Like A Virgin - Madonna (CD 2001)

Madonna's sophomore effort, there s plenty of calculation at work here after the unexpected success of Madonna , the singer made sure to capitalize. Out with the funky disco pet, in with the determined harlot; plenty of outside songwriters to provide the hits, and of course, a couple of controversial tunes guaranteed to get tongues wagging and the publicity machine stirring.

Despite the disappointing proliferation of outside writers, their material is at least decent - in fact, the weaker links are mostly the Madonna-penned songs. Lead single Like A Virgin is hopelessly eighties, but it s still annoyingly catchy despite the obvious attempt at shock factor with the cooing like a virgin, touched for the very first time hook and Madonna s Minnie-Mouse-on-helium vocals. Material Girl is also blessed with catchiness on both its verses and chorus, with a fun but incredibly gloopy and tinny neo-blue-beat background. Much has been made of the song s supposed pro-materialism, but I can t take the underproduced cotton-candy sound and Madonna s poodle yelps as anything but ironic (a woman famed for her steel will and fierce independence extolling the delights of being a leech? Come on.) I still shamelessly enjoy both of those songs, but my absolute favourite is the kicking Dress You Up , which draws a fun parallel between fashion and 'lurve' coupled with another wonderful chorus and deliciously cheesy guitar solo in the Burning Up tradition.

Of Madonna s self-penned songs, I quite like Angel in a teenybopper high-school prom way, but it s a weak hit single, and one I expect was buoyed in the US by having the stunning Into The Groove on the B-side; that song is also available on certain reissues of this album. Its job would have been done better by the determined Over and Over , which boasts hilarious innuendo while espousing Madonna s do things my own way raison d etre.

Sadly, the other four songs here are rotten, rote eighties filler that s a triumph of style over substance, with plenty of second-string hooks that were probably rejected from Madonna . I could have enjoyed Shoo-Bee-Doo , which opens with a pleasant acoustic piano, but as soon as those overprocessed synths come in, I m outta there (and that s not even mentioning the cliched saxophone solo).

The other ballad, a cover of Love Don t Live Here Anymore , is similarly poor, a bland musical background coupled with a lackluster and forced vocal performance from Madonna that sounds like a nine-year old s first demo tape. The stonefaced role of jilted lover is just not for her and from that performance, she knows it too.

Still, while the filler here is a waste of time, the hits are good stuff, and it remains the only way to get Dress You Up without purchasing the old single. A 3-star rating best represents the disparity between hits and filler, but I'd feel free to raise that to a 3.5 should you spy a copy with the mighty Into The Groove (one of her best pure dance manifestos) on it. A listenable follow-up, but it could have been better.

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