Madonna "Celebration" Greatest Hits

[VinnyM227]

He's being stupid on purpose, right?

[Radiophonic]

True Blue was dire though. Like some 'Grease 2' reject.

It still went to number one, and there are already several stinkers on the album.

So did American Pie.

VinnyM227, I like your track listing!

[Palpatine]

Causing a commotion wasn't on the Immaculate Collection or this new GH even though it was #2 in the US for 3 weeks and was #4 in the UK. It bugs me how acts leave out singles on GH collections unless they have a sensible reason for doing so (i.e. Was it worth it?).

[Radiophonic]

Here's Revolver - which seems to have a Britney vibe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hel0t64Ygko

Catchy, though ...

[Hillbilly]

The compilation is up on Spotify now - and "Who's that girl" is included:
http://open.spotify.com/album/43lok9zd7BW5CoYkXZs7S0

[York Minster]

I'm a die hard PSB fan, but even I regret having bought PopArt. I mean do I really need the songs twice on cd?

Well, in the case of Popart, you get the two new songs. In my opinion the remastering is Ace. And you supposedly get the single versions, which in some cases are hard to find, though we all know that PopArt messed that all up pretty bad. I also like the PopArt packaging. I still like physical product.

[markus]

I'm a die hard PSB fan, but even I regret having bought PopArt. I mean do I really need the songs twice on cd?

Well, in the case of Popart, you get the two new songs. In my opinion the remastering is Ace. And you supposedly get the single versions, which in some cases are hard to find, though we all know that PopArt messed that all up pretty bad. I also like the PopArt packaging. I still like physical product.

Most of it sounds good, but "Music" is totally ruined by digital clicks through out the whole song. Its really embarassing for a such a high profile release. There are other mistakes too that you can read about in Madonna forums. "Popart" seems really professional and carefully put together in comparison...

[Hillbilly]

Most of it sounds good, but "Music" is totally ruined by digital clicks through out the whole song. Its really embarassing for a such a high profile release. There are other mistakes too that you can read about in Madonna forums. "Popart" seems really professional and carefully put together in comparison...

I have listened through the whole Celebration album (with headphones most of it) on Spotify and was really impressed by how great it sounded! I've never listened to PopArt on cd.

[York Minster]

"Popart" seems really professional and carefully put together in comparison...

What with the wrong version of Wouldn't Normally Do and Opportunities.

[markus]

I'm just going to post the whole article here so you can read. The author is over the top picky on the verge to psychotic, but intresting observations nevertheless..


"There are 16 previously released songs featured in their full-length, original album versions.

BURNING UP

HOLIDAY

MATERIAL GIRL

INTO THE GROOVE

LIVE TO TELL

PAPA DON'T PREACH

LA ISLA BONITA

WHO'S THAT GIRL

LIKE A PRAYER

JUSTIFY MY LOVE

TAKE A BOW

FROZEN

BEAUTIFUL STRANGER

MUSIC - MASTERING ERROR: multiple digital pops and clicks that are not part of the original recording can be heard throughout this song.

DIE ANOTHER DAY - MASTERING ERROR: Track fades up late due to the incorrectly placed track index on the American Life album. This is ridiculous. The unaffected album version appears on both the US Promo CD single and the Die Another Day film soundtrack, all Warner Bros. releases.

HOLLYWOOD - MASTERING ERROR: Track starts abruptly and end of "American Life"'s fade out is audible.


Of these, ten were released as singles in versions that differ from these LP mixes. I would have much preferred the inclusion of the difficult to obtain single mixes, but I'm in therapy and have mostly moved on. Mostly.

Fortunately, five tracks do appear in their official single versions.

SECRET (Edit)

RAY OF LIGHT (Edit)

SORRY (Single Edit)

4 MINUTES (Edit)

MILES AWAY (Radio Edit)

...and one more is a rarity from a US promo CD:

HUNG UP ([Unblended] Album Version)


Next up, there are five remixes lifted directly from The Immaculate Collection.

BORDERLINE (1990) (Q Sound Mix)

LIKE A VIRGIN (1990) (Q Sound Mix)

CRAZY FOR YOU (1990) (Q Sound Mix)

OPEN YOUR HEART (1990) (Q Sound Mix)

VOGUE (1990) (Q Sound Mix)

And now we pause to ask ourselves why.

