Reviews (page 5 of 8)
All I asked for was a good album to end off a very slow and busy week of school. This is what the universe has decided to answer that request with. Sometimes you just can’t win. The rocky relationship I have had with Madonna and her music goes back well over a year now. I vividly remember being on the bus and deciding I’d rather listen to Henry Rollins talk about his life in Black Flag over her music. It has never appealed to me. She was actually the first artist I had that I wrote a negative review about. It’s still a little strange to me that she managed to find three placements at very time periods on this list. But when is the selection of records on here not confusing me? The progression of sound in her career is interesting to follow. And to a degree, I respect how much she branches out. On just the three albums I’ve heard, you get 80s pop in potentially it’s most unoriginal form on Like a Prayer, artsy 2000s dance music on Music, and downtempo electronic-based trip hop on Ray of Light. Except I would not regard her as an artist who is capable of applying herself to any genre and magically doing it right. I wanted to let my bias against my previous experiences with her, and honestly just her as a whole, affect how I looked at this as little as possible. Because that’s utterly unfair to do to any artist, no matter how much I dislike them as a person. The only exception is something like a Varg Vikernes situation, where they are genuinely irredeemable. You wouldn’t ever catch me willingly listening to Mayhem anyways. So I approached this album with the hope to find something good. I think that mindset actually helped me. Because this is the most tolerable and enjoyable piece of music I’ve heard from Madonna by a mile. It’s still not amazing though. This record feels so 90s, I can almost taste it. Why was everyone making music like this around the end of the decade? Everyone wanted to be Portishead, and apparently it worked because people were eating it up. The production here is actually really cool on many songs. It really draws on a club energy, and I can appreciate how it maintains a relatively chill vibe, and doesn’t have any throw away songs that are obviously radio bait. But because it sticks so closely to one style, it quickly backs itself into a corner and becomes stale. It’s a little bit of a slog to get through. Over an hour, with an average song length of around 4 or 5 minutes. I still don’t understand the perception she has garnered for herself over the last 40 years. Because I can name off 5 or 10 different pop artists who were cut from the same cloth that I would rather listen to. But at least there was something of value to be found here. Rating: 5/10
This album is great. I fw this techno pop style and ambience of the album was so good. There were some really good songs but tbh the rest of the album was kinda boring.
It's easy to make fun of Madonna and her urge to always chase the latest musical trend and work with the currently in demand producer. It gets quite silly at some point in the 2000s. But I have to say that here she kind of hit bullseye. I'm not saying that triphop was still at its zenith in 1998 but (more than) 25 years later that doesn't really matter anymore and this actually sounds quite timeless. It hasn't dated as much as other music from around this period (or later Madonna records even). Lovely space-y production. It doesn't feel forced at all. The songs are quite nice. Frozen is lovely. And Skin is a nice discovery. Probably could have done with the last couple of songs (especially The Power of Goodbye).
This is the third Madonna album on here and every time I've been impressed. I like many of the tracks on here but also a few I really don't like. Solid.
experimental and sometimes wack, some bangers though
I love Madonna, for a variety of reasons. Her music is down on that list. Much respect for the true Queen of Pop, but the sound just doesn’t move the needle with me.
One of Madonna's better albums, which would probably have been up there with *Like A Prayer* with a minimum amount of self-editing from the Ciccone diva. Nothing is really unpleasant in those William Orbit-produced songs (either downtempo or techno-adjacent), even if they also sound a little tame and safe overall. "Shanti / Ashtangi" is an electronic updating of sixties fascination with Indian gurus and meditative cults -- drawing from Madonna's interest in mystic new age stuff at the time -- that might sound ridiculous for some ears... but if you listen to it with your tongue firmly planted in your cheek, it's possible you spend a somewhat good time at least. The rest is less adventurous or risky from today's vantage point -- neither a good thing nor an utterly bad thing, I'd venture to add. In other words, the album was a milestone in Madonna's career, but it certainly wasn't one for music at large. Besides, it's a little tricky pinpointing how serious those songs intend to be at times. Like, are they pop ditties? Or are they grand statements that supposedly go deeper than what their glossy surfaces suggest at first glance? One notable exception, though: "Frozen", with its -- aptly glacial -- string section and its mesmerizing background vocals, was indeed a fantastic hit single. It's both sophisticated and accessible. And it's cinematic and inspired in ways most of the other cuts can't be. The thing is, there are at least 30 albums released in 1998 that are more essential than this LP in my "book". So I would lie if I said *Ray Of Light* has any serious chance of making the final cut in my own list. The fact that Madonna had already left a legendary imprint on pop culture during the eighties stands against this later album somehow. It might come off as a little "cold" to state it this way, but I'd rather use the slot here occupied by this record for one released by a band or artist that had something fresh or truly groundbreaking to offer to the world in those years (or even now). 1001 is a finite number after all... 3/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 8/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3) Number of albums left to review: 61 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 405 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 233 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 302 (including this one)
Some bangers but not something I would go for all the time.
Madonna's last good album? Good in a artistic sense, but it's really William Orbit's Strange Cargo III part 2... Strange Cargo IV? Regardless, the last time Madonna moved my needle.
Quando eu ouço falar de Madonna eu esperava ouvir algo completamente mais pop, aqui foi algo bem pop indie, uma coisa meio contemplativa kkkk não sei explicar.
Can't say I've listened to a Madonna record, so this is a first. It's about as dreamy, poppy and ethereal as I might have imagined. Has some songs on it that I recognize and didn't realize came from the same release, and they're decent. I'll chalk this one up to experience, but likely won't revisit.
-i never knew madonna made a trip hop / electronica album.. pretty solid I guess? though im surprised i dont like it more considering this is like one of my favorite genres. the instrumentation is absolutely amazing in a lot of the songs though -Favorites are Swim, Ray Of Light, and The Power of Good-Bye
Some real bangers, but otherwise I love her Confessions on the Dance Floor more
Late Madonna...Dance Party Madonna. This sounds like a Sneaker Pimps album, like this should be playing over the credits of a Johnny Lee Miller movie. Ray of Light is the single. Maybe it was music that changed, not Madonna. She always just rode the pop/dance trends and it didn't matter what the sound was, she was just always club music. Nothing Really Matters is the best track so far. Shanti/Ashtangi would never happen today due to the fear of being accused of cultural appropriation. Although, maybe Madonna was big enough to transcend that at some point. I vaguely remember Frozen on the radio. There's a world music thread running through this album too. I wonder if this is when she made the move to the UK. There's a vulnerability about Madonna's voice on some songs that resonates (Mer Girl on this album). She's varied between sex kitten party girl and vulnerable lover throughout her career.
6/10
Now I feel like an empowered raving middle aged woman in the late 90’s and I’m off to buy a cowboy hat! 🤠
frozen, like a mammoth trapped in the triphop permafrost since the ancient nineteen nineties
As a closet Madonna fan, I was glad when this record came out. And it has a couple of good tracks. But overall it’s not great. Her vocals are lacking. The tracks rely on the producer(s?) to create a contemporary sound.
Surprisingly enjoyable. Ray of Light is a new favorite.
