You Danced Then - You May Now

It was bound to happen that Madonna would release an album dedicated to dance. She was now in the Spotlight, she knew Everybody loved to dance to her music on Holiday... Over and Over clubs were getting people Into The Groove. Plus it’s easy to release an album of previously released material – since you don’t have to stress yourself out with planning music chords or lyrics to get fans on the move, you just have to do something different. And most work when it comes to remixing comes in the form of background instruments than vocals themselves. And, face it, Madonna is the queen of being something and someone different.

As an entire album, You Can Dance isn’t as remixed as one may think – at least by today’s (2003) standards. Besides a larger Latin feel to it, the core of the music has remained intact although stretched to allow some club members to cheer or show off their special dance moves. Lyrically, the songs are virtually a match. Besides being longer and utilizing a few instrumental break points – there is no difference between the original tracks when compared to those found on You Can Dance.

The CD begins with Spotlight which unless I’m missing something seems a little odd, since at this time I had never heard of this song. Maybe it was on some movie soundtrack or released as a single – I have no idea.

Skip Forward. No one in their right mind has not heard Holiday, a song – and dance song so big, Madonna would dedicate not one but two versions of Holiday to her first dance album (okay so Into The Groove and Where’s the Party followed suit as well!). #1 Holiday barely breaks 6 minutes and begins much the same as the original release did. In fact, they sound virtually the same except for the lead in that Spotlight gives it (all the tracks on this album fade in and out of each other between tracks – something that most dance tracks are designed to do). There’s little difference in #1 Holiday until almost half way through the track – about then the song begins an extended coda as the song drops Madonna’s main lyrics to focus more on the Miami instrumentals and hard hitting drums. Holiday #2 is much the same except this time around the instruments gets their time in the spotlight. The first version had too little instruments – the second has too much! Besides a few segments of Madonna’s voice proclaiming Holiday – the six minute track is pure instrumental. A poor musical choice overall – for Madonna’s instrumental music doesn’t equate by itself music what one would jam or jive to. But, I sure quite a few club goers got their groove on under the lights listening to such a track as this.

Everybody on the other hand is a rougher dance track that orders the dancers to “dance and sing, get up and do your thing…dance and sing, get up and do your thing”. The song explodes with strong soft sexuality that rules the dance floor. I imagine a bright dance floor full of various lights with guys and girls dancing in close proximity while smoke sits like tule fog at their feet. Everybody is one of Madonna’s best dance songs that now 20 years later and yes I am in the position that I can say this – it is one of her best. Although the original version on her first album may have been the original – I like this version better.

I never understood the joy in Physical Attraction. Sure, I bob my head a little and sway my chest and bend at the knees a bit – but that’s about all I feel in Physical Attraction (unless I’m thinking about the song sounding like an 80’s porno – sorry, bad lynus!, bad boy!) Still to this day I haven’t felt the words of the song and so you will probably find me dancing like a geek during this song hoping that something bigger and better will come my way – real soon!

Better arrives in the form of the remix of Over and Over – which begins sounding like something the 70’s group ABBA would make – okay, that’s probably why it caught my ears in the first place! The song has fast beat and has a catchy chorus and the background beat never slows down. It is in my opinion the perfect way to conclude this album.

Okay – yes there are two more tracks on this album I didn’t discuss, a remix of Into The Groove and a Dub Version remix of Into The Groove. But I don’t really care for them. Both tracks begin with a computerized Madonna luring the crowd into a c’mon state – and from there she never quits. Into The Groove was one of Madonna’s biggest hits to that point in her career – but both remixes failed to impress me and at that point I’d probably walk off the dance floor vying for another beer.

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This is my third entry in Kristinafh's May Music Madness write-off. This time around the object was to review a CD that had not been reviewed previously as of May 2003 on Epinions.com. And, as of May 2003 - it had not. My other entries include an album that deserves five stars and an artist I'd like to sleep with, yet musically annoys me to no end.