The Gold Experience is an album released by Prince (his stage name at that time being) on September 26, 1995. The album is considered by some fans to be the Purple Rain of the 1990s, due to the rock and roll feel, accessibility of the tracks, and Prince's own admission that the song, "Gold" would be the next "Purple Rain".

Prince wanted to release The Gold Experience under the symbolic moniker in 1994, alongside Come, which was marketed as a "Prince" album of "old" material. Both albums contained material from Prince's musical production called Glam Slam Ulysses. The plan was to show the superior quality of the newer material as opposed to the older "Prince" material. Plans were thwarted by Warner Bros., which felt the market would be over-saturated with Prince material, and withheld the album. Prince was prompted to protest by appearing in public with the word "slave" written on his face and stating The Gold Experience's release date would be "never".



Some songs originally intended for the album, such as "Interactive" and "Days of Wild", were removed by the time of the album's release. It has been alleged by some[who?] that "Days of Wild" was nixed by Warner Brothers at the request of some of the larger retail chains, because of its lyrical content. By the time the album actually was released in 1995, Prince's interest in it had passed, and he was working on songs for his 3-CD opus, Emancipation, which could be partially responsible for the album's lack of commercial success. Despite that, The Gold Experience garnered Prince his best reviews in nearly a decade.

The Gold Experience produced three singles, each with an accompanying music video: "I Hate U", "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", and "Gold". Additionally, a video for "Dolphin" was released prior to the release of the album. The singles enjoyed success on the R&B and pop charts, with the exception of "Gold". "P Control" was also intended to be released as a single, but was canceled because it did not receive enough airplay. It was, however, performed at the 1995 VH1 Fashion Rocks Awards.

The song "Billy Jack Bitch" was speculated by many sources to have been written about a Minneapolis Star Tribune gossip columnist known as "CJ". Prince denied the song was about the columnist when CJ herself interviewed him.



1.)P Control" – 5:59
NPG Operator" – 0:12
2.)Endorphinmachine" – 4:07
3.)Shhh" – 7:18
4.)We March" (Prince, Nona Gaye) – 4:49
NPG Operator" – 0:18
5.)The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" – 4:25
6.)Dolphin" – 4:59
NPG Operator" – 0:20
7.)Now" – 4:30
NPG Operator" – 0:31
8.)319" – 3:05
NPG Operator" – 0:10
9.)Shy" – 5:04
10.)Billy Jack Bitch" (Michael B. Nelson, Prince) – 5:32
11a.)I Hate U" – 5:54
NPG Operator" – 0:45
12.)Gold" – 7:23– 6:08



[Edited 2/5/10 11:17am]

Try this on for size: http://prince.org/msg/7/318315

Aftershow in London (Emporium)

I thought it was a good album, good era, good look.

For me this was the crescendo of Prince fail, At this point I knew it was over, I realized the dumbing down of his music was not a fluke or phase but what he had become.
This is most overrated Prince album by far, (I would say only next to TRC, but only a small percentage of the most fervent fams actually think that one is any good.)

This is another time when his music matched his appearance, in the 80 it was defiant controversial and original, here at this point he just looked, sounded and acted like an idiot.

Can anyone really say the like think "We March" is not one of his all time worst? that "Now" "319" and all those god awfull NPG operator bits spread across the dam thing are not as bad or worse than anything on "Rave"?

Sure its better than MplSound, but anything ever recorded is better than Msound.

This is not a "rock" record, it is the sound of a genius dumbing his sound to try and pander to the kids listening to Milli Vanilli

violetblues said:

I couldn't disagree with this statement more. The Gold Experience bubbles with energy and guts. I adore every part of it. I think it's definitely his best album since 1988.

This is a nice article. I Love this album although I can admit that some of the lyrics are racy.

