Customer Reviews

True Blue

5 star:		(113)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As I did with my review of Madonna's first album (remastered), I will start with comments on the actual track list, followed be comments on the digitally remastered version.

TRUE BLUE, in my mind, is probably Madonna at her most inspirational. Other flashes of excellence like RAY OF LIGHT and LIKE A PRAYER may indeed receive mention, but it is this album that will always peg Madonna as a serious and brilliantly gifted artist. Five songs were released to great success internationally, viz. "Live To Tell", "Papa Don't Preach", "Open Your Heart", "True Blue" and "La Isla Bonita". Moreover, "White Heat" was a fairly large hit in South Africa, and "Where's The Party" stormed the charts throughout the Far East. It is this latter song which begs to be remodelled and re-released in time for Madonna's upcoming Greatest Hits package (the 2nd "Immaculate Collection"). I personally fail to understand why this song was never released internationally in the first place.

The album opens with "Papa Don't Preach" - a superbly composed, poetic tune that sets a rather gloomy ambience. This is followed by "Open Your Heart", an upbeat, inspiring piece which is full of energy and aplomb. "White Heat" ensues, with a child-like theme akin to "cops `n robbers". We are then confronted by some hauntingly beautiful material in "Live to Tell", probably one of Madonna's strongest and most sincere ballads to date. This seriousness fails to last though, for "Where's The Party" lifts the spirits once again, as the lyrics ask us to "free our souls" and "lose control". Succeeding this wonderful dance tune is the title track, "True Blue", a love-inspired pop song, full of imagination and excited girliness. This is followed by "La Isla Bonita", a Spanish-influenced pop tune with catchy lyrics and seductive percussion. "Jimmy Jimmy" is the next track, a bubblegum pop song which is, sadly, the weakest on the album. TRUE BLUE ends on a rather energetic note, with the South American carnival-style influence in "Love Makes The World Go Round" - a fitting finalé to a well-rounded, tireless pop album.

The remodelled version of this 1986 album can simply be described as "impeccable". "Digitally Remastered" it is, and in more ways than one. The entire package has been enhanced, including the lyrics booklet and back cover. Fans will be delighted at the inclusion of a full-length TRUE BLUE picture within the lyrics booklet (as was featured in the original cassette version).

One finds it hard to believe the clarity of each song on this refreshingly enhanced CD. Like the remastered first album, some tunes on TRUE BLUE sound even more dance oriented than before - as their beats are far more distinctive and vibrant. "Where's The Party" and "Open Your Heart" are examples. In fact, "Where's The Party" sounds far more exciting than it originally did! The drums throb, and the synthesisers are lucid and precise. The inclusion of two bonus tracks will please many fans. "True Blue" (The Colour Mix) is definitely one of my favourites. Shep Pettibone was a master at remixing Madonna tracks, and this one is no exception. "La Isla Bonita" (Extended Remix), however, is not characteristically different to the album version - it is merely an extended version, and not nearly as polished as something Pettibone would have performed.

The digitally remastered version of "True Blue" is phenomenal, and is a must for the fan and the musically informed. It certainly is worthy of being nominated "Top 10 Album Of All Time".

Madonna's third album is now DIGITALLY REMASTERED on CD. It sounds absolutely clear and loud, a far cry from the poor-quality first edition releases. Of course, who can forget the string of hits such as Papa Don't Prteach, Open Your Heart, Live To Tell, La Isla Bonita and True Blue. It shows a more mature & confident Madonna especially with the songs Preach and the chilling ballad Tell.

Another bonus is the inclusion of original LP artwork. The full LP artwork is gloriously restored and looks like a mini-version of the LP sleeve. Just like the LP, the cover contains no title or words, just the pic of Madonna. Inside it shows the longer pic of Madonna till her shoulders like the cassetees. However, the bonus track listing is not as well integrated into the original print as the other 2 re-issues. The original tracklisting was handwritten by Madonna and the two additional tracks are tagged on in normal print which makes them look odd. The other small flaw is probably the transparent tray which, beneath it, contains an ugly print Warner Remasters and the 3 remastered album covers.

The last treat is the 2 bonus tracks included here. There are the slightly remixed version of True Blue andthe longer version of La Isla Bonita. It would have been nicer if these were re-remixed in 2001 and put out.

Overall, a worthwhile CD to buy for the sound quality and cover art.

