LAP ...lives on ...

one of the best pop albums ever!!! but just maybe quite possibly the best!

like a prayer is just amazing and I don't spread that word about like confetti. its my ultimate Madonna album, its a classic. of course, she has gone on to make some other amazing albums, but that album is on another level for me personally.

Is anyone else shocked by how Madonna is looking just lately? Is she having too much botox or something. I Love her to bits, but just lately she is really starting to not look good at all. I think out of her entire career she looked the best 2005-2006, she looked so stunning and natural. But this last year she hasn't looked good at all. What do you guys think?



2006 -

http://www1.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/M...o89yzGV5Fl.jpg

2014 -

http://uk.eonline.com/eol_images/Ent....ms.032014.jpg

The top one is beautiful, she looks so natural and the red dress really suits her.

The bottom one is in yesterday's Daily Mirror and I think she looks a bit ropey. It looks as if she's trying to recreate a pose from her early 80s days with her hairy pits, which look fake to me. And is that a mole on her upper lip? Another throwback to her younger days!

I love both pictures. It really shows how many different sides she has to her. She has the glamorous side and the edgy not so perfect side. You don't have to look perfect all the time to be cool. People are too judgmental when it comes to looks.

I think the underarm hair is fake too. She is doing a photoshoot for an Italian men's magazine where she dresses up like a guy. I think the underarm hair is connected to that. The picture looks a little odd by itself but I'm sure it will all make sense in the context of the whole photoshoot. A lot of times magazines do things that aren't perfect and glamourous to be more interesting and creative. I like her glamourous sophisticated looks but if she did that all the time it would be boring. She would be like every other Hollywood starlet.

i love the "confessions" look, leotards included. lately her face has looked bloated frequently and bloating effect gives her equally distracting bags underneath her eyes. some kylie loon recently dubbed her a joan rivers clone, but to be fair to joan, madge could do a lot worse than hooking up with joan's surgeon. i am amazed she hasn't had some hand fillers though, because she has been critiqued on them for what has seemed like an eternity.

personally, i don't really care about her cosmetic proceedures and i am certainly not shocked by her appearances of late. madge was never going to age gracefully, ultimately its her face and her choices. it gets people talking about her and that possibly is partly her motivation.

She's obviously a fan of fillers. She looks awful when she first gets her face filled ( see the pussy riot introduction) but then looks great two weeks later when the fillers have settled in. Not quite Joan Rivers yet!

I've been having a great day today listening to all my favourite Madonna albums, Ray of Light, True Blue, American Life, Confessions and surprisingly, MDNA!

Whilst I have always loved the ROL, Confessions and TB, it's only recently that I've been able to really appreciate AL and MDNA, they've both been sounding so good to me recently, like fine wines lol.
Such a range of styles on both albums that on paper look a bit odd but in practice just sound so good!

Anyone seen the thread on remastering of Like a Prayer? I think it's time to be honest, fantastic album, a classic, but definitely needs some touching up, the sound quality hasn't aged well imo.

despite how many years she has been in the biz ... there aren't that many unreleased tracks around? I wonder why this is the case....

what are everyones fave unreleased tracks?

I really hope she goes for a more natural look on her next album, that's when I think she looks her best.

And My top favourite unreleased tracks are -

Across The Sky (Far better than some of the songs on Hard Candy)
Latte (Another great song that didn't make in onto Hard Candy)
Animal (Yet another great song off Hard Candy lol)
Set the Right
Triggering Your Senses
Keep The Trance
History

Across The Sky is my favourite song of hers from the last 8 years. I cannot believe it never made Hard Candy. It should have been a single. Massive wasted opportunity. There are quite a few versions of Latte around so you have to find the right one. All of them are good though. Another missed chance from Hard Candy.

My fave demos are the American Life one's. The original Its So Cool, Miss You and Set The Right.

Broken (I'm Sorry) is another recent fave.

