fellas that were in the mood – Goh Hotoda update

Image courtesy of Goh Hotoda - check out what's at the front of the stack of vinyl records to the left of Goh





In response to my post “Goh Hotoda – we love you”, Mr Hotoda himself emailed me to let me know that he has been working on another Madonna-related project. Stay tuned for more info, as soon as I get it!

Goh Hotoda – we love you

This week, 21 years ago, Vogue was still giving good face, spending in its eighth week inside the Top 10 of the UK singles chart. The song had already been at #1 for a month – not to mention #1 in 30 other countries!

When I interviewed Goh Hotoda in 2007, he told me about mixing the song and coming up with the song’s synth string introduction.

“Even for me, Vogue was my monumental work. As my career was Chicago house music, it was only ever dance music and never crossed over to pop music. The pop music style in 1990 was still white bread candy pop with lots of reverb and many expensive effects all over the place. Our work on Vogue was very contemporary – so simple and very dry. There was nothing like it then - now, the beat style is so popular that everybody is making music like that. But that was the kind of music that I really wanted to work on for such a long time.

Madonna’s original aim was to release the song as special 12” record and so she gave us total freedom. The song was originally produced a bit different at first. I made a different introduction to the mix and recreated a different version only for club play (Bette Davis Dub). It was standard that I make a dub mix after everything was done and Tony (Shimkin) would edit them later. Shep and Madonna really liked the new introduction that I made and so we went back into the studio to re-make the video version based on my Dub Mix and Tony’s edit. The song became an untouchable hit.”

Click here to listen to Vogue (Bette Davis Dub), as mixed by Goh

bad girl guitar demo – Paul Pesco speaks

Paul Pesco - grinding his axe!

 

In 2008 an unreleased demo of Bad Girl, known as the ‘Guitar Demo’, leaked online. Due to a number of fake Madonna demos doing the rounds online and a lack of information about the origins of this demo; many believe this to be the creation of a talented fan.

In 2006 I visited the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and listened to a number of Erotica demos on the infamous ‘Rain Tapes’ and although I listened to some Bad Girl demos, the guitar demo wasn’t among them.

When I spoke to legendary stage and session guitarist, Paul Pesco, I asked him about playing guitar on the Erotica sessions:

“I actually played on a couple of other tracks that I don’t think ended up on the album. I think it was Bad Girl I played on, where I did a couple of tracks. Bad Girl had a lot more guitar. That was really cool – I thought it was awesome! I played tracks on Deeper and Deeper, Bad Girl and it may have been Thief of Hearts, I’m not sure. She ended up using Why’s It So Hard and Deeper and Deeper.

It (the sessions with Madonna and Shep Pettibone) was always great. There were a couple of engineers also. I worked with Goh (Hotoda) a lot. I was there throughout the recording of the album. By that time, I’d done dozens of sessions for Shep’s records and he’d used me a lot for stuff over the years, and I’d been friends with him. He has a very distinct production style and he knows exactly what he wants and the groove would be in there. It’s funny, for not being a musician; he’s one of those people who's very musical.

For that album I used my blue ESP Strat (Fender Stratocaster guitar) that’s been one of my main studio axes on a bunch of records. I also used my ESP graffiti Strat that has EMG pick-ups on it that I used on that album as well and actually I used that guitar for the C&C Music Factory stuff as well, the Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) guitar part – that was my ESP graffiti guitar.”

Click here to listen to the Bad Girl guitar demo.

cook and f**k – Michael Bearden speaks



Michael Bearden (second from right) with his Girlie Show bandmates - catering by Madonna

When I spoke to Michael Bearden, keyboard player on The Girlie Show and Musical Director on the Bedtime Stories and Ray of Light promo tours, he told me about an unreleased song by Madonna, titled, wait for it… Cook and F**k.

The existence of the song first came to light in 2000 when it was listed on ASCAP's online song database, after a short instrumental version of the song was performed by Paul Shaffer and The CBS Orchestra to welcome Madonna on to the stage of The David Letterman Show in November that year.

The song is credited on ASCAP to Madonna and Michael Bearden and so I asked Michael about the origins of the country-sounding song:

“This song actually started during the rehearsals for The Girlie Show. We rehearsed a long time for that show and after so many days of playing the same thing over and over again, you get a little stir crazy. One day M said, “Okay everybody, let’s do that one again”. As everybody started to re-set, I just started to play this country, Floyd Kramer-esque type piano and Niki Haris started singing the song we just finished in a southern, twangy voice. Niki is unbelievably talented! The band naturally just fell into the vibe and so did Madonna. About a week or two later, I started it up again. M was in a mood and the lyrics just evolved into Cook and F**k. I don’t remember the entire verse but I know that Cook and F**k refers to how women please their men. Trust me, it got much worse! (Laughs)

How it became registered was supposed to be a joke. M was appearing on The David Letterman Show one night and Paul Shaffer (the show’s Musical Director) called me (I often sub for him on the show) and asked what the band should play for Madonna’s walk-on. Instead of the usual Like a Virgin or something like that, I asked if I could do something as an inside joke. Paul loved the idea and I dictated the chords and the style to Paul over the phone and he executed it on the show brilliantly, as usual. M was indeed surprised and laughed about it on air. She knew that song was my doing. Because it aired on network television, it was registered.”

live to tell – Patrick Leonard solo piano version

Patrick Leonard's actual hands - yes really!

