"True Blue" by MADONNA – June 1986 Third Studio Album on Sire Records featuring Pat Leonard, Bruce Gaitsch, Brian Elliot, John Putnam, David Williams, Dan Huff, Fred Zarr, Richard Marx, Siedah Garrett and more (May 2001 UK 'Warner Remasters' CD Reissue with Two Bonus Tracks – Ted Jensen Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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LET'S GO CRAZY - 80ts Music On CD

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(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...I've Learned My Lesson Well..." 

Some albums are absolute juggernauts and I doubt even their creators knew it.

 

When sexpot Madonna burst on the scene in the early Eighties with her first two albums "Madonna" (September 1983) and "Like A Virgin" (November 1984), the hits were calculatedly aimed at the feet and her reviewer detractors could therefore scream about her girly voice, the obvious sexual ploys to garnish controversy and the general lack of what you might call substance in her songs. 

 

All of that changed with June 1986's "True Blue" - a giant album for her that produced a record-breaking 5 No. 1 singles (in varying markets) and Box Office sales for a female artist that were unprecedented. She lowered her vocal range for several tracks, took on subjects that were racy in a socially aware way and most of all – through good songwriter collaborations with the like of Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch and Brian Elliot – she became admired and adored in the same way Prince and others were.

 

Madonna's "True Blue" hit the top spot in something like 40 countries around the world - a feat that few if any had ever achieved. And when you listen back to this little Remastered raver in 2023 - you can so hear why it caught the zeitgeist of a decade that was kind of in love with itself. And the album was dedicated to 'the coolest guy in the Universe' - her then husband - actor Sean Penn. 

 

Let's get to Papa who mustn't preach and needs to reorder diapers...

 

UK released 22 May 2001 - "True Blue" by MADONNA on Warner Brothers 9362-47902-2 (Barcode 093624790228) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue in their 'Warner Remasters' Series. It has Two Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (52:34 minutes): 

 

1. Papa Don't Preach [Side 1]

2. Open Your Heart 

3. White Heat 

4. Live To Tell

5. Where's The Party

6. True Blue

7. La Isla Bonita 

8. Jimmy Jimmy 

9. Love Makes The World Go Round 

Tracks 1 to 9 are her third studio album "True Blue" - released late June 1986 in the USA on Sire 9 25442-1 (LP) -4 (MC) -2 (CD) and July 1986 in the UK on Sire WX54 (925 445-1) LP. Produced by MADONNA, PATRICK LEONARD and STEPHEN BRAY - it peaked at No. 1 in both countries. Guest Musicians and Collaborators include Pat Leonard, Bruce Gaitsch, Brian Elliot, John Putnam, David Williams, Dan Huff, Fred Zarr, Richard Marx, Siedah Garrett and more.

 

BONUS TRACKS:

10. True Blue (The Color Mix) - Shep Pettibone Remix

11. La Isla Bonita (Extended Remix) - Chris Lord-Alge Remix

 

The 'Digitally Remastered' logo along the inlay spine distinguishes these 'Warner Remasters' CD reissues - the ten-leaf foldout inlay faithful to the front cover artwork and lyric inner bag of the original release. As is the same with these Remasters - you don't get any extra liner notes - period photos - memorabilia - fan stuff - just the basics with a note that GREGG GELLAR oversaw the Series and TED JENSEN did the Remaster from original tapes. And man can you hear it - everything is super clear - even the Cagney Film Clip dialogue that starts "White Heat". But it's the synths and that huge Bass that thumps. I must admit that at times the vocals seem to disappear into the background a tad too much as your ears are assaulted with pings and pongs and pumping Disco rhythms - but that opening to "Live To Tell" is now gorgeous.

 

The album whacked out five beasts - all numero uno – the first of which was and still is the best of the bunch. "Live To Tell" was issued March 1986 before the album's arrival - a gorgeous ballad co-write with her mainman songwriting partner - PATRICK LEONARD. The teen pregnancy song "Papa Don't Preach" hit the shops two weeks before the album in the second week of June 1986 - a stunning piece of Pop and Social Conscience written by Brian Elliot from conversations he overheard local schoolgirls having.

 

The title track and obvious love song to her heartthrob hubby "True Blue" made the shops in September 1986 (a co-write with Stephen Bray), then the get-up-on-the-floor Synth-Pop of "Open your Heart" in November 1986. Finally, the Spanish rhythms of "La Isla Bonita" came in February of the following year – 1987 – and was a surprise smash. But whilst the Pettibone and Lord-Alge Bonus Track Remixes of "True Blue" and "La Isla Bonita" are known fan faves, I have to say that neither the overdone mania of "Where's The Party" nor the too-cluttered "Jimmy Jimmy" album tracks have weathered the years very well and "White Heat" is just the sort of curio you skip (four out of five stars then).

 

Madonna would go on to break more box office records and court controversy like it was candy to a child, but "True Blue" is where Ms. Ciccone found her voice and you could even say, her spell-binding skill - her mojo. She had and has learned her lesson indeed and lived to tell the tale...