"Bedtime Stories" was Madonna's follow-up to "Erotica," an album so cooly received that it started a nasty backlash against the singer. So, it's not surprising that she comes across as a bit defensive on a couple of tracks: on "Survival" she promises that she's "gonna be living to tell" and she lashes back at her critics in the dynamite "Human Nature." Elsewhere, "Bedtime Stories" was her most self-reflective album at the time, and it's also her most r&b-sounding disc since her debut. Dave Jam Hall, Dallas Austin and Babyface all supply the onetime Material Girl some solid beats and rhythms that wouldn't sound out of place on a Mary J. Blige album. The hits, "Secret" and "Take a Bow" show up here, but other tracks of note are the infectious "Inside of Me" (a tribute to her late mother) and "Don't Stop," which should have been released as a single but wasn't. This album didn't flop upon release, but it sold less than it deserved to, mainly because people were looking for a "Vogue 2" in this record. Nonetheless, "Bedtime Stories" is a straight-up r&b record that deserves a second chance.

Some people have described this as Madonna's "comeback" album after the "disappointment" of the Erotica album. But, both albums sold about 2 million copies in the US, so they were just about equally successful. But, this album did produce the biggest hit of Madonna's career, "Take a Bow" (#1 for seven weeks). It also yielded the #3 hit "Secret". The other two single from the album, "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature", became the first two singles by Madonna to fail to make the Top 40 since her first single ("Everybody"). This is a good album overall, and Madonna's fans should enjoy it.

-Bedtime Stories (1994)-

Released in 1994, two years after Madonna released "Erotica", the world was still outraged. Madonna released this album, which again, only peaked at #2, and sold 2 million copies since it's release. This album, along with "Erotica" and "American Life" are probably Madonna most underrated albums. Madonna decided to go with more of an R&B sound for this album, and it turned out amazing. This is another one of my all time favorite Madonna albums. The first single to be released from the album was "Secret", and it put Madonna back on the charts, peaking at #3. It's a really great song. And then Madonna released "Take a Bow", which put her back on top of the charts. The song peaked at #1, and stayed there for 7 weeks, giving Madonna her biggest US single to date. The song is definitely one of Madonna's greatest ballads. Two other singles were also released, "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature". "Human Nature" is a very bass heavy song, directed to the critics that bashed her during her sex phase, and is another great song. "Bedtime Story" is just absolutely amazing, and along with "Frozen" and "Bad Girl", one of my all time favorite Madonna songs. The song was co-written by Bjork, and was years ahead of it's time when it was released. Everything about the song is just amazing, and the video is one of the best I've ever seen. Also, at the time of the videos release, it was the most expensive video ever made.

1. Survival (10/10)
2. Secret (10/10)
3. I'd Rather Be Your Lover (10/10)
4. Don't Stop (9/10)
5. Inside of Me (/10)
6. Human Nature (10/10)
7. Forbidden Love (8/10)
8. Love Tried to Welcome Me (10/10)
9. Sanctuary (10/10)
10. Bedtime Story (10/10)
11. Take a Bow (10/10)

As with "Erotica", every song on the album is great. "Survival" is a great way to start of the album, and is very R&Bish. It talks about how Madonna felt about how she was backlashed, but how she survived. "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" is another great song, that features a guest rapper. "Don't Stop" is a great dance song, but it isn't one of my favorites. "Inside of Me" is my definitely my favorite unreleased song. It's amazing. I love the way Madonna uses her breathing like an instrument. It's a song about her mother, but it could easily be interpreted a different way. "Forbidden Love" is probably the worst song on the album, but it's still a good song. "Love Tried to Welcome Me" is one of Madonna's most beautiful ballads, and could have easily replaced "Forbidden Love" on "Something to Remember". "Sanctuary" is an amazing song, that follows along the same lines as "Bedtime Story". All in all, this is another one of Madonna's best albums, which wasn't as successful as it should have been.

My Top 5 off of the album are...

5) Love Tried to Welcome Me
4) Human Nature
3) Take a Bow
2) Inside of Me
1) Bedtime Story

Probably my personal favorite MADONNA album, next to EROTICA. BEDTIME STORIES is a further look into relationships. There are great collaborations (BABYFACE, BJORK, DALLAS AUSTIN) and superb songs (TAKE A BOW, LOVE TRIED TO WELCOME ME, SECRET, HUMAN NATURE). Her heaviest R&B album to date its a phat mix of MADONNA's ever changing emotions. She gives it to her critics in HUMAN NATURE " you punished me for telling you my fantasies, i'm breakin all the rules i din't make". While songs like "Inside of Me", "Love Tried To Welcome Me", "I'd Rather Be Your Lover", and "Take A Bow" speak of lost loves or loves that couldn't or wouldn't ever happen. It's the only album that she hasn't toured for and was overshadowed by her EROTICA/SEX antics and forgotten by her EVITA role. But if you didn't know the TAKE A BOW video was sent to the director of EVITA and then she got the role. A stunning MADONNA milestone that deserves a place in history.

Do not trust most of the bad reviews here. They are a team of Mariah Carey fans who have set out to destroy Madonna, Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston so they can get Mariah Carey in the number one spot.

I have alerted Maverick Records and Warner Brothers to the situation and have suggested legal action against them.

They intend to make use of the press in any way possible, cluttering the press with bad reviews to make those artiste's releases flop. That is just sad.