Bedtime Stories by Madonna
1994, Maverick, 11 tracks at 51 min.
It’s hard to deny the appealing design of this album: the slim Helvetica in ice cream parlor colors, the soft turquoise bed upon which Madonna lays, and even Madonna herself, in her imitative prime, acting as a vague ghost of Marilyn Monroe.
Moving from the Cindy-Sherman-esque connotations of the cover and onto the music, it’s clear that the postmodern motif is represented in the tunes as well. It’s difficult to judge this album since every single one of these songs is super-produced, oiled and mixed and flagellated into pop precision by the productive charms of Nellee Hooper, Dallas Austin, and Dave “Jam” Hall. You’ve doubtlessly heard “Secret” and “Take a Bow” at some point in the past fourteen years. And, taking the record through its first spin, the listener is smoothly taken into a swirling mass of R&B that seems endless.
Madonna made it clear with previous records and Truth or Dare that it’s all about image; that there’s no other Madonna besides the one you see throwing up her arms in praise and running from burning crosses. Madonna successfully reinvented herself time after time, from rebellious daddy’s girl to dance floor demigod to controversial coffee table piece.
On Bedtime Stories, Madonna knows she’s playing around. She’s nothing but image, free to invent a new personality, free to cleanse herself of allegations of whorishness and subsequently become a sensuous, subtle, and seductive coquette. When she sings that words “have lost all meaning” on “Bedtime Story,” she’s not kidding. This is a mindless, empty, verbally bereft album. It’s a perfect relic of the postmodern nineties. And that is what makes this album so great. There’s nothing to distract from the engineered smoothness of the music; the constant flow of relaxed melodies. Bedtime Stories indeed.
RATING: 4.5/5
hey,
i completely agree w. you, she is amazin' in everything she does!
shes A LEGEND, how can u deni it?
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