"What do you mean it's not in the computer!?" - Madonna - Like a Prayer POLL

She dumped Leonard in 1997 after she said his work was "too Peter Gabriel" (US-era presumably). She got a couple songs out of him for ROL.

Bowie-esque:

She'd start writing lyrics and oftentimes there was an implied melody. She would start with that and deviate from it. Or if there was nothing but a chord change, she'd make up a melody. But, a lot of the time in my writing there's a melody implied or I even have something in mind. But she certainly doesn't need that. [...] She would write the lyrics in an hour, the same amount of time it took me to write the music, and then she'd sing it. We'd do some harmonies, she'd sing some harmony parts, and usually by three or four in the afternoon, she was gone".

The bassline on 'Like a Prayer' rules so hard.

he dumped Leonard in 1997 after she said his work was "too Peter Gabriel" (US-era presumably). She got a couple songs out of him for ROL.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 20, 2017 10:59 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I would have loved to have heard that direction! The material would have been great, too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i shed some tears for contrition, till death and jessie before finally going with my gut and voting for the sublime gospel cocksucking title track that cemented my love for her in the first place.

I love how 'Till Death Us Do Part' is a seemingly endless series of hooks.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

holy shit @ #2

(I voted for it)

Yessss

love the spread of votes across the album. am i wrong in thinking that if this poll had been done 20 years ago, the title song and "express yourself" would have run away with it?

'Promise to Try' deserved a vote or two - love her vocal on that. 'Till Death Us Do Part' rules, so not surprised to see it up there, I'm guessing it's now the go-to track on the album for those burnt out on the title track.

Blasting this again right now and it's sounding as fresh as it did when I first heard it.

got the album on vinyl the other day, listened to it on headphones this morning, and am reminded that I thought it was Tony Levin on this song when I heard it first in '89. But its Guy Pratt, surely playing a stick?

Prince is evidently playing guitar on that song and "keep it together," as well as doing all of "Love song" —maybe not what it could be, but it's still THOSE TWO. And of course that's him going bugshit on "Act on Contrition," but has that been confirmed anywhere?

I did cry listening to "Dear Jessie" for the first time in 30 years, being that I have a two year old girl. Does Outic count this song as toytown psych?

Pratt recalled that after the middle chorus was recorded, she notified the musicians of some changes in the production. "Jonathan, do less of the high-hat in the middle eight, and more of a fill towards the end. Guy, I want duck eggs [semibreves] on the end, and Chester, bring in your guitar on the second verse," she instructed.

This is from the last Madonna bio.

perfect top three imo

Still can't believe that 'Promise to Try' got 0 votes. It's beautiful.

They never laugh, not like before
She takes the keys, he breaks the door
She cannot stay here anymore
He's not in love with her anymore

He takes a drink, she goes inside
He starts to scream, the vases fly
He wishes that she wouldn't cry
He's not in love with her anymore

He makes demands, she draws the line
He starts to fight, she starts the lie
But what is truth when something dies
He's not in love with her anymore

My favorite Madonna track

Saw this tour, loved it; have still never heard this album (or any Madonna album) front to back.

Express Yourself was robbed

This album.

I Cherish it, especially that song.

I'm surprised there hasn't been a deluxe edition by now. (To be fair, plans for a series of album deluxe sets were announced a while ago, but still nothing.)