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”.
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EIL.COM Favourite Music Update Rare CDs, CD Singles, Rare Records, Vinyl Records, Albums and Music
- Madonna - Borderline - 1st - Solid - Card Sleeve - UK - 7" vinyl - £12.00, $15.48, €14.28 (New Item) (arrived 25-Jul-2024 16:01)on July 27, 2024 at 1:46 am
MADONNA Borderline (1984 UK solid centre 7" vinyl single with the yellow Sire label, also including Physical Attraction. The vinyl shows just a few light signs of play and comes issued in the glossy card picture sleeve W9260)
- Madonna - Music - UK - 12" picture disc - £15.00, $19.35, €17.85 (New Item) (arrived 15-Jul-2024 17:35)on July 27, 2024 at 1:46 am
MADONNA Music (2000 UK limited edition 4-track 12" Picture Disc single, featuring the Album Version, Deep Dish & Groove Armada remixes. The disc looks barely played issued in the large title-stickered clear PVC sleeve W537TX1)
- Madonna - Into The Groove - Solid + Paper Sleeve - UK - 7" vinyl - £12.00, $15.48, €14.28 (New Item) (arrived 15-Jul-2024 17:00)on July 27, 2024 at 1:46 am
MADONNA Into The Groove (1985 UK solid centre 7" vinyl single taken from the motion picture 'Desperately Seeking Susan', also including Shoo Bee Doo. Nestled within the paper picture sleeve which has only minor evidence of shelfwear while thevinyl appears in excellent condition W8934)
- Madonna - Like A Prayer - Stickered Sleeve - German - 12" vinyl - £10.00, $12.90, €11.90 (New Item) (arrived 15-Jul-2024 17:18)on July 27, 2024 at 1:46 am
MADONNA Like A Prayer (1989 German 3-track 12" single, featuring the Extended & 12" Club mixes plus Act Of Contrition - LP Version, custom 'Madonna' stickered picture sleeve. The sleeve shows light shelfwear withlight discolouration to the reverse and light creasing, whilst the vinyl reveals little play W7539T)
- Madonna - La Isla Bonita - UK - 12" vinyl - £10.00, $12.90, €11.90 (New Item) (arrived 15-Jul-2024 17:19)on July 27, 2024 at 1:46 am
MADONNA La Isla Bonita (1987 original UK 12" vinyl single featuring the Extended Remix and Extended Instrumental Version. Glossy picture sleeve with cover art image by renowned photographer Herb Ritts W8378T)
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