Another iconic cover - her second. This was the first Madonna album I bought, on CD, a good while after it came out but - if memory serves - before You Can Dance was released. "Live To Tell" sold me on the album, and I still think it's one of the finest singles of the '80s - Kate Bush caliber stuff. The video is dynamite too, especially for one of those "film clip" videos of the era. She gives a better performance here than in most if not all of her movies, somewhat dressed down as a housewife, rendering the song (by turns heart wrenching and ominous) even more effective. As the lead single for True Blue in the late spring of ‘86 it was something of a mindblower - this was not what we’d come to expect from Madonna - and the moody ballad shockingly made it all the way to #1. I was not a big fan of ballads, and at first I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I quickly grew to love “Live To Tell” and it ultimately forced me to completely reappraise ...
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