Strike a pose and say a prayer for the Queen of Pop! October 16, 2002
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
What can you say about Madonna that hasn't already been said before? The fact that she is the most successful female recording artist ever, sold more than 160 million albums worldwide, had more UK No.1 singles and albums that any other female artist and is without a doubt the most famous woman in the world of the past 20 years really does sum up how good she is. When VH1 UK recently conducted a nationwide poll to find the greatest female artist of all-time, I think it was pretty obvious that Madonna would top the list - and she did, with almost one fifth of all 750,000 votes. After seven multi-million selling albums from 1983 to mid-1990 which sold 75 million copies between them, Madonna returned in November 1990 with The Immaculate Collection. It was her way of saying thank you to all her adoring fans by releasing a collection of her best singles to date. It went straight to No.1 in the UK topping the album chart for 9 consecutive weeks, sold almost 4 million copies in the UK alone and now ranks alongside greatest hits collections from the Beatles and Elvis as one of the best greatest hits collections of all-time. Not bad eh?
The Immaculate Collection begins with Madonna's three biggest hits from her self-titled debut album; Holiday, Lucky Star and Borderline. All three songs have a certain pop/dance feel to them that are basically about having fun and living life to the max. Holiday is considered to be the one song that invented dance music single-handily, whereas Lucky Star and Borderline follow a similar style. The former with a striking and powerful bassline - instantly infectious and funky, the latter with a brighter, more mellow feel to it with strong vocals, catchy beats and a steady-paced bassline. Tracks 4 and 5 are Like A Virgin and Material Girl respectively. Like A Virgin was the song that made Madonna the international superstar that she is today. Her voice is strong and the catchy, funky choruses were like nothing heard before. Material Girl, on the other hand, is catchy and funky while managing to stay ahead of the game with touches of class and tingly beats. Both songs peaked at No.3 in the UK in November 1984 and March 1985 respectively. Track 6 is Crazy For You and was the soundtrack to the film, Vision Quest. This is the album's first big ballad. Along with an epic bassline and roaring vocals, it's easily one of Madonna's greatest songs ever. This is followed up by Into The Groove, Madonna's first-ever UK No.1 single in August 1985. The bassline on this massive song truly is excellent as it bounces and flows in-between all the otherwise empty cracks in-between those superb lyrics and funky singing! Track 8 is Live To Tell, which peaked at No.2 in April 1986 in the UK. Madonna gets all moody and serious on this phenomenal ballad - the first song to be taken from her highly-anticipated third album True Blue. This is followed by three other songs to be released as singles from True Blue; Papa Don't Preach, Open Your Heart and La Isla Bonita which peaked at No.1, No.4 and No.1 in the UK respectively through June 1986, December 1986 and April 1987. Papa Don't Preach is full of emotion and feeling about teenage pregnancy, while Open Your Heart is taut and determined. La Isla Bonita, on the other hand, is light and wispful, showing just how effortlessly Madonna changes her style and image.
In April 1989, after a break of two years, Madonna returned with her fourth studio album, the mature, religious and controversial Like A Prayer. The controversy that surrounded the album helped album sales top 15 million worldwide. The album was bursting with future No.1 smash hits. Track 12 on The Immaculate Collection is Like A Prayer, followed by Express Yourself. The former was released in March 1989 and topped the UK chart for three weeks. The bassline is angry and booming, while Madonna's vocals are sweet and devoted - truly the highlight of Madonna's career. Express Yourself peaked at No.5 in the UK. The video to this song cost $1 million to make - the most expensive video of the 1980's, secondly only to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Cherish is Track 14. The song simply swings with simplicity. The verses are catchy and poppy, while the choruses are deserving of compliments all round to Madonna's sunlit and valentine lyrics. Track 15 is Vogue, undoubtedly another one of Madonna's career highlights. Vogue topped the UK singles chart for four weeks in May 1990 and is officially her biggest selling single to date - a record that still stands almost 13 years later! Vogue was originally intended to close The Immaculate Collection, but two new songs - Justify My Love and Rescue Me - were added a few months before the album's release. The former is a steamy and saucy song from Madonna that peaked at No.2 in the UK, No.1 in the US and shocked the world with its hot video - rated 18+ and banned from MTV. Rescue Me follows a similar pattern, yet the video wasn't banned.
OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
All in all, The Immaculate Collection is an essential piece of music history that everyone should own. Even if you're not a fan of Madonna, you will love this album - packed full of hits, no fillers and nearly all the tracks have been remastered (bits added/taken out). If you don't have this amazing greatest hits collection, you really are missing out - buy it now from Amazon!
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