The song, "Gold," is beautifully charming. I really appreciate this side of Prince. Prince has a way of writing beautiful songs about the soul.

prince.org exclusive: Ultimate Gold Experience

VS. WB: THE FANS LOST
Part 3: All that glitters ain’t Gold

By Scififilmnerd

The making of gold
After having completed his best tour in years, the Act II tour of Europe 26 July – 7 September 1993, was back at Paisley Park in Minneapolis. With Warner Bros. unwilling to release any new albums from him for the time being, Come and The Undertaker collected dust in the vault.
On 20 September 1993, recorded two new songs, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World and Slave 2 The Funk. It signaled the start of a new creative period for him. On 10 October 1993, he recorded Now, Ripopgodazippa and Shy, and during the rest of October Gold, Strawberries, 319 (25/10), Billy Jack Bitch, Chaos And Disorder, Right The Wrong, Acknowledge Me and Listen 2 The Rhythm followed.
319 has been said by former dancer Cat to originally have been recorded at the Batman sessions in February/March 1989. composed Billy Jack Bitch along with Michael B. Nelson of The NPG Hornz. Chaos And Disorder and Right The Wrong were recorded on the same day. Listen 2 The Rhythm was originally recorded in the autumn/winter of 1989 during the Graffiti Bridge sessions.
While was busy in the studio, Tevin Campbell’s I’m Ready album was released 26 October 1993. It featured four tracks, one of which was Shhh, which was based on a live recording at Olympic Studio in London, 18 June 1992, with most of The NPG. would soon reclaim the song.

Eligible bachelor seeks TMBGITW
On a trip to Paris, 10-22 November 1993, recorded Hide The Bone at the Guillome Tell studio. The track was co-written with Brenda Lee Eager and Hilliard Wilson. In 1996, another track co-written by this duo would surface – Somebody’s Somebody on Emancipation. It is possible that Somebody’s Somebody was actually recorded at the same time as Hide The Bone.
By now, had enough new songs to make up an album and in January 1994, rumors began to circulate that two albums were being readied for release in 1994. The first, Come, was to be an album by , and the other, Gold, was to be a work by .
On 10 December 1993, had placed advertisements in the British and US press, including Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice and New York Magazine. The ad read: “Eligible bachelor seeks the most beautiful girl in the world to spend the holidays with.”
It encouraged all interested to send videos and/or pictures to Paisley Park. The material sent in response to the advertisement was utilized in the video for The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, which was shot 22 January 1994, and on the single cover.

The end of the Paisley Park era
On 1 February 1994, Warner Bros. and Paisley Park Enterprises announced that they were terminating the Paisley Park Records label, a joint venture between and Warner Bros. since 1992. While under ’s sole aegis, the label could probably have survived for as long as he saw fit, but with Warner Bros. holding the purse strings, the financial burden proved too great. Apart from releases, it hadn’t come up with a hit. Albums by Eric Leeds, Carmen Electra, Mavis Staples and George Clinton had all failed to catch fire. The plush offices in Century City, which he had never set foot in, were closed and its twelve staff laid off. “I did not get the feeling that it even mattered to him,” Marylou Badeau (Vice-President at Warner Bros.) recalled.
To replace the Paisley Park Records label as an outlet for side projects, formed NPG Records under his Paisley Park Enterprises umbrella.
Supposedly, a senior Warner Bros. executive told that he didn’t have it in him to make another hit record. Arguing that it wasn’t over saturation or the lack of quality that prevented Pink Cashmere and Peach from becoming hits, but rather the lack of support from Warner Bros., was allowed to release The Most Beautiful Girl In The World independently on NPG Records as part of the Paisley Park Records closedown agreement.
In early 1994, was working on making a movie entitled The Beautiful Experience which featured some of his new music. To coincide with the TV premiere of the movie, had hoped to release an EP of the same title that included seven songs from the movie. However, Warner Bros. would only allow him to release just one song, so The Beautiful Experience instead became an EP with seven different versions of the same song.

