Includes rare 12" dance remixes previously unavailable on CD.

Personnel: Madonna (vocals); Nile Rodgers (guitar, Synclavier); Lenny Pickett (saxophone); Rob Sabino (synthesizer); Bernard Edwards (bass); Tony Thompson (drums); Jimmy Bralower (programming); Curtis King, Frank Simms, George Simms, Brenda King (background vocals).

Digitally remastered by Ted Jensen (Sterling Sound, New York, New York).

Madonna had already made serious waves with her 1983 self-titled debut, springing her irresistibly exuberant, sexy dance-pop onto an unsuspecting public. But it was 1984's LIKE A VIRGIN that exhibited the calculated pop mastery that would define the singer's career. Everything from the cover art (which features Madonna splayed out provocatively in a wedding dress) to the sleek production from Chic's Nile Rogers announced Madonna's arrival as the queen of pop.

If only for the album's two gargantuan smash singles, the bouncy, coy, gold-digging ode "Material Girl" and the racy title cut, LIKE A VIRGIN would go down in pop history. The dominating force of both songs, their videos, and their subject matter helped make Madonna a household name. The rest of the album delivers too. The energetic shimmy of "Dress You Up" and "Angel" are infectious dance floor workouts, and her cover of Rose Royce's "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is sharp and compelling. LIKE A VIRGIN still shines as an indispensable `80s dance-pop classic.

The title track, which, combined with her overt sexuality, caused waves of controversy at the time, has now become part of movie folklore, with director Quentin Tarantino letting his brutish cast mull over the meaning of its lyrics for the opening sequence of the film Reservoir Dogs. It is somehow gratifying that the Madonna album that unleashed her on the world should have become a cultural icon and reference point for the 80s. A telling blend of lush pop songs and street suss--the dancing went on all through the night.

The British import CD (SIRE 925181-2) contains 1 extra track "Into The Groove" from the "Desperately Seeking Susan" soundtrack and has a running time of 43:22.

Q (7/01, p.131) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The record that propelled her into the stratosphere - and rightly so. The songs are smart, funny, sexy and irresistible..."