Madonna: Ray Of Light (2LP)

Madonna has a long history of albums that have stunned fans and critics alike, but when she released her 1998 album 'Ray Of Light', the most astonishing thing was how much she had reinvented herself musically. It wasn't always this way - the original sessions for her seventh album were led by Babyface and Patrick Leonard - but after those efforts proved unsatisfactory for Madonna, she instead hired William Orbit, whose production techniques resulted in an LP unlike anything she'd ever delivered before. And yes, we mean that in a positive way. arguably the first album by a mainstream artist to embrace the electronica movement, "Ray Of Light" took full advantage of technological advances in the recording studio, layering the sound with synthesizers and samples. Even more impressively, Madonna's audience did not resist her decision to take this decidedly different sonic direction: the number of countries in which the album topped the charts was in double figures, and both "Frozen" and the album's title track were top 10 hits in the US and UK, with the former song even topping the UK singles chart. Drowned World (Substitute for Love)", "The Power of Goodbye" and "Nothing Really Matters" also landed in the UK top 10, but that's only logical when you consider how much the British are into electronic music