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World single (early 1994)
1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Edit) (4:07)
2. Love 4 1 Another (3:43)

: The Beautiful Experience EP (early1994)
Track list unknown, but 7-tracks including Come and The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

One gold February
Love 4 1 Another was inspired by the 17 January 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles. It was renamed New World when it was finally released on Emancipation in 1996.
From 20 January and well into February 1994, continued to record new songs for the Gold project, including Days Of Wild, Now and eye Hate U. He also made a version of the Come track Interactive that included the NPG Operator, edited Acknowledge Me, making it shorter, added guitar to Gold and removed the drum machine from Shy.
The first known configuration of Gold, which like the Black Album was to be identified by its cover color, started out with two Come tracks:

: untitled (February 1994)
1. Come (4:49)
2. Endorphin Machine (3:51)
3. Hide The Bone
4. Chaos And Disorder (4:13)
5. Listen 2 The Rhythm
6. Now
7. Right The Wrong (4:42)
8. Acknowledge Me
9. Ripopgodazippa
10. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
11. 319
12. Shy (5:04)
13. Billy Jack Bitch
14. eye Hate U
15. Gold (7:38)

This configuration was the source of the Outtakes 1993-‘94 bootleg, which appeared in 2004. Judging from the six tracks that got bootlegged, there were no NPG Operator segues on this configuration. The person who had the six tracks was supposedly not happy about sharing them, which may explain why fans are still waiting for the rest of this configuration to appear.
In February 1994, also recorded a bunch of remixes of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World: Beautiful, Staxowax, Mustang Mix, Flutestramental, Sexy Staxophone And Guitar, Mustang Instrumental, Beautiful (Extended Club Version) and Beautiful Beats.
The studly Brian Gallagher of The NPG Hornz recorded a saxophone version, Brian’s Mix.

Release of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
On 13 February 1994, gave a concert at Paisley Park, which was later bought and broadcast by Radio Veronica in Holland. The concert was filmed and used in the Beautiful Experience TV movie. It included performances of Interactice (with NPG Operator), Days Of Wild (with NPG Operator), Now (with NPG Operator), The Jam by Graham Central Station and Shhh.
Tevin Campbell attended the show and legend has it that Campbell told to stop playing “his” song, Shhh. Supposedly, then went straight into the studio and recorded his own version of it, based on the live arrangement.
The day after, on 14 February 1994, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was released as the first single by . He had stumped up $2 million of his own money and put the single out on his own NPG Records label. Warner Bros. stated that they were “accommodating ’s desire to experiment with independent distribution.”

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World single (February 1994)
1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Edit) (4:07)
2. Beautiful (Edit) (3:57)

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World UK 12” (February 1994)
1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Edit) (4:07)
2. Beautiful (Edit) (3:57)
3. Beautiful (Extended Club Version) (6:25)
4. Beautiful Beats (3:28)

The single became a huge world-wide success. It reached number three on the Billboard Pop Chart and number two on the R&B Chart. had pulled a hit out of the bag before, of course, but The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was especially satisfying for him. It not only proved to Warner Bros. that he could top the charts; he realized he didn’t need a major label anymore. Now he really had to get out of the contract with Warner Bros.

Box Talk 777
The largest TV and radio network in Holland, Radio Veronica, began broadcasting unreleased tracks 6 March 1994. They had purchased a tape containing:

: The radio tape (6 March 1994)
1. Interactive (with NPG Operator) (2:25)
2. NPG Operator/Days Of Wild (4:03)
3. The Beautiful Experience Medley (10:32)
4. NPG Operator/Now (4:46)
5. Acknowledge Me (5:28)
6. 319 (3:21)
7. Pheromone (4:36) – including lines that would end up in Poem

