Like a Prayer (album) this is far and away the most self-consciously serious album she's made. There are no punches pulled, anywhere". Considine concluded his review hailing the album "as close to art as pop music gets ... proof not only that Madonna should be taken seriously as an artist but that hers is one of the most compelling voices of the Eighties." Robert Christgau from "The Village Voice" lamented the "kiddie psychedelia" of "Dear Jessie" and was unmoved by "Promise to Try" and "Act of Contrition", but felt all the other songs were memorable, especially the "cocksucker's prayer" of "Like a Prayer" and
Anyone Who Had a Heart (song) chart for the following week at No.42; by then Black's version had reached No.10, ascending in the subsequent two weeks to No.2 and then No.1, while Warwick's version concurrently ended its chart run with two weeks at No.47. On the chart dated 29 February 1964, besides Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" at No.1 for the first of three weeks and Warwick's version in its final chart week at No.47, the UK Top 50 featured a third version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" as the version by Mary May made its one-week appearance at No.49. On 25 April 1964,