madonna Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Madonna “Finally Enough Love”

sfilzen — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 18:04:39 +0000

Madonna “Finally Enough Love” 2022 on clear vinyl. This past weekend was the Queen of Pop’s birthday (b. 1958) so I’m putting on this abridged vinyl release of her 2022 Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones remix compilation that celebrated the milestone of her having 50 number one tracks on the Billboard dance club songs chart. The 50-track release would be kinda cool but I honestly don’t even have time for a double LP (which this is) so I’m pretty ok with this 16-track version. The songs range from the early 80’s (the lead track is “Everybody (You Can Dance Remix edit)” from 1982 (on her first demo tape and then on her ’83 debut LP Madonna) all the way to the 2020 single “I Don’t Search I Find (Honey Dijon Radio Mix).” For many reasons the earlier material on the comp is my favorite: “Into the Groove (You Can Dance Remix Edit)” will always be one of my top 80’s tracks of all-time ever (1985’s Desperately Seeking Susan was my everything for a minute that year). “Vogue (single version)” is another one – it’s from 1990 but in my head it is still 80’s as I associate it with going to dance clubs in the Fox Valley (probably The Option in Green Bay, long gone) most likely on break from freshman year at college. There’s a few songs from the 90’s that I don’t really know at all but then we get into the early 2000’s: “Music (Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit)” and “Hung Up (SDP Extended Vocal Edit)” from 2005 which samples most excellently ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” After that I’m lost again – I think I know the early 2000 material because we finally got cable around that time and I was watching a good deal of VH1 for a minute, until VH1 went the stupid direction that MTV did and no longer played videos. Anyway, I don’t know the songs from the 2010’s either. All are very Madonna and are obviously highly danceable, in a very #1 kind of way.

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Madonna “Like a Virgin”

sfilzen — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 17:21:51 +0000

Madonna “Like a Virgin” released 40 years ago today, October 31st 1984. 12″ maxi single, extended dance remix. So many vivid memories of when this song came out – the scandalous title (the song may have helped contribute to the creation of the PMRC), the iconic Venetian gondola video and Madonna’s infamous MTV Video Music Awards (its first year!) stage-writhing-in-a-wedding-dress performance (which I watched and loved though at age 13 not sure I totally understood). Written by songwriting partners Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and produced by Nile Rodgers, “Like a Virgin” was a monster smash hit, going to #1 in the US (on multiple charts) and to #1 or at least the Top 10 virtually everywhere else in the world. As the lead single from Like a Virgin (released November 12, 1984), it set up the record to also be a massive success with teens lining up at record stores to buy it on its day of release (I didn’t go that far); the LP is still considered to be one of the best releases of the 80’s. In 2023 the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry added Like a Virgin to its collection due to its “cultural, historically and aesthetic significance. The 12″ extended dance remix of the single, courtesy of Jellybean Benitez, is considerably longer than the album version and radio single, with extra synth effects and dance grooves. The b-side of the 12″ is a mid-tempo dance track that also appears on Like a Virgin: “Stay.” I find it to be one of the less interesting songs on the album but it’s a good flipside choice for the single.

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Madonna “True Blue”

sfilzen — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 20:07:29 +0000

Madonna “True Blue” 1986. Today, August 16th, is Madonna’s 66th birthday (b. 1958). I turned 15 the summer of ’86 when True Blue came out and considered myself punk AF; me and my friends made so. much. fun. of this record but as I listen to it almost 40 years later I realize that 1. that it’s a great record and 2. that I know the words to most of the songs which means I clearly was paying attention to her third studio LP (it went #1 in nearly every single country that tracks that type of thing). I can also visualize all the videos to the singles from the record, especially the album opener “Papa Don’t Preach” (#1 US, UK, pretty much everywhere else too) with her unexpected pixie hair, striped shirt and actor Danny Aiello as her dad (he did it as a favor for Madonna’s then-husband Sean Penn). I also love the singles “Open Your Heart” (#1 US, #4 UK and a peepshow-themed video) and “La Isla Bonita” (#4 US, #1 UK) which apparently is not about a great trip she had to San Pedro – she didn’t even know where it was when she wrote the song. Though I’m usually not a ballad girl, my favorite song on True Blue is “Live to Tell,” a sultry and sad song (that was totally uncharacteristic for Madonna at the time) which hit #1 in the US, #2 in the UK and appeared in the Sean Penn movie At Close Range. Many critics consider it one of her best songs ever. There are a couple of stinkers, though. I still don’t like the title track “True Blue” (this was the one I clearly remember me and my friends ripping on repeatedly in ’86). It’s sappy and saccharine sweet (written about her then-love for Sean Penn) with a cartoony vibe: it did hit #3 in the US and #1 in the UK so I guess a lot of folks didn’t agree with my friends and me. I’m also not crazy about the non-single “White Heat” which has a bizarre intro/outro (which I just learned was lifted from the 1949 film White Heat so I guess it makes just a little more sense) and not much good in between; but I do like the non-single track “Jimmy Jimmy” which has a 50’s meets new wave synth vibe and is about Madonna’s childhood crush on James Dean (we’ve all been there, Madonna).