The remaining nine tracks are unique to the collection. The first two are new recordings.

CELEBRATION

REVOLVER

One appears to be a from-the-vault rarity, likely included by mistake.

LUCKY STAR - ALTERNATIVE Q SOUND MIX

Virtually identical to the version heard on The Immaculate Collection, though there is noticeably more reverb on the "ee-yeah"'s at the foot of each chorus. The music leading into the first verse is different (on TIC is was edited to match the original 7" version, on here it is not.) The most obvious difference is right at the fade, instead of the chorus it edits to a set of adlibs heard on longer versions of the song, but not heard on the Q Sound version. Odd, but inoffensive as it seems to be a genuine unreleased variation.


As for the rest, quality control has reached an all time low:



EVERYBODY - FAKE EDIT

This uses the full length, original 12" version as its starting point (as did the official 7" single version), but is structured differently. While the overall idea for this edit wasn't horrendous, whoever was placed in charge of actually executing the edits needs to be tortured. Slowly... painfully.






DRESS YOU UP - f*** UP INTRO

What the hell happened here? This isn't a mix variation so much as a mastering error... the album version started late with severe tape pinch/phasing issues right at the top. Of the four beats on the intro, all but the fourth are missing.






EXPRESS YOURSELF - FAKE f*** f***.

The most offensive. In a failed attempt to kindofsortof recreate the video version, they have taken the complete intro straight off of the Local Mix, "zipper" included. The actual, official video version starts at the percussion and is specially mixed to have echo on the line "Do you believe in love..." which is dry on the Local Mix and therefore not present here. This new monstrosity then incorrectly cuts to the 7" Remix/Edit version and then again where they have BUTCHERED the song right at the bridge. 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.
:hotmess:





CHERISH - FAKE EDIT

The original album version cut to the length of the super-short Immaculate Collection version. AMATEUR doesn't begin to describe how bad these edits have been executed. Poor edits result in creating entirely new lyrics! How about this chestnut... "Can't get away, I won't let to" ?! They render all prior complaints about bad edits on Madonna's releases void. Again, unlistenable. In the cases of "Express Yourself" and "Cherish," why not just use the f*** Q Sound remixes?! They're the exact same length as the fake edits and it's not like there aren't 6 others from that release present here.



EROTICA - FAKE Radio Edit

The edit points are around the same places as the OFFICIAL radio edit, but are poorly executed. The worst is around 3:30... they cut a beat late making for one of the sloppiest moments on this royalfuckupofacompilation. I don't understand why this needed to be recreated as the official edit appears on countless singles and 2001's GHV2 compilation. Oh. And the "surface noise" on the end of "Erotica" overlaps the beginning of "Justify My Love".





DON'T TELL ME - FAKE Radio Edit

The least offensive/noticeable fake edit, but incorrect nonetheless. The true radio edit was a unique mix for the very last second that does not feature the "whimsical strings" tag. For Celebration, they have chopped off the end, but the first millisecond of this tag is audible.



Regarding the mastering: It sounds as though noise reduction was used to remove "tape hiss" which is unnecessary on most recordings post 1980. This process kills part of the high end of recordings. In addition, the entire album has a smear of bass over it. I really wanted to like it, but it sounds like a cheap "bass boost" EQ effect was applied to the songs, not proper remastering.

I had accepted the slightly shoddy sequencing, several major omissions and overall lack of consistency and attention to detail with the mixes chosen for this release. I love the look of the entire project, but I cannot understand the use of newly created, butchered versions of songs."

[Pet Shop Girl]

I love this compilation, way better than the other ones. I will treasure this forever!

[One of the crowd]

"Popart" seems really professional and carefully put together in comparison...

What with the wrong version of Wouldn't Normally Do and Opportunities.

Plus the Actually version of Heart plus West End girls with slightly longer intro.

[York Minster]

Plus the Actually version of Heart plus West End girls with slightly longer intro.

I don't know if I've noticed that on West End girls..I'll have to listen today. Ususally I would notice such a thing.