Reviews (page 6 of 8)
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
sadonna
i LOVE madonna, but there's something a little royalty-free about this record. she's a very prolific artist and it makes sense that they're not all gonna be mind-blowing but this one is just a bit dull. i think it's interesting that this sound came out of this artist--on it's own though? it's pleasant, but not moving or memorable in the slightest, and frankly overstays its welcome. hell, the average song length is like 5 minutes, which is fine for a dance track but these aren't *really* dance tracks? or maybe i just don't like them enough so it feels like they drag. each of these songs are either blah or sound like the one vocal track on the menu of a beloved PS1 jetski racing game. my favorite song was Nothing Really Matters. very strong 2
Pop a cardy on grandma
Hmmm this is not what I thought this was gonna sound like but I’m not mad at it so far Oh I’ve heard Ray of Light before It’s not bad but it’s going on way too long; might have to stop listening before it goes down to a 2; 2.5 is probably my official rating
not my thing
BORING. Every song sounded basically the same. She obviously has a great voice but needs a better song writer.
I think I would like the old Madonna better, this sounds very ethereal but not in a way I enjoy
Spacey pop music is not my thing.
Not a horrible Madonna album. 2.5
MadonnwannalistentothisbutIdidanditsoundedthesame. 3/10
What happened to the boundary-pushing pop princess of the 80s? This is pleasant but quickly becomes repetitive and boring. I can't think of anywhere or anytime outside of dinner party or hosting a pool party where I would want to put this on. I'm not familiar with the genre enough to tell if she's setting a bar, extending, or simply promoting the whole house thing but a lot of music that comes later feels like this -- even last week's XX I See You. My initial rating reaction is a 2... Maybe my heart just wasn't open. 2/5
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
solo un par de canciones buenas como la homónima 2.8
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
I love Madonna but did not enjoy this one. The songs wanted to put me to sleep and there was nothing that caught my attention. The beats were fun, but that’s about it.
I bet this hits way better, over giant nightclub speakers
Wanted to like it but it is pretty Middle of the road
You know, I just didn't get it. Maybe in another few years
The beats were great, but Madonna's vocals don't really do much with them, to me at least. Many songs were also stretched too long imo. Highlight-Ray of Light and Candy Perfume Girl
Didn't move me much
Boring boiled dog shit
"Ray of Light" the song is an absolute jam. Every other song on this album puts me to sleep.
not for me
#2 from Madonna for me, the other was that god awful dance pop album she released right after this one. That one is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. This one? It's better, I guess? It's not great. I would imagine that Like A Virgin or Like a Prayer (or both) have to be on this list, right? I don't know, I feel like once Madonna got out of the 80s or early 90s she kind of just started to blend in with everyone else rather than stand out. She does have a great voice, great presence, but this album is just so mediocre. I feel like her creativity just sort of plateaued after the early 90s and she didn't really know what to do anymore to stay relevant. I remember when this came out the title track was everywhere and I even thought it was pretty trash back then. I would totally feel let down if I had grown up hearing her name but had never heard a Madonna album before and then listened to this. 2.5/5 and rounding down.
I turned it off halfway through. Everything sounded exactly the same.
I LOVE Madonna's early work. I remember being really confused when she pivoted towards this electronic/dance stuff. I get wanting to try something new, but this style definitely isn't for me. 2/5
And i feel like i just got bored
Didn't love it, didn't hate it. But did get tired of it before it was done. One strong song and a bunch of others that just don't separate themselves from each other.
This didn’t really do anything for me. Even the big hit felt lack luster to me.
This has very little appeal for another listen. Like most electronic music it's just a bit longer than it needs to be. It's not bad and Madonna is good on here but it's just a bit repetitive to my ears.
It really didnt resonate with me, i can see that this album was influencial in certain gernes of music but it didnt sound good to me. Very repetative
I never thought I’d see this on the list. I remember when this came out, but never listened past the title track. It’s not bad. It’s not my style at all.
Mediocre pop.
Boring
Comeback? Maybe don’t next time
Not a fan in the way I don’t like some of the bjork songs. The beat and the vocals are fine individually, but feel at odds with each other. I just keep waiting for something to pick up. Would rather listen to like spelling or fka twigs
It got very boring and repetitive after a while. Not the kind of pop I can get into.
this was actually soooooo boring, sorry
I got back to back Madonna albums (lucky me), i found it easier to engage with Music than with Ray of Light, only liking Frozen. Shanti/Ashtangi is awful and a clue that we are in the yoga era of the artist.