Whereas her self-titled debut album and Like a Virgin earned Madonna legions of fans, True Blue won her a much-deserved level of respect in the music industry. Madonna transformed herself both musically as well as physically during the creation of her third album. Her new look of short blonde locks did not go over well with me, but True Blue was an unqualified success. Like a Virgin could conceivably be labeled glitzy and lacking true substance, but the same cannot be said of this collection of songs. Papa Don't Preach was somewhat controversial, but its mature theme and sound announced the fact that Madonna had something to say and knew how to say it to great effect. Live to Tell is the true gem here, though; this hauntingly beautiful ballad really shows off Madonna's talented singing voice; the bridge in the middle of the song is amazing and truly maximizes the emotional effects of the song on the listener. This one song surely silenced many a Madonna critic in its day. True Blue is a nice little song seemingly performed in the spirit of the 50s or 60s. La Isla Bonita shows Madonna's willingness to experiment and innovate her sound; its Latin sound and feel give it a fresh and calming effect which proves quite conducive to winning over the listener. I like White Heat, with its uptempo pace and strong beat, but the insertion of Jimmy Cagney lines throughout the song itself takes away from my enjoyment to some degree. Love Makes the World Go Round is an effective closing track; it somehow seems to combine the new, more emotion-laced lyrics of several True Blue songs with Madonna's more familiar dance sound.

Two songs that never really won me over are Jimmy Jimmy and Where's the Party. Jimmy Jimmy features some beats that remind me very much of Over and Over, and it also just seems derivative of something I cannot really identify. I know a lot of people like Where's the Party, and it is a fun, feel-good song conducive to dancing, but I find it a little repetitive and lacking a certain oomph.

My favorite song on True Blue, and one of my favorite Madonna songs of all time, is definitely Open Your Heart. Vivid memories of the video naturally aid my remembrance of the song, but musically Open Your Heart knocks down the doors of your mind with its driving beat and takes up permanent residence in your brain's jukebox (which is responsible for programming the finite number of songs you find looping around inside your head on a daily basis). This isn't my favorite Madonna album, but it is one of her greater musical successes. More than that, True Blue is a testament to the talents and hard work of the artist; following up the smash hit Like a Virgin, there must have been a lot of pressure on Madonna to match her previous success--she not only matched it, she outdid herself by expanding her whole musical repertoire in such a way as to garner critical success. With this album, Madonna declared to the world, in bright neon lights, that she was a musical phenomenon who would be a dominating force in the music industry for years and years to come.

Because I consider each of Madonna's efforts outstanding, I believe it is hard to proclaim one such effort her very best, but TRUE BLUE truly is her most spectacular album. While LIKE A PRAYER and RAY OF LIGHT have critics dueling over which is better, I consider TRUE BLUE seamless, while I find flaws (albeit few) in both LIKE A PRAYER and RAY OF LIGHT.

Most people single out "Jimmy Jimmy" as the most pedestrian song on the record, but, in keeping with the nostalgic ambience of the album, it stands out as an irresistible delight. Like "True Blue" and "Love Makes the World Go 'Round," it is an innocuous tribute to the girl-group splendor of the 1960s.

Of course, everyone knows the standouts: "Papa Don't Preach," "Open Your Heart," "Live To Tell," and "La Isla Bonita." These four songs answer for themselves; no Madonna album since has featured four songs as magnificent as these works of art. The production style is flawless. Madonna, Patrick Leonard and Steve Bray work extraordinarily well. Of course, the Leonard collaborations are always exceptional ("Oh Father," "Frozen," "The Power of Good-bye"), but "Live To Tell" is simply the greatest song ever written. No other work is as sensitive, beautiful or moving as this musical masterpiece.

While LIKE A PRAYER and RAY OF LIGHT are considered her more personal records, I consider TRUE BLUE her most musical affair. The album has something for everyone. Latin beats ("La Isla Bonita"), ballads ("Open Your Heart," "Live To Tell"), dance ("White Heat," "Where's The Party?") and homages ("True Blue," "Jimmy Jimmy," "Love Makes the World Go 'Round"). TRUE BLUE demonstrates Madonna's musical flirtations with just about every great style of music.

Madonna dedicates TRUE BLUE to her former husband, Sean Penn: "the coolest guy in the universe." What a muse.

