Madonna

Bedtime Stories

DEFINITELY MY FAVORITE MADONNA ALBUM...

Review Score:

(10/10)
It's not easy for an artist to bounce back from hard whippings from critics after an album that is to be considered bad. Madonna, however, found no problem in recording this awesome album after being harshly criticized for the previous, very sexual, dirty 1992 album Erotica. Bedtime Stories, a concept album, in which Madonna tried R&B, is definitely my most favorite of Madonna's albums. Why?

Bedtime Stories was everything that Madonna had never done before. Whereas the Queen of Pop was known for her 80s dance music (like Into The Groove), ballads (like Crazy For You), and pop/rock (like Like A Prayer), Bedtime Stories is a brilliant masterpiece of urban music. The album kicks off with Survival, a brilliant mid to up-tempo track that should have been released as the first single. It moves on to Secret, another brilliant, but more acoustic semi-ballad that was the first hit single. The next two songs, I'd Rather Be Your Lover and Don't Stop, are both urban mid-tempo tracks, but are not the album's finest. Inside Of Me, in my opinion, is the greatest ballad on this album. Human Nature was a good stab back at the critics who went harsh on her and it included a great urban sound. Forbidden Love is a mid-tempo song with R&B written all over it. Love Tried To Welcome Me is, hmmm, too slow and slushy for my taste. Tracks 9 and 10, Sanctuary and Bedtime Story, were both the twist of the album. Sanctuary is a blend of spiritual electronica with an R&B bassline and it flows into Bedtime Story, a purely electronica dreamy, toy-with-your-subconscious track. Last but not least is Take A Bow, the overrated oriental flavored R&B hit. I think it's a good track (not as good as what it's hyped up to be), but I think the greatest part of it is its position on the album- last ballad track on an album that flowed with bright urban, then twisted to dark electronica, and finally, la piece de resistance- Take A Bow.

For any Madonna or just urban music fans out there, I HIGHLY recommend this album. Pick it up if you want to listen to some truly great music from a legendary artist.

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