On Like A Prayer Ms. Ciccone concocts a potent pot-pourri of re-discovery and re-invention, coming on incensed and humble, worldly wise and wide-eyed, but without ever diluting her intentions as a commercially-orientated concern. Once again, her platinum logic proves inescapable.

The central themes of Like A Prayer revolve around a stridently Catholic mixture of guilt, remorse and devotion to the family – indeed, were it not for the controversial nature of the accompanying video of the title track the album could easily form the basis for discussion at a goodly number of Family Solidarity meetings.

Her defunct partnership with Sean Penn appears to form the basis for the revealing 'Till Death Do Us Part', an intensely claustrophobic and melodic song which finds Madonna bemoaning a situation where she finds herself with a partner who's "not in love with someone else" but who makes up for the lack of any infidelity by piling on both self-loathing and destruction in equal measure.