Erotica

by

Madonna

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I'm sat here listening to Erotica, trying to think why this stunning album was so critically attacked. Before I bought this album, I was worried the critics may have been correct. I thought if I bought it, all I'd think of every time I listened to it is that harsh crack of the critical whip. With a little help from the positive reviews on Amazon, I decided to give it a go. The sheer superiority and excellent early 90's dance shines through. The critics said this album was full of sex, sex, sex. What the hell are they all on about?! There are three sex songs on here! (Erotica, Secret Garden and Where Life Begins). Here's my review of Erotica...

Track 1 is Erotica (10/10). The first song from this album released in October 1992. It made UK No.3. The video and orgasms shocked the world. The deep. voice is almost scary as the sight of dominatrix Madonna in the video pops into my head evertime I hear this. Track 2 is Fever (10/10). A cover of Peggy Lee's classic from 1956. This made UK No.6 in April 1993. The taking of a really soulful 1950s song and updating it with racy, dance beats of the 1990s works really well. Track 3 is Bye Bye Baby (10/10). A very good dance/pop track. I like the lyrics, "I know I loved you, because I hate you". Classic, up-front Madonna! Although her voice is a little strange, even nausiating. Track 4 is Deeper And Deeper (10/10). A very good dance track for the clubs. This made No.6 in the UK in December 1992. The chorus is really up-beat and happy. The Spanish bit half-way through is really good and gives it that foreign holiday feel. Track 5 is Where Life Begins (9/10). A VERY saucy track from kinky Madonna! The whole song is mainly about how to have sex. Be sure to listen to this song on your headphones if your mum or dad are in the house when you're listening to this song! Track 6 is Bad Girl (10/10). A very good, laid-back ballad and my personal favourite Madonna ballad ever. This made UK No.10 in March 1993. This was the theme-tune to her erotic, 18+, critic-bashed film, Body of Evidence.

Track 7 is Waiting (10/10). A good mid-tempo track. Madonna's deep speaking vocals crop up quite frequently on Erotica. This track has a great bass-line and the piano makes this great track sound like a 1940's romance ballad. Track 8 is Thief of Hearts (10/10). A fantastic up-tempo track. Madonna goes a little over the top saying, "[...]" all the time. The "you do it, you take it, you screw it, you fake it. Come to it, you'll break it, you're over, you can't take it!" is the funkiest bit! Track 9 is Words (9/10). Another very good dance/pop gem. It sounds a lot like Fever. It's about another person Madonna hates because they think they're better than her and the persons' words "cut like a knife - cut into her life". Track 10 is Rain (10/10). A really good ballad - one of her best ever. The lyrics are very good and emotional. This made UK No.7 in July 1993. The speaky-bit is very relaxing and well, just brilliant! Track 11 is Why's It So Hard (9/10). I'd say this was different track to many others on Erotica. It's more of a rock/dance track. The song is about racism/sexism etc...Track 12 is In This Life (9/10). A sad ballad about one of Madonna's best friends who was only 23 when he died of AIDS. Memories of Madonna's mother who died in 1963 of breast cancer (when Madonna was only 5) may have re-surfaced when she wrote this. This results in an emotional, expressive tone in her voice. Track 13 is Secret Garden (9/10). A mid/up-tempo song. I think this is about sex because of the lyrics, "you plant the seed and I'll watch it grow" and "I'm looking for the perfect flower". The deep, spoken verses are also an indicator of a raunchy track about sex.

The result of Erotica is a stunning album. It's hard to believe this has only sold 5 million worldwide compared to some other Madonna albums which have sold 19/22 million. And the critics? Well they can just...

While Madonna's Erotica album was meant to be a companion to the Sex book, it couldn't have been released at a worst time. Back in 1992, the media had a field day tearing Madonna apart for her sexually charged work in film, music, and for the first time in print. I mean, let's face it: we can't even discuss the album without mentioning THE BOOK. The book itself isn't as titilating as it is a bit naughty, and it's all very tongue in cheek. As for the album, much of the material couldn't even be classified as erotic. The first single/title track is merely suggestive, Madonna plays Dita, who promises/threatens a very interesting night in her dungeon. It's really all about Madonna striking more poses than anything else, also the case with the accompanying video and the photos in the book. Madonna is in various stages of undress, thrown into seedy sexual underworlds, at high class sex parties, eating pizza and hitchhiking in the buff. "Hey, it's a living", she seems to say, as she presses her breasts up against a windshield. Whatever the "Erotica" single was supposed to be, it's a dark, but not that daring turn on a long winding journey through artistic progression. This album is her darkest work, tetter tottering between pissed off, detached woman to broken, vulnerable little girl. She tells a lover to hit the road in "Bye Bye Baby", but doesn't really sound aggressive enough for her big talk to stick. "Words", her response to criticism and scrutiny sounds as though she is more hurt than vengeful. "Bad Girl" could be autobiographical in its depiction of a woman whose hedonistic behavior is doing her in. "I'm not happy when I act this way", she sings. And we believe her. She really doesn't sound happy on much of Erotica. The sassy cover of Peggy Lee's "Fever" doesn't quite match the original. Here, Madonna sounds pretty icy and not really all that eager to heat things up, which could be good or bad depending on how one feels about covers. Even on the triumphant disco-anthem "Deeper and Deeper", she doesn't sound as though she's celebrating love, but is acknowledging the price you pay for it. Don't get me wrong, her bitter sweet sensiblity and causal approach does work. But overall it's an album that explores pain rather than sex, which could have been the whole point. "Rain" is doused with a refreshing warmth and should rank as one her best ballads. I never understood why it didn't chart higher than it did. The single contains the breakthrough that changes the album at the very end. "Here comes the sun," she sings,referencing the Beatles both in blissful pop song lyrical frolic and a tendency to lean towards the avant garde in sound. Sound wise, Erotica is a minimal beat driven machine, with scaled down melodies, and house music that is only rough around the edges and at the core, anything from light jazz to lounge to hip hop (the rap in "Waiting" is much better than the one in "American Life"). "Why's it so Hard" is a call to arms to love thy neighbor as thyself, like many of Madonna's celebratory songs like "Keep it Together" and "Holiday" do best. Here, it comes after a media frenzy and an indentity built around controversy, freedom, independence and power. After all, 1992 was the year Madonna launched Maverick Records. What makes Erotica so different, is that in the one outlet that she set out to do, she isn't concerned about making a perfect album. Instead, Erotica is an intriguing and unusual animal in a career packed with glossy pop, some nice ballads, and some of the best dance songs os the past two decades. It derives it's energy not from what it lacks, but what it seperates itself from. Like Madonna's life it is a work in progress. She's up all night, plotting her next move, absorbing information at the speed of light, and at the cusp of something without ever really getting there.