Music CD - Madonna: Ray of Light

	Music CD: Ray of Light Artist: Madonna List Price: $13.98 Our Price: $2.75 Your Save: $ 11.23 ( 80% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea
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Tracks: 1. Drowned World/Substitute For Love 2. Swim 3. Ray Of Light 4. Candy Perfume Girl 5. Skin 6. Nothing Really Matters 7. Sky Fits Heaven 8. Shanti/Ashtangi 9. Frozen 10. The Power Of Good-Bye 11. To Have And Not To Hold 12. Little Star 13. Mer Girl
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0093624684725 Label: Warner Bros / Wea Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea Number Of Discs: 1 Publication Date: 1998 Publisher: Warner Bros / Wea Release Date: 1998-03-03 Studio: Warner Bros / Wea
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: THE MOST DAZZLING ALBUM OF HER CAREER Comment: Ray Of Light is not my personal favorite; but lyrically, musically, vocally, & spiritually it is the highest quality album she's ever made. Customer Rating: Summary: After a few GLITTER albums Madonna COMES BACK! Comment: Like most artist as famous as Madonna you reach a point where you lose your SPUNK. For Janet Jackson she did 3 GLITTER albums back to back. Her GLITTER's were All For You, Damita Jo, and 20 YEARS OLD. For Madonna the arrival of the 90's was when this pop diva's time seemed to come to an end. Instead of addictive pop songs she seemed to soften with time and giving more ballads then anything else. But being a true fan i still brought every CD. After a few duds back to back it would be 1997 where we saw Madonna at the top of her game again with something different, creative, and CUTTING EDGE!! Now this album is great but in no means a masterpiece the way the critics hailed it to be. With any release from a commercial artist you will be lucky to find 5 good songs on a 12 track album while the rest turn out to be DUDS!!! Overall this is a pretty good album. The ones after this were total DUDS as well and in 2008 with the creative team of Timbaland i expected to see this diva back on top with another come back. Instead HARD CANDY disappoints and more like a treat that's a bad memory of Halloween. Customer Rating: Summary: She's Still Got Herself A Universe Ten Years After Comment: "I traded fame for love without a second thought," Madonna sings behind a soft, hypnotic backdrop of "Drowned World," the opening song to her masterpiece album that was released ten years ago today. Madonna certainly changed both as an artist and person during this time with a sonic groove added to many of the songs along with an album that's emotional, spiritual, and greatly personal. Her shift in perception and questioning the meaning of life was genuine and even helped many skeptics forgive and forget her past musical choices that sparked controversy. Certainly there was no controversy necessary here as this is Madonna at her most real. Following her role in Evita, her voice never sounded better, and with the birth of her first child and her expanding interest in yoga and religion at the time, her convictions and honesty come off as deep and enlightening rather than something of shock value. Though she hasn't yet matched the brilliance of this release, she may do it again someday and maybe even with her upcoming release, Hard Candy. If not, fans can always embrace her Ray of Light. Customer Rating: Summary: New Rave Comment: Supposedly, fems (like me) find Madonna irresistible. It wasn't until "Live To Tell" I could muster much respect, however. Here, Madonna - with the collaboration of William Orbit - replaces her disco pop pouting and will-to-shock (all the way to the bank) with something resembling self-actualized artistry. Trendy is the surface, techno is the bling, but boomers will appreciate the backwards riffs, guitar arpeggios and unexpected seventh chords. The sound is trippy - Magical Mystery Tour via late-period New Order. "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" vibrates ambiguously, like a Lava Lamp; "Candy Perfume Girl" buzzes by on mists of gender navelgazing; "The Power of Goodbye" shimmers with zen assurance; "Shanti/Ashtangi" mines Exotica for trance profundity; and "Mer Girl" freaks ya out with Gothic New Age balladry. Other downloadable goodies, too, especially the jolting title track, mashing retro moves with crackling grooves, and Madonna's most 'rock&roll' vocal. Clockwatching or staying on task, Ray Of Light is computer organic space vibes - a full 10 years on. If Madonna is Bowie, here's "Heroes." Customer Rating: Summary: TOP EARNING TOUR Comment: Cher Earned The Top Grossing Tour By A Solo Artist Billboard Changed Cher's Tour Statistics To Award Madonna The Top Grossing Tour By A Female Artist. The tours were different types of tours, Cher's tour had about 5 times more shows than Madonna's tour, and Madonna's top ticket price was about 5 times higher than Cher's top ticket price. ***I respect the fact that Cher chose to charge about $35 to $75 per ticket on her Living Proof Farewell Tour, and that Cher chose to extend her farewell Tour, doing 325 shows and leaving the prices low -as opposed to doing a shorter tour and charging a couple of hundred dollars per ticket*** BILLBOARD BOXSCORE Cher: Billboard Boxscore Year End Chart 2002 #2 Cher $67,624,323 selling 1,012,037 tickets from 83 shows Cher: Billboard Boxscore Year End Chart 2003 #3 Cher $76,269,364 selling 1,147,920 tickets from 113 shows BILLBOARD BOXSCORE YEAR END CHART TOTALS for 2002 & 2003 = $143,893,687 