D/L: "Ray of Light" Demos

Ray of Light Demos

These tracks were produced by Greg Fitzgerald and Rick Nowells in early 1997, before W. Orbit was involved with Ray of Light. Don't know how many of these tracks you guys may or may not have (Shane, did I give you any? I forget.) but here they are! I got some of the background information from Mad-Eyes.net.

To Have and Not To Hold (Demo)

The Power of Good-Bye (Demo)

Little Star (Demo)

No Substitute For Love
This was the first version of what would later become Drowned World / Substitute For Love. Though some of the lyrics are the same, the music was quite different and much slower. Madonna wrote it together with Patrick Leonard, but later reworked it completely with William Orbit. The demo surfaced on the Internet mid 2002.

Gone Gone Gone
This demo surfaced on the Internet mid 2002.

Revenge
This demo surfaced on the Internet mid 2002.

Like a Flower
This song was originally recorded with Babyface, but the project (and the song) was abandoned because she thought it sounded too much like Bedtime Stories. The demo surfaced on the Internet mid 2002.

Has To Be
Originally Madonna and Orbit had recorded 14 tracks for the album. However Madonna insisted only 13 tracks would appear on the album, because that's a lucky number according to the Kabbalah. That's why this beautiful track was cut from Ray Of Light. It did appear as a bonus track on the Asian/Australian edition and as a B-single on the Ray Of Light-single (US and Europe).

I LOVE the Drowned World demo, its so folky and really mournful.
Totally Pat Leonard!

It is good, isn't it? I'm fond of "Like a Flower" and "Has To Be" - they should have both been album tracks (I suppose Has To Be is on a technicality, but c'mon, we're not counting Japan here).

I found Like a Flower kinda corny, like schoolgirl-writing-on-her-exercise-book corny lol It definitely didn't fit on Ray of Light.

Love Has to Be though. I always reckoned Bedtime Story would fit perfectly on Ray of Light, it so did not go with Bedtime Stories. But I guess that was a teaser of where she was heading, and god, didn't she blow us away with ROL.

Quote :

I found Like a Flower kinda corny, like schoolgirl-writing-on-her-exercise-book corny lol

Have you listened to "Love Profusion" lately? The video is beautiful but jeez, the lyrics crack me up everytime. And she blew me away with ROL, but I still think a big part of its success as an Official Electronica Album rather than Computerised Pop Crap is down to "Skin", because that gives the album strong dance-techno credibility. Just my opinion!!! *cowers*

Some of her lyrics really make me cringe, the corniness of them, its like come on, you can do better than that girl! Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing some kind of double meaning, but mostly I'm convinced its just crap writing.

Just be careful who you say that to. I used to be on an American forum where opinions were never voiced. Dare to mention that her lyrics make you roll your eyes, e.g. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your names will never hurt", and you're either ignored or shouted at until you repent your sins, say twenty Hail Maddys and so on in that vein.