MADONNA - TRUE BLUE

PAPA DON'T PREACH: is an absolute classic but the more that I listen to it I realize that there could have been so much more done musically with this song. Nonetheless it is brilliant. I give this a 4/5.
OPEN YOUR HEART: is perhaps one of Madonna's most perfectly crafted pop songs that she released during the eighties. Sheer perfection. 5/5
WHITE HEAT: has such a catchy riff to it and though i'm not completely sure of the theme, it offers up enough to bring the listener right into Madonna's little tale. 3/5
LIVE TO TELL: is the perfect ballad for Madonna. It's almost what makes this record. And boy did she ever live to tell. 5/5
WHERE'S THE PARTY: I find that this song is way to bubblegum for Madonna. While it is a fun, ambitious and upbeat song, I would just expect more from Madonna. 3/5
TRUE BLUE: This title track has the same bubblegum flavor as Where's The Party but in this case it actually works! Her voice is angelic on this track and she doesn't over do it. 4/5
LA ISLA BONITA: Madonna the true pioneer. Before latin pop was all the rage we of course had Madonna giving it a try in that late eighties. Not only did she give it a try she succeeded better than those of latin origin that came about in the late nineties. 5/5
JIMMY JIMMY: This is the one weak song on this record. I tried listening to this over and over and it just does nothing for me. 2/5
LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND: While I enjoy this song I can't help but think it sounds like some vacation package jingle that tries to get us to believe we can really go to The Bahamas for 499.99. That aside, this song is a nice way to end off the record, upbeat with a positive message. 3/5

Overall this is of course an impressive offering from Madonna. But does she ever really disappoint?

Great packaging, excellent remastering, 12" versions of True Blue and La Isla Bonita. However, with the available space on the disc, the record company could have completed the "True Blue" era with the 12" versions of Papa Don't Preach and Open Your Heart.

-True Blue (1986)-

Released back in 1986, this album made Madonna an even bigger superstar then she had become with "Like a Virgin". It peaked at #1, and has gone on to sell more than 7 million copies in the US alone. The album contains 5 huge Top 5 singles, 3 of which made it to #1. "Live to Tell" for 1 week, "Papa Don't Preach" for 2 weeks, and "Open Your Heart" for 1 week. "True Blue" made it to #3, while "La Isla Bonita" made it to #4. I often regard "Live to Tell", "Papa Don't Preach", and "La Isla Bonita" as three of Madonna's absolute best 80s songs. "Open Your Heart" and "True Blue" are both also very good.

1. Papa Don't Preach (10/10)
2. Open Your Heart (10/10)
3. White Heat (8/10)
4. Live to Tell (10/10)
5. Where's the Party (10/10)
6. True Blue (10/10)
7. La Isla Bonita (10/10)
8. Jimmy, Jimmy (8/10)
9. Love Makes the World Go Round (10/10)
10. True Blue [The Color Mix] (8/10)
11. La Isla Bonita [Extended Remix] (9/10)

While quite a few of the unreleased songs on this album are pretty weak, when the songs are good, they're great! The best unreleased song is definitely "Where's the Party", which is one of Madonna's absolute best dance songs. "Love Makes the World Go Round" is also very good, with a very good message. "White Heat" is one of the rockiest songs Madonna has made, and is pretty good, but I really don't like the spoken parts. "Jimmy, Jimmy" is just pure pop, and is definitely my least favorite song on the album. Like I've said before, the remixes are good, but I prefer the originals. I do happen to like the "La Isla Bonita" remix more than I like some remixes though. All in all, another classic 80s album from the Queen of Pop.

My Top 5 off of the album are...

5) Open Your Heart
4) Where's the Party
3) La Isla Bonita
2) Papa Don't Preach
1) Live to Tell

Madonna's biggest album in worldwide sales, TRUE BLUE was a huge smash in the US as well. The album spent five weeks at #1 on the Hot 200 and has sold 20 million copies worldwide, with a hefty seven million copies (that's Platinum 7 times over) sold in the US alone. Madonna took a very active role in producing the record, and had a hand in writing all nine songs. Her singing voice was also noticeably stronger this time around, with more control and emotion. This was also the first full-length recording where the pitch of Madonna's vocals were not mechanically altered, leaving the album with sexier, more adult-sounding aura than her previous albums.

