1. Come/TGE
2. Emancipation
3. Crystal Ball (it deserves it for Days of Wild..ALONE!)

fabsossa said:

My guess is that Prince was just hyping the album like he does other projects. The only major change in direction that I'm aware of with the album during it's development was the removal of the spoken segues and the late addition of I Wanna Melt With U.

I don't really see how "Peach" would have fit the album more than any other track actually.

jtfolden said:

fabsossa said:

You're probably right. Anyway...have been giving his 90's albums another spin in honour of this thread.

bobbyc17 said:

That's 'Dance With the Devil' which is a Batman outtake from '89. Great song.

endymion said:

Talkin' bout RETURN OF THE BUMP SQUAD ?

Yeah... that's the good shit indeed !

'Love Symbol' is my favorite Prince album of the 90s.I know many fans dislike hearing Tony M. on this record,but his raps don't bother me at all.I also don't find the "rock soap opera" too distracting.It gives the album a cinematic feel...as if Prince is writing songs for a movie.The songs are EXCELLENT! Hard funk jams and hypnotic slow jams.

"7","And God Created Woman","The Continental","Damn U","Sexy MF","Love 2 The 9s" are top-notch songs.The album doesn't run out of steam until the very end,with the overblown-but-still-interesting "Three Chains O Gold" and the chaotic funk/gospel number "Sacrifice Of Victor".

The other 90s albums have their moments,but I don't think none are as exciting as 'Love Symbol'.

leecaldon said:

I agree.This album is great,but I still can't believe that he removed amazing songs like "Days Of Wild","Ripopgodazippa" and "Interactive" from it! What was he thinking? I also think that "Hide The Bone" should have been on this album.That's the funkiest Prince jam of the 90s!!

jtfolden said:

I agree.I have heard the un-used segues and I am glad that Prince removed them.Too many spoken interludes can ruin an album (something that Janet Jackson doesn't seem to understand,lol).The segues are silly anyway.

SoulAlive said:

You have a point. Too many segues can ruin an album... I wouldn't say they ruined TGE, but it slowed down the progression of the good music.
I liked the ones on just because they're hilarious in the way that there is some truth to them you know Prince is up there in his "Prince world"
its funny to have that addressed in the music because only the people in the media (that write articles, conduct interviews and so on) have seen that side of him and readily report on it. Now we get to see that and have our turn at being baffled by him

jaypotton said:[quote]1. The Gold Experience (but replace 319 with Acknowledge Me and include Day of Wild)

You can't have The Gold Experience without 319, it's the best song on the album.

Get Rid Of We March and have P Control as a B side and add Interactive, Days of Wild and Acknowledge Me, then you would have had probably my favorite prince album ever.

1990's Top 5 Albums for go like this

1. The Gold Experience
2. Diamonds And Pearls
3. Graffiti Bridge
4. Symbol
5. Come

PEJ said:

Me too and not for the usual reason! I return to this one the most
[Edited 4/22/09 14:07pm]

Exodus
Come
0(+>
Gold
Crystal Ball

1) Gold
2) Come
3)O(->
4)Emancipation

Come.
.
.
.
.
.
NOT!

1. Chaos & Disorder
2. The Black Album
3. The Gold Experience
4. Diamonds & Pearls
5. Symbol
6. The Vault
7. Graffiti Bridge

leecaldon said:

This is my primary criticism regarding The Gold Experience. Prince did so much press around the time of its release, hyping it up as this masterwork...and to me, Come is a far more satisfying project. After buying Crystal Ball, I realized just how good The Gold Experience could have been. If he had included "The Ride", "Days Of Wild", "Interactive" and "Ripopgodazippa" instead of "Now", "We March", "Billy Jack Bitch" and "Endorphinmachine" (I think "Interactive" is the stronger track), The Gold Experience would have matched some of Prince's greatest work. As it stood, there was way too much filler IMO. I bought it on cassette and didn't even bother hunting down a CD copy.

