239 - Madonna - Like a Prayer

Here's another album from my collection. Like a Prayer is my favorite Madonna album. I enjoy the confessional lyrics, the variety of styles utilized, and the fact the album seems more artistically relevant than your typical pop release.

For me, there are a few songs that come on that make me roll my eyes, but I also bounce and sing along. Madonna teamed up with Lovesexy-era Prince on a song!? "WOW! um, wait, it's not really all that good of a song." And yet, I never skipped the song on my half dozen listens this week. "Dear Jessie" sounds like a Bangles song that Madonna stole for the sake of having a 60's psychadelic-influenced song (gotta love Madonna's strategic song choices seemingly made to ensure that whatever pop music trends may break into the mainstream that year are included on her new album).

But what keeps standing out to me is the vulnerability and seeming openness about her psyche in the various song lyrics. While the album is called Like a Prayer, I think the primary theme of the album is actually an examination of the people we trust and whether or not our love and trust for each other is worthwhile. "Like a Prayer," "Love Song," "Till Death Do Us Part," and "Cherish" focus on romantic relationships. "Promise to Try," "Dear Jessie, "Oh Father," and "Keep It Together" find Madonna evaluating parental and family relationships - the good and the bad times.

Songs I Knew I liked: "Like a Prayer," "Express Yourself," "Dear Jessie," and "Oh Father"

Songs I Now Like: "Till Death Do Us Part" and I found myself enjoying "Spanish Eyes" more than I expected.

Songs I Can Go the Rest of My Life Never Hearing Again: :Other than the fact that "Cherish" both causes my body to bounce with the rhythm and make me gag with its super sweetness, I have to put my ire on "Act of Contrition." I may have liked it had she not ended it in such a goofy manner.

Evidence of My Anal Retentive Nature #628487

I was looking at the pictures I have on my laptop just now (realized how old my wallpaper is and felt an urgent need to change it) and found a sad piece of evidence.

For a few years, I worked sound for the contemporary service at my church. Although I was only expected to take care of vaguely placing musical instruments on stage when setting up the various mics and sound cables, I was raised to do my best. If I'm going to do something, I don't want to do it half-assed. The stage was memorized by me and reinforced by notes and drawings I put in my notebook. I went to the point of photographing the drum kit after the drummer had everything set as he liked it. This all culminated in my making an illustrated guide for people who ran sound.



And this is from my first guide. When we did a new service at a roller rink for a year, I had a series of diagrams showing the layout of all of the instruments, amps, monitors, speakers, mics, power cables, and audio cables - and what order each should be set down on the stage. But that isn't handy, so I can't share those gems.