— Dave Rimmer
It's a new year and a time to take stock. A time to look back at the chart busters and those who came up short. A time to look ahead to some future chart hopefuls and a chance to think about who might be in for a big year. And a time to be looking at who might be heading towards the dumper.
Madonna was coming off another big year. Not as a quickly taken to heart as in America, she made up for lost time in Britain with eight Top 10 hits and a remarkable sixty-nine weeks spent in the Top 40. Granted, she only managed one chart topper but it's quite possible that this glut of product actually prevented certain singles from doing better. Plus, this wasn't a run of eight absolutely brilliant singles. Sure, "Like a Virgin", "Into the Groove" and a reissue of "Holiday" have always been terrific but there's a reason "Angel", "Gambler" and "Dress You Up" have largely been forgotten and it's because they aren't much cop. That's an Imperial Period: when even your duff records stand a good chance.
She entered 1986 on the quiet since she was holed up in a studio in LA working on what would become the True Blue album. Or she might have done had it been up to her. The record label spotted a gap and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to give "Borderline" it's long overdue place near the top of the charts. And they weren't the only ones looking for an opportunity. Ex-boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez had previously cut a Madonna composition which also looked to capitalize on her fame.
"Sidewalk Talk" gives us a glimpse of a Madonna Louise Ciccone who never had decades of hits, never played box office smash concert tours, never became an icon and — mercifully — never churned out all those crap films. She still may have made a decent living off of singing and songwriting but only on records spun in New York and London discotheques and purchased by dance music fanatics on overpriced 12" import. Few would have even known her name even if they happened to kick it to her latest record down at the Funhouse. And she may have ended up at the mercy of male DJs, club empresarios and producers which wouldn't do at all.
It doesn't seem at first to be wildly different from her current run of hits: it's a bouncy pop song heavy on funk-synth riffs of the time. It might not even seem out of place on The Immaculate Collection, Madonna's essential 1990 compilation. But while her early hits document an ambitious young woman chasing stardom, "Sidewalk Talk" is about being stuck in the doldrums of a nowhere life, of walking the streets of Manhattan with no place to go, of being paranoid that others are whispering about you even if you're a nobody. Not exactly mid-eighties Madonna material, is it? Then there's her voice. "Holiday" has her singing like a girl and the sweetness continues for the most part on her early run. Here, however, we're "treated" to those deep, husky pipes that became one of her trademarks. Dave Rimmer offers a postscript on his review by saying that she "does actually sing a bit in the background". A bit? "One" Catharine Buchanan does the proto-raps on the verses but the rest is so clearly Madonna. Who did he think the deep-voiced lady was?
So, why no artist credit to Madonna? Well, apart from her record company being potentially in conflict with Jellybean's over such a matter, it's possible she was just returning the favour to her former paramour. She credited Benitez with tidying up the mess that had been made of her debut album (as well as bringing "Holiday" to her attention) and gifting him with an original seems like a fair trade off. While others may have had reason to be unhappy with this arrangement, there's no reason to think that she objected (a tough businesswoman like her would've seen to it that the single never got released if that's what she really wanted).
Madonna's success was taking its toll. Not on her, mind you, but on pop journalists. The Smash Hits staff couldn't agree on her records or her style and were in conflict as to where they thought she'd be headed in '86. Dave Rimmer loves what she and Jellybean have cooked up here but he also considers "Like a Virgin" to be "boring" and isn't especially impressed by the reissue of "Borderline" that's also on offer this fortnight. Chris Heath likes a lot of her stuff — even if he offers some backhanded praise of her records as "trashy dance music with simple catchy tunes and disposable trite lyrics" — but foresees her effervescent hits giving way to a more adult sound before long (say what you will about Madonna but that has still yet to happen). William Shaw is disappointed by "Into the Groove" and misses the fun of her earlier work. Sorrel Downer thinks party's just about over. They couldn't have known that there was a lot more to her even if "Sidewalk Talk" provides some clues.
It's a new year and a time to take stock. A time to look back at the chart busters and those who came up short. A time to look ahead to some future chart hopefuls and a chance to think about who might be in for a big year. And a time to be looking at who might be heading towards the dumper.
Madonna was coming off another big year. Not as a quickly taken to heart as in America, she made up for lost time in Britain with eight Top 10 hits and a remarkable sixty-nine weeks spent in the Top 40. Granted, she only managed one chart topper but it's quite possible that this glut of product actually prevented certain singles from doing better. Plus, this wasn't a run of eight absolutely brilliant singles. Sure, "Like a Virgin", "Into the Groove" and a reissue of "Holiday" have always been terrific but there's a reason "Angel", "Gambler" and "Dress You Up" have largely been forgotten and it's because they aren't much cop. That's an Imperial Period: when even your duff records stand a good chance.
