Apparently the new Madonna greatest-hits collection Celebration is full of botched mastering jobs and bad segues, so those of you looking to spend money on a CD in 2009 should be warned. (Example: “A bad edit jumps the track from the end of the chorus to the repeat of the bridge which kills the structure of the track. This version is unlistenable.”) Good thing Warner Music Group fired all those people at its reissue-specialty arm Rhino last week, right? [Requiem 4 A Dream; HT perfectomix]
Somewhere in the wild jungle of the Popjustice forum, I saw someone posting about this, and there were Madonna fans trying to defend the release having never heard it for themselves (probably to assuage their having preordered it in various formats and variations). I am always weary of a hits collection that has special edits just for that particular release; wouldn’t it be more prudent and fan-pleasing (and economical) to just release single edits and difficult to locate remixes than to sit down and butcher some of the most famous songs in pop history? But alas, this is the same music industry that sued Ellen DeGeneres for free publicity in the guise of her playing their songs at the start of her show, and in turn they wanted her to pay them for the right to play them.
There were similar issues with “The Immaculate Collection”, too, IIRC.
@Audif Jackson Winters III: The two issues with Immaculate (still Madge’s best-selling disc overall) were (a) edits for length, so they could fit all the songs on a single disc, and (b) the now-discredited sonic mixing technology called Q-Sound. At the very least, you’d hope a new collection would eliminate (b), even if it had to repeat the sins of (a).
When it comes to a single-disc greatest-hits, I can live with shortened single edits to fit more songs (even the Beatles’ 1 did this), but I can’t abide sloppy edits. What’s so damning about the above blog post by the Madge überfan on Celebration is the use of Q-Sound on some of the tracks, and the botch jobs on other songs where single-length edits of better quality and similar length already exist. There’s just no cause for such butchery, when the average fan would be reasonably satisfied with preexisting mixes the hardcore fan had to buy piles of CD-singles to own.
In the end, all this means is that a proper, carefully curated box set covering Madonna’s career is in order. That said, I dunno if this would interest a don’t-look-back type like her.
I’m a longtime Madonna fan. I see the point of Requiem 4 a Dream about some of the edits but I enjoy the album overall. For instance, I do notice the editing of “Express Yourself” but I think it’s interesting to have a new mix of the song. I think the Q-Sound songs still sound better than they did in 1990. The only edit I hate is “Ray of Light,” which, oddly, I haven’t heard complaints about. I guess I have a different perspective since I do have most of Madonna’s singles, and thus already have the single edits, but I can see why other people might want the single edits. If I want the old stuff, I can always listen to the other CDs in my collection. I also don’t have the ear of an audiophile so I just can’t hear some of the things others hear.
I wholeheartedly agree about the box set, for which I have been clamoring for years. Since she’s released about 60 singles, that would be the only way to cover her career.