Madonna has always been sexual. It's an accepted fact of who Madonna is as a person and as an artist. From the sleazy come on of Physical Attraction to the sly innuendo hinted at in Like A Prayer, Madonna has always had an itch that needed to be scratched. And by the time her fifth studio album, the aptly named Erotica was released, we all knew just a little too much about how Madonna needed that itch to be scratched. Not that I personally have anything against how Madonna chose to express herself sexually; in fact I embrace it as a bigger part of her overall picture. But while on songs like Justify My Love and the aformentioned Physical Attraction Madonna left a little of what makes true seduction sexy: mystery. Imagination goes a long way in the case of fantasy and sexuality, and in 1992 and with Erotica it seems like that that was the only thing Madonna wasn't putting on display.
Erotica is an interesting listen to put it mildly; it's a concept album that works in two very specific, albeit different, ways. One is the obvious: Erotica is about the pleasure of and the consequences of sexual gratification in all it's forms. From the S&M heavy title track to the regretful(and very weird) Secret Garden, every song on Erotica uses sex as its' springboard; some tracks are more explicit than others but the overall theme remains the same. Erotica is like an audio guide to navigating the do's and don'ts of the sexual experience in the early nineties,and coming off from the AIDS ravaged 80's, there was no better guide than Madonna. Who else better to warn her flock of Madonnabes about the dangers of falling in love, physical or otherwise. The second way Erotica works is a little more obtuse than merely suggesting that Erotica is about Madonna and her raging hormones. On Erotica, Madonna somewhat follows a loose idea of what an pop-influenced acid Jazz album would sound like; several of the tracks obviously are a tribute to the sound that Madonna was going for, most notable of all is Fever. Fever, after all, is a all time Jazz standard first made famous by the original chanteuse, Peggy Lee. Ambitious? Yes. Well executed? Not entirely. And I could say that for the entire Erotica album. While I have already mentioned my shy admiration for Madonna's bold sexuality, my problem with Erotica is that while it has been branded Madonna's "sex" record, in reality it's not very......erotic at all. But hey, average and sometimes bad sex is better than no sex at all, right?
It's name is T-B-T and it'll be your mistress tonight!
1.Erotica: Rare is a song that is cool in it's original, demo, remixed and album form, but Erotica is just that rare of a song. Erotica, for basically being a more beat heavy retread of Justify My Love, still manages to pique my interest; during Erotica, Madonna(or Dita, perhaps we should call her) is determined to show her listeners who's boss by practically forcing us to our knees with her cock sure attiude on what she thinks we want to hear-and do. Dita is 100% positive that she will be the one to teach us how to......well, you know the rest. Over an intriguing taste of Kool and the Gang's Jungle Boogie, Madonna is the cock of the walk brandishing her sexuality and her desire for control like weapons that are not to be toyed with. Madonna, on Erotica unlike Justify My Love comes off rigid and ice cold. You can almost visualize the dungeon and sex toys as she sings and truth be told I kinda like it. Now what the fcuk does that say about me?..............SCORE:8.5/10
2.Fever: Some songs Madonna shouldn't attempt to cover and unfortunately, Fever is one of them. Originally a Jazz inflected torch song by late 40's diva Peggy Lee, Madonna takes Fever and reheats it into a robotic exercise in flirting,-or what is construed as flirting- for the 90's club scene. And it fails. Miserably. While Madonna gives a solid vocal performance, the song itsself is hopelessly lost to the early ninetiess thanks to an extremely generic looped four note sythesizer arrangement that has no spark of Madonna's originality or creativity. Fever was obviously meant to burn up the dancefloors, but instead, the song has me reaching for my NyQuil......SCORE:4/10
3.Bye Bye Baby: And Madonna-I'd like to blame Shep Pettibone for this, but really Madonna is the one with the finaly say- continues with the generic early 90's drum machine sound from Erotica that works a little less better each time it's formulated. And is that a uncredited sample of It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock that I hear? Madonna, once the lead sadist in charge, on Bye Bye Baby plays the scorned masochist finally wising up to the fact that her fcuk buddy is going to be nothing more than that, while she is looking for more. And while playing wounded-and utilizing an annoying baby doll whisper of a voice for the chorus-Madonna manages to come off strong and the one better for wear, all the while questioning her lover's real motivations. If you can ignore Madonna's ridiculous rendition of Betty Boop, and pay attention to her lyrics, Bye Bye Baby is a richly satisfying icy kiss off to the idea of sex being meaningful to only one person in a friends with benefits situation......SCORE:8/10
