I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Madonna's 5th studio album Erotica. She didn't hit a home run with this one for me. However, don't get me wrong for the songs I love, I love.
The hip hop beats and Middle Eastern vibe under the cold yet sexy vocals of Erotica and Waiting. The hard disco of Deeper and Deeper and Fever. The urgency and hyperactivity of Words. The jazz fused drum 'n bass beats of Secret Garden. The arrangements and emotional vocals of Bad Girl and In This Life. All perfection.
The videos are amazing - from the super 8 vintage look of Erotica to the Hollywood slickness of Mark Romanek's Rain. Bobby Wood's Warholian Deeper and Deeper with original Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn and, of course, one of her greatest videos to date - in the purest form of today's extremely overused word - David Fincher's truly 'Epic' Bad Girl .
I know it's many fans favorite album and it could have been be for me, too, had she shaved a few songs off and rearranged the track-listing. Thank God for iTunes. In a perfect world, Erotica would have been released as such:
Erotica
Fever
Words
Waiting
Bad Girl
Deeper and Deeper
Secret Garden
In This Life
Rain
The hip hop beats and Middle Eastern vibe under the cold yet sexy vocals of Erotica and Waiting. The hard disco of Deeper and Deeper and Fever. The urgency and hyperactivity of Words. The jazz fused drum 'n bass beats of Secret Garden. The arrangements and emotional vocals of Bad Girl and In This Life. All perfection.
The videos are amazing - from the super 8 vintage look of Erotica to the Hollywood slickness of Mark Romanek's Rain. Bobby Wood's Warholian Deeper and Deeper with original Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn and, of course, one of her greatest videos to date - in the purest form of today's extremely overused word - David Fincher's truly 'Epic' Bad Girl .
I know it's many fans favorite album and it could have been be for me, too, had she shaved a few songs off and rearranged the track-listing. Thank God for iTunes. In a perfect world, Erotica would have been released as such:
Erotica
Fever
Words
Waiting
Bad Girl
Deeper and Deeper
Secret Garden
In This Life
Rain
This is the commercial that ran on television for the Erotica album in 1992.
thief of hearts!
ReplyDeletethief of hearts- a b-side, for sure. but not on my 'perfect' erotica album. haha! xo
ReplyDeleteI love this album, but I do agree, it could have been either shaved down a bit, or better yet, added to.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt like it could have been a double-cd, one disc for faster songs and another for slower ones. That was a very 90's thing to do, which is probably why she didn't do it.
It still blows my mind that she released this album alongside the "Sex" book. Nevermind "pushing the envelope", she ripped open the envelope and shoved it down our collective throats.
None of her wannabes would ever be so brazen.
more tracks, shane!!!??? no way, too long!!! as b-sides totally. i think it should have been nice and tight - not swinging saloon doors!!! xo
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your high appreciation for Waiting, Bad Girl, Secret Garden and the title track and the stunning Erotica videos.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it could have been shaved a tad, with Bye Bye Baby, Thief of Hearts and particularly Did You Do It left off.
However, Where Life Begins is one of my all time favourite Madonna songs, beautiful and sumptuous in it's instrumentation and her delivery and wonderfully dirty content wise - God I wish she's performed it live at some point.
And Why's It So Hard meant a lot to me when I was seventeen, it felt like an anthem for diversity and equality. I actually cried when I saw her do it in the Girlie Show - I was on the verge of coming out, she was singing about the freedom to love who we choose.
For me, the tracklisting would look like this:
Erotica
Fever
Deeper and Deeper
Bad Girl
Where Life Begins
Waiting
Rain
Why's It So Hard
In This Life
Secret Garden
Great discussion Pud :)
I remember going into the record store and checking out the track listing on the back of the CD long-box for the first time. Before knowing what the songs were like, and with the cover art and the lead single being as they were, I was expecting the songs to be really raunchy! I thought that was very clever and I love the cover art for this album!
ReplyDelete"Erotica" is EASILY Madonna's best studio album after, "Like a Prayer". LOVE IT. 'Waiting', 'Where Life Begins', 'Words', 'Thief of Hearts'. Such beautiful production with crass lyrics. It's just beyond amazing. Gonna put the album on right now!
ReplyDeleteThis would be my perfect tracklisting:
ReplyDeleteErotica
Fever
Deeper and Deeper
Where Life Begins
Bad Girl
Waiting
Thief of Hearts
Words
Rain
Secret Garden
The songs are just too long on Erotica. Over six minutes of In This Life? Should have been three minutes.
ReplyDeleteI love Waiting, Where Life Begins and Secret Garden the most - all the Andre Betts tracks. Vocals on Bad Girl are terrible. Thief of Hearts I'd gladly never listen to again...
Yea, I'm with Tony, the Erotica album is 2nd only to Like a Prayer for me.
ReplyDeleteGlasgow - I love her vocals on Bad Girl, to me they sound rich, creamy and from the heart.
It's funny how your proposed track listing almost mirrors the one in my iPod.
ReplyDeleteThe only change I made was substitute the album version of "Bad Girl" with the extended version. I never liked the song when I heard it on the album or in the video. But the extended version, which seems to have smoother vocals and more instrumental, turned me around.
And the video.... what an incredible video. I wish it had been used for for a more commercial song. It's similar to "Oh, Father" in which, to me, the song doesn't really work without the video.
I'd have kept Why's It So Hard and dumped Words, but you know that already. Way too much filler, but it is also obviously the Madonna album (next to American Life) that she had the most control over. Like Madonna herself, when it's good it's brilliant and when it's bad...The production is sometimes thin, but I always loved how her vintage mike captured her vocals. With nine or ten tracks, it would have kept the underground club vibe she was looking to replicate. Instead there are moments that feel like a cigarette break to a non-smoker.
ReplyDeletenot my favourite, but a classic
ReplyDeletehttp://ique-imagemmadonna.blogspot.com/
this whole era is amazing. erotica and every available remix of it at the time were just fantastic.
ReplyDeletegreat tits too