The Beautiful Experience Medley was of the remix versions of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World that would be released on The Beautiful Experience EP 17 May 1994. Pheromone was a Come track.
Subsequent broadcasts of the tape followed in several other European countries.
Meanwhile, recorded a new version of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World that would become the album version and filmed a live video of Mustang Mix intended for airing a month later on BBC’s Top Of The Pops TV show 30 April 1994.
’s dancer, Mayte, and band, The NPG, appeared on the music TV channel The Box in a segment entitled Box Talk 777. Mayte said: “This is the future: We’re gonna have a party (a snippet of Now was played) and we’ll invite all the the beautiful people. Then we’re gonna introduce three of our new experiences for them (snippets of Interactive, Days Of Wild and Shhh were played). Don’t worry, we WILL jam. (A snippet of The Jam was played). And after we release The Beautiful Experience on 14 different configurations, we’ll rehearse, book and perform the first worldwide interactive tour entitled Gold. Welcome to the dawn.”
Supposedly this meant that wanted to release The Most Beautiful Girl In The World in 14 different languages all at the same time. The French singer Ophelie Winter recorded a French version, Le plus beau garcon de tout l’univers, Kahoru Kohiruimaki recorded a Japanese version and Mayte’s Spanish ?Quieres ser el mas bello de este mundo?, was the B-side of her The Most Beautiful Boy In The World single in the spring of 1994. The number of planned covers may have been reduced to 12, but any other versions that may have been recorded remain unreleased.

Ripped off at The Dawn
The Beautiful Experience TV movie premiered on the British Sky One TV channel on 3 April 1994 followed by broadcasts in many other countries. Nona Gaye starred as a woman who decides to spend a Saturday night on ’s website, The Dawn, where she is ripped off: Only one song, Interactive (with NPG Operator), for $19.99!
Then she falls asleep and dreams of more songs for her money, like so many real-life fans, who has been similarly ripped off at ’s current website, Lotusflw3r.com, also do. In her dreams, she gets to interact with the website and hear Days Of Wild, The Jam, Shhh and Now from the 13 February 1994 concert at Paisley Park. She is also treated to the previously unreleased song Acknowledge Me (Video Edit) and the video for The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.
The Jam was the kind of song where, if you had to go to the bathroom or order a pizza like the character in the movie, this was the time to do it, but the rest of the songs were first rate, particularly Acknowlegde Me. It had a cool dance video starring Mayte and sexy choreographer Jamie King and was slated to be the follow-up single to The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, if such a thing had been possible.
Meanwhile, had been busy in the studio, recording Love Sign with co-lead vocal by Nona Gaye, What It Is…, Strength and a 19 minutes cover of The Rolling Stones’ Angie.
The lyrics for What It Is… were printed in Uptown #13:

What It Is…
To know the Way,
We go the Way
We do the Way
The way we do
The things we do.
It’s all there in front of you,
But if you try too hard to see it,
You’ll only become Confused

I am me,
And you are you,
As you can see;
But when you do
The things that you can do,
You will find the Way,
And the Way will follow you.

The one and only Gold review
In April 1994, made a new configuration of the Gold Album, pressed on CD and with hand-drawn cover art:

: The Gold Album (April 1994)
1. Strength
2. Ripopgodazippa
3. Interactive
4. Space
5. Endorphin Machine
6. Days Of Wild
7. Now
8. Angie (The Rolling Stones)
9. 319
10. The Jam (Graham Central Station)
11. Gold

This configuration included segues, like the tagline “all respect to Larry Graham” before The Jam and a bit of the Coca Cola theme before Gold, as well as three tracks from Come, which seemed strange because he also made an individual configuration of Come in April.
brought a copy of the album and a copy of Come with him to Monaco, where he played some of the tracks to journalist Alan Light from Vibe on 2 May 1994. Alan Light had this to say about The Gold Album: “The songs are stripped-down, taut, funky as hell, full of sex and bite. Days of Wild is a dense, Atomic Dog-style jam with multiple, interlocking bass lines. Now is a bouncing party romp; 319 is rocking, roaring, and dirty; and Ripopgodazippa is just dirty. This album is more experimental, more surprising structurally and sonically (than Come). Hearing the two albums back-to-back, it's clear that the album may be more commercial than 's, but it's also more conventional--as conventional as he gets, anyway.”
Alan Light continued: “His album covers used to include the phrase “May U live 2 see the dawn.” This album opens with the words “Welcome 2 the dawn.” (…) “We talked earlier about the title track to The Gold Album, which members of his entourage were raving about but he didn't play for me. He said then that he's worried about playing some of the new songs because the bootleggers will have them out on the market before he will.”
Despite this reservation, played Gold anyway during one of the concerts he played in Monaco and Paris while in Europe. He also played Interactive, Days Of Wild/Hair by Graham Central Station and Now/Babies Makin’ Babies by Sly And The Family Stone in a row – all three tracks including the NPG Operator, as well as Acknowledge Me and The Jam.
A rehearsal at the Canal+ studios in Paris, 6 May 1994, included instrumental performances of 319, Shy, Billy Jack Bitch and Acknowledge Me by The NPG before himself joined them on Acknowledge Me and an instrumental version of Ripopgodazippa.

