Album Review: Madonna, Bedtime Stories – The Untold Chapter

Madonna had always used sex to sell herself, breaking taboos like other singers broke sweat, but 1992’s Erotica, and the accompanying Sex coffee-table book, were perhaps a step too far for the previously Teflon songstress. Bedtime Stories, which followed, as an attempt to reintegrate her into the mainstream pop fold.

It worked, selling seven million copies worldwide and yielding hits like ‘Secret’ and ‘Human Nature’, the latter a reference to the controversy, with the singer refusing to apologise: “Oops, I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex”.

This 30th anniversary edition includes an eight-track EP of early demos, alternate versions and rarities. There’s the staccato hip-hop on the Quiet Storm remix of ‘Survival’; original demos of ‘Right On Time’, ‘Don’t Stop’ and the poptastic ‘Love Won’t Wait’ (which was released by Gary Barlow); as well as the slow funk of ‘Freedom’ (released on a 1997 charity album); and the sultry R&B of Howie Tee’s ‘Human Nature’ edit, a close relation to TLC if ever I heard one.

Indeed, the original album saw Madonna enfolding R&B and even hip-hop into her pop chops, collaborating with the likes of Nellee Hooper and Babyface, with a throbbing bass noticeably front and centre on tracks like the catchy ‘Survival’, the smooth ‘I’d Rather Be Your Lover’, and the clubby ‘Bedtime Story’, part-written by Bjork.

‘Don’t Stop’ and ‘Inside Of Me’ are very much Madge-lite, and the last third of the album is slow-moving, with every song hovering around the five-minute mark, including the ballad ‘Love Tried To Welcome Me’ and the overly saccharine ‘Take A Bow’.

An interesting, but hardly essential, reminder of the pop icon’s least exciting album.

7/10