I believe Prince's best projects in the 90's were , Come, and The Truth (Crystal Ball). I was also very impressed with the NPG's Exodus CD. I gave away my CD copies of Emancipation and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.

As a whole, I think that Prince's 2000-era retail (in-store) output surpasses his 90's output. To me, he's actually produced more satisfying work this decade than he did in the last one.

todd305 said:

That is insane!!

I know this album is loved by some, and hated by others (mostly because of the Tony M. raps), but personally i find Diamonds and Pearls his best album from the nineties.

Why?

Altough the songwriting and production is more traditional, and not as innovative as his earlier work, I find the album very listenable in its entirety, because of the stylistic variety and a production that is rather easy 'on the ears'.
Not that is a an overtly commercial album. I can hear that Prince is purposely going for more mainstream appeal, but is he is not outselling. Okay, I can do without his forced attempts at rap, and I can do without the songs Daddy Pop, Jughead and Push for that.
But without these songs, you have a very nice, rather confident 'pop' album, with a number of classic, well-written singles: Get Off, Cream, Diamonds and Pearls and the often overlooked Money Doesnt Matter Tonight, a slice of breesy jazz (Strollin), some quirky Pop (Walk, dont walk), a couple of more experimental tracks (Thunder, Live 4 Love), the traditional sex-ballad (Insatiable, surely not one of his worst) and - my personal favourite - the south-african jive / R&B-hybrid of Willing and Able.
Next to that I love the 'thing' Prince did with Michael B.'s drum sound, it still sounds impressive today.
I also think Rosies vocals match well with those of Prince, its give the songs some extra colour and energy.

In short (maybe excluding the 3 forementioned songs) i give Diamonds and Pearls a 9 out of 10.

Continuing in 'review' mode:

My number 2 of the nineties is The Gold Experience.

Until years after its release I 'thought' this was his best album of the nineties: especially because the NPG is playing so %^#@@@ tight on it!
Looking back I still think that it is the best part of the album: looking at that period of time, I can't think of another (backing) band in popular music, who were playing so 'well' as a unit.
I also love the fact that the rather 'loud' production of the songs, emphasises that tightness.
Next to that, the album offers some of Princes greatest guitar-solo's put on record ever (Endorphinmachine, I Hate U, Gold).

But in retrospect there are some significant flaws to the album, IMO.
First, We March is not that bad, likeable, but not the worst, but the album takes a dive in quality with Now and 319, i think.
'Now' is not one of his best attempts at rap-music, I think Days of Wild would have been a better candidate for this album.
319 is almost sounding like a Prince-parody by some other artist, especially the lyrics are so cliched, that it becomes irritating.
That brings my to my other 'complaint' about this album: the shallowness of many of the lyrics. Prince is frequently using words that refer to subjects like 'spiritual rebirth', 'reincarnation' and 'personal growth', but he does nothing interesting with them, he merely hints at them.

Nonetheless, that ultra-tight band-sound and that clear, direct production offer compensation for me, and makes me give The Gold Experience: 8 out of 10.

His 'second best' of the nineties, right after Diamonds and Pearls.
[Edited 4/28/09 8:22am]
[Edited 4/28/09 8:22am]
[Edited 4/28/09 8:23am]

Concluding my top 3 of the nineties with what I see as an in some aspects very underrated: Graffiti Bridge

First, let me begin with the songs of the side-artists. I often see people write here that these spoil the album.
I think that EVEN without these songs, you would get a rather 'patchy' album, going in different kind of directions.
Next to that i think there are some truelly good songs to be found among them: Melody Cool is a cool hybrid of gospel and dance-pop, Around and Around sounds rather lightweight at first, but is simply well-written producers-pop that fits Tevin Campbells voice, Release it and Shake are fun-tracks offering 'compensation' for some of the more serious Prince-songs on the album, and Love Machine could easily have been one of the better songs on MPLsound...lol

As I said, the Prince songs on the albums are a very mixed bag stylistically, but among them are a number of songs that not only remind me, but are also on par with some of his best music from the eighties.
The Question of U is one of these 'unique sounding' songs, Prince can be so good at: going from stripped down electro-blues to a walz within 4 minutes, while still keeping it 'catchy'. Throw in one of his best (understated) guitar solo's, and you have a real classic.