Why is this album on this list? Sorry Madonna
Meh. Kinda disappointed
It was ok not a huge fan of her music
boring
Vastly superior to Music, which is to say, mediocre. I’m left wondering who this is for, and what artistic impulse it serves
I really like Madonna, but this isn't it; especially compared to her other works of different genres.
She lost the juice, this is boring
Not great at all. 2 in generous
William Orbit's production was innovative and still sounds pretty fresh today. Like many albums of the time it is too long as a whole and also most songs go on too long. "Frozen" is great and probably one of Madonna's all time greats, but other than that the songs are pretty boring and forgettable.
no bangers. just floaty ethereal instrumentals. not her best work Would I listen again: nah Deserves to be on this list: not enough of her 80s projects. how can this list skip over Like a Virgin bro 2.4
I feel like I just listened to the same bland song on repeat for 67 minutes
80s Madonna is my favorite Madonna so this isn't exactly my scene. It's definitely a different direction from what I expected from Madonna but it does have the annoying foe depth that would pervade Madonna's worst albums (like American life). Lines like "Children Killing Children while the students rape their teachers" feel out of place coming out of "material girl" Madonna. It's coming off the back of her similarly hollow portrayal in Evita. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, like the White winemum from the gated suburb telling you about how bad the shit she's watched on the news is. That's my issue with this whole album really, it feels like Madonna is deeply uncomfortable with her identity and style and is desperately looking at a way to shake it up. But she seems so lost. Madonna has a great singing voice but its lost here, and the mixing is definitely going to be hit or miss for people. To me this late 90s sound is just incredibly dated and the writing sucks too. It's not offensively bad but I can't say I enjoyed any of it either.
Not great but I loved the spacey y2k production
I found it a little one note across the run time. A couple of good tunes, but I've never really gotten on with Madonna's music, to be honest.
Sign of the times?
Not her best
A fine album that gets bogged down by trying to be too much of something that becomes quite repetitive after an hour. I often got bored listening to this record, but Madonna has a killer voice. I find it to be musically uninteresting but far from a truly bad album. I do not think this style of electronic music is for me, and that is okay. Favorite track: Drowned World / Substitute for Love
Boring Dancy Rave music that all sound the same. Where's my glow sticks? Is this when everyone was wearing Henna tattoos? Reminds me of when Cher turned into a robot with Believe.
Not the best Madonna album
Pop/electro poussive et assez ennuyante. Sauvé du néant par l'hypnotisant Frozen.
I've been promised electronica, which I love very much, but all I got was a supercut of cheesy 80s/90s rompler sins.
Wasn't for me.
Not her best by far
Doesn't really do it for me. I'm guess it's kinda cool that she's venturing out into EDM but I don't really think she does it justice.
eh. neosporno lijepa pjeva i sve to, a album je čak stislki dosta rasnovrstan. ali sve u svemu bezveze i predugo; vjerujem da madona ima utjecajnijih stvari pa ne razumijem zašto je ovo na popisu
Solid enough. Never been a big Madonna fan.
I often read about this as being Madonna's big return to relevance. I like the singles enough, and Ray of Light itself is a great track, but the overall album dragged for me.
The Power of Forgetting This Album Existed
there were some really good tracks on here but unfortunately there was also some really awful tracks as well. there is actually a decent bit of variation on here but not enough to warrant the runtime.
This was less interesting than I thought it was going to be. Just sounded over-produced and missing any kind of edge. Takes all the fun out of listening to Madonna.
The title track is still great, and the rest of this is...fine. It feels much longer than an hour.
I actually enjoyed this more than I expected to, the first half especially
I’ve always quite liked Substitute for Love and Frozen… Never listened to the whole album before and unlikely to again but was a pleasant listen. 2.5 for me, bang in the middle.
New to me, I enjoyed it, especially the opening songs, tailed off towards the end. Two stars. Tom.
I like Madonna but not a fan of this album. Feels like a stab at blending an electronic sound with pop.
Underwhelming. The production team made a pretty good pop album, although it could be a little shorter. I don't see this as required listening. A high 2.
Ok I’m not gonna lie I didn’t listen to this in its entirety. It’s not terrible which says a lot. But the production is so repetitive that it makes the whole thing rather unremarkable and forgettable. No desire to listen to this again.