Gold becomes The Gold Experience
received the Living Legend Award at the fourth annual Celebrate The Soul Of American Music Awards in Los Angeles, 7 May 1994. In his thank you speech, said: “One child got free (The Most Beautiful Girl In The World) and it was truly a beautiful experience. I’m very grateful to Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker at Warner Brothers for that opportunity. Perhaps one day all the powers that are will realize that it’s better to let a man be all that he can be than to try to limit his output to just what they can handle. “Our sources tell us that there’s just too much music.” Well, my sources, all of you, tell me to be all I can be. For this I am eternally grateful.”
Then he went back home and transformed Gold into The Gold Experience. Billy Jack Bitch and eye Hate U were edited for length and Gold had the NPG Operator added in the process. The cover was printed in Uptown #21.

: The Gold Experience (May 1994)
1. NPG Operator (0:11)
2. Interactive (3:03)
3. NPG Operator (0:05)
4. Days Of Wild (3:46)
5. NPG Operator (0:17)
6. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:25)
7. NPG Operator (0:20)
8. Now (4:30)
9. Acknowledge Me (5:27)
10. Ripopgodazippa (4:39)
11. NPG Operator (0:17)
12. 319 (3:19)
13. NPG Operator (0:09)
14. Shy (5:03)
15. Billy Jack Bitch (5:31)
16. eye Hate U (5:53)
17. NPG Operator (0:44)
18. Gold (7:22)

On 17 May 1994, The Beautiful Experience EP was released. It peaked at number 92 on the Pop Chart and number 29 on the R&B Chart.

: The Beautiful Experience EP (May 1994)
1. Beautiful (5:55)
2. Staxowax (5:14)
3. Mustang Mix (6:19)
4. Flutestramental (3:35)
5. Sexy Staxophone And Guitar (3:54)
6. Mustang Instrumental (3:23)
7. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:37)

A US promo CD and 12” release contained Staxowax, Mustang Mix, Brian’s Mix, Beautiful and Original Mix.

The Love Experience
delivered The Gold Experience into Warner Bros. around the same time as Come, 19 May 1994. He proposed that Warner Bros. should release Come by “” and, a few weeks later, The Gold Experience by “,” and he wanted both to count toward the fulfillment of his contract. The idea didn’t meet with much enthusiasm, however. Flooding the market with material was exactly what the executives wanted to avoid. Nor were they optimistic about releasing music with an unpronounceable symbol, rather than the powerful “” trademark on the front cover. They agreed to release Come and they would be happy to release The Gold Experience, but at the appropriate time.
then embarked upon a summer tour of clubs in Minneapolis, Miami, Los Angeles and New York dubbed The Love Experience. The tour lasted from 28 May to 26 July 1994 and included performances of Interactive (short), Days Of Wild/Hair, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Hide The Bone, Now/Babies Makin’ Babies, Acknowledge Me, Ripopgodazippa, 319 (extended), Billy Jack Bitch, Gold, Mustang Mix, The Jam, Shhh and Love Sign with Nona Gaye. During the final show played the newly recorded Pussy Control from record.