Another 'hit' is Joy in Repetition: one of his most 'broody' songs, feauturing the kind of filmic / story-telling lyric he should do more often IMO (listen to The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Shy and Dinner with Dolores for other examples).
Altough the guitar-solo could have been better mixed on the album, it is a great song. Prince seems to recognize this himself, because he has kept playing it live ever since.

The third highlight for me is Still Would stand all time. First of all because of his vocal performance. The final is his among his best 'emotional' singing put unto record.
A nice touch is also that he instrumentally 'colours' the built up of this gospel-ballad with elements that sound like the Pet Sounds album by The Beach Boys: Gospel and psychelic pop, who would have thought they would mix?

Also among the 'lesser' tracks you have these kind of moments: the psychedelic bridge on I cant stop (a songs that is a bit too cheesy for its own good, but surely not bad), the mixture of gospel, a hip-hop beat, rock-guitar and little jazz-rock like interludes on Elephants and Flowers, the awesome
guitar-work burried in the background of the corny musical-ballad that forms the title track (Princes sometimes tends to 'hide' some of his best playing in the mix, listen to Positivity for example).

That brings me to the conclusion that might sum this album up the best for me.

A journalist who did review Graffiti Bridge at the time of release said: On this album Prince succeeds in incorporating his experimental flourishes of the late eighties in more catchy, direct songs.
That is exactly what is the strength of this album IMO. Princes capability to use the experiments he 'learned' with albums like Parade and Lovesexy, and use them in songs that show the more direct approach of the Purple Rain material.
Many of the songs on this album sounds like 'catchy' on first listening, but when you take a closer listen you discover the intelligence and creativity that has been put into the arrangements.

So, altough there might be a certain unevenness in the songwriting, and the inclusion of songs from the side-artists might sound a bit messy, i think there is a lot to be appreciated (and discover) on this album. Enough for me to give it: 8 out of 10.
[Edited 4/28/09 9:10am]
[Edited 4/28/09 9:11am]

Quick note to RiverPoet:

I appreciate the lengthy reviews of your top three
Thanks for stopping by

1. Diamonds and Pearls (His biggest hit then 4 Top 30 hits, 1 #1, 2 Top 3), but not his best. But is number one, because of Cream, the best Prince song and the song that started my interest in Prince.
2. The Gold Experience (His best album of the period)
3. Come (Another very good album, only Solo lets the set down)
4. Symbol (Aged well and had some funky cuts, 2nd biggest seller)
5. Emancipation (A great album, but a lot of filler and substandard tracks weigh it down)
6. Rave (Despite what people say, theres a lot to like about this record, radio friendly Prince, not as bad as we dread).
7. Crystal Ball (Would rank higher for the 80s cuts, but the 90s material is much weaker overall).
8. Graffitti Bridge (Some excellent songs, but a lot of bad filler)
9. The Truth (I find it hard to get into)
10. New Power Soul (3 kind of ok songs, the rest is Prince by numbers)
11. Chaos and Disorder (It really was chaotic and full of disorder, Prince's fuck you to Warners)
[Edited 4/29/09 1:28am]

Although is my pick of the crop (not just for the 90's for that matter!), with TGE running a respectable 2nd, I seem to find myself listening to C&D the most often. I've always loved that album and never quite understood the bagging it generally receives. Perhaps I need to be honest and reassess that order!
[Edited 4/29/09 3:37am]

If I had to name just one, I'd say 'The Gold Experience'.