4.Deeper and Deeper: When Madonna brings the hits, she does not disappoint, because Deeper and Deeper is one hell of a fantastic dance floor filler, even if it does contains some rather unique subject matter. Whether or not the song is actually about a coal miner coming out of the closet to his parents- I think it is, considering the album-is subject to debate and rather irrelevant when it comes to the sheer grooviness (I promise never to use that world again, I swear!) of Deeper and Deeper, which is guarenteed to get bodies out on the dancefloor. People who don't even like Madonna(What? Is that even possible?)swear by this song and it's easy to see-or hear-why. Deeper and Deeper is one of those early ninety dance anthems that doesn't sound forced or mass produced. Here, Madonna begins to detox herself off her need for drum machines and instead relies on the unusual, but quite effective, presence of a flamenco guitar, or all things. And it must be said that Madonna referring back to her previous dance smash Vogue-"...and you gotta mooove to the music," is a very nice touch...........SCORE:9.5/10
5.Where Life Begins: As we delve deeper into Madonna's not so sudden fascination with sex and the many forms of sexual gratification, Madonna was bound to cross some line of good taste and Where Life Begins the most obvious offender. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong about singing about female oral copulation-for those who enjoy that sort of thing-but when the said song contains such lines as "Colonel Sanders said it best/Finger Lickin' Good"- it's kinda hard to take seriously without picturing Col. Sanders going where most men loathe to go and not rupturing your gag reflex in the process. Seriously, this song sucks(semi-pun intended). Besides some of the most absurd lyrics I've ever heard in a pop song, Madonna's spoken word-which will continue throughout the record-recessitation is both flippant and insulting. She sounds like she's not even trying, and even worse, she sounds like she doesn't even care that we know she wasn't trying. It's like one big audio practical joke and one that's not particularily funny. But at least the acid- Jazzesque baseline keeps the "song"(yeah, right)in thematical context with the rest of Erotica. That's gotta count for something, right?................SCORE:0/10
6.Bad Girl: It's funny that Madonna, during the album sequencing process for Erotica, would choose to follow one of the absolute worst(Yes, even worse than Shoo-Be-Doo!) songs of her career with one of her best and understated. Not to mention a huge fan favorite. Bad Girl is a sorrowful and unflinching ballad, taking a way-too-close for comfort look at the emotional onsequences of a life full of meaningless casual sex and random one night stands, and one can't help but wonder if the song is autobiographical. Madonna sings her lyrics with such a mournful honesty, uncommon for most of her material of this re invention of her career, and Bad Girl's more traditional live instrumentation gives the song a genuine and credible "torch song" quality. Why this song was ignored on both Something to Remember and on GHV2 is one of the great unsolved Madonna mysteries of her career. Maybe Bad Girl hit a little too close to home perhaps?...........SCORE:11/10
7.Waiting: takes a more modern hip-hop approach to what could be considered Jazz, as Madonna plays the neglected lover chanteuse to the hilt, combining spoken word verses with a sneakily catchy chorus/hook. And while Waiting has all the chararistics of what a pop song sounded like in 1992-you decide if that's a good or bad thing-but Madonna and Andre Betts unique combination of drum and bass percussion and juke joint piano is inspired enough rescue Waiting from being mere album filler..........SCORE:8/10
8.Thief of Hearts: Of the many things that Madonna does better than the average pop artist, knowing and respecting her target audience and giving them what they want accordingly is the near the top of the list. Thief of Hearts is absolutely perfect for the Drag Balls and gay club scene Madonna was looking to regain(yeah, like she ever left)from her nearest competitor at the time, Janet Jackson, and the song does so with a brittle vengeance. The track, so beyond camp that it's above mocking reproach, was tailor made for drag queen "vogue-offs" with it's cheap, repetitive production(that's not a bad thing in this case, I promise) and over the top, inflated sense of drama. Madonna had to have known that all good and faithful gayboys love a juicy catfight set to record and Thief of Hearts delivers brilliantly............SCORE:10/10
9.Words: Just when Erotica was beginning to get interesting, that momentum is ground to a screeching halt with Words, not only generic in title, but in production and lyrics as well. There's nothing special about Words that makes it stand out from the rest of Erotica and even the subject matter is bland and uninteresting. Sure Madonna continues to play the scorned lover to fine effect, but really it's nothing she didn't do much better on Waiting and Thief of Heart and with lyrics like "Words, they cut like a knife/cut into my life/I don't want to hear your words anymore"it really makes you think that a more fitting title for the track would have been Generic........SCORE:5/10
