Madonna – Ray Of Light

Ambitious projects of this sort by veteran musicians often fall into one of two bivouacs: pompous self-indulgence by an artist desperate to remain bankable and in touch with the zeitgeist, or refreshing and daring incursions into modern styles. The 7th album by this global superstar falls into the latter category, also placed at 7th in the UK’s highest-selling albums of 1998 (4th if only considering studio albums made in that year); Ray of Light sounded not a scintilla similar to anything Madonna had committed to record before, or indeed since. Swim – perhaps the opening theme to a maritime movie yet to be made – is a case in point of how dystopian lyrics can be dipped in a light electronica sauce, then marinaded in celestial seasonings (courtesy of William Orbit) and sound splendiferous without resorting to musical clichés or unashamed trend-hopping.

after doing a side by side test between this and the german reissue (2019 i believe) this sounds MUCH clearer. so much so that i sold my other copy. 10/10 recommend this variant if you can get back the hyper saturated cover (it’s p bad in person). i also found two Argentinian copies at my local fye so maybe check there if you’re interested lol

Not the best sounding pressing. If you can get your hands on the german repress from 2003, get that. Sounds miles better.

No 'has to be' track included on Vinyl . ?

The packaging is absolutely gorgeous. The quality of the booklet paper is better than the original release and most of the pictures have a silver matte foil treatment. The material on the covers is super cool.

Madonna's finest work imo. Outstanding dynamics on the cd
Kenwood DP-990SG
NAD C160 pre/C270 power
PSB Alpha B1 w SVS SB pro 1000

why is she orange 1 2 3 4 5 6

From the moment you drop the needle, the pressing is dead quiet, flat, and excellent in sound. I noticed Side C is a bit worse in quality due to it having four tracks on it instead of three. Definitely one of my favorite records I own. Wish it was a gatefold, though.

In love with this, sounds great. Would’ve loved a gatefold but for what it’s worth the discs are heavy, flat, and centered with very minimal surface noise, and the music sounds very rich and clear and defined to my ears here

this pressing has so much depth to the sound - i love testing new equipment on it and discovering new bleeps and background sounds in the music i’ve never heard before! no surface noise and good packaging adds up for an amazing pressing for this incredible album! only thing i could critique is the vocals kind of blend in with the instrumentals, giving it a slightly muddy sound but i think that was a deliberate choice - i just personally prefer vocals to be clear and forward sounding!