Madonna is an oddity to me. A monolith in music that has no shape or form in my mind. Nothing in this album is bad, nothing in this album is barely above alright to good, and nothing in this album will last with me. I still do not understand Madonna and I don’t know if more albums will solve this riddle (2.5/5)
Madonna's delve into electronica. Greatly helped by William Orbit here, sometimes seems like she is just putting her stamp on his work. More subdued in spots than her earlier work. Definitely heard bits of this everywhere in the clubs in the late 90s.
Liked it more than I want to admit
Average pop album from old woman who's desperate to stay young. Ray of Light is still a fantastic song.
Kind of wild this came from Madonna, good for her.
I kind of just don't like Madonna as a concept.
Ok.
I much prefer young, fun, pop Madonna over pretentious sounding emotional mature Madonna. But I can't say this is bad. Some of it even catchy.
Also better than Daft Punk
A solid album by Madonna, but only one really stood out to me. Nothing Really Matters being that one. Shanti/Ashtangi I thought was a really cool showcase of her singing with an obvious cultural influence. Overall, wouldn’t play this album front to back again but am glad to have listened to more Madonna to better understand her influence past Material Girl, Like A Virgin, and Hung Up
It’s pretty good, but not really my style. I did like some of the lyrics, but for the most part this album was pretty blah for me. I liked the relative curveball of Shanti though. I think I would prefer to listen to more of her earlier stuff first, because I feel like I don’t have the context for this.
What was most noteworthy to me was how the album comes full circle; when you reach the end the restart is almost seamless. Ray of Light, I think, still stands as a solid dance song. Unfortunately, this listen showed me that I'd misheard lyrics all these years. Always thought she was saying "And I feel/And I feel like a disco ball." Honestly, I like that better than "...like I just got home." I hear the influence on Olivia Rodrigo. This doesn't really do it for me. I actively dislike Candy Perfume Girl and Little Star. And I don't like how her eyes on the album cover follow me everywhere.
Madonna goes spiritual. This one isn’t as immediate of a pop gem as her 80s and early 90s work, but it does grow on you.
The first time I listened to this I was a little underwhelmed, but I've come to appreciate the more chilled out vibe and electronic sound. That being said, the tail-end of the album does drag a bit and feels a tad overly long at times.
Wow, i havent heard the song ray of light in yonks. Quite good still even though it isnt peak madonna. couple of other good tunes like frozen, power of goodbye and nothing else matter. Remaining tunes are quite downbeat. Almost like zero7 vibes. You can really feel the electro vibe from william orbit. I much prefer early madonna if im honest. However, i do appreciate she tried a different direction. Couple of good tunes but overall this album is just way too long. If this was cut down to 30-40 mins it would be much better. Not bad overall. Low 3 from me.
An interesting late 90s electronic time capsule
Some fun parts, other parts kinda sleepy and wandering.
Not what I expected. I liked it more than I expected but still not really my personal jam mostly.
Its aight
Some good songs. I have a beef that her voice sounds like a little girl's sometimes, but I can live with it.
My heart sank when I saw this as I'm not a Madonna fan. An easy 2 but lets listen. I've upgraded to a three as the William orbit music has held up well and I found her voice quite strong.
I have never really listened to Madonna, but I didn't expect the 90's techno beats. I really enjoyed the first song. Although the middle of the album has fallen off a bit, one thing remains consistent and that is her voice being fantastic and I like the beats. Sky Fits Heaven was another good one. After all was said and done, meh. Thought we might have had a sneaky 5 at the beginning
I enjoyed Like a Prayer when we listened to it last year, this one is starting off way different. Definitely has that 90's electro sound to it. Did not expect this out of Madonna tbh. Really loving Ray of Light. Heard some great covers of this. Sky Fits Heaven is a banger. Had some great moments in the songs I mentioned but then hated songs like Little Star. High 3
I think Ray of Light is a really good song. The rest of the album is fine but a little too much electronica for me.
While it might not be my favorite, this album definitely has a cohesive sound. Pretty ambitious for Madonna to release this, as it doesn’t seem to have any obvious pop hits to my ear but obviously it was a massive success for her.
Channeling acid electronica, Kabbalah, and motherhood, Madonna’s 1998 reinvention stripped away the controversy of her past and became one of her most unexpectedly successful albums ("a mystical look at the universe and how small we are"). " Source: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/madonna-ray-of-light/ (accessed on June 1, 2024).
Some more classic Madonna, good pop for her time, some of the music is more timeless than others and holds up. 3.0
first listen if i wasn't driving while listening to this i could have fallen asleep to it easily
started out strong but fell to a 3
Pretty good
Maybe not my favourites of all Madonna songs but I found it easily listenable so it’s a 3* from me.
This was actually pretty cool, there is quite a unique sound to this album which i enjoyed. It's 90s, some drum'N'base and while some of the effects are a bit overdone it is still very enjoyable. The highs are quite high, I had completely forgotten about the back to back songs "Frozen" and "The Power of Good-Bye", both great songs. I think the lows can be quite low too. I for some reason connect this sound with movies about people finding them selves in India/Nepal or that general area. I wondered why? Maybe some movie used it? Anyway the main offender of this is "Shanti/Ashtangi" which is such a terrible song. All in all a good album with some duds thrown in. Strong 3.
Ok, with a couple of great songs - Frozen and The Power of Goodbye. Sounds expensive, well produced, designed to be a hit, and slightly dated. 3 🌟
3/5
First half was great but kind of fizzled out on me. Great 80s dance beats. I would give it a four, but it's like more of a 7/10 for me.
Trip hoppy
This was better than I expected it to be, but still didn't love it.
Reviewed this early on: Really cool and interesting album. Its kind of a mixed bag of singer-songwriter, rave / techno, eastern music, into a really cool pop mix. I'm most impressed with Madonna's voice. Its super unique. I like how real and mature it sounds, its of mystic but not cheesy. Overall, really cool and fun to listen to.
A very solid album from Madonna with some of her more interesting music and production choices. It starts out really excellent in its first three songs. Drowned World / Substitute For Love is a great opener with music that sounds not unlike music Lana Del Rey is putting out over twenty years later. Then the title track is one of her better hits I think. Unfortunately, I found the rest of the album to be a little boring. It’s not bad, but fades to the background faster than expected from the Queen of Pop. I think the album is interesting musically and gets off to a tremendous start, but the last 3/4 of the album doesn’t stand out much to me and has a few skippable tracks.
Some great songs and a lot of filler that I feel no need to revisit. The last song Met Girl is particularly beautiful while other slower ones are forgettable. While I feel it is adventurous it’s no as though many big discoveries are made.
This is getting a 4/5 for the music and a 2/5 for the lyrics - I wished someone else got a hold of these tracks and wrote something better bc, while this album sounds like a very cathartic process for Madonna, I found myself getting bored of the lyrics halfway through each song. Skin is 5/5 for me, wish she’d just sing more about fancying someone in a club lol (this is what I think it’s abt anyways) Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find an album that’s like this by someone else
I really don't understand the appeal
I'd give this 3.5 if possible.
Mid
I can't stand Madonna and was fully ready to give this 1 star. But the production is actually really cool and there are some real bangers on here.
A solid dance/pop album.
Ja. Kann man hören.