The Love Sign war
While was on tour, promotional copies of Love Sign were delivered to US radio stations in June 1994. Warner Bros. was very unhappy about it, since the record company felt they had an agreement with that he would not release the song separately from the 1-800 NEW FUNK album, in any configuration. It would be in conflict with their single release from Come, Letitgo, which he had refused to shoot a video for. Instead, had shot a video for Love Sign and had produced a single containing seven remixes of the song by Teddy Riley, Mack and Shock G.
“I said, OK, listen, there are people shooting and killing each other in the ‘hood,” told Q in 1995, “and I think I can do something about it, and put some money in, and maybe that would be more important than what’s in your Billboard chart this week. They (Warner Bros.) said no.”
Regardless, The Love Sign video premiered on BET 27 June 1994, and 12 July 1994 performed the song with Nona Gaye on NBC-TV’s The Today Show. The single wasn’t allowed release, though, so the only place to get the song was on the 1-800 NEW FUNK album, which was released on NPG Records 12 August 1994. Love Sign was the only song on the album that was attributed to (as a duet with Nona Gaye). The rest of the tracks were performed by associated artists.
gave the album his full support and placed an advertisement in Billboard. Still, the album failed to enter Billboard’s Pop Chart, although it got to number 45 on the R&B Chart. Despite the moderate chart success, ’s organization claimed that 1-800 NEW FUNK sold gold (500.000 copies).
But ’s lack of commitment to the Come album, released 16 August 1994, in favor of the 1-800 NEW FUNK project had infuriated many Warner Bros. top-level executives.

Changing the experience
In September 1994, and Warner Bros. tentatively agreed that The Gold Experience was going to be released about a week before Christmas 1994. The plan was to release it on the Tommy Boy label in the US and East West in other territories. Both labels were wholly owned by Warner Bros. The arrangement would allow to work with a smaller label and enable him to get the album out without letting Warner Bros. handle the marketing and promotion.
The verbal agreement was never formalized into writing, however, and, in the end, decided that he didn’t want to go ahead with the plans. One reason being that the record would not count towards the four albums he still owed Warner Bros.
During September and October 1994 made some changes to The Gold Experience. He decided to replace Interactive with Pussy Control, now edited for length, and removed two great tracks, Acknowledge Me and Ripopgodazippa, in order to make room for the weaker, newly recorded We March and Shhh, which Warner Bros. had asked for (for Come) in May.
Finally, he included two Come tracks, Endorphinmachine and Dolphin. Both were updated before inclusion.

: The Gold Experience (September/October 1994)
1. P. Control (5:59)
2. NPG Operator (0:12)
3. Endorphinmachine (4:07)
4. Shhh! (7:18)
5. We March (?)
6. NPG Operator (0:05)
7. Days Of Wild (3:46)
9. NPG Operator (0:18)
10. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:25)
11. Dolphin (4:59)
12. NPG Operator (0:20)
13. Now (4:30)
14. NPG Operator (0:14)
15. 319 (3:19)
16. NPG Operator (0:10)
17. Shy (5:04)
18. Billy Jack Bitch (5:32)
19. eye Hate U (5:54)
20. NPG Operator (0:45)
21. Gold (7:23)

Black instead of Gold
On 13 October 1994, a press release by ’s PR company stated that had reached the point of no return with Warner Bros. and that due to the conflict the fans may never get to hear The Gold Experience. “He now feels that his much publicized $100 million deal may have just been a way to lock him into institutionalized slavery.”
was “anxious to turn in the four albums left on his contract and walk away from a situation which is causing him considerable stress, both creatively and emotionally.” Soon after the press release, NPG Records began passing out flyers and posting messages on the Internet with the release date of “never” for The Gold Experience, asking fans to continue to petition Warner Bros. to release the album.
The flyers included the new track listing for The Gold Experience.
Still, less than two weeks later, 25 October 1994, signed an agreement with Warner Bros. to release the Black Album. The release was instigated by the record label, whose publicist Bob Merlis said that they had wanted to put it out for years. The initial deal proposed to provided for Warner Bros. to pay him $4 million upfront for the release of the Black Album in November 1994 and The Gold Experience in early 1995. The deal further stipulated that would record a soundtrack to a to-be-determined Warner Bros. film. The three album deal would count as two albums toward the remaining four albums of ’s contract. ’s attorney was en route to the record company to pick up the cheque and sign off on the papers when had a last-minute change of mind about the deal, ostensibly about wanting more money. The attorney advised him that it was a very good deal and that he would not be able to get more money from the label. The deal was subsequently cancelled and ’s attorney quit a week later.
The discussions coincided with a turnover in Warner Bros.’ top management, with Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin leaving the record company, which restricted their power to make deals. Still, they were able to rescue the Black Album from the original three-album deal. received approximately $1 million. However, discussions about the release of The Gold Experience had to be postponed until early 1995 when the new Warner Bros. regime had moved in.
The Black Album was released 22 November 1994. ’s publicist, Karen Lee, said that he was “spiritually against” the album and that he had been forced to sign the agreement. It reached number 47 on the Pop Chart and number 18 on the R&B Chart.