10.Rain: Gorgeous. That has to be the first word that comes to mind when I- or anyone, really- listens to Rain, one of Madonna's more underrated singles. On Rain, Madonna sacrifices none of her inner strength to express her need for her lover to return to her. She remains as in control as ever as she years for what she misses the most and it's a curious contridiction: showing strength while needing a certainkind of weakness that only love from another can provide. Also worthy of note is both the very-90's-in a cool, nostalgic way-sythesizer break and I especially love the layering effect of Madonna's vocals on the bridge-"that by sheer force of will, I will raise you from the ground," and it takes Rain in a completely new and unexpected direction. Does the bridge make Rain a double entrendre of sorts, a paean to her lost mother, possibly. Only Madonna knows for sure, but whatever the case,it doesn't change the fact that Rain is .......gorgeous...........SCORE:11/10
11.Why's It So Hard: directly addresses people's phobias about how individuals choose to love another over a production that is similar in style to what acts like Soul ll Soul were doing at the time. Madonna, never one to shy away from confronting people's misconceptions about sexuality, basically wants people to learn to accept that some people are different, do love and make love to people of the same gender, and love and tolerate those people who are different without reservation. And isn't that what we all should aspire to do in our everyday life? The world would be a much better place if more people thought like Madonna..........SCORE:9.5/10
12.In This Life: Melodrama! Forboding Piano! Fleugalhorns! In This Life is Madonna's tribute in song to all her friends(and fans) that she has lost to AIDS- keeping in theme with sex and the aftereffect of concept of Erotica-and although I certainly respect and admire the sentiment of the song, In This Life comes off as cloying, somewhat corny and even worse, boring. Madonna goes for a genuine vocal to sound sincere, but just sounds reaching, to put it nicely. And now I feel terrible about even writing that,because M's heart was in the right place; too bad her musical instincts weren't. In This Life in a perfect case of Good Intentions, Bad Execution...........SCORE:4/10
13.Did You Do It?: What? Kill this song and banish it to musical hell for all eternity. I wish! Did You Do It? is hands down the worst song Madonna has ever recorded(note the bold italics!)and it makes me want to retch just thinking about listening to it. How can I count the ways I hate this song? Let' start with obvious. First, Madonna isn't even really on Did You Do It? enough to be considered her song. She's a hook girl on her own record? I think I'll pass! Second, the production is straight ripped from the light years superior Waiting, a sign of Madonna at her laziest.You know what that tells me? It says that the song (ha!) wasn't even worththe effort of an original production. And lastly, OMG who in the hell are the two jerk-offs Madonna recruited to "rap" about almost having sex with her? Who does that? I love and understand that Madonna likes to stay one step ahead of her competition when it comes to upcoming musical trends, but this is pathetic. And gross, to be honest. I, personally, don't wants to hear these jerk-offs trying to "split Mo's hips". And to think this is the reason Erotica got a Parental Advisory sticker! Death to Did You Do It? !!!!!..........SCORE:0/10(Those mythic negative numbers sure would come in handy right about now. Abysmal!)
14.Secret Garden: After the train wreck/catastrophe that was Did You Do It?, it's hard to care about Madonna going straight up supper club Jazz with Secret Garden, and thankfully there's not much to care about either! Secret Garden has no rhythm to it, no melody for the ear to catch on to, and therefore the song is unmemorable from the get-go. Frankly the song is the musical equal to aural Ambien and I had to force myself to stay awake to continue to review Erotica for the sake of being complete. Otherwise I would have ignored Secret Garden completely............SCORE:2/10
Postscript
With Erotica, Madonna set out to create her manifesto about sexuality and strictly in those regards, she succeeds. From the title track to the (lackluster) Secret Garden, Madonna takes us on a journey of sexual discovery, of not only her fetishes and turn on's, but possibly our own as well. And she examines both sides of sex implictly covering both the pleasure of and the consequences of sexual satisfaction. And Erotica is proof enough that Madonna has a thing or two to say about the subject as well, without coming off completely trashy. Horny? Yes. Crass? Yes. Slutty? Not really. Musically though as an complete album, Erotica suffers from a lack of original ideas, production wise. Yes, the Jazz inflections were a nice touch, but most of the House and Hip-Hop undertones were unnecessary additions at best. And Madonna sounds her worst vocally, using a spoken word delievery more than actual singing. And that makes Erotica a frustrating listen. Not because of all the heavy sexual imagery, but because of the lack of musical focus, Erotica stands out as one of Madonna's weakest, least essential records. As she would say herself later in her career, I know she can do better.
REPEAT: "Bad Girl", "Rain", "Thief of Hearts ", "Deeper and Deeper"
SKIP: "Did You Do It?", "Where Life Begins," "Secret Garden"
FINAL RATING:3.25/5(Erotica is somewhat satisfying, but there's no need for a cigarette here!)
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