AMG Review of You Can Dance

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Released in 1987 as a stopgap, the remix album You Can Dance reworks material from Madonna's first three albums. Actually, it keeps the spotlight on her first record, adding non-LP singles like "Into the Groove" for good measure, along with a bonus track of "Where's the Party." Since it's a dance album, it doesn't matter that "Holiday" and "Into the Groove" are here twice, once each in dub versions, because the essential grooves and music are quite different in each incarnation. It is true that some of this now sounds dated -- these are quite clearly extended mixes from the mid-'80s -- but that's part of its charm, and it all holds together quite well. Not essential, but fun.