The very collectable 3" cd single format was introduced in Japan in 1988 and it became so popular in the country that vinyl singles were put out of production in just a few years.

These little discs came housed in a long box with cardboard and plastic elements. This box was meant to be folded by breaking part of the plastic material. It is obvious that to be considered as collectables, these cds must be preserved in the original unfolded box.

Warner-Pioneer, Madonna's label kept producing singles in the double format (7" vinyl and 3" cd) for just a couple of years (1988-1989).

Due to the lack of many Madonna releases in 1988, the only two singles commercialy available on both formats were Spotlight and Like A Prayer.

  
 

After these first two 3 inch discs, the next commercial release, Express Yourself was a 3" cd single only.
A total of five cd singles were taken from the Like A Prayer album: Like A Prayer, Express Yourself, Cherish, Oh Father and Keep it together.
All these early 3" singles have become quite scarce but the rarest of them all is definitely Oh Father.

  
 

The next singles followed the path of the standard discography and they were Vogue, Hanky Panky, Justify My Love and Rescue Me.

Rescue Me comes with a nice Alternate Single Mix (An edit of one of the remixes) as the "B-side".
 


With This Used To Be My Playgrond, released in April 1992, the label's name and logo changed from Warner-Pioneer to Warner Music Japan. We will find this name and logo on all the singles taken from the album Erotica. They were: the title track, Depeer and Deeper, Bad Girl and Bye Bye Baby. Strangely enough, Rain was not released as one of these two track cds but the Radio Mix was included later as the B-side of Bye Bye Baby. The latter song was released as a single in November 1993 to promote the Girlie Show Tour that also touched Japan and has become even rarer than its German counterpart.

I'll Remember, the theme from the film With Honors, is released in March 1994 and bears a new Warner logo. Warner Music Japan, formerly Warner-Pioneer, has become in the meantime Wea Japan.

 


1994 is also the year in which Bedtime Stories was released. And singles from this album are the last ones to be manufactured in this lovely 3 inch format.

Secret and Take A Bow are also the first cds to come out with "painted" graphics on the disc and not as plain silver discs. Wea Japan later decided not to release Bedtime Story as the next single.
 


The last 3" release is very peculiar, mainly because it's a re-release of La Isla Bonita coupled with the then international single Human Nature. It is strange that even if this is clearly a double A-sided single, not only "Bonita" is the first track on the disc but the Human Nature artwork is published on the back cover to almost distract attention from it, while a shot from Take A Bow dominates the front cover.

La Isla Bonita must indeed be a favourite song of the Japanese public as it came up on a Japanese Madonna release once again the following year, as the bonus track of the 1995 collection of ballads Something To Remember, even if honestly, it can hardly be considered a ballad.

The following singles You'll see and One More Chance came out in 1995 as standard 5" discs and the releases started to have track lists almost identical to European singles.

In November 1997 a special limited edition box set with Forty 3" cd singles was released to commemorate Madonna's career. It included all the Japanese singles from Burning Up to One More Chance each of them housed in a little sleeve with reproduction of the original artwork.




 
Madonna - Japanese 3" Cds Discography

10SW-21 Spotlight (Edit) - Where's The Party (Remix Edit)
10P3-6112 Like A Prayer - Act Of Contrition
09P3-6147 Express Yourself - The Look Of Love
09P3-6175 Cherish - Supernaural
09P3-6206 Oh Father - Pray For Spanish Eyes
WPDP-6216 Keep It Together - Instrumental
WPDP-6227 Vogue - Vogue (Bette Davis Dub)
WPDP-6235 Hanky Panky - More
WPDP-6261 Justify My Love - Express Yourself (Edit 90)
WPDP-6267 Rescue Me (Single Mix) - Rescue Me (Alternate Single Mix)
WPDP-6304 This Used To Be My Playground - Instrumental
WPDP-6310 Erotica - Instrumental
WPDP-6316 Depeer And Deeper - Instrumental
WPDP-6321 Bad Girl - Fever
WPDP-6347 Bye Bye Baby - Rain (Radio Mix)
WPDP-6351 I'll Remember - Secret Garden
WPDR-3011 Secret - Instrumental
WPDR-3020 Take a Bow (Album Version) - Take A Bow (InDaSoul Mix)
WPDR-3027 La Isla Bonita - Human Nature (Radio Version)
WPDR-3100/3139 Madonna Cd Single Collection: Limited Edition Box Set 40 cd singles
 



Coming Up Next Week - Part One of Tribe's guide to Japanese 5" Maxi single cds (1984-1997)