A more ethereal album than the others she’s had on here, but it was still good. A few on here I’d heard before too which was great.
Speaking of female singer-songwriters who go by just one name that I'm not really into, our third from Madonna. Like "Music," there's an element of "is she too old to be doing this," but it's not as pronounced. There were definitely a few songs I enjoyed, and this felt like a more chill, subdued experience. I couldn't really say which I prefer more between this and Music, but maybe a slight edge to this one because I didn't skip any songs. Another decent album from an artist I always assumed was legendary - am I missing something? Favorite tracks: Ray of Light, Nothing Really Matters, Little Star. Album art: Just a wind-swept, off-center picture of Ma Donna (Mother Donna?). Nothing special to it really, but the background color and overall saturation gives this a nice warmth. 3/5
B- Drowned World/Substitute For Love 3 Swim 3 Ray Of Light 3 Candy Perfume Girl 3 Skin 3 Nothing Really Matters 3 Sky Fits Heaven 3 Shanti/Ashtangi 3 Frozen 3 The Power Of Good-Bye 3 To Have And Not To Hold 3 Little Star 3 Mer Girl 3 Madonna, I didn't know you could ball like that.
its okay but 1001 Best album? naaaaaah fam.
Even the hits "Ray of Light", "Frozen" and "Power of Goodbye" don´t convince me at all. The rest is not remarkable and therefore the whole album is much too long.
Enjoyed the techno beats but at some point it all sounds like the same spacey ballads
I feel like this album is here in the sense of Madonna's evolution, but on its own it's just ok., feels like a product of its time. I hear some things I enjoy. I also think it's from the time she worked on the Austin Powers soundtrack, a song I adore. Highlights: ray of light, frozen
I'll be honest, I have a massive blind spot when it comes to pop and Madonna in particular. This was a decent slice of late 90's pop that I dreaded listening to but actually ended up not hating
I liked this more than I expected to, would be good work background music. Spotify gave me dancing on my own after the album ended which was an added perk
Better that like a prayer. Not my shit tho. British house vibes.
Takes a few singing lessons to expand her range to an entire octave. Gets (a quasi) religion. Has a kid. Becomes extremely boring.
Hope I'm going to enjoy this. After over an hour of Red Hot Chilli torture yesterday, this time it's over an hour of late 90s dance Madonna. I imagine it's going to sound somewhat dated 25 (eek) years on. I added Has To Be into the queue on the book's recommendation. It was alright. I'd probably drop Swim. I would drop Candy Perfume Girl. Skin is good. Nothing Really Matters is meh. The singles are all great, Frozen is, as someone else said, one of the best singles of the 90s for sure. I actually hadn't made the connection that it was an actual sample of this used in All Saints Pure Shores, another great pop song. I didn't enjoy this album overall as much as I'd hoped in the end but I didn't not enjoy it, so down the middle we go.
There were a couple songs in the beginning I really enjoyed but by the end I was p sick of it. 2.5
Never liked Madonna. Overexposed, and I hated her thin nasally voice. The only thing good were her producers. These songs are pretty good, but I have to listen to her voice. Also hated that she was everywhere and I couldn't escape her. YUK
I definitely get an appreciation that this is tonally different from prior madonna work.. it has an ambient, electronic, mood that washes through many of the tracks, making it sound more mature. The good news is that Frozen is an amazing track and potentially my favorite Madonna song of all time... unfortunately, nothing else really lives up to it. I like The Power of Good-Bye and Nothing Really Matters, but there really is a lot that seems like filler... a bit aimless and boring.
I always knew that Madonna pretty much reinvents herself every 7-10 years in reaction to whatever is popular at the time but I didn't realize that she did it so well in the 90s. This is a generally solid electronic, pop, and 90s psychedelia album that I felt was a kind of jack of all trades of Portishead, sinead o connor, and [insert any 90s electronica artist here]. I started to get a little fatigue about 40 minutes into the album but none of it was bad except for that weird buddhist song that hasn't really aged well. Ray of light was really good though.
I've never been a big Madonna fan, so take this all with a grain of salt. I'm a big fan of 90s/00s dance music but every song on here felt very similar - other than the title track, it all kind of just felt like new age inspired dance tunes with breathy vocals. Not that interesting or danceable and Shanti/Ashtangi felt weirdly appropriative. All in all, I would give some of her earlier albums a try but this one is not one I would come back to.
Not expecting a lot here, last Madona album to come up here didn't really wow me. I was a little surprised just how far down she is in the mix here, I thought she was a spotlight voice. Then again, I think I had a similar comment on the last Madonna album here (Music). The sound is overall lush, certainly well produced from a music standpoint... but the vocals are too far away. Overall, I like this a little better than Music. But it's really nothing special. And LONG. If these were 3-4 minute songs, it would be better. But each songs repeats for 5-6 minutes, which is simply monotonous. Since it exceeded my (low) expectations, I'll go 3/5
Real good samples in here for modern club remixes. I like the upbeat songs most. Really good EDM production. The slow songs and the lyrics I don’t love. A little cringe
It's fine. Very late-90s-easy-listening-esque. Sounds a bit like Lana Del Rey's music, but leaning into bluesy melodies and harmonies more often. Madonna's music throughout this album isn't particularly exciting, but it's fun to listen to and the songs are executed smoothly and earnestly. It's inoffensive and doesn't take many risks - at least, viewing it through a retrospective lens. The quality of the track listing is a little inconsistent. The first three tracks - Drowned World, Swim, and Ray of Light - are pretty darn great, introducing a variety of moods and instruments to the table. Candy Perfume Girl is goofy and passable. Skin is less passable, for having an uninteresting atmosphere and weird lyrics, and we run into this problem with later tracks such as Frozen and Little Star.
Frozen is a tune. Bit of a mixed bag.
So Ray of Light and Frozen I remember from when it was first popular. Overall good pop album. Dated sounding, but solid.
I don't know, it's fine but the Electronica style production got to be a bit much
Another returning artist. Nice. I wasn't really a big fan when I listened to "Music" by Madonna all the way back in October. I thought the singing was fine but nothing else stood out. Fortunately, "Ray of Light" is a significantly better album. The singing is still solid. Not much else to say about it. The writing is probably better. I don't really remember much about that other album's writing, so I can't exactly compare that much without looking up the lyrics for the songs in "Music", which isn't something I feel like doing. The sound is definitely what makes this album better. It's a lot more cohesive and the direction on what this album wanted to do is much clearer. One problem that both albums share is that they both drag. Every song on "Ray of Light" is 4 minutes or more. I don't think these songs needed to be as long as they are. Overall, I definitely understand why this album is on here and it's a significantly better Madonna album, I'm still not the hugest fan overall. High 3/5.
It's STILL not as good as Temperamental by Everything But the Girl... It's not too shabby though. Might come back to this, 3.5 for now
2. Porquería electrónica.
Classic late 90's dramatic sitcom music
Aw I thought I was really going to like this. Unfortunately anything that’s in this genre that isn’t a mega-mega hit immediately feels like filler to me. You only really know how bad filler feels when you’ve fallen for a hit single on Z100 then gone off to Sam Goody to buy the album for something like $20, which is a lot to a kid. Eventually you end up listening to that filler crap and sometimes grow to like it in a horrible stockholm syndromish way. Yet it ultimately never shakes the stink of buyer’s remorse. I’m open to exploring and learning about this other stuff more now that we’re past this economic container of a pop album. Maybe Madonna cared way more about singing in Hindi for example, than about the one dance hall staple on this record. And maybe there are other textures she and her producer collaborators explored in those other songs. I can’t tell if I am capable of drawing much from that well yet.
