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EROTICA is underrated


anel_
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I don't see it as "underrated".  It generally got a lot of positive reviews even from Rolling Stone.  Even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame considered it "revolutionary".  

The album got the attention it deserved. It's just she already did "Justify My Love" and by the time she released "Erotica" her image was a bit tainted.  In the U.S. (which is where the album suffered the most), she had already been deemed a "slut" among other not so nice names. This was  before the release of the "Sex" book.  Once the book was released, it only reinforced what people already had thought of her.  I think the book turned a lot of people off (but not before everyone wanted to see it. LOL!).  

I also don't view it as her "best album".  However, lyrically I think it was her best up to that point.  Once "Ray of Light" came along, that changed. 

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5 minutes ago, Liam said:

I don't see it as "underrated".  It generally got a lot of positive reviews even from Rolling Stone.  Even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame considered it "revolutionary".  

The album got the attention it deserved. It's just she already did "Justify My Love" and by the time she released "Erotica" her image was a bit tainted.  In the U.S. (which is where the album suffered the most), she had already been deemed a "slut" among other not so nice names. This was  before the release of the "Sex" book.  Once the book was released, it only reinforced what people already had thought of her.  I think the book turned a lot of people off (but not before everyone wanted to see it. LOL!).  

I also don't view it as her "best album".  However, lyrically I think it was her best up to that point.  Once "Ray of Light" came along, that changed. 

It got good reviews yes but it deserves to be in the greatest albums of all time lists and it isn't. It's such a superb pop album

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3 minutes ago, stormbringer said:

I wish she'd done more tracks with Andre. If I'm honest half the album I never to listen to anymore. I love Erotica, Fever, Where Life Begins, Bad Girl, Waiting, Rain and Secret Garden; the other tracks I skip.

Thief of hearts and words are in my top 3 favourites from the album

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30 minutes ago, anel_ said:

It got good reviews yes but it deserves to be in the greatest albums of all time lists and it isn't. It's such a superb pop album

Sorry, I just don't agree it's among the "greatest albums of all time", nor do I think it's "superb".  Lyrically, she went somewhere with it, I'll give her that.  I also agree she made some bold moves with this album (for the time).  There are some very unique and good songs on the album.  I wouldn't I consider it a  " superb pop" album either when most of the songs are modern house, classic disco, techno and new jack swing. Personally, I feel the album is a bit boring and long in the tooth. 

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Erotica is one of her best albums and the era itself is a career and culture defining moment.

An amazing era lyrically, musically, visually and vocally (she was on fire, some of the best vocals of her career). 

Erotica was more than music, it was a concept, a project, you had an album, a book, a movie, a tour, an alter ego. Simply groundbreaking, she made history. 

As for the albums you mentioned, It is absolutely on the same level as LAP and ROL while COADF, on the other hand, gets way too much credit, the credit You Can Dance deserves. 

 

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Erotica is her second best work in my personal chart. I also think it's a little underrated, especially for the strong musical and thematic identity and the originality it will always represent. It was indicated as one of the best experimental albums of the 90s by Rolling Stone though, a highly deseved recognition, and it's adored by many of her fans. Let me express my deep love in a few lines (I don't expect many of you will really read as they came out not that few, sorry) :sexy::sexy::sexy:

She was brave and creative, pushing that hard on the house vibe and fusioning the hipo hop sound with jazzy arrangements (Where Life Begins, Waiting, Secret Garden) and esthetically the track Erotica is an absolute masterpiece imo, with the pattern of background sounds, male voices, the cold "metallic" mood, with deeply dark and dramatic peaks in the sinth strings spreads of the second half.

Her ability to create a homogeneous sound, passing through different genres is really remarkable, from ragge (Why's it so hard) to 70s discomusic (Deeper and Deeper) to a jazz-blues old standard like Fever. In no other era, except Ray of Light, she was able to get that level (think about Music, a good album, various but not that cohesive, or Hard Candy, cohesive but not genre various).

Lyrically it really explored the sexual issue 100%. Sex is told as pleasure (Erotica, Fever, Where life begins), loneliness (Bad Girl), cause of discrimination (Why's it so hard, In this life), obsession (Waiting), maybe the only part she didn't explicitly focus on was the connection between the sexual act and love, taking love as a matter of his own (Rain, one of my favourite ballads, Words, Deeper and Deeper).

And then we have the visual aspect, one of the strongest and most interesting of her career, from the '20s-'30s Dietrich ispiration to the graphic concept, a rare example of appropriate and elegant rough-manufactured effect, too often used to create an intriguing mood around musical projects wich are unconnected with it (to stay in M's carrer I think "American Life" is a good example, excellent concept, good album, but just Die Another Day and American Life really fit the graphic hint for me). 

And then her voice, her subtle, sinuous voice...

Erotica is definitely one of the reasons I am here. Long live Queen Dita :smokey:

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I think "Erotica" gained praise and appreciation with time (plenty of great articles on its 20th and 25th anniversaries). At the time of its release however, the music got lost in the hype. I couldn't name a favourite Madonna album but "Erotica" is the one I listen to more than any other in her discography. Love it from start to finish (yes, that means "Did You Do It?" too) as well as the remixes from that era. I also wish she wrote more with Andre Betts.

