Erotica [PA] - Madonna (CD 1992)

From writhing around in a wedding dress and cooing Like A Virgin to making out with Jesus in her Like A Prayer video, Madonna s career has pretty much been an ongoing war against Western values regarding sexuality, especially that of women. Never was she more explicit than during the Erotica period, from the sexual topics covered on this album through her metal bound stroke book Sex and disastrous erotic thriller Body of Evidence and boy, did people hate it, as her former fans turned their backs in droves.

Turns out, the joke was on them. I find it hard to view Erotica and Sex without a massive dose of irony, as neither are sexy or erotic at all. They re cold and mechanical, and I d imagine the sterility and posturing was the whole point. Just look at the gratuitous front cover and liner pictures: toe-sucking and S&M rendered in cold and distorted colours. The music is the aural equivalent of that, and will strongly dictate how you feel about it it's three songs dealing with sexual fantasies and role playing surrounded by ones about collapsing relationships and self-hate. Deliberately underproduced, it has all the warmth of an quick, anonymous hook-up and as far as I m concerned, that s the whole point. Madonna may be calculating, but let's not forget she's a shrewd businesswoman.

You may wonder why I m discussing this sociological stuff in what should be an album review, but one really links to the other. Expect warm dancey grooves and you ll hate this, embrace the ice and it s damn satisfying. The songs aren't really bothered with hooks - they're present, but the main focus is on the dark thumping vibe that permeates the whole CD.

Each track has its own idiosyncratic flavour. I love the pounding beats and sexual bravado of Erotica with its memorable hook as Madonna orders you to put your hands all over my body , as well as the off kilter shinai and violent bass on Words and glass-shattering effects on the cheesy-yet-nasty Thief Of Hearts . Bye Bye Baby is more experimental, using the tinny soundscape of a phone hook-up as Madge delivers a venomous hip-hop kiss-off to a cheating ex; while urban jazz cut Waiting sees her flip the expecting love clich on its head as she waits for her guy to break her heart.

Deeper and Deeper and Rain are the most commercial songs, the former being a wonderfully flamboyant disco groove (love the flamenco guitar), and the latter an excellent ballad about loss with pretty harmonies and a metallic soundscape that aurally embodies an approaching storm.

But Bad Girl is my favourite, a beautiful minor-key ballad that blows Ray of Light out of the water in its dealing with the issue of fame, as told by a woman who destroys everything she touches and just wants to get out of it without hurting anyone. It s utterly believable when Madonna claims she [doesn t] want to cause you any pain, but I love you just the same , because this is all personal and believable Madonna material. Her lyrics are better than ever before, deconstructing sex and relationships effortlessly while almost completely avoiding triteness.

She only stumbles on Why s It So Hard and In This Life , whose love each other tones don t really fit in with the rest of the CD although I still like the individual songs. The album closer is the lush jazzy free-form Secret Garden , a calm and hopeful ending to a relentlessly sad LP, which shows the best of both worlds as Madonna gets arty while keeping me dancing and entertained. A great album, but be warned - like an S&M slave, you have to work to enjoy it!

Other Madonna Album Reviews:
Madonna
Like A Virgin
True Blue
Like A Prayer
Bedtime Stories
Ray of Light
Music
American Life
Confessions On A Dance Floor