Madonna
Bedtime Stories

THE REVIEW

Yesterday, just for fun, I spent a couple of hours going through my personal music collection, looking for something forgotten yet valuable. I leafed through records from elementary school, middle school, and the more recent ones listened to once or twice. Among albums I'm ashamed to own ("Elephunk" by the Black Eyed Peas, an epically awful album, received as a gift from a cousin... well, it’s the thought that counts), nostalgic ones (the Spice Girls... how could I forget when I was madly in love with them?) and the more recent ones (Bjork, Radiohead, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Pj Harvey, Tori Amos, Sugarcubes, Sigur Ròs... my current loves), I found my Madonna CDs, cruelly forgotten under a heap of dust: back in middle school, before my love for Bjork arrived, I was madly in love with her.

Among "Like A Prayer," "Erotica," and the beautiful "Ray Of Light" (which I still listen to regularly), I took pleasure in rediscovering "Bedtime Stories," an album underrated by critics and the public, which instead reflects great personality. If "Erotica" was a forward-thinking, cold, and feverish album focused on languid and seductive sounds, "Bedtime Stories" is exactly the opposite: warm and enveloping, pure pop pleasure. Catchy and essential songs, never too long (as were the pieces of the albeit beautiful "Erotica"), that put you in a good mood: indeed, just the opening of "Survival" makes you smile: Veronica Ciccone improvises warm soul rhythms and sings over them with a voice that’s part childish, part sexual, creating a colorful pop tune that sticks in your head after just one listen. The album, then, is a kaleidoscope of more or less successful tracks, but without which the album wouldn't have achieved its completeness: accompanying syrupy and nearly useless pieces ("Forbidden Love" - strange that Madonna uses the same title for a completely different song on "Confessions On A Dancefloor" and the overrated "Take A Bow"), there are also truly moving and often rarely beautiful pseudo-trip hop pieces (the splendid "Inside Of Me", which, despite the rather banal lyrics, turns out to be a great trip-hop-flavored ballad, "I'd Rather Be Your Lover", a great piece of electronic influence, "Bedtime Story" is pure avant-garde, a piece written by none other than Bjork, which is perhaps the best on the album precisely for its experimentalism).

The fun "Human Nature", a dance-like piece where Madonna displays her irony in a track that targets those who did not appreciate the hot turn of "Erotica," also pops up; "Secret" is also good, a ballad with a golden heart, where over an acoustic guitar and a soul rhythm, Madonna manages to impress with really great vocal quality, and especially "Love Tried To Welcome Me", a piece obviously influenced by the more modern beats of the times: trip hop, house, and gentle electronica with jazz-soul accompaniment.

In conclusion, an excellent album, absolutely worth rediscovering and not prejudging, whose black sheep—meaning the track that turns out to be a disaster—is only "Don't Stop", a song abomination in terms of lyrics and sound, which drops a debaser star off an album that is still pleasant to listen to.