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4 hours ago, anel_ said:

It got good reviews yes but it deserves to be in the greatest albums of all time lists and it isn't. It's such a superb pop album

I think most of her records should be in those lists :Madonna009: , but realistically that won't be possible. I think the album was perfect without that shit Did You Do It? which was totally unecessary due to the extensive lenght of the album tracks.

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2 hours ago, madgefan said:

I think most of her records should be in those lists :Madonna009: , but realistically that won't be possible. I think the album was perfect without that shit Did You Do It? which was totally unecessary due to the extensive lenght of the album tracks.

I agree that most of her albums should be in that list. She knows how to make an excellent album from start to finish. MDNA is another underrated album but more amongst the fans. I feel like MDNA will one day be appreciated

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4 hours ago, kesiak said:

I think "Erotica" gained praise and appreciation with time (plenty of great articles on its 20th and 25th anniversaries). At the time of its release however, the music got lost in the hype. I couldn't name a favourite Madonna album but "Erotica" is the one I listen to more than any other in her discography. Love it from start to finish (yes, that means "Did You Do It?" too) as well as the remixes from that era. I also wish she wrote more with Andre Betts.

Did you do it is a great track. I love that "clean up my riffle" part. Genius. 

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6 hours ago, LivingForLove94 said:

Erotica is one of her best albums and the era itself is a career and culture defining moment.

An amazing era lyrically, musically, visually and vocally (she was on fire, some of the best vocals of her career). 

Erotica was more than music, it was a concept, a project, you had an album, a book, a movie, a tour, an alter ego. Simply groundbreaking, she made history. 

As for the albums you mentioned, It is absolutely on the same level as LAP and ROL while COADF, on the other hand, gets way too much credit, the credit You Can Dance deserves. 

 

I like you. COADF is a teensy bit overrated but it's an amazing album. Personally I feel that Erotica and Music are up there with LAP and ROL. Then again all her albums are up there 

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1 minute ago, anel_ said:

I like you. COADF is a teensy bit overrated but it's an amazing album. Personally I feel that Erotica and Music are up there with LAP and ROL. Then again all her albums are up there 

+1

She has an outstanding body of work. We just have to look at the material she's able to come up with in her 4th (!!) decade: Ghosttown, Living for Love, Messiah, Inside Out, WAOM, Veni Vidi Vici, Joan of Arc, Love Spent, Falling Free, I'm Addicted....and I could go on and on.

She is LIFE, queen! :luv:

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4 minutes ago, LivingForLove94 said:

+1

She has an outstanding body of work. We just have to look at the material she's able to come up with in her 4th (!!) decade: Ghosttown, Living for Love, Messiah, Inside Out, WAOM, Veni Vidi Vici, Joan of Arc, Love Spent, Falling Free, I'm Addicted....and I could go on and on.

She is LIFE, queen! :luv:

There is a reason why she is the most critically acclaimed female artist of all time. Female singers/artists dream to make an album as amazing as Erotica

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8 hours ago, anel_ said:

Thief of hearts and words are in my top 3 favourites from the album

That makes 2 but whatever

Anyway, these songs specifically haven't aged well at all. The NYC dance/trance from the early 90s was already very debatable when it came out, it completely fell out of fashion very quickly and she's done much better with Orbit on ROL and Music since.

In comparison, Deee-Lite's World Clique, which came out 2 years before, aged much better because they had polished the sound, whereas M and Pettibone chose to keep the demo vibe. I'm pretty sure she was going after them while doing Erotica, since Groove is in the heart had overcharted Justify My Love in 1990.

 

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12 minutes ago, discohub said:

That makes 2 but whatever

Anyway, these songs specifically haven't aged well at all. The NYC dance/trance from the early 90s was already very debatable when it came out, it completely fell out of fashion very quickly and she's done much better with Orbit on ROL and Music since.

In comparison, Deee-Lite's World Clique, which came out 2 years before, aged much better because they had polished the sound, whereas M and Pettibone chose to keep the demo vibe. I'm pretty sure she was going after them while doing Erotica, since Groove is in the heart had overcharted Justify My Love in 1990.

 

I mean thief of hearts, words are in the top 3 along with secret garden

Imo thrift of heats and words is better because it has that demo sound. To me it's aged well

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2 minutes ago, anel_ said:

I mean thief of hearts, words are in the top 3 along with secret garden

Imo thrift of heats and words is better because it has that demo sound. To me it's aged well

To me, a song that ages well could be produced today or has some continuity with the current trends. It is absolutely not the case for those two as far as my ears are concerned.

But if you still dig them like the first time 25 years after, good for you !

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1 hour ago, LivingForLove94 said:

True, female artists easily get to their "True Blue" era but they're not able to succeed past it quality-wise. 

 

 

They try to make their own "like a prayer" album but don't do it as well as Madonna 

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