Track Listing

1. Survival
2. Secret
3. I'd Rather Be Your Lover
4. Don't Stop
5. Inside Of Me
6. Human Nature
7. Forbidden Love
8. Love Tried To Welcome Me
9. Sanctuary
10. Bedtime Story
11. Take A Bow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12058 in Music
• Released on: 1994-10-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
On this, her seventh album proper, Madonna once again shows that one of her greatest talents is her ability to choose collaborators who bring the best out of her. This time around, the producers and co-writers include Bjork, Nellee Hooper (Massive Attack/Soul II Soul) and swing deities Dallas Austin & Babyface (who, amongst a myriad of credits, were the men behind TLC's CrazySexyCool). Mellower in the most part than her previous work, the album includes the usual handful of hits in "Secret", "Human Nature", the title track, and "Take A Bow", a duet with Babyface which is as beautifully glum as anything she's done. While the period between the Erotica/Sex fiasco and her triumphant return with 1998's Ray Of Light was a comparatively lean period commercially for Madonna, this album is up there with the best of her work. --Ronita Dutta

CD Description
For Madonna, pop music is the canvas of her greatest aspiration. While some critics might be ready to write her off, BEDTIME STORIES reasserts Madonna's claim to the R&B/dance floor turf she ceded to others as her own productions became elaborately self-conscious. And where performers like R. Kellyfilled the breach with risque, sexually explicit fare, BEDTIME STORIES marks Madonna's return to a more stylised, elegant form of R&B.
Not that Madonna has gotten herself to a nunnery, as the soft-focus ooohing and aaahing of "Inside OfMe" demonstrates, but the overall approach on BEDTIME STORIES is less carnal, more romantic (like the difference between the Supremes and Salt N' Pepa). But in collaborating with innovative producers such as Babyface and Dallas Austin, Madonna has again positioned herself on the cutting edge of modern R&B (compare the layered, collage-like production of "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" and "Human Nature" to Dallas Austin's innovative collaborations with Joi on THE PENDULUM VIBE, or, for that matter, with the eerie "Bad Baby" from P.I.L.'s METAL BOX).
The spooky "Sanctuary" samples Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" to create an African backdrop for Madonna's tale of earthy devotion, while the Icelandic diva Bjork's elliptical "Bedtime Stories" propels Madonna way beyond the limits of language on this crafty, near Eastern textured arrangement. The Oriental-flavoured R&B of "Take A Bow" provides a confessional epilogue for this delicately-mannered program.

Customer Reviews

When madonna got her groove back.
Released in 1994 after the confrontational S&M themes of erotica and the sex book, this album went some way to rehabilitating madonna's batterd reputation.
Enlisting top soul co-producers Dallas Austin, Babyface and dave hall, Madonna went for the languid rhythms of cool, urban hip hop and R&B.
She also laced the mix with some cult british cachet, coutesy of Nelle Hooper and a title track written and penned by Bjork.
This was a calmer, fluffier Madonna, as shown by the tender ballad and standout track SECRET.
TAKE A BOW which closes the album was her biggest hit in america, staying at the no.1 spot for 7 WHOLE WEEKS!

Some of the songs on the album such as SANCTUARY pave the way for the brilliant experimental textures of the massive RAY OF LIGHT album.
rating 10 out of 10!

On her way up after Erotica
First things first, 1994's "Bedtime Stories" is a definite improvement on "Erotica" of 1992. Whilst "Erotica" had some good songs, I found it quite an uncomfortable listen, if anyone can identify with that. I mean I can listen to Britney Spears singing the joys of self gratification but listening Madonna's ode to oral sex on a loud volume? No thanks or maybe I'm just a prude.
"Bedtime Stories" is somewhat similar in sound to "Ray Of Light" of 1998. Chilled with subtle grooves and melodies. It also deals with the things Madonna was trying to talk about on "Erotica" but here it's a lot less cringeworthy. If you take away the lyrics to the songs, it's quite possible that the record would sound just as good. The good thing about Madonna's songs is that you could spend a long time to figure out what exactly she is singing about in her songs and therefore everyone has their own intrepretation. "Secret" is a good example of this.
"Secret", "Inside Of Me" and "Human Nature" here in it's unedited form are a few of my favourite tracks on the album.
Get this album, it's up there with the best of the Madonna albums - those being in my opinion, "Ray Of Light", "Music" and "American Life" and now "Bedtime Stories".

Luscious, Creamy, Funky Grooves
This album is very cool. It the kind you can listen to all the way through several times in one sitting. A mixture of groovy dance tunes and gorgeous sensuous ballads with very good lyrics, thumping base tracks and subtle electro-vibes (compared to Ray of Light). I highly recommend it to any music lovers, regardless of your opinion of Madonna or the era when this was made. Definitely up there with her other best albums. Hard to pick a favourite track as there isn't a bad song on it (always a good sign of a consistently good album, compared to say American Life) but my favs are: Sanctuary (which includes a very beautiful verse from Walt Whitman), Secret and Inside of Me. Also, the video for Bedtime Stories is EXCELLENT, one of her best, very clever and stunning.