Not crazy about it
This feels like she heard sneaker pimps and portishead and wanted to cash in on their popularity. Some nice sounds but nothing here that those other bands haven't done better
Not for me
Also a very unusual one—some were okay, others were … less so.
Bewildering. Sort of really fucking cool, especially when she leans into the trip-hop. But then we move to the Middle East, which is alright, but also...why, Madonna? Are you really Buddhist? Does your yoga inspire you that much? Should you really be making this? Fave tracks: - Swim - Ray of Light - Candy Perfume Girl - Nothing Really Matters - To Have and Not to Hold
So long!
Saul is fine for what it is, but I’m not sure why it is on that list. Not particularly cutting edge or interesting or unique.
2/5
Partly heard before Saved 4/13 Top track: Ray of Light
No
Some new and cool sounds but ultimately kinda boring. I liked hearing this side of Madonna, it is not what I expected.
Was never a fan 30 years ago; time has not changed that opinion.
ehh some fun dance songs but overall not my fav from madonna
ray of shite
low 2
she tried
Pretty standard electronica pop. Not bad for what it is, but I find this genre boring.
Generic pop.
Experimental and interesting, but not enough catchy tunes to listen again.
3/10
Not a fan
Definitely sounds like Madonna in the late 90s. Empowered middle aged white woman music, not for me.
Ikke helt for meg dette. Veldig gloomy og mye likt.
This is a hard rating for me. Most of the album sounded like a 80s icon desperately clawing out to maintain relevance, but then suddenly there would be glimpses of experimental brilliance peeking out from behind the pile of burning garbage and I would forgive a lot. I’m sure I heard a bunch of these tracks when this was released but I guess I blocked it all out.. Hurt by the length and uninspiring production despite her vocal talent, 2/5
I think this is objectively a pretty solid album (although it is EXTREMELY of its time and the songwriting isn’t anything spectacular for the most part) but it turns out I just find Madonna’s overall corniness and self-importance too big of an obstacle to enjoy her music.
Not really into Madonna's music, and this didn't change my mind. It started out okay, but after Ray of Light (3rd song), it got ... IDK ... boring? Repetitive? I had to quit during Shanti.
Madonna trying to be a bit like Bjork….?
inégal, la partie club est incroyable mais la partie pop est très mid
This is still really not that great. I will never understand why people find this remarkable.
Madonna's Wikipedia page is more interesting than her albums. In all actuality, I did enjoy the beat of two songs. This hasn't been a fun early Christmas gift. Favorite Track: "Shanti/Ashtang".
Shite!! 2 ⭐️
I don't like Madonna
I drank a bunch of coffee and tried listening to this album while driving home ended up skipping through 90% of the songs it’s like I get it and cool come back it’s dreamy has techno elements, but if aliens came down to earth, and we had to show them our culture and the best we had to offer art wise this album would not be something that I would put in their CD player. Furthermore, I don’t know why this was included. I would’ve figured that an earlier Madonna album would be better to hear before I die. That being said we probably have like four madonna albums on this list who knows nobody knows except for Zak. Zak cheated and looked.
In the club with Madonna. It would be more fun to dance with her than to have to listen to this again.
Jsuis passé au travers mais pas nul
This album is not one that resonates with me. Madonna just isn't something I listen to or ever go out of my way for. I'm just not a fan personally. That being said, this album sits right at the end of the nineties and doesn't feel like it ever left the nineties. I feel like this album is a major influence for some more modern pop, but the album itself is a time capsule for the year 1998. Overall, this album feels like a mediocre sci-fi / rom-com that takes place in a yoga studio film score from someone who has never seen a sci-fi As the album progresses it just get more and more boring..... there is no need for this to be over an hour long. Stand out tracks: Swim - Feels like I'm watching a straight to VHS rom-com. Ray of Light - It's a little catchy and sounds like an anthem for another straight to VHS coming of age or rom com film Skin - The music feels like playing play station 1...... but then Madonna is just kind of singing over it Sky Fits Heaven - is one of my least favorite songs I have ever heard Shanti / Ashtangi - Feels like it does not belong on this album
No ferris wheel, no heart to steal? Now I find I changed my mind? Alone in a crowded room? Were these lyrics written by the target audience? Think how the Beatles grew up over night from their juvenilia in just a couple years. C'mon, Madonna, you can do it too! But not if you insist only upon the techno beat built for dancing in a club being the driving force. So I guess it doesn't matter what the lyrics are or anything else beyond the beat. I have to give her enormous credit for bucking public definitions of acceptability and morality. And I quite like the music here. But if I start listening to the words it falls apart for me.