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Madonna “Madonna”

sfilzen — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 17:41:25 +0000

Madonna “Madonna” released 40 years ago today (!!), July 27th, 1983. Madonna’s debut LP was sometimes panned and often reviled (i.e. this review from Blender: “quacking synths, overperky bass and state-of-the-art mechanical disco, with Madonna strapped to the wing rather than holding the controls. It’s a breathless, subtlety-free debut.” or “almost entirely helium, a gas-filled, lighter-than-air creation of MTV and other sinister media packagers”), but Madonna was instrumental in moving dance music out of club-exclusivity and into the popular mainstream with this top-selling LP which peaked at #8 in the US and #6 in the UK. Madonna is over- processed and over-polished (which basically sums up most of the 80′s) but it’s also infectiously glorious. Rolling Stone called it “an irresistible invitation to the dance” and it’s now recognized as an 80’s icon – one of the best album’s from the era – as is Madonna herself.

Madonna certainly blew my 12-year old mind in ’83. I distinctly remember hearing “Holiday” (the third single from Madonna; it went to #16 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Dance charts) that Fall and immediately dancing around my bedroom, infected by the post-disco grooves. And then I saw the video for “Lucky Star” (#4 US, #14 UK) and a thousand black rubber bangles and beauty marks were launched. I think I spent the next year scrutinizing her dance moves and practicing them with friends at sleepovers. Also iconic and still excellent are the singles “Holiday” (#16 US, #2 UK), two singles released prior to the LP’s launch which both charted only on the dance charts: “Everybody” and “Burning Up.” The remaining 40% of the record is somewhat unremarkable post-disco dance pop but with the strength of the singles, the record was, and remains, an 80’s gem.

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The Lords of the New Church “Like a Virgin”

sfilzen — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 20:09:43 +0000

The Lords of the New Church “Like a Virgin” 1985. 12″ single, Illegal Records. Today, August 16th, is Madonna’s birthday (b. 1958) so I’m spinning the best and most irreverent cover of her smash single “Like a Virgin” from 1984. The Lords cover of “Like a Virgin” is fantastically, and purposefully, horrible. Sneering, laughing and belching their way through the pop track, they also manage to make it goth and a bit creepy. The flip side of the 12″ (labelled “Side AA”) has two original Lords tracks: “Method to My Madness” which is a more typical Lords dark goth rocker from 1983, and “Gun Called Justice,” a stark bluesy acoustic track.

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Madonna “Madonna”

sfilzen — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 13:37:17 +0000

Madonna “Madonna” released on this date, July 27th, in 1983. I’m taking a sharp turn from the usual Vault-focus on rock/punk/garage/blues to pure 80′s dance pop and all its glory that manifested in Madonna’s first album. Though sometimes panned and often reviled (i.e. this review from Blender: “quacking synths, overperky bass and state-of-the-art mechanical disco, with Madonna strapped to the wing rather than holding the controls. It’s a breathless, subtlety-free debut..”), Madonna was instrumental in moving dance music out of club-exclusivity and into the popular mainstream with this top-selling LP which peaked at #8 in the US and #6 in the UK. Madonna is over- processed and over-polished (which basically sums up most of the 80′s) but it’s also infectiously glorious. Rolling Stone called it “an irresistible invitation to the dance.”

Madonna released five singles from the LP; two singles charted only on the dance charts: “Everybody” and “Burning Up” which both came out before the album. Three singles did make it to the Top 100 charts: “Holiday” (#16 US, #2 UK), “Lucky Star” (#4 US, #14 UK) and “Borderline” (#10 US, #2 UK). “Holiday” was the first song I ever heard by Madonna and my 12-year-old self was enthralled by the danceable disco beat and girly vocals. And then I saw the video for “Lucky Star” and a thousand black rubber bangles and beauty marks were launched. I think I spent the next year scrutinizing her dance moves and practicing them out in the fields surrounding our house and with friends at sleepovers. We could not get enough of Madonna: her voice, her moves, her look.

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