
From Mark Savage at the BBC
Madonna’s long-time collaborator Patrick Leonard has posted several demos from the Like A Prayer album online, in an attempt to thwart an auction of the star’s personal effects.
Leonard uploaded the first versions of Like A Prayer and Cherish, recorded on the day they were written, on Monday.
He hopes to stop fans bidding on cassettes of Madonna’s unreleased recordings at an auction this week.
The tapes are being sold by the star’s former art adviser Darlene Lutz.
Lutz is also auctioning intimate personal items including Madonna’s break-up letter from rapper Tupac Shakur, a hairbrush with strands of her hair and “stage-worn” La Perla bra.
The singer tried to stop the auction, filing an emergency court order in 2017, saying she had no idea Lutz was in possession of the items. However, a Manhattan judge ruled earlier this month that the sale could go ahead.
The auction is due to end on 26 July. Current bids on Madonna’s unreleased music have reached $1,283 (£1,031) for the Like A Prayer demos, $446 (£358) for an original recording of Justify My Love and $963 (£774) for a cassette with an early configuration of the setlist for the star’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour.
Although Madonna couldn’t stop the auction, Leonard has taken matters into his own hands.
“I hope these posts stop the sale of that cassette at auction,” he wrote on YouTube. “Not cool at all that someone would sell it. Not theirs to sell.”
The Like A Prayer demo was recorded on “the day it was written,” he added. It lacks the finished version’s gospel choir and electric guitars, but the lyrics and melody are identical. Madonna also provides some celestial background vocals that were eventually erased from the track.
Cherish retains its breezy pop shuffle, even without the harmonica solo and a capella breakdown that elevate the released version into a pop classic.
Leonard also shared an unreleased song, Angels With Dirty Faces, a lightweight, mid-tempo song which has more in common with Madonna’s water-treading Who’s That Girl soundtrack than the confessional pop of Like A Prayer.
The title was taken from a 1938 James Cagney Movie – much like the previous Madonna song White Heat. Leonard previously described the track as one “Madonna and I wrote for the [Like a Prayer] album and ultimately must have decided that wasn’t good enough”.
Earlier this month, Leonard also shared images of a 10-track demo cassettefrom the Like A Prayer sessions, which is presumably the source of the latest release.
It included working versions of Dear Jessie and Promise To Try (then called Little Girl), alongside Like A Prayer, Cherish and others.
“They’re first day versions, so the day we wrote them,” Leonard said of the songs. “They have a lead vocal and some backgrounds. Not produced. Without live players and strings and choirs etc. We worked from these versions and they became the records.”
The cassette also included the unreleased instrumentals Bossa Nova and 20s Jazz, which Leonard described as “sparks that made no fire”.
Collecting rare and out of print Vinyl Records, CDs & Memorabilia by Madonna? Explore what’s in at eil.com today…
EIL.COM Favourite Music Update Rare CDs, CD Singles, Rare Records, Vinyl Records, Albums and Music
- Madonna - Like A Prayer - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £15.00, $18.90, €17.70 (New Item) (arrived 24-May-2022 10:19)on May 27, 2022 at 3:43 pm
MADONNA Like A Prayer (1989 German-pressed UK issue 11-track vinyl LP including Like A Prayer and Express Yourself, housed in the glossy picture sleeve with illustrated lyric inner. The sleeve shows just minor edgewear and light creasing, whilst the vinyl shows some signs of play but remains in excellent condition WX239)
- Madonna - Bedtime Story - Metallic Sleeve - UK - 12" vinyl - £75.00, $94.50, €88.50 (New Item) (arrived 19-May-2022 14:46)on May 27, 2022 at 3:43 pm
MADONNA Bedtime Story (1995 UK limited edition 4-track 12" vinyl EP with barcoded labels, including an Orbital Mix plus Junior Vasquez's Sound Factory & Wet Dream remixes, housed in the stunning metallic effect portrait picture sleeve. The sleeve shows minimal wear and the vinyl appears barely played W0285TX)
- Madonna - Justify My Love + Insert - UK - 12" picture disc - £30.00, $37.80, €35.40 (New Item) (arrived 19-May-2022 14:17)on May 27, 2022 at 3:43 pm
MADONNA Justify My Love (1990 UK limited edition 3-track 12" Picture Disc single, including Original Version [co-written with Lenny Kravitz], William Orbit Remix and Express Yourself [Shep's 'Spressin' Himself Remix], housed in a clear PVC sleeve complete with backing card picture insert W9000TP)
- Madonna - Shine A Light - UK - 12" picture disc - £30.00, $37.80, €35.40 (New Item) (arrived 19-May-2022 14:20)on May 27, 2022 at 3:43 pm
MADONNA Shine A Light (Withdrawn 1992 UK Receiver Records limited edition 3-track 12" Picture Disc single, also includes On The Ground & Little Boy. Features a completely different image to the 7" picture disc featuring Madonna dressedin French 18th Century 'Marie Antoinette' style period costume! RRSPT1007)
- Madonna - Express Yourself + barcoded sticker - UK - 12" picture disc - £40.00, $50.40, €47.20 (New Item) (arrived 19-May-2022 14:22)on May 27, 2022 at 3:43 pm
MADONNA Express Yourself (Original 1989 UK limited edition 12" Picture Disc single including the Non-Stop Express Mix and Stop + Go Dubs, clear PVC sleeve complete with barcoded catalogue number sticker W2948TP)
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