The singles are good enough and very danceable but the rest of the material is unremarkable. I’m not inclined to ever listen to this again but I’m happy to bop along if Frozen or Ray of Light come on the radio.
The production is better than the material. I liked the single well enough when it came out, but today it felt a little flat.
Enjoyed this seems like a less known album but sill solid
Not for me. With exception of the title track, the songs all bled together into an hour long trance-y adult contemporary blur.
Probs not Lasted 3 minutes 12 seconds Not me cup of tea
One of those albums you forget is playing.
So like I understand what she was trying to do but I don't think she did it all that well. I wish I didn't listen to this because now I don't know what to think of mid career era Madonna. I only know her as bubblegum 80s pop and washed up old cringey lady trying to remain relevant. 2 stars because Ray of Light continues to be a bop.
There are good technical notes, but nothing about this is actually interesting or makes me want to have listened to it.
Da-Faq! Madonna doing Bjork for a last ditch attempt of feeling relatable and relevant in her seventh studio album in 1998🤢🥴
Few good tracks, repetitive, dated, 90s. backing was uninteresting but madonna is a good singer
2.5
2.5
Trancey dancey, hippie dippie Kabbalah klaptrap. Ray Of Light the title song is ok I guess but the rest of it is more like Ray Of Rubbish!
Sounded nice but was long and made me feel sleepy. High 2z
1.77
It s an out and out pop album. It is no Like a Prayer but it starts off well with the first track up until Ray of Light, which was a was a massive hit at the time, but then rest goes into this like synth pop rubbish. The only real positive I can give it, is that it is well produced. If simple pop is your thing, then I am sure it is a good listen, but even the pop is not great. There are better pop albums from that same time that are far superior to this. 2.5 stars
Madonna went in a completely new direction with this one. Another banger CD my mum would’ve cranked in the family SUV in the mid 2000s.
Ray of Light is decent, the rest of the album less so. 90's Madonna no thanks
I thought I'd like this more than I did
Madge does disco .not very well
No es para mi
The title track is great and the mix of electronica and pop was obviously very influential. But this style of artificial electronic synth and beats sounds cold and sterile to me and is at odds with her emotional singing. I do like the mix of influences across the track list though.
I didn't expect much from late 90s era Madonna and it met my extremely low expectations. Some good beats here and there that are reminiscent of the time period. The title track is a bop and sticks out like a sore thumb in a sea of mediocrity. I know she has her highlights but this ain't it.
Album seems self-indulgent. Most of the instrumentation sounds synthetic. Not a fan.
it's madonna, no surprises here.
Not a Madonna fan
Well done generic pop garbage with Madonna's name on it.
This sounds weirdly glossy and plastic. The pumping synthetic beats and mild electronica makes this sound like background music in a late 90s sci-fi TV series about a group of women hackers or something. It sounds like a product made to fill time as opposed to being actual heartfelt art. Also all these tracks are way too long. If they were the classic 3-minute pop song I could understand, or maybe if they were extended, developed tracks I could understand, but as it is they all pootle around for twice as long as necessary and overstay their welcomes. Shanti / Ashtangi was by far the most interesting track.
