The English Roses admonishing her older provocative self. Madonna's narration was described by Ginny Dougary as "bossy". She also found parallels with the singer's childhood in "The English Roses". "Slate"s Polly Shulman found the book to be "charmless, didactic" and egoistic since she felt it revolved around Madonna and her daughter. Shulman added that ""The English Roses" is a dull little thing, though not incompetent. Madonna does understand the basic structure of storytelling—perhaps too well", with multiple cliches present while making the titular characters "so passive that they might as well be good." David Kipen of the "San Francisco Chronicle" humorously said that
Icon & The Black Roses (album) Icon & The Black Roses (album) Icon & the Black Roses is the debut studio album by Portuguese band Icon & The Black Roses. It was released on June 15, 2004, following a demo released 2001 and an EP released in 2003. In this early period the band recorded a demo called “4 Winter Songs” which allowed them to secure a deal with Dark-Wings records in 2001. Dark-Wings requested a 5 Track CD to be edited in Germany, so the band spent time in studios in Lisbon, Hamburg and Tenerife recording the debut EP. Dark-Wings decided later that year to