Oh, Goddess, You Give Me Fever

Growing up I never knew that it is “cool” to like/love/listen to/adore Madonna. She was always there and it seemed like she would always be there. First time I realized that she’s actually cool was when I came to the States and my Modern History of Hawai’i teacher used to say things like, “I want both, your first and your last name on the papers, you’re no Madonna” or “You should follow the dress code, I don’t want you to look like Madonna, though she looks way better now than in the 80s”. Hmm, fine with me, I never needed to be reminded I’m no Madonna.

The whole Madonna thing was going parallel with my life, never really coinciding with it. She was on the radio, she was on MTV, she was on VH1, but I respected her as a person more than a singer or an actress, though I surely admit that some of her roles were not that bad at all.

And then, at the age of 18 I learnt that the simple fact of living in the same universe makes you aware of every single thing Madonna has ever done. You just know it. Maybe it’s the same thing, as with the Beatles, you know their songs on instinctive level.

Now, I can blast any CD of hers and I’ll like it for the simple fact that every tune is part of my own life. I like Madonna only for that little thing of associating a certain song with a certain period in my life. The only difference each disc makes comes in term of style.

That’s right, Madonna is all about style, if it was not her image, style and aura we would’ve forgotten about her back in the 80s. I really don’t like her voice, I mean I did not like it till Evita, was pleased with her Ray Of Light and actually stopped listening to her after that. I have to admit that of all weird phobias I have, phobia of Madonna’s not being able to take a note is the worse of all. I’m paranoiac, I know, thank you very much.

So, Erotica is actually from that “before Evita” period, but voice is above her average performance. Mainly because of all the sexy whispering she’s filling our ears with. She seriously gives you shivers with her low voice, as she reads the lyrics out I’m turning inside out. This album is not all about sex, but most of it is. I don’t care that it comes from 1992, Madonna still can turn me on with this disc.

Featuring songs most of us have been singing in the shower [or anywhere else, *grin*] at some point of our life, album is a pure pleasure. With hits like Rain [one of my all time favorite songs of hers] and Bad Girl, album is actually quite opposite to what you may think of it. Judge book by its cover, expect explicit content, couple of words you don’t want your kids to hear and a lot of lust. Forget about love, it’s all about human nature. Speaking of Human Nature, that would’ve been very appropriate on the album, but yeah, once again, I guess I want too much from Madonna.

Most of the songs are in playful mood, some fast tunes from the early 90s that don’t sound dated to me, a lot of energy and I just see Madonna making an innocent face; stop, just don’t sing like a virgin now. Girl just fools around with one main purpose: to turn you on.

I really loved Madonna’s low voice, leaving some room for vocal improvement it at least doesn’t sound as annoying as her high voice, and prepare to listen to that as well [in Words, for example]. Of course, in Rain it sounds ok, but still, don’t you just want to send her to a vocal coach? I do!

Now having voice out of the way, the music itself is pretty much monotonous, meaning there is not much of variation there. Synthesizers and drums mainly, with not much of diversity in sound. Maybe out of 14 tracks 11 sound quite the same, with similar instruments, beats, notes, energy and mood. However that doesn’t make it any worse, it’s all about style, baby!

In spite of that, I still have my favorite song, Fever. Well, duh, I know it’s not cool to admit I like it, but I do, mainly because of the music factor [right, it’s one of those 11 songs, but still]. If that song leaves you thinking, “Ok, and what?” then this album is not for you, because that is mainly what Madonna’s doing on the disc, she gives you fever.

This would be a nice buy for Madonna’s fans, for people who enjoy sexy tunes, for those who don’t mind the word “bitch” and of course, for all die-hard fans of her Sex book [if you you’re not a proud owner of it, don’t feel bad, there is a transcript version in the booklet, *wink*]. Amazing thing, I was not distracting by Madonna’s voice that much as listening to Something To Remember album, I think it has to do with slow songs, Madonna did not have any right to do ballads with that voice. Even though In This Lifetime is a very meaningful song about love [just love, heterosexual and homosexual] and early death, I still feel like it’s not right the way she sings it. Overall, sexy and revolutionary, pure Erotica in music.