Track Listing

1. Holiday
2. Lucky Star
3. Borderline
4. Like A Virgin
5. Material Girl
6. Crazy For You
7. Into The Groove
8. Live To Tell
9. Papa Don't Preach
10. Open Your Heart
11. La Isla Bonita
12. Like A Prayer
13. Express Yourself
14. Cherish
15. Vogue
16. Justify My Love
17. Rescue Me

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2898 in Music
• Released on: 1990-11-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
This is the perfect way to hear Madonna: no album filler, just one hit after another. As a singles artist, she works wonders: quick, danceable tunes that are occasionally "controversial" but never set out to change the world (and don't). The Immaculate Collection begins with her earliest work ("Holiday", "Borderline") and matures from there ("Papa Don't Preach", "Like A Prayer"), ending in 1990. The highlight is the inclusion of "Justify My Love", a track recorded specifically for this compilation. One caveat: since Madonna is a true video artist, it'd be even nicer to "see" these songs. --Rob O'Connor

CD Description
The definitive collection of Madonna's early career, from her first hit 'Holiday' back in 1984 to 1991's 'Rescue Me'. 17 singles in chronological order, every one a Top 20 hit including seven number ones.

Customer Reviews

Madonna - Classic Artist, Classic Album...
The Immaculate Collection is where you want to start any Madonna collection off... It ranges from her "first" song Holiday to her Justify My Love/Rescue Me songs from 1990. In between are all her fantastic 80's hits, Like A Prayer and Into The Groove, 2 particular brilliant tracks but there is not one average track on the entire album! Noticable emissions are Who's That Girl, The Look of Love, Causing a Commotion, Oh Father and Burning Up - however there are only so many songs that she could fit onto it! Top album, buy it NOW!!

*** 1 word of "WARNING" the songs on the immaculate collection have been remixed (apart from vogue/rescue me/justify my love I think) so buy the other albums because they have the original mixes (usually better!!) for example the orignal version of like a prayer is 10x better than the immaculate collection mix! ***

Great songs but awful remastering
This was a difficult review to write because I adore Madonna's work from the 80s and most of her best songs are included here but, basically, this is a travesty of a greatest hits album.

Firstly, all the songs were remastered in 'Q Sound', which was an attempt to make tracks recorded in stereo sound like surround sound. Unfortunately, the technique didn't work very well and many of the tracks sound quiet and kind of distant.

Secondly, all the tracks apart from Vogue (and Justify My Love and Rescue Me, which were recorded for this album) are edits and, without exception, I think the original album versions are far better. A few songs don't seem too much different - La Isla Bonita, Cherish, Material Girl and Like A Virgin don't suffer too much, but a number of the others have basically been butchered. The worst offenders are:

Holiday, Lucky Star and Borderline - These tracks are from Madonna's eponymous first album, which was very dance-orientated so the originals are quite long (all over 5 minutes) and very 'bass-y' (which I love) but, for The Immaculate Collection, all three were shortened and sped up to reduce the running time of the album. Even worse is the fact that the basslines have been pushed back in the mix and the vocals brought forwards, which I feel betrays the original intent of the music. Also, the horrible guitar parts of Lucky Star have actually been emphasised, which I don't think was a very good decision.

Like a Prayer and Express Yourself - Both have had new basslines added and the gospel parts of Like A Prayer have been toned down, which is sad.

Papa Don't Preach and Open Your Heart are also noticeably different and Into The Groove is actually a remix of the original, so on the whole, I actually don't think it's fair to call this a 'Greatest Hits' as it is really closer to a remix album. I think this gets overlooked by a lot of people because they haven't heard the originals and the songs are admittedly still pretty great even despite being cut up.

My last complaint is that a few of her big hits were not included, particularly Dress You Up, Angel and True Blue but, with a limited running time it's natural that some tracks would have to be cut, so I don't see this as a serious criticism.

All in all, the songs are great but it's a real shame that they're all edits because the originals have a lot more character. If you're a Madonna fan, I really think it's worth buying 'Madonna', 'Like A Virgin', 'True Blue' and 'Like A Prayer' if only to hear all the songs included on this album (plus a few other gems) in all their original glory.

Pop Perfection
I wasn't even born when this album was first released but when I first heard it from my older brothers collection i thought she was a brilliant pop artist who's music is as good or better than anything that we hear today.
My top five

5.Holiday
4.Material girl
3.Like a Virgin
2.Like a Prayer
1.Vogue

I also totally loved last years hit 'Hollywood', Madonna's still got it after all these years.