The Immaculate Collection

1	Holiday 4:06
2	Lucky Star 3:37
3	Borderline 4:00
4	Like a Virgin 3:11
5	Material Girl 3:53
6	Crazy for You 3:45
7	Into the Groove 4:09
8	Live to Tell 5:18
9	Papa Don't Preach 4:11
10	Open Your Heart 3:51
11	La Isla Bonita 3:48
12	Like a Prayer 5:51
13	Express Yourself 4:04
14	Cherish 3:52
15	Vogue 5:19
16	Justify My Love 5:00
17	Rescue Me 5:31

Barnes & Noble

Before motherhood, the film roles, and the yoga obsession, Madonna was a pop star, and this greatest-hits collection chronicles her rise to fame (or infamy) and fortune. Most of these 17 tracks will be familiar to anyone who lived in America during the '80s: "Lucky Star," "Borderline," "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl," "Papa Don't Preach," "Like a Prayer," "Express Yourself," and "Vogue." They are, unquestionably, defining songs of the era. They are also the work of a woman as skilled at creating a catchy pop melody and developing a cutting-edge sound for it as she is at manipulating the media. During an early '80s appearance on "American Bandstand," Dick Clark asked Madonna about her future plans, and she responded, "To rule the world." These songs are the cornerstones of her kingdom. Martin Johnson

All Music Guide

On the surface, the single-disc hits compilation The Immaculate Collection appears to be a definitive retrospective of Madonna's heyday in the '80s. After all, it features 17 of {|Madonna|}'s greatest hits, from "Holiday" and "Like a Virgin" to "Like a Prayer" and "Vogue." However, looks can be deceiving. It's true that The Immaculate Collection contains the bulk of Madonna's hits, but there are several big hits that aren't present, including "Angel," "Dress You Up," "True Blue," "Who's That Girl," and "Causing a Commotion." The songs that are included are frequently altered. Everything on the collection is remastered in Q-sound, which gives an exaggerated sense of stereo separation that often distorts the original intent of the recordings. Furthermore, several songs are faster than their original versions and some are faded out earlier than either their single or album versions, while others are segued together. In other words, while all the hits are present, they're simply not in their correct versions. Nevertheless, The Immaculate Collection remains a necessary purchase, because it captures everything Madonna is about and it proves that she was one of the finest singles artists of the '80s. Until the original single versions are compiled on another album, The Immaculate Collection is the closest thing to a definitive retrospective. Stephen Thomas Erlewine