Click here to watch a true musical genius at work – producer Patrick Leonard’s stunning solo piano performance of Live to Tell, live at the Seth Riggs Summer Vocal Program in July 2008.

It will burn inside of you!

i have a tale to tell – Marc Moreau speaks

This week, 25 years ago, Live to Tell was sitting at its #2 peak on the UK pop singles chart. The song was her fourth single to narrowly miss out on the top spot – the international novelty hit, Rock Me Amadeus, by Austrian pop musician, Falco, was at #1. Incidentally, one of the four runner-ups (Warner UK’s shameless, yet genius, post-Live Aid re-release of Holiday) missed out on the top spot because Madonna’s other summer '85 anthem, Into the Groove, was implanted at #1.

Having dominated pop music in 1985, with a hyperactive rush of pure pop brilliance, Madonna’s much-anticipated, first single release of 1986 was the haunting ballad, Live to Tell – just one of many Madonna songs that would re-write the rules of pop music.

Co-written and produced with Pat Leonard, fresh off the road with Madonna on The Virgin Tour, Live to Tell sounded like nothing else being played on pop radio and nothing like what the world thought a Madonna song, or a pop song for that matter, should sound like – the first of many times that Madonna's music would defy expectation. With lyrics by Madonna, Live to Tell wiped some of the sneers off the faces of those who had mocked her earlier pop/dance hits.

I know where beauty lives
I’ve seen it once, I know the warmth she gives
The light that you could never see
It shines inside, you can’t take that from me

In 1989, Marc Moreau began working as a studio engineer at Pat Leonard’s studio in LA. On his second, or third day in the studio Marc began working as second engineer to Brian Malouf and Bill Bottrell – engineers on Madonna’s forthcoming I’m Breathless album. Marc would continue to work as a studio engineer with Pat and Madonna up until Ray of Light.

When I spoke to Marc, he spoke about Madonna’s songwriting and recalled a conversation with Pat Leonard about Live to Tell.

“Their first song broke a lot of rules. I mean, it was a ballad, it was like six minutes long, which is two minutes longer than the record company – they were screaming about that! It has this big spot in the middle, where it just breaks down to almost nothing and then comes back. I remember Pat talking about it once and he said, “It pretty much violates every rule that you have for a single!” But yet she loved it and she stuck to it and backed it all the way and they (Warner Bros Records) were starting to give this young producer, Pat, a bunch of grief about the song and she stuck to her guns on it and it was a huge, huge hit. It broke all the rules. I could see how that would cement them together from that point on to be able to make the next records that they did.

Madonna could go to that emotional place, which I think separates her from a lot of pop artists. She can dig up some stuff about herself, and it’s real stuff, and can put it out there emotionally, as well as have the fun, “Let’s go party!” songs and not a lot of artists can sort of do that and let you get in there and get real for a bit.”

unplugged on Oprah: Michael Bearden speaks

Making her second appearance on Oprah, in May 1998 (13 years ago!), Madonna gave two stunning live performances, the TV debut of Ray of Light and an acoustic version of Little Star – her one and only live performance of the song to date.

Madonna’s Musical Director on Oprah was Michael Bearden. Michael – who has worked with many a music legend, from Stevie Wonder to Michael Jackson – began working with Madonna in 1993, as a keyboard player on her Saturday Night Live appearance and The Girlie Show, and continued to work with her, as Musical Director on the Bedtime Stories and Ray of Light promotional tours. 

When I spoke to Michael, he told me about Madonna’s performance of Little Star:

“Madonna is not a trained musician but, she knows what she likes. She also hates to make mistakes. I would just explain to her that sometimes the best ideas come from mistakes. I would encourage her to just be vulnerable and whatever comes out will come out. Don’t worry about making a mistake. She embraced the concept when we performed on Oprah during her Ray of Light period. We performed two songs on that particular show. We did the first song (Ray of Light) like we always do, full out with the band. We did the second song (Little Star) with just a trio acoustically. Madonna had rarely done this kind of performance on television. It was the first time she did it in the nine years I worked for her. She was a little nervous and in fact, we had to perform the second song twice for the taping. Oprah only allowed it because it was Madonna. She runs a tight ship. I love Oprah! Madonna nailed it the second time, although she was still a little nervous.

She thanked me as she was leaving the show and was very happy about the show. It was the first time in a long time I had seen M so happy about anything having to do with her career. I think Lola (her daughter) had a lot to do with her good mood during that period. I was happy because Mo was pushing herself musically and trying to reach for something new. It was a big change from how we used to do things. We would often rehearse until the song had no life, in my opinion. She was now leaving room for spontaneous possibilities and I liked that approach.”

