)
As with "Erotica", every song on the album is great. "Survival" is a great way to start of the album, and is very R&Bish. It talks about how Madonna felt about how she was backlashed, but how she survived. "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" is another great song, that features a guest rapper. "Don't Stop" is a great dance song, but it isn't one of my favorites. "Inside of Me" is my definitely my favorite unreleased song. It's amazing. I love the way Madonna uses her breathing like an instrument. It's a song about her mother, but it could easily be interpreted a different way. "Forbidden Love" is probably the worst song on the album, but it's still a good song. "Love Tried to Welcome Me" is one of Madonna's most beautiful ballads, and could have easily replaced "Forbidden Love" on "Something to Remember". "Sanctuary" is an amazing song, that follows along the same lines as "Bedtime Story". All in all, this is another one of Madonna's best albums, which wasn't as successful as it should have been.
My Top 5 off of the album are...
5) Love Tried to Welcome Me
4) Human Nature
3) Take a Bow
2) Inside of Me
1) Bedtime Story
underrated? yes. her best? NOT quite January 30, 2005
b-rok a.k.a. (Raleigh, NC, USA)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I must warn you first of all that I have NOT heard this album in its entirety; I am going by the 5 songs that I HAVE heard in their entirety, and the rest I am judging by what I have heard in audioclips that can be found at madonna.com.
I wonder if Madonna smelled easy money when she went from being sexy to being sexual, since Justify My Love was enjoying massive success on the radio and on video. I am pretty sure that that was one of the things running through her mind when she unleashed her massive sexual bonanza onto the public back in 1992 in the forms of the SEX book, the accompanying album Erotica, and the softcore suspense flick Body of Evidence. Now artistically and musically, Erotica was an excellent move on Madonna's part, her best in my opinion, but that review will come later. On the other hand, this sexpalooza turned out to be a major miscalulation commercially; SEX and Erotica were both trashed by critics and fans alike, and to say that Body of Evidence did not go over as well either is a serious understatement. At this point, Madonna's credibility, artistic integrity, and her entire career were hanging dangerously in the balance. Yes the Girlie Show concert tour was a whopping success, but it too was laced with negative controversy. Fans and critics alike were labelling this as the end, and it very nearly was. Boy were they wrong. Bedtime Stories came out in 1994 and put a rest to all those doubts. Madonna was back, clothed, but in a hip, sexy, ghetto-fabulous getup that screamed R&B diva, and the best part is that she made music to match! Now, about the album . . .
Bedtime Stories is another step in a different direction for Madonna, R&B to be specific, not seen before or seen since on a Madonna. It is a sexy album, but unlike Erotica, Bedtime Stories gets its sexiness from romance and seductive but innocent charm and beauty. In other words, Bedtime Stories is a warm, mature, and sensual counterpart to the dark, chilling, and haunting poetry and raw sexuality of Erotica.
Now although I really, really like most of the music that I have heard off of this album, there is a reason that I am giving it four stars instead of five. The reason is that Bedtime Stories gets carried away with trying to sound mature and credible, with its themes of romance and longing for true love, as well as other smaller themes. Consequently most of the down-tempo songs can be quite boring and could put you to sleep, like the name of the album suggests. Also, it feels like the album was just made in the wake of the Erotica album and the critics' backlash to say "I've still got it", a point which she does proves brilliantly on the album at times, but albums such as Erotica, Like a Prayer, and Ray of Light are superior because they are deeply personal emotional statements in which Madonna is not concerned with proving herself, so consequently she does not hold back emotionally or lyrically with those albums. Bedtime Stories sounds soulful, but it concentrates on sounding soulful and looking the part of cool and credible rather than truly feeling as soulful as it sounds.
SURVIVAL
I have not heard this entire song, but from what I have heard of it I am very impressed. It really exemplifies R&B with its gently undulating grooves and insistent, but not prominent, throb-throb of the bass. The song is a reflection by Madonna on the trials and tribulations of being in the music business for as long as she has. Really bouncy and upbeat, and I am rather curious as to why it was never released as a single.
SECRET
As slow-sounding as this song is it is actually one of the more uptempo tracks on the entire album. Madonna's vocals simply smolder in this song about a woman sharing a devastating secret with her lover. The simple instrumentation of slinky acoustic guitar, a drumset that really drives percussion home, and the whom-whooom electric guitar twang really capture the all the grittiness in the ghettos of Harlem like it's being sung about in an underground, little-known club in Harlem. No wonder this was such an enormous hit for her (peaking at #3, no less!) Also, for the longest time this was my favorite Madonna music video.