My fave unreleased Madonna tracks are

Broken
Has To Be (Ray of Light)
Liquid Love (Music, unreleased)

Goodbye To Innocence

The original demo version of Gimme All Your Luvin was much better

Still love Spotlight.

2 years today since MDNA was released in the UK! But she's directing another movie before new album again?!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/n...movie-ade.html

I think the difference with this film is she has a less hands on approach. Madonna was heavily involved in WE in every aspect. Directing, producing and writing. It took up about 2 years of her life. It was her baby. With this, it's just directing. It does suprise me she is directing again, but good for her.

I love Like A Prayer, like others it holds lots of special memories, but I always go back to American Life when I think of my favourite Madonna album! I just adore it.

I don't think the movie is ready yet since the screenplay hasn't been written yet. And she seems well into working on the album. I the album and tour will come first and then the movie later. Movies aren't easy to put together, you have to start setting them up a long time in advance with funding. But with albums you can just go into the studio and sort of do them because they're generally less people involved to coordinate.

Yes, in some ways LAP and AL are quite similiar in that of all her records that use the most live instruments and somewhat of a pop/rock feel and they are her most soul searching records lyrically. So I can see how someone could be drawn to both.

i am not going to comment on the movie, but it wouldn't take a genius to suspect my feelings on that matter. its been a few days since i last posted in this thread, but i have been pretty busy.

its official, i am moving again and the van is booked for next thursday. this will be the 10th move in 10 years, across 5 different counties throughout wales and england. i am staying within the same county this time, i am not changing jobs and its only a move further out of the town to a bigger property.

i am pleased to leaving this apartment complex, because i have had a few squabbles with a couple of my neighbours. i guess that wont come as a surprise to some people here, but whatever, the next place will be a house and i think i have outgrown apartment living.

my good deed of the day was delivering a load of food/toiletries that i didn't particularly want to take with me to a couple of neighbours that i have become fond of. the first drop off was to an elderly lady who mentioned she had been out of action for 4 weeks due to an illness and she was delighted with the food i brought her. then I dropped off some food/toiletries to a single mother living next door and she too was thankful for the unexpected goody bags.

i have moved so many times, i almost feel part of the travelling community, but this madge track always seems appropriate when these movements present themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CWaTqO46Y4

well i may as well make this my moving home journal, but it is partly madonna related.

the packing up process is going well, but a had a row with one of the neighbours earlier. i don't recall how much i have told you about the troubles i have had living here, but for example, one neighbour goes through my sealed bin bags on a weekly basis (and everybody else's for that matter) and then complains about the amount of recyclable items i bin, as if going through peoples rubbish is the most natural thing in the world. in fairness, i do my bit recycling wise, but i could do a lot more in all honesty and the last time i caught him going through my bins. i took great delight in telling him it would no longer be an issue, since i was leaving.

another neighbour, who lives directly underneath me complained to me in person the first week i moved here, due to my washing machine being on late at night and i promised to not have the machine on beyond 9pm in the future, which i have adhered too. then she reported a "flood" coming from my bathroom over the christmas period, so i had cut my break away short and rush back from wales fearing the worst, only to find my bathroom bone dry. the emergency plumber (that was unnecessarily called out over a "leak" rather than a "flood") said that the seal on the bath was not doing its job and that the tiles had worked loose, so from then on a shower has been out of the question. my landlords have been informed of this situation umpteen times and i have only ever bathed since that leak.

the same christmas, i bought a big ipod dock out of my christmas money. however, every time i have used the speaker, this neighbour has either posted notes under the door or sent her daughter up to speak about the "noise". on every occasion i have used the dock it has been during the daytime, except one time when i was playing my madonna "ballads" playlist at 7:30pm and the volume has only ever been to a 3rd of its capacity at the maximum!

in the end, i bought a pair of wireless earphones to listen to my music, while I do the cleaning. to be honest, when I am cleaning, that is the only time I like to play my music really loud to drowned out the sound of the hoover! as you can see from this picture, I raised the speaker off the ground onto storage boxes to avoid the "vibrations" this woman speaks of, but like i said to the neighbour during our exchange, thursday cannot come fast enough.

part of me did think f**k it earlier and i used the dock again for the first time in months (with "confessions" being my motivational album of choice), because i thought this time next week i will be gone, but when she was knocking my door within an hour of the speaker being in use, i just saw red. i told her she would be pleased to hear that I am moving next week and the exchange just escalated from there really.

