Madonna has made so many albums I’ve lost count. This is the crème de la crème of her work that is not a greatest hits album. It was made in 1989 and features many of her best songs including: ‘Oh Father’, ‘Cherish’ and ‘Express Yourself’ as well as the title track, ‘Like a Prayer’.
Like a prayers material is varied from song to song and shows her true feelings and emotions. It was her first break from teenybopper pop that she had been doing before into controversial issues and she really does ‘express herself’.
So what makes this album so good? Lets have a look…
1: Like a Prayer (5.51) This song when released caused a huge stir. It was meant to originally be on a Pepsi advert. When they saw the video and how angry people were about it, they didn’t want Madonna to promote them anymore (she kept the $5 million they gave her as well).
The song opens with the sudden rush of guitars and then the sound of a church choir. The video explores religious ecstasy. It has her burning crucifixes and kissing a black Jesus. The lyrics are a cross between a love song to a partner and God. Madonna herself being a raised catholic shows her faith in a very interesting, original way.
There is a gentle beat to the back of the song making it great to dance to. There is also clapping in the background to keep beat and as well to add the sound
of a church in congregation feeling to the song.
2: Express Yourself (4.04) This is about women taking control and not settling for your lot, this is obviously a very strong issue to Madonna as she herself represents this issue. The video to this song cost over $1, which at the time was the second most expensive video of all time after Michael Jackson’s ‘thriller’ video. It is set in a factory where Madonna is in control of all the workers.
The song has a very loud beat to it, Madonna’s voice drowns this out showing that she is control. Its is brilliant for dancing which is not a surprise because I cant think of many Madonna songs that don’t have their own dance (vogue comes to mind).
3: Love Song This is a duet with Prince. It opens with Madonna speaking French. The empty sounds of the background drum intros then Madonna and prince start to sing. Their voices don’t mix very well and the beat is very jumpy and strange. They constantly repeat ‘are you wasting my time?’ The drum then gets the accompaniment of a keyboard and the chorus starts. Over al the song sounds like one big struggle. It is about a bad patch in a relationship when you are not sure if the person is just playing with you or trying not to hurt you. Its not very good and I normally skip this song to one of the better songs on the album.
4: Death Do Us Part This is one of my favourite songs on the album. Its about a marriage that has gone wrong. He doesn’t love her anymore and she loves him too much to leave.
It song has a very bouncy sound to it which contradicts with the sad lyrics. There are parts of the song, which slow down, this part of the song is like a story. Madonna’s gentle voice turns more into her speaking as she tells the listener events that have happened like the husband breaking the door and drinking himself silly. The song could be to do with Madonna’s failed marriage to Sean Penn, which broke up just before the album was released.
5: Promise To Try This song opens with a piano and the sincere voice of Madonna. As the song only features a piano it sounds very hollow which is how you feel when someone dies. It is about the death of Madonna’s mother who was also called Madonna.
It tells a story of her mother dying and how she cried even though it was her mother who was really in pain and not her. It looks at how she felt as a child wondering if she could see her in heaven.
6: Cherish The video to this song is full of mermen on a beach. It’s a very happy song about lust. Madonna really likes the person and wants to be with them. She cherishes every moment with them and compares them to Romeo and Juliet who killed themselves because they couldn’t live without each other.
The music is very plain with a simple beat making it good to dance to and put you in a jolly mood.
7: Dear Jessie The video to this song is a cartoon. It’s not very good. The song itself however is a very long lullaby. It’s about children’s dreams of mermaids, candy and ice cream.
8: Oh Father This song is about two things. Firstly Madonna’s relationship with her strict father and secondly the failure of her first Marriage. It has an orchestra in the background making it a very sweet song. The loud contrast between chorus and verse show the happiness to come in the future. The background singers in the song sound almost church like representing the innocence she has as a child.
It has a prayer like quality in the middle of the song where she chants oh father. The lyrics afterwards are like God listening and advising her to get through it as things are about to get better.
9: Keep It Together This song is about family. Madonna grew up in a very large family which she talks about in this song. It is her song to her family saying that what ever happens they will always be hers and she will love them. She wouldn’t change them or anything they had done. It has a very happy beat which makes it a good song to sing along to and dance to. Its something everyone can relate to because however much you hate your siblings we all care for them deep down.
10: Spanish Eyes The song opens with a guitar and then a gentle drum. The piano slowly creeps in as then does the gentle voice of Madonna. Her singing is not to brilliant in the song but this adds to the song. It sounds child like which really goes for some reason.
It is a slow song about a man, ‘Spanish eyes’ who has gone to fight in a war. She cries and prays for his safe return and hope that he can hear her. It’s a very sweet song but not a very good dance song like some of the album
11: Act Of Contribution This is a prayer at the end of the album. It’s very short and not really worth a listen. If you do want to hear it I suggest that you turn up the volume, as it is very quiet.
In conclusion to this album I would like to say that it is worth every penny (or downloading time). It is not from a teeny bopper but from a matured artist who is expressing from her heart and soul instead of trying to please the crowd.
It’s varied. Some of it is great for a dance and some parts make you want to cry.
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Considered by many to be the Material Girl's most mature effort of the 1980s,Like a ... more
Prayerupped the ante of controversy with its gospel-infused title track and the singer's emotional confessions throughout. It also unveiled the hit "Express Yoursel...
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Considered by many to be the Material Girl's most mature effort of the 1980s, Like a ... more
Prayer upped the ante of controversy with its gospel-infused title track and the singer's emotional confessions throughout. It also unveiled the hit "Express Your...
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