I'D RATHER BE YOUR LOVER
I have not heard this song all the way through either, but I know for sure that this is probably the most R&B sounding song on the whole album. The song opens with a funky guitar riff and lone beats on the drums, followed by the introduction of an even funkier bassline. This bassline is more complex and very prominent, and it just lolls back and forth in a deep, soulful sounding groove, making this the funkiest song on the album. Madonna's vocals perfectly accentuate the soulful sounding grooves of the bass, but at times she is a little off key and her voice is strained a little, but in the end she pulls off this R&B crossover with a bang. Apparently a female rapper makes an appearance on this song at some point; I haven't heard this part of it but other people rave about how great it is, so I bet it's great too. Definitely one of the standout tracks on the album, which makes me wonder why so many do not like this one as much.
DON'T STOP
This is the most pop-sounding song on Bedtime Stories, but I think it still has a few R&B sounding aspects to it, such as bouncy midtempo beat and the use of violin sounds and guitar riffs. The song breaks away from the heavy emotion of the previous tracks and is another addictive "get up on the dance floor" anthem that Madonna does better than anyone, though this is not in the mold of Vogue and Deeper and Deeper. Lyrics are not sophisticated, containing lines like la-dee-da-dee, but if you're the kind that listens to music not for what it's saying so much as for how it sounds, then you'll like this one OK. I do like M's vocals on this one, they fit the song like a glove, despite its somewhat simpering attitude. Some consider this song to be filler.
INSIDE OF ME
The first really down-tempo track on the album. When you hear the initial breathy gasps/sighs in time with the beat (I really have no idea what to call those breath noises), you might start thinking, oh no, it's Erotica all over again. Trust me it's not. Now i have not heard this all the way through, but trust me it's not a sexed-up song. Quite the opposite in fact, it's about Madonna's mother and she's singing that she'll always be in her. I don't really like this one that much, the mature adult-contemporary sound of it puts me to sleep.
HUMAN NATURE
The tempo picks back up again for this R&B sounding song which became a modest hit, but this time it's not because Madonna wants to dance. On this song Madonna takes all of the ammo from the mudslinging critics huffy about the Erotica projects, and she flings it right back at them in an expletive-riddled attack and mockery of the hard time they gave her ("oops I didn't know I couldn't talk about, sex, I must have been crazy", ouch!). Usually fireback songs backfire (see Lindsay Lohan's "Rumours"), but Madonna says masterfully that she will not apologize and that if you have a problem, then I don't care, DEAL WITH IT. Also noteworthy is the way that hard slamming beats are dropped with the revelations that "she said something wrong, she didn't know she couldn't speak her mind". This should have been a much bigger hit in the long run, but sadly enough it wasn't. The accompanying video features Madonna looking her strangest in black-hair cornrows, a leather catsuit and attached stilletos, and occasionally a whip for her Chihuahua's behind, and the video was nominated for a VMA for best choreography in a video.
FORBIDDEN LOVE
I love this song, even though it can be sleep-inducing. This one has a more urban, even jazzy feel with the stark sounds of the saxophone and the soulful organ in the background. Babyface does background vocals with Madonna on this one, and it would be perfect if it weren't for Babyface's spoken lines being so loud.
LOVE TRIED TO WELCOME ME
I have not heard this one all the way through. I don't even remember what the part I have heard sounds like. I guess that means that this is one of the slow and boring filler tracks on the album...
SANCTUARY
This one has some R&B aspects to it, such as the basic backbeat, but it sounds very strange to me. The ripping electronica sounds give it a very cold, distant, nightmarish feel, or at least that's what the clip on madonna.com sounds like. Many people actually like this song, but for me it's extremely hard to get into. In reality it doesn't fit too well on this album.
BEDTIME STORY
If you thought the one before this one sounded like a complete departure, nothing can prepare you for this. Sanctuary actually ends by leading up into this song, which is completely different from the rest of the album. This one is strictly techno/electronica sounding. In the song Madonna makes a case (with extrememly minimal vocals) against all words and launguage and communication, so it's pretty deep, lyrically. Even though it is out of place on this album, I like this track very much, listening to it is just hypnotic and entrancing.
TAKE A BOW
This was the biggest hit off the album and Madonna's biggest hit ever, staying at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks. Like in Don't Stop, the violin can be heard prominently, but this go round it gives the whole song a sort of oriental sound. The song is about Madonna and a lover who takes her for granted. The way it sounds so innocent and sweet when the lover is getting the boot, it just makes it sound all the more heartbreaking, touching, and beautiful. This one fairly won the 1995 Moonman for Best Female Video on MTV. Madonna really saved the best for last with this song.
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