Here's Madonna entering middle age and, for the first time, seeming aware of time’s passing. The album’s sub-Debut electronica and spiritual searching marked a turn inward after decades of provocation and reinvention. Earlier incarnations - the streetwise provocateur of Like a Virgin, the art-house sensualist of Erotica, the stylish ironist of Vogue - are still cool now precisely because they were anchored in irony, control, and surface. Ray of Light, by contrast, tries to sincerely make Kabbalah cool and misses. It is the first Madonna persona that feels dated not because it failed necessarily, but because it was genuinely felt: a woman approaching forty seeking transcendence in yoga, motherhood, and ambient soundscapes. Fair play to her. Perhaps it’s the middle-brow of it all, perhaps it’s the late-90s, perhaps it’s the title of the first song, but it feels faintly Ballardian: the ego dissolving into a vast, flooded psyche. Like J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World, Madonna’s vision is one of submersion — fame and identity melting into dream, light, and liquid. The ecological apocalypse in Ballard’s novel becomes, in Madonna’s hands, a personal one: the collapse of celebrity into humanity, into herself. Yet the mix of not quite contemporary electronics and very of the time mysticism now feels tethered to the self-conscious spirituality of the late 1990s. That’s Ballardian too - the datedness of the future. At the time, Madonna was able to coast on the coolness of uncoolness or to elevate the uncool with the residual cool she had. But the Sex and the City style euphoria of Ray of Light now seems as out of touch as Sex and the City. Of course, the opposite of a Drowned World is a frozen one and Frozen remains the best track here. 2 For me, here is as dull an album as almost any we have listened to so far. Madonna is an unremarkable singer but even a good singer would struggle to hold a listener’s attention with the pedestrian melodies on offer. Aside from the title track and maybe Frozen, both of them a couple of minutes longer than they deserve to be, this was absolutely brain-numbing. 1.5/5
2.3 I'm sorry, but her magnum opus? It was pretty shit. It felt like Madonna staying to relevant by copying Bjork but failing to understand where the magic behind Bjorn lies. 64 minutes is extremely unnecessary. Opener and closer are fine, but the middle is so bloated full of ideas that go out like a damp squib.
Must have been a crazy time in her life.
Way, way too long and just not that good.
Not enough hooks besides the title track to get me interested.
Good.
"Madonna's magnum opus" my ass
I fell asleep listening to this
I know I'm far from the target audience here, but that still doesn't explain why every song is two minutes too long
Not my thing. 2.5 stars
Not awful but also not something I'd willingly listen to again
This album is a real time capsule of the late 90s pop soundscape. That’s DEVASTATING because it sounds terrible. Overproduced, muddy, but worse the songs themselves are just boring disasters.
Remember when Madonna moved to England, faked an accent, and released a Moby knock-off album? I forgot all about it until today. Look, this isn't a bad album. But it certainly isn't good, and I have no idea why I would NEED to listen to it before I die. Influence 1 (album-specific). Hits 2. Quality 3 (surprisingly high). Blending musical genres is typically a great idea. Blending anything with pop is typically a terrible idea. 2
Want my favorite Madonna album, though everything I read was praising this as her best work ever. I prefer the more party pop style over this trancey kinda sweeping beats style.
Not a big Madonna fan
Surprisingly poor. Unimaginative, derivative, bullshit. Makes sense that this was a high bar for a decade that idolized Zach Morris.
Not bad, but not special.
This self-indulgent project sounds like hack karaoke performed to the SSX Tricky soundtrack. 1.5 stars rounded up - It's not completely irredeemable, but it's pretty effing bad.
Standouts Swim
Ray of Light was the tulipmania of the late 90’s. We all desperately tried to convince ourselves it had value when it obviously had none. “Madonna has reinvented herself! She’s like David Bowie!” My brother in Christ, she hired William Orbit to add some bleeps and bloops to completely generic pop songs, tied a red ribbon around her wrist and started speaking in a fake British accent. Everyone acted like Ray of Light was this major cultural happening, but it was just a standard pop album with better marketing. A pretty okay standard pop album, but nothing deserving being compared to Madonna’s golden era. It wasn’t a reinvention; it was just really effective branding with a trance beat. Only the things you love can break your heart, and I love Madonna, Like a Virgin, True Blue and Like a Prayer. This list including two late-period clunkers while only Like a Prayer represents Madonna’s actual artistic peak? That is heartbreaking.
2.5, rounded down
I get it. The reinvention of Madonna for the 00s. Fair play, Madge kept herself relevant and she hasn't turned into the Cronenburgian body horror avatar yet. To me it's just more bland pop with hip-hop/electro lite beats. Aspects of this are like diet-Bjork. Best Tracks: Ray of Light; Frozen; The Power of Goodbye
I guess this is when she started down the electronic path of music. Not great.
Describing Madonna as a singer doesn't really do her justice for several reasons—I see her more as a style icon who is deeply rooted in the 80s. This makes her change in style and image, which she achieved in the late 90s and which is evident in “Ray of Light,” all the more admirable. However, I don't particularly like the rather dark electro style of the songs, and I don't think it suits Madonna's voice, which is unmistakable but not overly distinctive. It's worth a listen, but it's not much better than I remembered.
