Ray Of Light vs. Mayhem

[Horny Chicken 10,538]

14 minutes ago, Charmi3 said:

imo no Gaga album is as good as Ray of Light

I think Gaga absolutely has the potential to make an album of the same quality. BTW and Mayhem came close. She just has to really really want it (as much as she did with BTW). 
 

Edited 7 hours ago by Horny Chicken

[apollorowling 817]

ROL. I love Mayhem, I like more songs.

But ROL I feel it's more cohesive, and some of the songs are among my overall favorites. Frozen, Nothing Really Matters, To have and not to hold, Shanti/Ashtangi are a 10+/10.

[Agunimon 556]

I have only listened to Ray of Light a single time. I get its acclaim but its just not an album I have any desire to ever revisit. Artistically, Mayhem doesn't top Ray of Light - but I voted for Mayhem since I would rather listen to it. In fact, I'd rather listen to Mayhem than any album in Madonna's discography. But then again, I'd rather listen to Taylor than Madonna - so take that what you will!!!

[Killa 18,534]

Mayhem maybe energetic fun, really catchy, a great playlist of different moods but ray of light Is a spiritual journey.

[Charmi3 101]

56 minutes ago, Horny Chicken said:

I think Gaga absolutely has the potential to make an album of the same quality. BTW and Mayhem came close. She just has to really really want it (as much as she did with BTW). 
 

I agree sister and LG8 could be it 

Gargamel urgently needs to refine her lyrics first however 

Edited 6 hours ago by Charmi3

[JoeCool 737]

Ray of Light.  It got me interested in madonna 

[Anderson123 41,683]

Ray of Light is a masterpiece and it most likely has the better concept and lyrics but I prefer listening to Mayhem now so if I had to pick one to keep it'd be Mayhem even if Ray of Light is my favorite Madonna album.

[Ziggy 13,389]

3 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I love that the good sis airs her questionable taste like dirty laundry. Just holding up your tightie whities stretched in the sun so everyone can see the contours of every skid mark. Brava, sistren 

Don’t turn me on like this, mama, it’s still so early here

Edited 4 hours ago by Ziggy

[Ziggy 13,389]

3 hours ago, MountainMonster said:

I also just don’t care about a Kabbalah renaissance themed album. Spirituality is so low on the list of themes I enjoy in music, and there are plenty of times that Gaga gets too close to it for my liking. So an entire album whose themes revolve around it just does nothing for me. It feels very “Live, Laugh, Love,” and I’m more of a “Die, Cry, Hate” person. 

I mean idgaf about faith music either but just on a musical level it’s incredible. Mayhem is great but soooo safe comparatively.

[Ziggy 13,389]

Comparing these albums like comparing a useful and handsome pitchfork to Poseidon’s trident

[gagacabana 4,471]

18 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

Comparing these albums like comparing a useful and handsome pitchfork to Poseidon’s trident

[gagacabana 4,471]

Btw I never listened to ray of light in its entirety... brb

[Apec 90]

1 hour ago, princedeeblebleble said:

How do you come up with these brilliant comments  you should truly be a comedian or a writter for comedy show cause you come up with such iconic statements 

 

But on theme, as much as I adore Mayhem, its kinda poorly paced and I had to alter the tracklist to make it a better listen and use fan edits of The beast, Kill for love, HBDYWM and TDD + add Happy mistake wheras you can simply put a ROL CD into a player and enjoy the perfection. 

Can I very politely ask which tracklist alternative you listen to? I listen to tracklists quite rigidly whenever I listen through a whole Gaga album that's as, imho, cohesive yet representative of the struggle the music is about as Mayhem is (especially with her placement of the three "deluxe edition" songs, they really completed it and softened the sudden transitions for me - it's still a journey, but one with better signage ). I have however always been fascinated how a body of work can morph and change shape into an entirely different listening experience by rearranging the order.

For example, I do get Happy Mistake is forgotten about too much if Harlequin isn't in regular rotation for somebody (I play it a lot but swapped out the studio for the live Kimmel version but that's the most I ever do with Gaga albums), do you maybe swap BoG out for Happy Mistake? I've heard several people do that and I think there's a whole dynamic shift there, which really intrigues and mesmerizes me: BoG (not saying you switched these! Just a general example) is about finally finding love in all its imperfections and her letting go of the near-trauma searching for it has cost her. She's singing it in a way that many find less pleasant, but that's the dark memories and the pain bubbling up to me, and then the endless gratitude of having found it, finally, and the feeling of a lifelong gratitude/passion to come that I hear in her voice. You can't say she wasn't laying it all out for us to feel along with her with this one! Happy Mistake, otoh, is simply gorgeous/perfect but it's definitely darker: it's primarily about maybe finally being able to make the best of it after everything she's gone through in her life, in a way that's almost accidental for her but just as real. It's soft where it needs to be and builds in strength, just like she sees her own life story.

That changes the whole way the album closes... are we closing on shutting the door on the past and accepting her hopefully true life partner, followed by DWAS marking said partner as indeed probably her one and only? Or do we make a strong yet melancholy (with a strong tinge of hope) detour about her life's trajectory and THEN end on true love? It's both very different, even just vibe-wise, which is why tracklisting endlessly fascinates me!

If I listen to an album of Gaga's in full I'm mostly a meek sheep, but that's because I love the way she organizes nearly all her albums, Mayhem included. Maybe I need to take the plunge and listen from a different angle sometime, which is why your version really piqued my interest... I LOVE both KFL (Yeah, kinda repetitive but love the drums and the sax and when it all comes together... pure joy!) and The Beast (that Phil Collins nod sends me in a good way and it's a fantastic voice showcase that can be interpreted so many different ways) yet a good HBDYWM fan edit really could make that song click more for me, not that I don't understand it or don't love her sampling Yazoo (as mainstream as it'd be, I wish she'd have picked the dark foreboding synth from Don't You Want Me or one of the frantic parts from "Don't go" instead - it might be cheesy but it's good cheese ) but maybe it'd deepen my feelings for it than it just being that role-switching semi-parody of the good girl/bad girl dichotomy where everybody compares her to Taylor Swift for some reason (I don't follow TS). The song is clever in the way it plays with expectations, but I'd love to see it done different (Requiem here we come!).

Anyway, sorry for the essay here. I would want to hug you if you listed me your preferred version of Mayhem (with an extra hug if you pointed me in the direction of where I could find those fan edits). No pressure though if it's too much work/too personal! 

[rvfzme 1,095]

MAYHEM, not Medoner 

[gagacabana 4,471]

12 minutes ago, Apec said:

I have however always been fascinated how a body of work can morph and change shape into an entirely different listening experience by rearranging the order.

Just the other day I made up a little rearrangement of the mayhem era, nothing serious, only musings to bring a different perspective on the table