I don't why I am telling you all of this, madonna would no doubt consider my confession a "cathartic" process. perhaps i owe some people, including one or two of my neighbours and some people here an apology. its not really untrue to suggest that perhaps at times when i am provoked i can be "unpleasant" and i certainly am "over-sensitive" at times too. perhaps with age, i have become less tolerant of people quirks and i do take things too personally when people are targeting nobody specifically.

however, i still feel happy about the move and do feel that my act of kindness towards the neighbours i have become fond of, paints me in more positive light. i do have a caring side, a work colleague of mine was off sick this week and because i know he lives alone, i popped in just to check on him with a "get well" card. being a sufferer of stress and anxiety, (for which i take prescription medication for), moving is always particularly stressful for me and perhaps that has exasperated me a bit in general most recently. i would however, like to think that other people could take a step back sometimes and do some self analysis, like i have done here, but then, i have always been my own worst critic.

so in conclusion, i guess i am all the things that people say/write about me, i am complex, sometimes aggressive (but never physically), i can be terminally negative, i do hold onto grudges and then i can surprise everyone by being the complete opposite. wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same? i am now chilling with my madonna "ballads playlist, with my headphones on of course.

Been a short while since posted...but time for a mini catch up.

Happy 25th to my favourite album of all time...Like a Prayer....the standard setter for me...great seeing celebrations take place for the album/commemorating the event...even if no remaster/re-release box set happened for the album :/ shame but hey maybe one day...perhaps 30th? i dunno...but i love that while Madonna doesnt reflect back/nostalgia act-wise she did post on her facebook/gram about the album...really cool.

And happy 2 years to MDNA! in time for me it has definitely grown more and more with me, great album still and PERFECT for spring/summer

Now as for Rebel Heart....love the speculation/teasers....love the idea of Madonnas influences for surreal art/Norway/Warriors/mythology/Ray Cesar etc...and the speculation of Dance music with a difference....heavily dance influenced but driven by acoustics/folk/indie music...sounds really cool by rumours and speculation...live instrumental influenced EDM and vice versa...and i HOPE with Madonnas raw vocals....cannot wait for more teasers soon.

"frozen" has just come on magic tv! been playing "ray of light" a lot lately, "confessions" too and i was even having a "bop" to "hard candy" when no customers or colleagues were around in work the other day.

i wont continue to bore you with my moving woes, but just have a look at the view from my new bedroom window, if you get a chance. a nice view of the nearby river to wake up too each day.

and i feel, like i just got home....

So the speculation is out for whom may be the third headliner for galsto...i do wonder...although it is most likely a dream/wishlist contender ...BUT if the album is indeed finished for this summer...would make for a pretty massive surprise!

i have seen that thread on madonna and the likelihood of her having another us#1 in the main forum, but have resisted the urge to post. too much drama of my own in the past week. i was officially on "holiday" this week, but I did work two days, as well as the move and had to attend a senior team meeting on another day, so it wasn't really a de-stressing week like holidays should be, distressing more like.

anyhow, someone mentioned in that thread about "celebration" being a good greatest hits collection somewhere in the thread and i have to agree. i spent the last day of "freedom" from work cleaning the flat in town in the hope of getting most of my bond back. I had "celebration" blasting, with my headphones on of course and it certainly covers most of her musical highlights. it made the cleaning feel less monotonous too, which was a big plus.

I doubt the response to that #1 thread is what the OP was aiming for! lol