Really cool and interesting album. Its kind of a mixed bag of singer-songwriter, rave / techno, eastern music, into a really cool pop mix. I'm most impressed with Madonna's voice. Its super unique. I like how real and mature it sounds, its of mystic but not cheesy. Overall, really cool and fun to listen to.
Great production on some of the less disco tracks, especially the opener. If this album was more of that it would be fantastic, but as it is it’s a bit of a mixed bag
De va nog kova! Kunde varit en halvtimme kortare thou
Yeah okay. I don't have too much of an opinion about this. It's just really not for me. I didn't hate it at all. It's just not really my tastes. It was pretty different than I thought it would be. And I only recognized the title track and the power of good bye so it was mostly all new to me. And like I said it did some things I wasn't expecting from a Madonna album. I can definitely see how others would like, again it's just not for me.
Was ok. Always sceptical of Madonna but was alright
Stop atfer one song. It wasn't that enganing
Surprised how much I liked this - reminded me a little of Bjork
Sounds quite British end of the century, the album is average but the singles really stand out. Maybe the last truly influential Madonna album
Meh
Didn't blow my mind but was a good album
Better than I anticipated 3,5/5
Didn’t expect that!
Essential Tracks: Ray of Light (Playlist) Mer People Frozen
Ik durf het bijna niet te zeggen maar ik vond dit eigenlijk behoorlijk consistent en van een best aardig niveau. Heb me er totaal niet aan geergerd, wat doorgaans bij het wat latere werk van Madonna eigenlijk een zekerheidje is.
Madonna has a high floor and this album is proof of that. Good album but I vastly prefer her 80's albums.
The production is the star here. The songs I was already familiar with held up, but some of the other songs were definitely less memorable.
Not really into it. But not terrible.
Better production than others
Balaeric dance mashed up with mega-pop, it's somehow simultaneously uptempo, upbeat, anthemic and chill in a trancey way. Liked it a lot more than I expected from only knowing the song Ray of Light previously but it suffers from CD-era bloat. Nothing on here is as aurally infectious as her 80s classics. Basically a solid 90s techno-pop album with some star power.
Better than expected.
Surprising pretty good
Don’t get why it’s on all sorts of lists.
This was a decent album and a lot more enjoyable than expected. The 90s club hit beats ent decently with madonnas singing throughout. Ray of Light is a pretty enjoyable song and is a fun hit for 90s retro feels. Overall it’s a good album that is a true to form 90s album. Madonna does a decent job adapting from the 80s. 6.3/10
Good listen, energetic with some great hits but not adventurous enough vocals in my opinion. (70%)
ganz cool eig, aber sehr lang und dementsprechend nit so memorable
Actually not bad. Probably because I remember many of these songs from the radio - Ray of Light, Nothing Really Matters, and Frozen specifically. Much better than the previous Madonna album! Maybe a few tracks too long.
I like the music on this album - Madonna's vocals are also very strong. Ray of Light is a great track.
I guess I never realized that this was Madonna's like late 90s trip hop & downtempo project. I like it enough, but it does kinda feel a bit same-y throughout, I'd kinda expect it to connect with me more than it does. 3.5/5
Some great stuff on there but not all the way through.
This album surprised me. I am not too familiar with Madonna outside of the hits and didn’t realize just how much her music evolved throughout her career. This album took its influences from triphop, downtempo, and other various electronic genres. Unfortunately, there is some very dated late 90s pop production tendencies that stand out like a sore thumb. Though the album was too long, I enjoyed just how much Madonna was open to trying new things.
Nice album, then hip, with Frozen as best song. Not into madonna, this one is fair.
The first track was outstanding, I thought I may be in for a treat. Let's just say things went downhill from there.
2.5
- Diverse beat selection from lush relaxing trippy to danceable - production sounds pretty nice and oddly experimental at points - madonna soft vocals don’t add too much but work well with the production - drags pretty hard especially halfway through - lyrics are really dull - overall it’s a good pop record but nothing i would replay, 7/10
Showing of her skills again as the queen of pop. Although there are some good tracks here and jumps into a few different générés it just a reasonable album and not on the same level as some of her other work.
A couple great and memorable songs and then mostly okay songs. Catchy but again too long.
Decent pop, i think all the production is William orbit whos good with the ravey ravey, felt like she was on the bandwaggon at the time!
The music was alright and the songs were alright.
I would like to gush effusive about this but I just can't. Ray of light - the single - was epic at the time. It was fresh and new and a pretty different way of going at music - and it was Madonna, who at that point was viewed as being a bit tired, a bit embarrassing really. We all knew that she was top of the world in the 80s, had made a bit of a tit of herself with the whole Sex thing, because honestly, it was kind of like your mum talking about how much she loved getting spunk on her face. She was a former star, married to the fella who did the Laaandan gangsta fillums - and out of nowhere she was filling up dancefloors again! Genuinely was a smash, and it put the dried-up Madonna back on the map. The album though... Not quite so good. Yeah, there's some more hits on it, but the single is where it has to be. Genuinely a bit of a struggle to pick between 2 and 3 - 2 because of godawful tracks like 'skin' and 3 because of how completely ray of light - the single - reinvigorated Madonna.
While it works like charm a lot of times, its nonetheless a hit-or-miss. The true star here is the amazing production. The electronic beats are more often than not, nice. As a listen, I only enjoyed it to some extent. It's fascinating at its best, but it doesn't have the charm of '80s Madonna or actual trip-hop like Portishead. This album sits in a valley between those two sounds and moods.
привычные синглы очень нравятся; остальное кажется пустым и плохо спетым. проблема во мне?..
good but way too saturated
Its OK, but not great. Couple of good dance tracks, and there you have Madonna's last good album. Its got no place on a list of albums that everyone should hear before they die. 3/5
I was positively suprised about madonna. Didn’t know she had an album like this in her. I really dont like 90s pop so my expectations were low but it was an enjoyable listen
I remember liking Ray of Light when it came out, and I still do. But listening to this album is like panning for gold. The opening track is ok, then the next one is a bore, then Ray of Light comes shining through, sounds like the previous tracks but perfected. Then you sink back into a mediocre groove -- pretty but also yawn. The Frozen emerges, lovely and catchy, followed by The Power of Good-Bye, which also sounds great. Then we close out on 16 unnecessary variations on the same themes. The whole album sounds the same, it's hard to put your finger on why the formula only works a few times, on what Ray of Light gets so right, but that magic only dusts a few tracks.
Juu how do you do fellow kids -energiat tosiaan vahvasti tässä läsnä. Silti muutama hyvä onnistuminen nostaa kolmoseen.
It's OK, sounds like a showcase of 90s dance music styles with a couple of very decent tunes.
I REALLY do have a soft spot for 90s electronica. I'm not crazy about the album, but it ain't bad. Very dream-like throughout.
