Madonna has a long history of delivering albums that have startled fans and critics alike, but when she released her RAY OF LIGHT album in 1998, what proved most startling was just how much shed musically reinvented herself. It wasnt always to be thus the original sessions for her seventh album had been helmed by Babyface and Patrick Leonard but after those efforts proved unsatisfying to Madonna, she instead recruited William Orbit, whose production techniques resulted in an LP unlike anything shed ever delivered before. And, yes, we mean that in agoodway.

Arguably the first album by a mainstream artist to embrace the electronica movement, RAY OF LIGHT took full advantage of the technological advancements within the recording studio, its sound layers with synthesizers and sampling. More impressively, Madonnas audience didnt balk at her decision to go in this decidedly different sonic direction: the number of countries where it topped the charts numbered well into double digits, and both Frozen and the albums title track were top-10 hits in the US and the UK, with the former song actually topping the UK Singles chart. In fact, Drowned World (Substitute for Love), The Power of Goodbye, and Nothing Really Matters all ended up in the UK top-10 as well, but that stands to reason, given how much more electronica music was embraced by the Brits.

Now that RAY OF LIGHT is available on 180-gram vinyl for your listening pleasure, dont be surprised if your mind is thoroughly blown after you give it a listen; its arguably the most adventure album that Madonna has ever released, and it sounds better than ever.

Tracklisting:

1 Drowned World/Substitute For Love 5.09
2 Swim 5.00
3 Ray Of Light 5.21
4 Candy Perfume Girl 4.34
5 Skin 6.22
6 Nothing Really Matters 4.27
7 Sky Fits Heaven 4.48
8 Shanti/Ashtangi 4.29
9 Frozen 6.12
10 The Power Of Good-Bye 4.10
11 To Have And Not To Hold 5.23
12 Little Star 5.18
13 Mer Girl 5.32