No one submitted this song that serves as the title to this listening party event - but I thought it would make a wonderful title and that's why I dedicate the intro to this amazing track from "The Rain Tapes".
Welcome to "Actions Speak Louder Than Words: ATRL's Madonna Rarities Listening Party".
I decided to do this until we wait for Madonna's #SecretProject to be revealed, to sweep a bit in nostalgia until the MDNA tour DVD comes out and last but not least to make ATRL aware of her countless unreleased material, that could fill entire long players with pure 'earhardcandy'.
But you guys were the ones that suggested the specific songs to be listened to & to be discussed: demos, rare & lost recordings and even underrated singles were listed. Come join the game, get together, keep up the trance and listen to the super pop gems!
For Information: some people even suggested singles that are pretty underrated in their opinion. I accepted these submissions as well to give a wide range of everything.
coming up: part 1
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Part 1: "Nothing but the Best from the 80s to 2000s, summing up the Queen of Pops rare recording career"
The smash from the Hard Candy era that never was. Kind of like 4 Minutes and Miles Away’s aborted sister, this song was better than at least half of the tracks that made it on the album and probably stands as my favorite Madonna unreleased. That Timbo beat and Justin’s harmonizing with Madonna on the chorus is still life.
And since visibly no one is here for neither "Angel" nor "Across The Sky" we move on
Let me however comment on the amazing "Across The Sky":
I agree with KLatz here it's better than haf the half-hearted stuff on Hard Candy. It's Kind of reminiscent of Beautiful Killer to me and I love this style of production, dreamy vocals all combined makes it one of her BEST unreleased!
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3.) "ANIMAL"
Submitted by:
Miguel., Swag
Personal Rate:
Miguel: 10/10
Swag: 7/10
Description/Review:
Miguel:
There is so many unreleased tracks from Hard Candy that could have made the album a hit. It stands out from the rest of Madonna's discography. She should perform this on her next tour.
Swag:
During the Hard Candy sessions, Timbaland and Madonna were up to something (surprisingly) good with Animal. Described by experts as a return to her Erotica phase, Animal was the resurrection of dita (Whips, boots and bossy attitude included), but for some strange reason it ended up not making the cut. Some say that the reason is because the music sounds too similar to Nelly Furtado's 'Loose' in particular to 'Maneater', but had it been included in the album it would have made a fierce and bold second single choice.
A haunting mix of the already controversial Justify My Love. It makes even better use of the trip-hop elements of the original. Distinctive enough to be considered a new song too.
serve the comments on this VERY SPECIAL song in her recording career!
The Beast Within is without a doubt pure art, the lyrics and entire video concept is. She was very avantgarde with this and it's Madonna at her most creative for me. This is one of her very best moments, although I'm also not always in the mood for me but more people need to remember this nowadays even if they missed the chance to see Re-Invention Tour. Wouldn't mind if she did more of this as Bonus material.
The next one is a bop that I pretty much use all the time.
The Beast Within is without a doubt pure art, the lyrics and entire video concept is. She was very avantgarde with this and it's Madonna at her most creative for me. This is one of her very best moments, although I'm also not always in the mood for me but more people need to remember this nowadays even if they missed the chance to see Re-Invention Tour. Wouldn't mind if she did more of this as Bonus material.
The next one is a bop that I pretty much use all the time.
5.) "BROKEN (I'M SORRY)"
Submitted by: X/O/X/O
Personal Rate: 9.5/10
Description/Review:
Even if it's not her best song ever, it's one of her best released. It has an appeal to a younger demographic, such as myself, with it's more clubbish sound. I've had it stuck in my head several times. I mean... Don't you feel sorry for me, cuz I'm right where the universe wants me to be
serve the comments! This one bops more than your average Hard Candy track!
Submitted by: GlitterBitch Personal Rate: (not submitted) Description/Review: (not submitted)
serve the comments!
I'm still listening to 'Action Speak Louder than Words' It seems like the youtube you posted is different demo versions mixed with the final album version, not the real raw demo of the rain tapes.
The intro is probably fanmade too, but the segments it includes that arent on the album version are probably from the real rain tapes demo.
Very powerful song. Words.
Angel is nice too, could have been a nice single, Madonna sounds so feminine, and her vocals are really good.
A haunting mix of the already controversial Justify My Love. It makes even better use of the trip-hop elements of the original. Distinctive enough to be considered a new song too.
serve the comments on this VERY SPECIAL song in her recording career!
OMG I had never consciously noticed that the chants on 'The Beast Within' are the same chants used on Erotica.
So basically Madonna released two years before a sample that she would later use on her first single of her next album.
Madonna and Lenny Kravitz remixed the song and named it "The Beast Within Mix". It was included on the 12" vinyl and CD maxi-single release in North America. The remix uses only the chorus and certain lines of the original song, with the verses being replaced by passages from the Book of Revelation from the Bible.
Subsequent live concert performances have simply billed the song as "The Beast Within", a song in its own right, it is now no longer referred to as a remix.[20] The song first garnered media attention early in 1991 when the Simon Wiesenthal Center accused the song of containing anti-semitic lyrics; specifically the lyric "those who say that they are Jews, but they are not. They are a Synagogue of Satan".[21]
It seemed so random at the time for her to use these passages from the Bible for a Remix. But now that satanism and the illuminati stuff of the music industry has been talked about more, it kinda starts making sense.
I found the chants used on both 'The Beast Within' mix of Justify My Love and 'Erotica':
Quote:
This is the source of the uncredited middle eastern female vocal sampled on the Madonna songs "Erotica" (from 1992) and "Justify My Love (The Beast Within Mix)" (1990), featured in the Biblical reading from the Book of Revelation at the opening of the 2004 "Re-Invention Tour").
Contrary to popular western belief, this Arabic language song originates out of Coptic Orthodox Christianity (of Egyptian origin) and is not Islamic in nature. It speaks of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Seems really ritualistic.
I mean the song is about the crucifixion of Jesus and in one song Madonna sings over it about satan and in the other about sex.