Ray Of Light is obviously too long. There, that’s out of the way. Madonna is a musical chameleon proving time and time again that she’s still somehow relevant in the world of pop. Nowhere is that more evident than Ray of Light. Incorporating techno, trio hop and new-age, this album feels decades away from her previous efforts. There are misses, I don’t particularly like the title track for example, but taking risks and adapting also brings forth something brilliant from time to time - the brilliant and beautiful “Frozen” being an example of this. I’m not exactly an avid Madonna fan. And I’m not really a fan of techno either. But on Ray Of Light Madonna proved her longevity once and for all.
J'ai beaucoup, beaucoup écouté ce disque à sa sortie, mais je trouve qu'il a un peu mal vieilli. Il y a l'aspect appropriation culturelle qui n'aide pas, l'ambiance plus trip-hop semble daté. Ça reste quand même un effort original par Madonna et des textes plus profonds que ceux à quoi ses hits radio nous avaient habitués
I thought this album was very different than her usually. It wasn’t anything to die over I mean yes it’s Madonna but I don’t think it was anything amazing. I liked it though.
overrata sry
As much as I wanted to like this album, it starts out strong, it has it's moments and some of the songs are enjoyable, but eventually it felt too long and ran out of good ideas. I started to sound all too familiar, like a heard it before. I'm not a Madonna fan, at all, and I do my best to avoid reading about her personal life or listen to her music. You can do a lot worse than Ray of Light, probably the only Madonna record I listened to from top to bottom, but personally, this is not essential, at all, even if I was a Madonna fan.
A reinvention at the time, with some terrific radio friendly singles and arresting music videos but its lustre has faded a little and Madonna’s style seems drowned out by the Orbit production.
Second Madonna album in a week... and it's all been her crappy late career stuff. What's THE DEAL with that? Wikipedia album entries for pop albums always try to stress how the singer was a songwriting powerhouse, but they can't hide just how many outside writers were involved. There were eleven (11) writers on this album - plus an extra few who wrote what was lifted from other songs and Buddhist texts lol. But am I meant to believe that Madge called in all these outsiders just to tidy up minor loose ends? Oooh and omg her SPIRITUAL JOURNEY! Wow, how fucking deep. Madge gets bored of trying to provoke the Catholics, goes to India and discovers Buddhism- stop the press! Low hanging fruit criticism aside, it's a catchy enough album. Her songwriters knew what they were doing. It goes too long and I think a lot of her contribution must have been "let's make this part longer, it needs to be like a meditation", because some just drones on almost endlessly. But not the worst thing to listen to at 5am, somehow. 3/5.
Better listen than some of her albums
Was surprisingly light hearted
Madonna's take on the whole downtempo/trip hop movement that was going on at the time. I get it that it's considered to be one of her better albums and I'll admit that it's extremely well done, but Madonna's emotionless delivery makes it less exciting than the other great albums of the genre. Still good and if you're a Madonna fan well you're already sold.
Listened on 2/28/23 3.5/5 Favorite song: ray of light Madonna has a stunning voice and while this album had a lot of different vibes it perfectly encompasses the 90s and was a electronica bop
Ray of Light is a very different sound to what Madonna became famous for. The electro/techno pop sound was perfectly timed for the late 90s surge of dance clubs and raves. With most of the album it would be at home in a lot of nightclubs. With her newly found spirituality in the Kabbalah religion, coupled with Buddhist and Hindu traditions, she has managed to encapsulate the feeling of these in this album. And all credit to her, she worked to get the correct pronunciations of Sanskrit words for the track Shanti/Ashtangi. If only she was able to shorten some of the track lengths, averaging about 5 mins per song, it did feel like it dragged on a bit. Best: Skin Worst: Little Star
Highlights: Title track, “Skin”, “Sky Fits Heaven”, “Frozen”, “Shanti” Kinda hate that one of my favourite tracks is the Sanskrit one (imagine if “Across the Universe” was in just Sanskrit) Decent chillout album February 11, 2023
This is a really good album. There's a reason Madge has such a devoted fanbase, and this album is a testament to why. The arrangements are really intricate and lovely, some surprisingly so. Madonna is in great voice, with some of the best vocals of her career. The album was a bit too long, but an enjoyable listen. Fave Songs: Frozen, The Power of Good-Bye, Drowned World/Substitute for Love, Nothing Really Matters, Ray of Light
Nit bad
Madonna nous propose ici un album complètement vide, comme l'entiéreté de sa carrière qui ne tient qu'à ses scandales et ses lèvres botoxées. Bien essayé de ramener Grace de Peaky Blinders sur la cover, cela ne suffit pas à sauver les apparences.
Midonna
Pop bastante sólido. Se adapta bien a su tiempo con algunos ritmos dance y sonidos medio aphextwineanos. En última instancia, el álbum parece un poco eso: Madonna, como un ícono, ganando otra metamorfosis; diluyéndose en el momento, antes de pasar al siguiente. Una especie de significante flotante.
Sounded pretty solid but i got kinda bored like halfway through
6/10 solid pop album with interesting beats, but quite long
Weird techno trip hop Madonna that could’ve been a better album from the 90s (Weezer or Third Eye Blind). 5/10
me emocioné mucho cuando vi que era un album de madonna pero la vdd que no me cambió la vida 7/10
It was ok, definitely a classic, just not for me
I'm a bit conflicted about this one. Not a big fan of Madonna, but there are some good tracks on this album; 'Ray of Light', 'Frozen', 'The Power of good-Bye'. But also some tracks I thought were too weird and I didn't like; 'Skin', 'Shanti / Ashtangi'. Overall the album is too long. 3/5
I've heard a grand total of one Madonna album and I gotta say, this was definitely the best one so far. 3/5 - more enjoyable than I thought it would be, but I'm probably never going to listen to this entire album ever again, unless my life would depend on it, at which point I'd say "What a contrived situation I've gotten myself into!".
3.5 + I was taken in by the hype when this album first came out and appreciated its cohesiveness as an album. But in the last 25 years Madonna’s public persona makes me look back less fondly. To me this sounds like a late attempt to capitalize on European rave culture that had been roiling for well over a decade. She seemingly collaborated with some heavy hitters so the breakbeats and programmed rhythms sound correct for the time. But as an attempt to stay current, it feels exceptionally flat-footed. Bjork did a far better job distilling this zeitgeist on “Post”, for example. Lyrically, this record once again betrays a folksy wisdom that would appeal to any American mom who enjoys morning talk shows and supermarket gossip magazines. With copious Hindi incantations that create a general yogic atmosphere, Madonna was at least somewhat ahead of the curve when it came to culturally appropriating yoga. I’m sure “Ray of Light” is on heavy rotation at any Lululemon, where my aunt is right now purchasing a pair of yoga pants she maybe shouldn’t.
An interesting range of styles and influences, including ambient, trip hop and Middle Eastern, packaged up into an easy and accessible pop dance album by William Orbit. It tails off in the final quarter, but overall a really good record by the American Kylie Minogue. Rating: 3.5/5 Playlist track: Ray of Light Date listened: 24/12/22
Title track does all the heavy lifting here. I get the relevance, but Madonna and Electronica just not my cups of tea. I didn't hate it, just feel that others were a lot more instrumental in Electronica and Madonna came along and all these pop people were like ooooooh. No sir, I won't have it! But still, 3 stars, title track is pretty awesome.
