12th November - Madonna's Like a Virgin

Artist – Album: Madonna – Like a Virgin

Released: 12^th November 1984

Sounds Like: She made it through the wilderness…

Tonight I’m taking my girlfriend to see The National play to a sold out 02 Apollo in Manchester, in what is pretty much guaranteed to be (i.e. people who went yesterday said it was) a fantastic performance from one of my favourite bands. ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, ‘Mr. November’, ‘Secret Meeting’, ‘Fake Empire’: they’re all amazing songs and I am HUGELY excited.

Round about now you’d expect to see a neat little segue into my Madonna review… but… well… there isn’t one. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I can confirm that there just isn’t a link. The National and Madonna are like chalk and cheesy-pop. Similarities between ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Mistaken for Strangers’ begin and end with the fact that they both start with the letter “M”. But that’s not to say that there isn’t merit in Madonna.

Like a Virgin was the album that made Madonna a pop icon; the most successful female recording artist in history. For all that it was perceived as a carefully calculated work manufactured to make a superstar (she called it Like a Virgin and she wore a dishevelled wedding dress on her bridal bed on the cover – this girl wasn’t messing about), the songs within are just too good to dismiss. ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore’ is a sumptuous cover of the Rose Royce soul ballad and ‘Dress You Up’ is sexy and nimble with Prince-like lyrics. ‘ ‘Angel’ and ‘Over and Over’ are grade A pop songs, but even they are easily surpassed by the two monster hits ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Like a Virgin’, songs that Madge has struggled to best throughout her 30 year career. With Nile Rodgers drafting in as the producer, the album effectively has the Kitemark that guarantees quality.

It is brilliant pop; pop that only Michael Jackson could compete with that decade and arguably since. All that being said, I’d still rather go to see The National.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Material Girl – 4:00

2.       Angel – 3:56

3.       Like a Virgin – 3:38

4.       Over and Over – 4:12

5.       Love Don’t Live Here Anymore – 4:47

6.       Dress You Up – 4:01

7.       Shoo-Bee-Doo – 5:16

8.       Pretender – 4:30

9.       Stay – 4:07

Listen to ‘Material Girl’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNSUOFgj97M

Also released on the 12^th November:

1996: Lil’ Kim – Hard Core

Also released on the 12^th November:

1996: Less Than Jake – Losing Streak

Also released on the 12^th November:

2002: Missy Elliott – Under Construction

10th August - Michael Jackson's Off the Wall

Artist – Album: Michael Jackson – Off the Wall

Released: 10^th August 1979

Sounds Like: MJ comes into his own

 

Michael Jackson released his first Greatest Hits album in 1972, with the US only released A Collection of Michael Jackson’s Oldies. The boy was aged just fourteen. Incredibly, this compilation came seven years before Off the Wall, ten years before Thriller and a whopping fifteen before Bad. The King of Pop had already had amassed a legacy in need of a Best Of eons of years before Pepsi (kind of) ruined his nose, before anyone had heard of vitiligo and when Bubbles was just some spark in his chimp daddy’s eye.

 

Of course, the little boy Michael was quite a different proposition from the full grown, mega-super-dooper star of the Eighties and Nineties. Back then his trademark had been bubblegum pop, where his prodigiously soulful voice was made to croon over songs about Rockin’ Robins and pet rats called Ben. But with 1979’s Off the Wall, the boy became a manchild.

 

Jackson gave notice of his change of direction with the first single ‘Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough’, a shimmering masterpiece that would be disco’s pinnacle if it wasn’t some sort of funk, rock, R&B and, yes, disco amalgamation. The opening “ooooh” is one of the greatest introductions to a record in history. He keeps up the bright and exciting performance throughout, littering the album with his trademark yelps and vocal ticks, whilst the Quincy Jone’s produced and Jones, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Rod Temperton (among others) written collection was the most consistently strong he’d got his hands on yet. ‘Rock With You’ is sophisticated and smart, ‘Off the Wall’ is another funky classic, whilst ‘Workin’ Day and Night’, ‘It’s the Falling in Love’ and ‘Burn This Disco Out’ are great soul and disco album tracks.

 

The album is indeed a classic and it’s fascinating to view it as a transitional record. However, it would be a nonsense to suggest that it’s perfect. The songs are still fresh and exciting, but some aspects of the production are slightly dated and clunky. Further, and I know there are huge fans inexplicably out there, but ‘She’s Out of My Life’ may well be the most horrifically schmaltzy tosh I’ve ever heard. Blergh, I'm fake vomiting here.

 

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

 

1.       Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough – 6:04

2.       Rock with You – 3:40

3.       Workin’ Day and Night – 5:14

4.       Get on the Floor – 4:39

5.       Off the Wall – 4:05

6.       Girlfriend – 3:05

7.       She’s Out of My Life – 3:37

8.       I Can’t Help It – 4:29

9.       It’s the Falling in Love – 3:48

10.   Burn This Disco Out – 3:41

Listen to ‘Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURRmWtbTbo

27th April - Robyn's Robyn

Artist – Album: Robyn – Robyn

Released:  27^th April 2005

Sounds Like: Sweet swede hip-pop

Ah, I have to admit, I’ve made a bit of mistake on today’s blog. Robyn’s Robyn was released on the 27^th April 2005 but only in Sweden. It took nearly two years for it to come out over here, and in that time she shuffled the track listing and added a couple of great songs in the cover of The Teddybears’ ‘Cobrastyle’ and the absolutely phenomenal ‘With Every Heartbeat’. The latter in particular is so good that I was pretty disappointed when I realised I wouldn’t be listening to it, but, what luck, it turns out the whole record is chock full of hip hop/pop marvels regardless.

The back story is a belter – leaving her record label in the early years of the millennium as they tried to market her as the next Christina Aguilera, Robyn must have felt like her hopes of making it as a pop star were over. Instead, she accidently discovered acclaimed electro-gods The Knife (another Swedish group, there must be something in the water up there, Swedish music is amazing), and enamoured with their icy but gorgeous pop productions and independent releases, she founder her own record label Konichiwa Records and began recording songs for her fourth album.

The Knife were actually brought in to produce ‘Who’s That Girl’, one of many highlights. ‘Handle Me’ (containing the unbelievable put down “you're a selfish, narcissistic, psycho-freakin', boot-lickin' creep”) and ‘Be Mine!’ are also excellent pop gems. She raps with surprising lucidity and flow in her second language in ‘Konichiwa Blues’, and slows it down beautifully in the likes of ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Should Have Known’. That Robyn managed to produce (in both senses of the word) such a great record even without the glorious synth-pop of ‘With Every Heartbeat’ marks her out as one of 21^st century music’s true treasures.

Albumaday... rating:  7/10

1.       Curriculum Vitae – 1:53

2.       Who’s That Girl – 3:47

3.       Handle Me – 3:47

4.       Robotboy – 3:31

5.       Be Mine! – 3:27

6.       Bionic Woman – 0:16

7.       Crash and Burn Girl – 3:35

8.       Tomteverkstan – 0:17

9.       Konichiwa Blues – 2:37

10.   Bum Like You – 3:42

11.   Eclipse – 3:29

12.   Should Have Known – 3:59

13.   Anytime You Like – 3:52

Listen to ‘Be Mine!’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PDNRTCuPyQ

Also released on the 27^th April:

1987: R.E.M - Dead Letter Office

Also released on the 27^th April:

1992: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Henry’s Dream