Warner Bros.’ slave
released a promo video for Dolphin and on 13 December 1994, he performed the song on CBS’ The Late Show With David Letterman. Like in the video, had “slave” written on his cheek. When David Letterman presented the performance, he said: “The song he will be doing for us tonight is from this CD right here, which is entitled The Gold Experience, and I’m told this particular CD will never be released. So it makes perfect sense that he is here promoting it tonight.”
Meanwhile, Danny Goldberg, former manager of Nirvana, was appointed chairman of Warner Bros. Records. While there was little basis for assuming that Goldberg would be easier to deal with, the shift in regimes offered the potential of a fresh start.
In early 1995, offered the new board on Warner Bros. a live-set that along with the release of The Gold Experience would fulfill his contract, after which he would release an acoustic set called Heart on NPG Records. However, would not allow Warner Bros. to keep the master tapes for The Gold Experience, so no deal was made.
On 12 February 1995, it was confirmed that there would be songs in the Paul Verhoeven-directed film Showgirls, due for release by MGM/United Artists in September 1995. It was reported that had contributed four songs to the project, but in the end only two, 319 and Ripopgodazippa, appeared in the film. Warner Bros. only granted a licence to use the songs in the film, not on the soundtrack album.
, who now never appeared in public without “slave” written on his cheek, received the award for Best International Artist at the Brit Awards, 20 February 1995. In his thank you speech, he said: “: Best? The Gold Experience: Better. In concert: Perfectly free. On record: Slave.”

The Ultimate Live Experience?
On 1 March 1995, gave several interviews to newspapers and music and entertainment publications while in London. “I could give Warners four albums tomorrow but they don’t want that,” he told New Musical Express. “I’m going to stay on the road until the contract ends. I’ve already booked a show for Madison Square Garden in 1998. I can keep touring until then. I love being on stage, I love playing and I’m strong enough. I never get tired.”
On BBC TV’s The Sunday Show, 5 March 1995, there was a transmission of performing Billy Jack Bitch live from Wembley Arena, where the European Gold Experience tour had started 3 March 1995. It was advertised as The Ultimate Live Experience and lasted until 31 March 1995. The set-list included Endorphinmachine, The Jam, Shhh, Days Of Wild/Hair, Now/Babies Makin’ Babies, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Pussy Control, Gold and at most shows a medley of Billy Jack Bitch, eye Hate U and 319. Dolphin made a rare appearance. At aftershows, also played Beautiful Girl.
Some critics bemoaned the lack of hits being played at the shows and focusing on the unheard and unknown The Gold Experience instead, while fans cherished the opportunity to hear ’s new music.
At the first show in London, 3 March 1995, gave a speech. He said: “I’m gonna start this motherfucker like I intend to finish – in London, 1999!”
“Since the last time I’ve seen you,” he continued, “I made seven albums, what do you think about that? Contrary to rumor it’s all good.”
Those seven albums were probably Come, The Gold Experience, The New Power Generation: Exodus, Madhouse: 24, Mayte: Latino Barbie Doll, Heart and Chaos And Disorder.

The Remix Experiences
On 12 May 1995, met with Warner Bros. new top management. The meeting led and Warner Bros. to settle their differences, at least for the time being. Danny Goldberg agreed to release The Gold Experience, plus The NPG: Exodus in the US. In turn, Goldberg believed he had extracted from a commitment to stop bashing the label in public.
Although Goldberg had not committed to any specific timetable for releasing the new albums, assumed they would be rushed out almost immediately. When this failed to happen, he believed he had been misled. He felt that Goldberg did not understand him or his music and “slave” remained emblazoned on his face.
Before turning The Gold Experience over to Warner Bros., removed Days Of Wild from the album and up-dated We March, but otherwise it remained the same as the September/October 1994 configuration.

