Author: Paul Sinclair

In a surprising turn of events, Madonna has announced that her 1994 album Bedtime Stories will be reissued at some point in the near future.

Released in October 1994, the album features the singles ‘Secret’, ‘Take A Bow’, ‘Bedtime Story’ and ‘Human Nature’. ‘Take A Bow’ spoiled Madonna’s run of consecutive top 10 UK hit singles (she’d had 32 at that point) by peaking at No 16, although in America that song was an enormous hit, reaching No 1 and staying there for seven weeks. The album was perceived as a return to form, or perhaps more a return to the mainstream, after the raunch-fest that was 1992’s Erotica. That album was very successful (in the UK all five singles went top 10) but it was her first studio album since her debut not to have a single that reached number one in the US or the UK. As mentioned, normal service was resumed with Take A Bow in America.

There is no official announcement or press release from the label, but Madonna herself has broken the news on her social channels. On X she said “Bedtime Stories Re -release and Vinyl coming soon !” and on Instagram, in a now deleted post, she offered more details with a graphic depicting the album with alternative artwork and the heading ‘The Untold Chapter’. Underneath is the text: “A vinyl EP featuring a never before heard story, early demos from the main manuscript and more. Pre-orders coming soon!“

There’s no real clarity over what is happening, other than the fact that something is happening. It feels like it could be interesting, but not comprehensive. Let’s reserve judgement, although I wouldn’t go expecting a 4CD+blu-ray super deluxe, with Atmos, demos, all the remixes etc.

The reason I say that it’s a surprising turn of events is that it has been four and a half years since Warner Music announced its “multi-year catalog series” of Madonna’s output. Since that time they’ve missed the opportunity to release 40th anniversary editions of Madonna’s debut album and Like A Virgin. In fact no studio albums have been reissued at all. The Finally Enough Love compilation has been the most significant activity (see SDE review, here).

Good though Bedtime Stories is, starting this campaign, nearly half a decade down the line, with a record that is only about her eighth best-selling studio album simply demonstrates that Madonna herself is in control and one suspects there’s some frustrated executives within Warners right now wondering what they’ve got themselves into. Madonna is also in the middle of recording her new record with Stuart Price that she’s hash-tagging as “Confessions Part 2”.

More news on Bedtime Stories, when we get it.