So this is, in my humble opinion, Madonna's most underappreciated period of time in her musical career. This is a very weird time for her based off this album and the album that follows this one (Music). They both feel so desperate and bold that even though they kinda fall flat on their face as a whole, they both have moments of accidental renaissance. For the album music, it was the song called "Don't Tell Me" which felt like this desperate country pop hit that was never a hit but I found hilarious and super endearing. Well this album is alittle different than that. I don't know the origins of the "early 2000s future sound", but I'd imagine that since this album came out in '98 you could make the argument that she started that movement with this album (I obviously don't remember if the backsteet boys and nsync came out before this but they definitely were all going for the same sound aesthetic). Honestly I don't truly believe this album belongs on this list AT ALL. But i can admit when I find something is entertaining even if it is for the wrong reasons, like this album.
I just could not find myself enjoying this. It's too 90s pop. I understand that Madonna was highly influential to other solo artists and to pop in general, but that doesn't make me like the music any more. 2/5
Not something I would consider special, and the context doesn't really add a depth that makes this album more enjoyable. Sounds like a pop dance album.
This is not that good of an album. I can just listen to Moby instead and actually be fulfilled.
Fine album, but just not my thing. I don’t really have a problem with Madonna’s normal stuff, but I did appreciate the change up in her sound in this album. That’s really all I can say though. Not a huge fan of electronic music, and I thought some of the lyrics were off. Personally didn’t like it much.
This albums is exactly the thing that I began to fear during this time of music. While it was still in the 'physical' era it represents the "CD" first approach clocking in at about 68 minutes that is only available on a CD if this would have come out when Vinyl was the most popular medium it would prolly have had 20 minutes of songs cut, they would have had to figure out a way to get to a great 40ish minutes of music instead of 68 of meh. The album outstays its welcome. I really enjoy Madonna's early work. The only track on here that I will remember is Ray Of Light and I think that is mostly because that was on heavy rotation on the radio.
Dad- 4 Mom- 8 Mike- NA Lori- 3.5 Michael- 4 Miles- NA Cole- NA Avg- 4.88
Ihan kuunneltava lopulta mutta konemusiikkipainotteista Madonnaa, niin on huonoin Madonna sanoisin
Meh.
I listened to this album this morning and was pleasently surprised at first, as the first two songs were somehow calm and matched an early morning mood. But overall, the album is mostly lackluster and has mostly superficial and disappointing lyrics that might have led to 90s wall tattoos (that were regreted after). Madonna was probably never the best singer and her voice feels too pressed, e.g. in the higher notes of the title track. But I am open to give it another try with records from different, less esoteric, phases of her career. Highlight: „Frozen“ is probably the best song and the string arrangements are a nice change of scenery. The same holds true for „The Power of Good-Bye“.
I legitimately thought the opeing track was over 10 ten minutes, I went to check and I was at 4 minutes of the 5 total minutes - this album is off to a great start /s. No one thinks of Madonna as an amazing artist, does she have some iconic songs, absolutely. Can she carry a tune, very much so. I have never heard her name brought up in any conversations about top or favorite artist, and I grew up when Madonna was at her peak. To me, Madonna is one of the biggest look at me posers in the music biz. She tries to capitalize on what is popular at any given moment in her 40+ year career. She yearns for the spotlight and always comes off as disingenuous. She gets good production because she has the money to pay and is willing to shell it out because the payoff for her is to be part of the zeitgeist. Her music is not out right bad, it is just not what I would deem as "real," there is no real soul behind it, it is talented producers and musician helping an aging, albeit talented, vocalist stay relevant and it comes off as just that. There was another comment that said "Hello fellow youths!" That is the perfect meme to Madonna post 1990. 4.8/10 143/1001
The title track is still great, and the rest of this is...fine. It feels much longer than an hour.
This was a little better than I thought it was going to be. Hadn't thought about Frozen and The Power of Good-Bye in decades so those were interesting sense memories. It's a fine album but let's not pretend it compares with her classic 80's output. I have to deduct a star because listening to this I was reminded of how when I was 15 in 1993 my friend and I were thrilled the box office girl sold us tickets to Body of Evidence thinking we were going to get all your 15 year old boy ya-yas out only to be subjected to the most boring movie I have ever seen. #neverforget
Boring 2/5
Madonna’s music is the least interesting part of her. Seven albums is six too far.
Is Madonna's trip-hop record the most "Late '90s" album ever made? Could be worse, wish it were more engaging and shorter.
I really like 80’s/early 90’s Madonna. She lost me by this record.
