Track Listing

1. Lucky Star
2. Borderline
3. Burning Up
4. I Know It
5. Holiday
6. Think Of Me
7. Physical Attraction
8. Everybody
9. Burning Up
10. Lucky Star

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10561 in Music
• Released on: 2001-05-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Madonna became a star upon the release of this, her self-titled debut. But because her stardom was thanks largely to her videos, which found her dressed provocatively and rolling around on the floor, most folks were all too willing to look past the overall quality of the album itself. Even with its somewhat dated keyboard textures and mechanised drum sounds, the album holds up incredibly well. There's "Borderline", which exudes a certain naiveté, something rarely associated with Madonna; "Holiday", which is sweet and celebratory; and "Lucky Star" a dance-floor classic. Songs like "Everybody" and "Burning Up" split the difference between dance music and new wave, which was popular at the time. That latter tune, in fact, contains a line that could be seen as a ready indicator of all that was to follow in Madonna's storied career. "Unlike the others, I'll do anything," she sings. "I'm not the same / I have no shame." No kidding. --Daniel Durchholz

CD Description
Punk and disco were the major musical innovations of the '70s. No one utilised these sources as shrewdly as Madonna, whose 1983 self-titled debut still sounds sharp 15 years later. A CBGB-era band waif who also loved the N.Y. dance club scene, Madonna Ciccone brought the brash, self-determining ethos of punk rock to the ecstastic melodic lift of Chic-style dance music.
That other N.Y. sex symbol, Debbie Harry of Blondie, also had her biggest hits ("Heart Of Glass", "Rapture") when she flirted with disco and rap, but a winking flirtation is all it remained. Her reputation as a master of imagemaking notwithstanding, Madonna never had much use for irony. Songs like the soulful "Borderline" and the celebratory "Holiday" were heartfelt stabs at commercial pop success in which the singer never condescends to the listener. Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers produced her next album, and the rest ishistory.

Customer Reviews

Fans beware - not what you were expecting
I won't retrace the steps of the other reviewers - it's Madonna's first album and the content is very good. My comments relate specifically to this CD (called "original recording remastered" by Amazon, usually labelled "digitally remastered").

What you might not realise is that three of the songs on this CD (tracks 1, 3 and 7 - "Lucky Star", "Burning Up", and "Physical Attraction" respectively) are REMIXES. They're not outrageous hard house remixes or anything, but if you know the originals you *will* notice the difference. Some catchy synthesizers for example are missing entirely, and some rather cheesy guitar lines have appeared where I least expected them.

If you've never heard the originals, you will probably enjoy this CD. They're good songs. However if you've got well worn vinyl from the 80's and are looking to replace it with a CD - this will not do the job. It will annoy you every time you play it.

Sorry Madge, but you've let us down. What happened to the originals?

Disco album no clue to what follows
In the beginning, Madonna was a disco star. Reflected in this fine album. It contains three major international hits – Holiday, Lucky star and Borderline - that helped to set Madonna on her way to superstardom.

Lucky star, a perky, upbeat song, opens this set and is followed by the mellower Borderline. However, by far the biggest hit here is Holiday, which was a UK top ten hit on three completely separate occasions, just missing the top spot on two of them, as well as being a major hit in many other countries. The last track, Everybody, was very popular in the discos, though (as far as I know) it was not released as a single. It would surely have been a big hit had it been released as a single back then. While the other tracks here lack the brilliance of those four, or of her later album tracks, this was a promising debut.

Madonna’s subsequent albums often have a disco appeal but bring in many other influences. Although this is not an essential album to the casual fan, no committed Madonna fan should be without it.

Big Debut
Madonna has changed a lot of musical styles during the past couple of decades but she always found some time for making dance records.From "Like A Virgin" to "Music" dance records were always present.So it's not to anybody's surprise that her first album which shot her to fame but not to superstardom is a dance album all the way.Its best moments come with the groovy holiday,the energetic Burning Up and Lucky Star,the laid-back Everybody and the clubby 'Physical Attraction".The beautiful pop song "I Know It"steels some glory from the dance tracks and the new remixes gives to the whole of the album new interest.Massive...