Madonna's vocals have rarely sounded as confident and impassioned as on the semi-controversial hit "Papa Don't Preach" (#1 Pop, #16 Adult Contemporary, #4 Dance), during which her intense delivery convinces us that this song really matters. She gives a similarly effective vocal on the smash fourth single "Open Your Heart" (#1 Pop, #1 Dance), which is a terrific dance track, despite some unimaginative lyrics ("I hold the lock, you hold the key"). Madonna's incredibly determined performance (and the song's blistering rock-infused sound) makes "Open Your Heart" a standout. It does not matter that her strained voice sometimes sounds raspy and off-key, because when she sings, "don't try to run, I can keep up with you," the listener can really feel her determination. The conviction in her performances are more evident in these two songs than in anywhere else in her entire career, and it single-handedly makes both songs classics. These are also the only two songs on the album that Madonna co-wrote with outside songwriters, she collaborated with mainstays Patrick Leonard and Steve Bray on the remaining seven tracks.

One of those Ciccone-Leonard compositions remains one of Madonna's best-written song: the pensive smash "Live To Tell" (#1 Pop, #1 Adult Contemporary). Originally featured in the film AT CLOSE RANGE, "Live To Tell" is a complex ballad which Madonna lends even more maturity and intensity to with her still-yearning-after-all-these-years performance. There were some critics (including ROLLING STONE magazine) who argued that "Live To Tell" was a rewrite of Joni Mitchell's simple folk ballad "Both Sides Now," but I honestly don't hear it that way at all. As a matter of fact, it remains Madonna's finest moment as a songwriter, in my opinion. Her seemingly newfound maturity is also present in the vivid "La Isla Bonita" (#4 Pop, #1 Adult Contemporary) and scorching "White Heat", both also written with Leonard.

Leonard and Bray are obviously key figures in Madonna's mid-eighties success, and together the three of them manage to even make some otherwise flimsy songs work much better than they should. For example, Madonna, Leonard, and Steve Bray pool their considerable talents on the obvious-but-fun "Where's The Party," while the irresistible Ciccone-Bray title track (#3 Pop, #6 Dance) is paper-thin, but completely adorable. Unfortunately, the remaining two songs are shockingly weak - TRUE BLUE definitely isn't as consistent as MADONNA or LIKE A VIRGIN. Madonna and Leonard really fumble with the embarrassingly saccharine "Love Makes The World Go Round," which is so sugary that it may give listeners cavities upon listening. Madonna and Steve Bray also really hit rock-bottom with the grating "Jimmy Jimmy," which is quite possibly the most annoying number that Madonna ever committed to vinyl.

The album would probably play much better if the weaker numbers weren't sequenced right at the end, however, even then, TRUE BLUE'S parts are still greater than the sum. Even though it has some of Madonna's best work, the album really never plays as a satisfying whole. Where Nile Rodgers' inventive production unified much of LIKE A VIRGIN and carried the listener through that album's few weak moments, TRUE BLUE'S multiple producers (including Madonna, Leonard, and Bray) give the album a patchwork feel that makes the filler really stand out. Even the terrific singles don't really seem to belong on the same disc. However, TRUE BLUE contains so many big hits (it's nine tracks include five Top Five hits) that it's flaws won't bother most listeners. Plus the end result is still quite good, and it gives you a taste of the maturity that was to come three years later with LIKE A PRAYER.

"True Blue" was my first exposure to Madonna's music back in the late '80s. Ten years and plus some I relieve those days with a remastered version of "True Blue". I almost forgot how much I love the title track. "True Blue" has such a '60s pop feel to the song. It's upbeat and catchy. "La Isla Bonita" is my other all time favorite Madonna song pre-"Ray of Light". I love how Madonna incorporates flamenco guitar and an overall latin feel to the song long before that wretched latin movement in the past couple of years. Madonna was way ahead of her time, long before Christina Aguilera decided to put out a spanish album. "Live to Tell" is classic Madonna. The ballad is probably one of the best ballads Madonna has ever done in her career and back then the song was a foretelling of her abilities to put out great ballads. A lot of people interpret "Papa Don't Preach" as a pro-life/anti-choice song but I don't think so. I think Madonna's intentions were to make people think and decide what she was singing about. The remixes of "True Blue" and "La Isla Bonita" are excellent too.

Besides having the best cover for any Madonna cd, this album has to be the best Madonna has released ever!

I don't think too many will disagree when I say her recent releases haven't really compared to the brilliance that is True Blue.

True Blue redefined the music of the decade and reshaped the future sound of music with it's distinct rhythms and use of melodic lyrics.

The highlights include Papa Don't Preach, White Heat, La Isla Bonita, and Open Your Heart. These songs are so reminiscent of the 80's that I virtually step back in time everytime I put the vinyl version on.

For those who have rated this album three stars or less, I beg you to Open Your Heart, let your body move to the music and let your body go with the flow!