The point where I lose interest in Madonna
shanti/ashtangi might be the worst thing she's ever done; at least american life embraced the inherent comedy of her billionaire buddhist schtick. the english lyrics here don't fare much better (candy perfume girl would be embarrassing for anyone to sing, let alone a 39-year old). the production still sounds pretty good, but the songs don't hold up well enough to bother unless you're a big madge fan
The Good: We’re not left in the dark! The Bad: Turns out it is midday… The Ugly: This album should have been left in the darkness…. I was never a Madonna fan. However, during her Material Girl period, I, and countless of my fellow teenage morons, all wished our girlfriends would look like her… We can’t deny the fact that Madonna has been able to adjust her image to stay important, or even trendsetting… Jean-Paul G would not have a live were it not for Vogue. Yet, do I need someone like Madonna to tell me about the importance of spirituality? The ray of light, in so far as to this 1001 album list, is that we get to read some wiki on a daily basis to see why an album is on a list, or what might be special about the album… and in this case, it seems that Madonna had been using the training she had received for the Evita musical, and it is apparent as hell… no need to have a little ray of light shine on the fact that the voice is annoying, like listening to a musical that one is forced to listen to. The album did produce several hits, and they are instantly recognizable, as the production on the album is really well… so, just because of that, I will grant Madonna 2*… while crossing my fingers that I don’t have to listen to another album by her… though, I believe that I am missing at least 1...
Ugh, I knew Madonna would turn up at some point. This was better than I expected with a couple of okay tracks, but each song that sounded ok at the start becomes a Nervensäge of electronic beats with strangely thin hollowed out vocals.
Have never actually listened to a Madonna album before, just greatest hits compilations. Sad to say it kind of blows :(
hurt
- hatte ich -100 Bock drauf, dementsprechend konnten meine Erwartungen nur übertroffen werden - war insgesamt moody und ganz entspannt, aber ist einfach nicht mein Ding - gibt aber nichts zu meckern, also ist das schon irgendwo bei 2-3/5
Boring
Ugh
madonna what was this please apologize
I remember this album being a big deal when it was released, and I remember the music video for the title track also being huge. I have not thought about it much since then, and didn't have super high expectations. I had no idea this was going to be so electronica and techno heavy. I didn't realize Madonna ever went that way. It's a vibe for sure, and her voice sounds great. More interesting than I was expecting just because that aspect was so unexpected, but still not for me by any means.
Musically, it all sounds like a club remix of an original I've never heard. It is almost cartoonish how stereotypical this point of her career was. 40 year old wealthy white lady "discovers" Kabbalah and yoga- can't stop telling everyone about it.
Much better than expected. Didn't blow me away but I didn't hate it
Dance/EDM schlock. Not my jam. Ray of Light, the song, is okay. The rest of it is meh.
I did not like this album. There were some songs with production I liked better than others, but overall a drag.
Ray of Light was great, but not my jam for the other tracks.
Airy vocals, instrumentation was a mix of electronic and ephemeral pop
I’ve never gone out of my way to listen to a Madonna song before today and from what I have heard here and there down the years I’ve never understood her appeal. After listening to this I still don’t get it. The title track and Frozen are good enough songs but nothing special and the album as a whole I found kinda dull. Top Track - Frozen
Pretty bland. Usually gays like stuff that's fun and exciting. What do they like about Madonna?
Mid-donna
My hopes were up a bit after the last album I got from Madonna on this like (like a prayer) and how critics generally praised this release. Honestly, I found it pretty mundane, and derivative of other artists in the 90s electronic and trip hop space I'd rather be listening to. Some good moments (especially in the beginning) but all around a pretty drab listen. 2/5
Pretty much all sounds the same and too electronics sounding for my taste.
Mehhhhh, didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Still not my favorite genre. 5/10.
Some bangers on here, and some awful music too. Ray of light and Frozen are the quickly recognizable tracks and make you want to sing while driving. The upbeat techno was a pleasant surprise and clearly lead the way for a lot of electronic pop today. But songs like Candy Perfume Girl, Ashtangi, and Little Star almost had me turning off the album prematurely. Great singles, not a great album.
No.
This album came out in 1998. And I don't think I've ever heard anything so 1998-core in my entire life. So is it derivative or just part of a trend? Either way it's as bland as Dido eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream in a beige room. Ok the track Ray of Light actually has some bounce but it can't save the album.
A bit better than her other albums on the list, but it's still pretty boring.