Super chill 90s classic
Clearly recall this coming out (it’s from earlier than I would have thought) and being heralded as a great reinvention by Madonna. Some catchy stuff but listening to most of these songs for the first time in decades, I’m struck by how middle of the road it is. It might have been a departure for a major pop star, but it’s pretty mundane for its genre.
Listened Before? Y Of all the Madonna albums to pick, I'm not sure why this one is on the list, but I don't mind it. It's super mellow, and thats fine. It's a good vibe album. Minus points for the foreign language song, but otherwise not too bad. I loved Frozen back in the day and it still holds up, although 6+ minutes is a bit long. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Sky Fits Heaven
Good
3.5/5
The Madonna thing. The albums (up to about 2010) are always about 2 years ahead of the game, even when the songs are just okay. This is no exception, cutting the queue to be ahead of the sophisticated adult dance music trend. The problem is, that wasn't so interesting when it happened...so it's good enough, but hard to love. Ray of Light's a tune though.
I'm specifically giving this a really good deep listen because I've never listened to a Madonna album start to finish. Track 1 starts a little slow but I like the build up around the 4 minute mark. Definitely has some vibe in it and isn't just straightforward vanilla pop which is nice and unexpected. Production is really tight as I figured, and does some cool stuff that again I wasn't considering a Madonna record would have- like how some songs are very "grey" sounding and not so black or white. The second track, "Swim" is a good example of this as it's just vibey and lacks typical pop tension/release elements. "Candy Perfume Girl" had some interesting beeps and boops that I liked, along with some cool static sounds layered with the drumset that really made some sounds stand out. I didn't love the song itself though. Switching to "Candy Perfume Boy" at around the 3/4 mark just seemed weird to me. "Ray of Light" i've heard about a million times on the radio in the late 90's when it came out. Surprisingly I knew all of the lyrics without having heard the song in 15+ years. "Skin" was a low point in the album for me. Corny and awkward lyrics, and a cheesy instrumental behind her voice. Lots of songs sort of glide into eachother without big distinctions in them, which I'm conflicted on if I like or not. 3/5 right down the middle for me. Madonna is an American icon and deserves a spot on this list- I will be interested to see if she has another album pop up.
zzzz un peu
I didn’t know this phase of Madonna existed, so definitely an interesting listens. The lyrics feel like a bit of a step backwards away from the witty and sometimes incisive exploitations of cultural mores of her 80s hits (like a virgin, material girl) Even her more basic The vibe is interesting, and the album is definitely well produced, I’m just not certain that I jive with the 90s dance music production. It’s very Moby to me with the drum beats, it’s just missing the fun samples. Maybe this was ahead of its timed, but it feels a bit dated now I don’t really like madonna’s vocal performance, it feels a bit strained at times despite being technically fine.
Madonna is the Queen of Pop, even if this is the overproduced 90s electronica version of the genre. It's good, but not great, and I much prefer her earlier albums, e.g. True Blue and Like A Prayer (and Evita, but that's another story entirely). The best tracks here are Drowned World / Substitute for Love, Frozen and The Power of Good-Bye. 3/5
70/100: Defining Pop as a genre is always something that has eluded me. To me, the genre has always felt like the default with other genres (like country, rock, grunge, soul, rap) branching off from it. I picture it like a road system—Pop being the main road and those other genres being offshoots from it. This perspective might lead one to believe that I hold Pop on a pedestal; however, don’t get it twisted, let me explain further. It’s easy to get on the highway, set your cruise control to five over the speed limit and zone out; in fact, that’ll get you really far, arguably farther than taking a side road. But it takes courage, curiosity, and imagination to ditch the monotony of the highway to explore what else is out there. In terms of effort put in per mile, it’s the less attractive choice—but it yields the most lucrative rewards. Picturesque scenery, unexplored lands, and adventure await those bold enough to get off the highway. I say all of that to shine a light on my attitude towards Pop as a genre. I see it as an easy way to make a song that sounds pretty good, a song that’ll make you a lot of money and be played a lot on the radio—one that will get you really far. But sounds like rock and roll, grunge, soul, and rap were all new at one point. They were all kicked off by an artist getting off the highway, adventurously exploring their own sound. Madonna is the epitome of the pop artist. For millions of people, when they think of pop, Madonna is the first person to come to mind. Now I don’t claim Madonna to be an uninspired artist. What I do think is that she found the autobahn. She’s clearly in a sports car going around 100 mph in the fast lane, but on cruise control nonetheless. “Ray of Light” is a beautiful album, just like most sports cars are beautiful cars. There’s a lot that’s pretty creative and unexpected about this album, like it’s heavy use of electronic sound. But just because you’re using innovative modern technology like sport mode on the highway doesn’t change the fact that you’re still mindlessly cruising on the highway; in fact, it makes it feel even more a shame that that technology isn’t being put to use flying through corners on a F1 track or zipping down country roads. My first time listening to this album, I loved it. I’d love the chance to fly down the autobahn at 100 mph. But by the second and third time, I began to see it for what it was. The relative speed became normalized. You’re still on the highway. You’re still coasting. It’s still just pop.
In theory I should like this since it's trip-hop electronica, a genre I enjoy... but yet it's Madonna's version of it... and it's not great. Compared with other bands like Goldfrapp, Portishead or Moloko, this just isn't that great. It's passable but the ground has been trodden by better artists. 2.5/5
Annoyingly, I only listened to Ray of Light a few weeks ago. Too much Madge! This album perfectly encapsulates the late-90s tech-spiritual zeitgeist, something Moby would build on. Some tracks are great (Ray of Light, Nothing Really Matters, Sky Fits Heaven), others seem to have been recorded by a 12-year-old girl with access to a studio.
I never heard of this album. It's decent, as far as Madonna albums go. I like the beats she added although she was over a decade late to the party.
I can see why this made the list. Interesting Middle-Eastern trip hop concept.
A normal pop album by Madonna but without her usual huge hit, which is not terribile, but it also means that this record is far from being memorable.
production is great on this. which is not necessarily great for my ears - i tend to prefer raw kind of songs. regardless, this has some good moments. it almosth as an electronic feel to it, which i wouldn't have expected. easily something to put on and dance to in a club. highlights (aka decent songs) : Shanti, ray of light
I was fully prepared to hate this record, and even considered just passing on it. Out of curiosity I started listening. The production is top notch, of course. I didn’t like everything, but I did enjoy more than a few songs. The title track was recognizable and quite fun. Ashanti was the big surprise. I could listen to that many more times. Not really a fan of Little Star, but I get where she’s coming from. Overall, a more than decent collection from Madonna.
POV: You installed Windows XP on your Compaq Presario
Gets a bit Gwyneth Paltrow tbh. I don't mind it, but I don't love it.
I thought I'd done this already. It seems not. Anyway. This was brill in '99. Less so now. (The Veronica project underlines that this style was not as timeless as might have been thought once upon a time.)
Meh 2.5/5
started strong didnt finish
More personal than I remembered.