She entered 1986 on the quiet since she was holed up in a studio in LA working on what would become the True Blue album. Or she might have done had it been up to her. The record label spotted a gap and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to give "Borderline" it's long overdue place near the top of the charts. And they weren't the only ones looking for an opportunity. Ex-boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez had previously cut a Madonna composition which also looked to capitalize on her fame.
"Sidewalk Talk" gives us a glimpse of a Madonna Louise Ciccone who never had decades of hits, never played box office smash concert tours, never became an icon and — mercifully — never churned out all those crap films. She still may have made a decent living off of singing and songwriting but only on records spun in New York and London discotheques and purchased by dance music fanatics on overpriced 12" import. Few would have even known her name even if they happened to kick it to her latest record down at the Funhouse. And she may have ended up at the mercy of male DJs, club empresarios and producers which wouldn't do at all.
It doesn't seem at first to be wildly different from her current run of hits: it's a bouncy pop song heavy on funk-synth riffs of the time. It might not even seem out of place on The Immaculate Collection, Madonna's essential 1990 compilation. But while her early hits document an ambitious young woman chasing stardom, "Sidewalk Talk" is about being stuck in the doldrums of a nowhere life, of walking the streets of Manhattan with no place to go, of being paranoid that others are whispering about you even if you're a nobody. Not exactly mid-eighties Madonna material, is it? Then there's her voice. "Holiday" has her singing like a girl and the sweetness continues for the most part on her early run. Here, however, we're "treated" to those deep, husky pipes that became one of her trademarks. Dave Rimmer offers a postscript on his review by saying that she "does actually sing a bit in the background". A bit? "One" Catharine Buchanan does the proto-raps on the verses but the rest is so clearly Madonna. Who did he think the deep-voiced lady was?
So, why no artist credit to Madonna? Well, apart from her record company being potentially in conflict with Jellybean's over such a matter, it's possible she was just returning the favour to her former paramour. She credited Benitez with tidying up the mess that had been made of her debut album (as well as bringing "Holiday" to her attention) and gifting him with an original seems like a fair trade off. While others may have had reason to be unhappy with this arrangement, there's no reason to think that she objected (a tough businesswoman like her would've seen to it that the single never got released if that's what she really wanted).
Madonna's success was taking its toll. Not on her, mind you, but on pop journalists. The Smash Hits staff couldn't agree on her records or her style and were in conflict as to where they thought she'd be headed in '86. Dave Rimmer loves what she and Jellybean have cooked up here but he also considers "Like a Virgin" to be "boring" and isn't especially impressed by the reissue of "Borderline" that's also on offer this fortnight. Chris Heath likes a lot of her stuff — even if he offers some backhanded praise of her records as "trashy dance music with simple catchy tunes and disposable trite lyrics" — but foresees her effervescent hits giving way to a more adult sound before long (say what you will about Madonna but that has still yet to happen). William Shaw is disappointed by "Into the Groove" and misses the fun of her earlier work. Sorrel Downer thinks party's just about over. They couldn't have known that there was a lot more to her even if "Sidewalk Talk" provides some clues.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Whitney Houston: "How Will I Know"
Already looking like she could give Madonna a serious run for her money, Whitney Houston seemed made for light and shiny pop and not the tough R & B that she later tried her hand at and couldn't pull off at all. Written by songwriting couple George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam (later to form their own act Boy Meets Girl), "How Will I Know" was initially rejected by Janet Jackson before being scooped up by Houston's people, thus depriving us of a 'what if' that we should all be glad never happened. Had Houston's singing career not taken off, she could have done worse than doing jingles for TV: who else was able to make such fluff seem so convincing? Yes, Dave, you're very much mistaken.
Already looking like she could give Madonna a serious run for her money, Whitney Houston seemed made for light and shiny pop and not the tough R & B that she later tried her hand at and couldn't pull off at all. Written by songwriting couple George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam (later to form their own act Boy Meets Girl), "How Will I Know" was initially rejected by Janet Jackson before being scooped up by Houston's people, thus depriving us of a 'what if' that we should all be glad never happened. Had Houston's singing career not taken off, she could have done worse than doing jingles for TV: who else was able to make such fluff seem so convincing? Yes, Dave, you're very much mistaken.
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