1st songs were really good, then it became an annoying dance album
1,6/5
eh just bland
Very long, very self-indulgent, not good
Frozen is a solid song, but nothing else on here is worth a mention.
Came in with high hopes. Did not enjoy this at all.
Never been a huge fan of Madonna and this didn't really change my mind. Super late 90s sound and it kind of sounds like everything else from this era. Lots of electronic production all throughout that is... not good. 4/10
The type of music does not really match with her voice in my opinion. It’s also a tad too long.. Frozen is good, but only because I recognized it
First time really listening to her stuff and this album revealed three things. 1) Madonna doesn't have a vocal range 2) her and the producers heard trio hop for the first time and decided... Yeah let's try that but mix in some big room techno dance feel/ small bits of dnb 3) after half the albun I was hoping every song was the last. I will concede that some of the vocal production/ manipulation was a fun listen.
1.5/5
Nunca fui demasiado fan de Madonna, no le pongo un 1 porque hubo dos temas que me gustaron pero el resto bastante flojo a mi gusto.
Real talk: I was 18 when this came out. Ray of Light was all over the place, and I was not into it. I liked techno at the time, Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, stuff like that. I loved the soundtrack to the Matrix and Fight Club (all a little after this if I recall without looking it up). Listening to the album now, being older and less judgmental about the "cool" factor (I've since realized just how uncool I am and was), I can see that this album was probably kind of a big deal. Every track isn't knocking my socks off, but after the disappointment of Todd Rundgren in yesterday's album, this is a delightful thing to get, listen to, and appreciate for what it is. Still not really my jam, but less vapid than I expected it to be. That said, it got more annoying the further I got into it 2.5/5
1.5
This electro-pop-whatever version of Madonna is...not good. I remember when this came out, and it wasn't good then either. "Ray of Light" was also played to death. The song "Frozen" is passable, the rest of it I'd be fine never hearing again.
Horribly boring. Madonna washed up in the 90's. Favorite songs: Frozen, Sky Fits Heaven, Swim Least favorite songs: Candy Perfume Girl, Skin, Shanti/Ashtangi, Little Star, Mer Girl 2/5
Dig the title track. And enjoyed the last two. Had my fist bumpin at times
Never heard her before, it was decent but didn’t really love it
what Kent and LB said
I'm not sure what I expected from Madonna but one hour of thumpy club beats wasn't it, lol. This album is holding twice the tracks it needs to and they are all twice as long as they should be.
I only ever heard the title song from this album, it was good but this was never my favorite Madonna albums, although I do see the appeal of it to people!
Aptly titled album
Blinding ray of light
Complete
nooit grote fan geweest... maar vroeger schopte ze nog heilige huisjes omver... nu is ze er zelf een geworden...
Not that bad tbh
Not too bad, not too good either...
She had some catchy, fun songs in the 80s, but otherwise Madonna has just never done anything for me. I was actually bored a lot while listening to this.
first two songs started off really strong… then it kinda went downhill. Shanti is probably top five worst songs i’ve ever heard. That being said, this album still isn’t the worst. pretend this is a 2.5
Some hits and misses!
Nope. Spray of Shite, more like. Not that I hate Madonna, mind you, but... next!
Maso
It's ok. No it's not
This started off promising, then took a turn for the worse, then kind of got back to being good, then got bad again. Wildly inconsistent song-to-song.
I was happy because I was pretty sure that I would rate with 1 star to my loathed Queen of Pop, but to be honest, I enjoyed the trip-hop approach of some of the songs of this album. Some others are crappy, and this have no soul, so rating it with 2 stars anyway.
Started off well but track 3 came out of nowhere and changed the sound. I'm just not a fan of electronic music
Madonna. I'm not sure there is an artist who has traded more on sex appeal and cultural awareness, and less on actual talent. Her singing voice is just OK - nothing here stretches her and I don't think she has the chops to take it higher. Orbit is a good contributor, but given the choice I'd just listen to his work instead.
some absolute belters in here (wrong vibe for 9am Monday morning in the office) but was about 30 minutes too long and a lot of the tracks didn't click with me. Would return to some of the singles
It's a 2 from me, it was edging a 3 but it's never a good sign when I'm hoping the album will end soon. First track was a standout for me, felt weirdly profound somehow
Only like the hits
Nej nej nej. Sämsta sortens pop. Det är dåligt på nästan alla vis. Får en två pga ok hits, frozen/ray of light. Men de är rätt kassa också.