A solidly 90's record. Enjoyable throughout.
Solid. 3.5/5
I have mixed feelings. Some song are really good, others are just so tedious and long. I do feel it's an album that showcases Madonna's voice quite well.
A melancholy version of Madonna. Couple of great tracks.
It's a good album. My preferred Madonna era. But it's not actually great, it's formulaic.
Pleasant to listen to.
i was dreading this album, and it's over an hour long. not familiar at all with madonna's actual work, but by reputation i expected a bland pop album instead, i'm hearing.. a poppier portishead or massive attack? cleaned up a bit, scrubbed of most of the grunge, but still recognizable. wonder if madonna got really into trip hop and this album popped out?
I wasn’t really a fan of this. I was hoping there would be more songs like “Ray of Light” but that song is an outlier. I didn’t hate it but I wouldn’t want to listen again.
why the fuck is this so avant? 💀 last Madonna album I heard was Like A Prayer, why is this so different? this sounds like if Bjork focused on making mid dance music idk, it’s not bad, but for my tastes it’s kinda boring - 6/10
Biased to this because im not a madonna fan but the 90s electro beat is really nice so it made me rate it higher
Este cambio de aires de Madonna hacia la electrónica le dio nueva vida aunque no es mi música al menos "Ray of light" y "Shanti/Ashtangi" no están mal y el resto se deja oír.
Ray of light has a special place in my heart but this album is garbage
It's Madonna. She can do no wrong... 3/5 This is an album by her that I really don't know very well, but it is really good.
The album was alright. A couple of well known songs. Some of the songs were pretty eccentric and the music on certain tracks was not great. I still don't think I will listen to this album again.
I was in the mood for poppy bangers which is why I chose this one, but it was more sort of atmospheric than I was expecting, still very Madonna but wasn't really vibing with it when I listened tbh. Still like her though.
Better than I thought it was going to be. Electronics influence is good.
I could almost bump this up to a 4, certainly a side of Madonna I was not familar with. Ray of Light is a great pop track. Faves for me were Little Star, and Mer Girl.
-A nice album, but not really in my style -some pretty cool stuff happening in lots of the instrumentals, particularly in "Ray Of Light" and "Sky Fits Heaven." Some stuff sounded industrial/Nine Inch Nails like.
Alright for background but not mind blowing
pfffff. tired
I'm pretty sure I own a copy of this album and pretty sure it was on repeat for a short while. not gonna lie, I thought the first two tracks were the same song.
Better than I remember
William Orbit's electronica influence is all over this as Madonna sought to re-invent herself. Spiritual and dancey, there are some good tracks on here
Trip hop Madonna. Who knew? Not bad, not great!
2.7 - decent listen, but not something I’d go back to. Didn’t enjoy the electronic vibe as much as some of her earlier work, but probably like Frozen the most of all the tracks.
Had it in my mind that I loved this era of Madonna, listening to the album though there's no massive stand out tunes and it's a real mixed bag. Frozen stands out but this is really just a start for her re-invention.
Interesting and better than expected.
I remember when this album came out. There are a few songs that I like, but on the whole, this was not one of my favorite Madonna albums
Not what I expected from Madonna. Not that I was super familiar with her breadth of work, though. This was a chill techno-pop album. It had an interesting blend of influences and I enjoyed the listen. Nothing really super remarkable though that would make me want to listen again though.
Ray of Light ***** Rest of the album, meh
Ihan kunneeltavaa poppia ja tuli teinivuodet mieleen. Saattais tämän joskus kuunnella toistekin.
Used to like it better in the past. Still nice to listen some songs, but overall it´s a bit "flat".
Well-produced techno/dance pop album from Madonna. It has some good songs, but for me, this sounds a bit too subdued overall and at times somewhat uninspired.
Not bad, some decent tracks
Superior pop. Difficult to listen objectively to Madonna without being coloured by her ruthless pursuit of fame at any cost and deliberate religious and sexual provocation. She's either an empowering force for femininity or a spoilt brat, depending on your point of view. No denying that the pop is above average, but doubtless she has the means to obtain the best writers/producers. It just isn't authentic. I don't believe she cares about music at all, it's just a means to an end - fame. Look at me everyone, aren't I great?
Produced by William Orbit, a warm electro-bopper with stand-out singles from new mum Madge.
A good pop album
Mature dance music. Very listenable, albeit a little bit background/dinner party style. Coincidentally to the song "Frozen" the album feels quite glacial: sophisticated, but lacking in singing emotion which fits the music, but not the emotional lyrics. No True Blue, or Like a Prayer, but one of Madonna's best. A high 3 out of 5.
i have always secretly loved the title track. don't tell anyone. i remember thinking when this album came out that it was cool seeing her move with the times - she'd been an 80s pop icon, then shifted in the early 90s, and then here she was again in the late 90s working in all that new-fangled techno stuff. it's also always funny to me how The Olds remember her from the early days & see how she pushed boundaries & conversations about women and their collective place/role in culture...but The Youngs tend to see her as kind of a washed-up tart. i really don't love her music, but it's very much worth understanding the degree to which she changed the conversation back in the day.
I had no idea Madonna release a trance album. This was something else. Probably won't get a re listen.
Somebody needs to take her to A home and leave her. She looks like she should be called ray too these days. Have a vague memory of fingering a Thai girl to this song at some point. Really helped with the rhythm and flow and the facial she gave me afterwards was glorious
which musical incarnation of Madge do we have today? Ah, its the edgy 90s dance music influenced madge. this is probably the best version of her. if you were to give all of the albums on this list a rank from 1 to 1001 this would probably scrape into the top 400. weird underhand compliment but i think i'm trying to say is i enjoyed about 50% of this album. i'm really not looking forward to the Ali G era Madge.
Ok, with a couple of great songs - Frozen and The Power of Goodbye. Sounds expensive, well produced, designed to be a hit, and slightly dated
These albums, so far into an artist’s career, really judge longevity and evolution. Madonna definitely has it. However, the run time and basic songwriting with dull 90s aesthetic make it less appealing than her earlier work.
Missed opportunity to combine the Europop beats with real catchy songs
Pop com várias camadas.
The title track is great, and the rest of the songs are good, but the album just starts to sound the same from one song to the next.
3,5/5
Ray of Light is a pop hit, though these sounds are such a time capsule of late 90s electronica. Nothing Really Matters is the first track that I think the whole sound grooves for me. To Have and Not to Hold paints in the same sonic space as the soundtrack from Nier: Automata
Not a huge Madonna fan but I liked some of the songs from this album!
This is sitting somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars for me. I found it enjoyable, and much more enjoyable and surprising than what my perception of a Madonna album could be. But I lack the true context to really get why this is a great Madonna album. Why this one? Why not the others? I’m also kind of “over” the whole “white lady discovers ethnic music and thinks she can do it better” thing
Not the typical poppy Madonna. I prefer this Madonna.
I never really liked Madonna’s music, but this one does sound more mature. Still, the album never transcends the level I’d refer to as decent background music.