selling 2,159,957 tickets from 196 shows **with 4 shows "unreported" in this tally. Cher's Farewell tour had 200 shows up to this point. Cher: Billboard Boxscore Year End Chart 2005 #14 Cher $27,237,641 selling 381,436 tickets from 40 shows BILLBOARD BOXSCORE YEAR END CHART TOTALS for 2002, 2003 & 2005 = $171,131,328 selling 2,541,393 tickets from 236 shows **with 89 shows "unreported" in this tally. Cher's Farewell Tour had a total of 325 Worldwide shows Ray Waddell Billboard Magazine 11-8-2003 -reports that Cher's Living Proof Farewell Tour played 200 shows, sold 2.2 million tickets and grossed $145 million, becoming the top grossing tour by a female artist. "Every place we could possibly put this show, we've placed it" says tour producer Brad Wavra. Ray Waddell Billboard Magazine 5-28-2005 -reports that Cher's Living Proof Farewell Tour is the top grossing tour by a female artist, and that it grossed $194,683,927 selling 2,880,726 tickets from 280 North American shows that realized 90% of her gross potential and played to 92% of capacity. He goes on to report that the Worldwide tour had 325 shows and grossed well over $200 million. **that leaves 45 "unreported" shows in this tally. THEN CHER'S TOUR GROSS WAS CHANGED Ray Waddell Billboard Magazine 4-22-2006 -reports that Cher's Living Proof Farewell Tour grossed $192.5 million from 273 shows and that Madonna's Confessions Tour has a gross potential in the $200 million range and could become the top grossing tour by a female artist. **this would leave 52 "unreported" shows on Cher's 325 date Worldwide Farewell Tour. Tamara Conniff Billboard Magazine Senior Editor 10-14-2006 -reports that Madonna's Confessions Tour is the top grossing tour by a female artist grossing $193 million from 60 shows that sold close to 1.2 million tickets, besting Cher's tour benchmark of $192.5 million "however, Cher remains one of the top divas" -- Pollstar reports Madonna's Confessions Tour earned $85.9 million from 34 shows with an average ticket price of $183.76. Ray Waddell Billboard Magazine 8-12-2006 -reports that Madonna's Confessions Tour grossed $85.8 million selling 467,312 tickets from 34 North American shows. He goes on to report that Madonna should gross $200 million Worldwide and make "history" by Posting the top grossing tour by a female artist. MADONNA:Billboard Boxscore Top 25 Tours Of 2006 #2 -$194,754,447 selling 1,209,618 tickets from 60 shows ***POLLSTAR STATS*** Cher: Pollstar Year End Tours 2002 #3 Cher $73.6 million selling 1,106,471 tickets from 93 shows $71.89 average ticket price, $875,593 average show gross Cher: Pollstar Year End Tours 2003 #5 Cher $68.2 million selling 1,034,057 tickets from 102 shows $65.91 average ticket price, $695,412 average show gross POLLSTAR TOTAL for 2002 & 2003= $141.8 million selling 2,140,528 tickets from 195 shows **leaving 5 of the 200 shows "unreported" Cher: Pollstar Year End Tours 2004 #17 Cher $29.1 million selling 447,039 tickets from 54 shows $65.19 average ticket price, $582,807 average show gross. Cher: Pollstar Year End Tours 2005 #32 Cher $17.8 million selling 252,584 tickets from 26 shows $70.37 average ticket price, $740,624 average show gross. POLLSTAR TOTAL for 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005 = $188.7 million selling 2,840,151 tickets from 275 shows (of 325 Worldwide shows) **this leaves 50 "unreported" shows in this tally. NIELSEN TV RATINGS CHER Farewell Tour 4-8-2003 NBC 9-11pm #7 -16.6 million viewers #10 -5.9/15 rating in the 18-49 demographic Cher was aged 56 MADONNA Confessions Tour 11-22-2006 NBC 8-10pm #73 -4.6 million viewers #72 -1.8/5 rating in the 18-49 demographic Madonna was aged 48 Nielsen Soundscan reports that Cher's "Living Proof" album sold 500,000 copies in the U.S, and Madonna's "Confessions on a Dancefloor" sold 1.6 million copies More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: Never underestimate Madonna's power of persuasion: By nearly all critical accounts, Ray of Light, Madonna's first album of new material since 1994's Bedtime Stories, and her first since motherhood, is her richest, most accomplished record yet. While Ray of Light is being tagged as Madonna's big leap into electronica, it's important to note two things: First, her music has always had close ties to dance culture, and, second, her collaborator William Orbit is no Chemical Brother. Though it has all the latest blips, bleeps, and crackles electronica has to offer, Ray of Light is still largely an adult album, completely within Madonna's realm. Still, Orbit's tasteful sonic constructions provide Madonna with her most adventurous, hippest musical backdrop ever. What's more, the arrangements and production are understated enough to highlight an even bigger development: Fresh from singing lessons on the Evita set, Madonna's vocal range, depth, and clarity have never been stronger. But larger pipes don't necessarily make for deeper, truer music. Never a master lyricist, Madonna's words have worked best when they've practically been slogans ("Vogue," "Express Yourself"). This time she goes for more emotional depth, and even tries her hand at ethno-techno-mysticism ("Shanti/Ashtangi"). She largely stumbles, however. The tone conveyed on songs like "Nothing Really Matters" is a self-centered pat on the back that belies her claim to a newfound altruism. It's enough to make you wonder, now that Madonna's given up being our material girl, if maybe she's set her sights on becoming the center of our spiritual world too. --Roni Sarig