Click here to watch Madonna’s gorgeous acoustic performance of Little Star (with Michael Bearden on piano) at Madonna-TV.com – the bestest Madonna TV site on the internet!

it's always been about the music: Billboard Awards 1996

 

When Madonna accepted the Artist Achievement Award at the 1996 Billboard Awards in Las Vegas, it was a reminder that it’s always been about the music.
Click here to watch Madonna’s acceptance speech, complete with an introduction from another living-legend, Tony Bennett, at madonnascrapbook – my favourite Madonna blog on the Internet!

angels with dirty faces: Bruce Gaitsch reveals unreleased demo

When I interviewed Bruce Gaitsch, co-writer of La Isla Bonita and guitarist on True Blue and Like a Prayer, I asked him if he was involved in any of the unreleased Madonna/Pat Leonard demos, which have been reported from that era, Possessive Love and Just a Dream:

“I have a tape somewhere of some songs I had to learn parts from

and none of these songs are on it. But there is a song called

Angels with Dirty Faces on it that is killer!”

Angels With Dirty Faces is the name of 1938 film, starring Pat O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. Cagney’s 1949 film, White Heat, also inspired the equally “killer” True Blue album track of the same name, which samples his dialogue from the film.

b-sides the hits

In July 2008, I wrote the cover feature for Record Collector magazine. The feature, ‘Madonna Rare: Unwrapping the Candy’, was a 10-page investigation of Madonna’s B-sides and other commercially released, hidden gems from the most collectable diva of all and featured commentary on these songs, taken from my original interviews with Madonna collaborators Mark Kamins, Reggie Lucas, Tony Shimkin, Greg Fitzgerald, Guy Sigsworth, Daniel Abraham, Mark Endert, Alvin Speights, Rico Conning and Kevin Parker.


The feature also revealed a couple of other exclusives – Sophie Ellis-Bextor recorded the Madonna demo, Revenge, and that a cover of another Madonna demo, I Can’t Forget, had been recorded and commercially released by UK dance outfit Tilt, albeit re-titled as Come Closer.

i want you, i want you, i want you: Steve Bray reveals unreleased demo

During a telephone call with Steve Bray in 2009, he revealed to me the name of a song he co-wrote/produced with Madonna in the 1980s that has never before been reported. The title? I Want You.

Hold on, hasn’t Madonna already released a song called I Want You?

Yes - in 1995, Madonna recorded a cover of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You with Massive Attack for the tribute album, Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye, which also appeared later that year on Madonna’s ballads retrospective, Something to Remember.

There’s also the lesser-known Take Me (I Want You) from Madonna’s Emmy days, which was later re-titled I Want You when she recorded her Alec Head/Jon Gordon-produced solo version at Mediasound for her four-track demo tape – to be be touted around major labels by former-manager Camille Barbone.

I quizzed Steve as to whether he was referring to the early ‘80s version of the song, but he said that I Want You was an entirely new song that he co-wrote/produced with Madonna later that decade.

on the cover of a magazine

In 2000, while still a Media Studies undergraduate, I worked as a contributor to Ufouria, my university’s student’s union magazine. The magazine gave me my first ever cover feature – starring my icon, Madonna, of course. The article was a career-spanning profile to coincide with the release of GHV2.

in the evidence of her brilliance: Guy Sigsworth speaks



Guy Sigsworth

In 2005 I conducted my first ever interview with one of Madonna’s collaborators, Guy Sigsworth. Guy co-wrote and co-produced What It Feels Like For A Girl, the third and final single from Madonna’s Music album. “It was definitely the last song recorded for the album. I think that she heard the track quite late on and it was literally the last track done. At the time I was in Iceland doing stuff with Björk that was going to be the base of Vespertine. We just arranged that, as soon as I got back, we’d hook up.

the inspiration within

From 1986 to 1991, Smash Hits magazine was my childhood pop music “Bible”.

Any self-respecting, 30-something Madonna fan from the UK will tell you that back in the pre-Internet days of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Smash Hits was the place for all the latest Madonna news (and posters, song lyrics, stickers and badges) and the magazine helped fuel this 10 year-old’s True Blue-induced “crush” on Madonna every fortnight.

In 1989 Smash Hits featured an article about the making of the Like a Prayer album (my then-all time greatest album in the history of the universe ever – despite Smash Hits’ review that the album was “weird”) and I immediately recognised the names of Steve Bray and Pat Leonard – Madonna’s main co-writers/producers on Like a Prayer and its predecessor, True Blue.

The article by Chris Heath (who has since written books on Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and Pet Shop Boys) included all sorts of revelations about Madonna as a songwriter-producer – she works super-fast, she writes all her own lyrics and melodies and co-arranges/produces the music and that there were three songs recorded during the Like a Prayer sessions that didn’t make it on to the album – Supernatural, Love Attack and First is a Kiss.