Like a Virgin

by Madonna

Overview

Madonna had hits with her first album, even reaching the Top 10 twice with "Borderline" and "Lucky Star," but she didn't become a superstar, an icon until her second album, Like a Virgin. She saw the opening for this kind of explosion and seized it, bringing in former Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers in as a producer, to help her expand her sound, and then carefully constructed her image as an ironic, ferociously sexy Boy Toy; the Steven Meisel-shot cover, capturing her as a buxom bride with a Boy Toy belt buckle on the front, and dressing after a night of passion, was as key to her reinvention as the music itself. Yet, there's no discounting the best songs on the record, the moments when her grand concepts are married to music that transcends the mere classification of dance-pop. These, of course, are "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin," the two songs that made her an icon, and the two songs that remain definitive statements. They overshadow the rest of the record, not just because they are a perfect match of theme and sound, but because the rest of the album vacillates wildly in terms of quality. The other two singles, "Angel" and "Dress You Up," are excellent standard-issue dance-pop, and there are other moments that work well ("Over and Over," "Stay," the earnest cover of Rose Royce's "Love Don't Live Here"), but overall, it adds up to less than the sum of its parts -- partially because the singles are so good, but also because on the first album, she stunned with style and a certain joy. Here, the calculation is apparent, and while that's part of Madonna's essence -- even something that makes her fun -- it throws the record's balance off a little too much for it to be consistent, even if it justifiably made her a star. [The 2001 reissue cuts "Into the Groove" (which was pasted onto the original CD release anyway) but adds remixes of the title track and "Material Girl"] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	05/22/2001
Label:	Warner Bros.
UPC:	0093624790129

Tracks

1. Material Girl
2. Angel
3. Like a Virgin
4. Over and Over
5. Love Don't Live Here Anymore
6. Dress You Up
7. Shoo-Bee-Doo
8. Pretender
9. Stay
10. Like a Virgin [Extended Dance Remix]
11. Material Girl [Extended Dance Remix]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Madonna   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Tony Thompson   Guest Artist,Drums
Bernard Edwards   Guest Artist,Bass,Bass (Acoustic)
Nile Rodgers   Guest Artist,Guitar,Conductor,Synclavier,Synthesizer,String Conductor,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Karen Milne   Strings
Brenda King   Vocals (Background)
Rob Sabino   Synthesizer,Synthesizer Bass
Robert Sabino   Synthesizer
Curtis King   Vocals (Background)
Frank Simms   Vocals (Background)
George Simms   Vocals (Background)
Kermit Moore   Strings
Lenny Pickett   Soloist,Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)

Technical Credits

Miles Gregory   Lyricist,Composer
Eric Mohler   Assistant Engineer
Peter Brown   Composer,Composer
Steven Meisel   Photography
Jeri McManus   Design
Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff   Art Direction
Rob Sabino   Mixing
Karen Milne   Contractor
Budd Tunick   Production Manager
Jeffrey Kent Ayer   Design
Stephen Bray   Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Andrea LaRusso   Composer
Bob Ludwig   Mastering
Billy Steinberg   Composer
Rob Eaton   Engineer,Recording,Second Engineer
Madonna   Mixing,Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Robert Rans   Composer
Jimmy Bralower   Programming,Drum Programming
Peggy Stanziale   Composer
Nile Rodgers   Arranger,Engineer,Producer,String Arrangements
Tom Kelly   Composer
Malcolm Pollack   Assistant Engineer
Kermit Moore   Contractor
Jason Corsaro   Mixing,Engineer