I'm not a fan and this album didn't change too much my impression of Madonna's work. It's nice, but (except for one or another classical song not included in this specific album) it's just mainstream pop music and does not mean anything at all.
more ravey than I was expecting
It's funny, I've never been a big Madonna fan (although I don't hate her either) and I've also never been big into electronic music, but Madonna + electronic music seems to work. Fun fact - I grew up very close to where Madonna grew up in Michigan, although she is a few years older than me and I didn't know her. 3 stars.
It was a ray of light!
I only have listened to Madonna's energetic, carefree and fun hits before, so an ambient, hypnotic, and soothing sound is not what I expected at all to hear on "Ray of Light". Having said that, the record is extremely well produced, though most tracks overstay their welcome by a bit over a minute, and Madonna's vocal performance comes across as lazy at times. 3/5.
Not my favourite Madonna tracks
Iconic, but wasn't a fan of most of the songs
Tolerable.
I’m transported back to being driven to violin lessons as a kid when this was all over the adult contemporary station we would listen to on the way. Mixing electronica/techno and pop, it isn’t a bad sound overall. I really like Madge's voice on this. But these songs are really repetitive; not in that they sound the same, but each song just keeps pounding down the same musical motif again and again. It’s kind of draining. Favourite track: “Little Star”
Alo, nisam ovo očekivao. Trip-hop/dancepop kind of thing. Nije loš album, ali mi iskreno nije bolji od Like a Prayer što sam prije nekoliko tjedana slušao za ovaj challenge. Zanimljiv nadasve album, pogotovo me iznenadilo, nije ono što sam očekivao od albuma kao tipa Like a Prayer.
It's good, I'm just not in the mood rn
Solid pop record, can see how this influenced a lot of music at the time
Favourite Songs: Ray of Light, Frozen & The Power of Good-Bye
Really enjoyed the 'fuzzy' sound of the album, it sounded more like a U2 album at times.
Ambitious both musically and lyrically and it works.
Great grooves overshadowed by sometimes cringe lyrics.
Solid album overall enjoyable but not one I’d rush to listen to again.
No es de lo mejor de Madonna
Very ElectroPop and dancy. good vibes, but nothing really funky.
Some really good songs & the William Orbit production makes it a decent listen
L'últim bon disc de Madonna (com a mínim, fins 2021). Més per les textures i atmòsferes al llarg del disc que per les cançons en sí, tot i que aquí és on descansen grans temes com 'Frozen' o 'Ray of Light'
Surprisingly good
The nostalgia kick was nice for a while, but I cannot stand pop albums that are more than 46 minutes long
Can’t say I knew about Madonna’s Trip Hop/IDM phase.
Si, hay dos canciones que destacan algo más pero no te cambia la vida
Very nostalgic hearing the song "Ray of Light" again, brought me back. Overall kind of a snoozer.
Ahhhh, her “electronica” album. Mostly filler formula: overproduce a generic track in one of the many electronic sub genres, and add Madonna vocals. Some parts eye rollingly bad, some are quite good. Frozen is a legit great track.
Don't really have a lot to say about this. I'm not even sure how I feel about it really. I don't love it but it does make me vaguely nostalgic for the era it was produced in. Not that I was listening to this at that time.
Surprised I knew a couple on here. Very plagued by the late 90s, but I do remember my mom singing "Ray of Light" in the car, which is hilarious now. I mean, it's alright but nothing great.
Nothing wrong with this album. But this Madonna album is not special to me.
I didn’t feel like listening to madonna today
Way better than I expected
Pretty good album very late 90s with some of the electronic music of the day. Singles are great but rest of the album is mostly ambient and nothing too mind blowing
Decent album, but not Madonna's best.
was alright
First time listening to a Madonna album and I wasn’t disappointed. I liked the production and most of all I didn’t expect it to be so personal and mature. Its an okay 90’s pop album but has too much misses. 6.2/10
Madonna. Kind of a middling Madonna album. It was okay. Ray of Light was pretty good. Everything else was kinda whatever? It's Madonna, what else do you want?
Fine pop, it did seem a bit...overindulgent.
Part white lady spiritual, part trip hop. Way too long. I enjoyed it at first but an hour is way too much of this. Favorite tracks: "Candy Perfume Girl", "Skin"
6.5/10 FT: Frozen
More less.
Atmospheric but doesn't go anywhere and all one note. It all sounded the same with a tonne of reverb and echo effects slathered on. The extremely long album dragged on and on and on. 2/5
Many of these songs are just too long, and I don't understand why middle-age Madonna finds the need to sound like a young girl on so many of them. Nowhere close to her best.
Way too much synth, was this created by Madonna or ChatGPT?
Blind album, know the artist. I think I hate this because I dont get it. I really dont care for generic dance pop from the 90s that is made up of artists from the 80s trying to stay relevant. Why was this popular? Why is this considered good? I understand she did a lot in the 80s and her hits then are still relevant, but i have never EVER wanted to listen to her and her later work and after this I don't think I will. 2 at best, not repulsive just confused. Rant over. I hope Lourdes isn't bullied for her name and I hope Madonna's yoga did more than make this confusing dumb generic electronic dance pop.
- Oh yay, another Zionist. So gross. Thankfully, Mamdani-backed candidates just won their primaries last night, so hopefully this is a sign that Zionist celebrity worship will finally drop off. That said, this site really doesn't give me hope - seeing that close to no one in the reviews ever seems to give a shit that the majority of the artists on here are Zios, SAers, and pedos (this site appears to be full of old, white men & incels). The Ray Of Light is that this project has me researching different artists, learning who to boycott. - I never got into this album... If I wasn't already boycotting her, I still wouldn't have saved the album, but I might have saved Nothing Really Matters, Frozen, and the Power of Good-Bye (I'm pretty sick of Ray of Light, and it feels really dated now). - Overall, I like that the album is dancey, the sound effects, and tone of the instruments production chose. On the other hand, the album and songs feel dated and like she's trying to cash in on electronic music being underground and cool at the time more than this being a good example of the genre or taking it anywhere interesting. This basically feels like friendly, entry-level electronic music for the masses. No self-respecting rave DJ at the time would have picked it over the cool stuff of the era. - The songs don't feel very fresh anymore and don't have the impact of early Madonna, probably because the overall voice of this album doesn't seem very authentic (I mean, look at her trying to dance to it in the videos, lol), what with the genre and faux-spirituality. - Her vocals are nice and clear (minus the highest notes in Ray of Light) . - Album is definitely way too long.
Not my kind of music, but I liked the title track and, for once, the music video: so 1990s!
I actually liked the first two tracks well enough, it was trending toward an enjoyable but forgettable 3 stars but it just dragged on at some point. I could see how many would have seen this as an incredible album at the time, just being exposed to different things that were big elsewhere - but to me many tracks felt so bland.
I started out vibing with this album, but by the 2/3 mark I was so ready for it to be over. It felt very much like I already got what was going on and we were just dragging it on at that point. Didn't help that each track was like 5-6 minutes apiece without a ton of variation sonically.
Today I learned I don't really get Madonna's appeal. It wasn't a bad album and honestly I'm trying to find something to give it 3 stars but I think I'm comfortable landing this at 2. It had its moments but overall I don't think it was her best work (I hope)
I liked her better in the 80's when she wasn't drawing from younger talented people
nah
kaulo vaag, 2 leuke nummers