: The Gold Experience (May 1995)
1. P. Control (5:59)
2. NPG Operator (0:12)
3. Endorphinmachine (4:07)
4. Shhh! (7:18)
5. We March (4:49)
6. NPG Operator (0:18)
7. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:25)
8. Dolphin (4:59)
9. NPG Operator (0:20)
10. Now (4:30)
11. NPG Operator (0:31)
12. 319 (3:05)
13. NPG Operator (0:10)
14. Shy (5:04)
15. Billy Jack Bitch (5:32)
16. eye Hate U (5:54)
17. NPG Operator (0:45)
18. Gold (7:23)

While Eric Leeds had done a new version of Brian’s Mix, Beautiful Girl, which had been released on the Get Wild single in Europe, and a Quiet Night Mix of eye Hate U, had recorded eye Hate U (Extended Remix), Pussy Control (House Mix) and Pussy Control (Club Mix) by 13 June 1995, intended for a The Hate Experience EP.

: The Hate Experience EP (1995)
Track list unknown, but includes remixes of eye Hate U and Pussy Control

celebrated his 2nd birthday by giving a couple of concerts at Glam Slam Miami 7-8 June 1995. He played the same Gold tracks as on the European tour, but now Days Of Wild no longer included Hair and Now no longer included Babies Makin’ Babies. Supposedly, the birthday show was recorded for a possible live release.

: The Live Experience (June 1995)
Track list unknown, but recorded live at Glam Slam Miami, Florida, 7 June 1995

Prior to 8 July 1995 also worked on remixes and edits of The Gold Experience songs for a “soundtrack” to a Versace fashion show during Paris Fashion Days 8-10 July 1995.

: The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) cassette (8 July 1995)
1. P. Control (Club Mix) (Edit) (3:04)
2. Shhh! (Edit) (3:54)
3. N.P.G.: Get Wild (In The House Mix) (Edit) (2:14)*
4. eye Hate U (Remix) (3:28)* - combines eye Hate U (Quiet Night Mix) & eye Hate U (Extended Remix)
5. 319 (Edit) (1:28)
6. Shy (Edit) (2:22)
7. Billy Jack Bitch (Remix Edit) (2:31)
8. Madhouse: Sonny T. Segue (Edit) (0:28)
9. Madhouse: Rootie Kazootie (Edit) (2:37)
10. Chatounette Controle (2:24)
11. P. Control (Control Tempo Edit) (1:23) - the outro of P. Control (House Mix)
12. The NPG Orchestra: Kamasutra Overture #5 (0:43) – later renamed Serotonin
13. N.P.G.: Free The Music (Edit) (1:44)
14. Segue (0:49) – remix of NPG Operator preceding TMBGITW on The Gold Experience
15. Gold (Edit) (3:39)

What happened to Days Of Wild?
In mid-July 1995 ’s dancer Mayte was interviewed by Uptown and was asked about why Days Of Wild was no longer on The Gold Experience. “That was taken out, because we have other plans for this song,” she answered. “The flow of the album is really good (now).”
She revealed that had also re-done We March: “He changed the music. It sounds much better (now).”
During the rest of 1995, gave a series of Love 4 One Another concerts at Paisley Park. Besides the usual Gold tracks, he occasionally played Dolphin and added We March to his live repertoire.
In their September 1995 issue, Esquire Gentleman printed an interview with . It was revealed that he had been working on an Emancipation album of maybe fifty new songs, which would be his first album when he was free. He said that his heart and perhaps his best work were in Emancipation.
This came as a big surprise to people at Warner Bros. No one knew about it and ’s statements in the interview regarding his “slavery” were seen as a breach of his agreement to stop attacking the label. Warner Bros. officials cancelled the US release of Exodus in retaliation, but the first single from The Gold Experience, eye Hate U, was released as planned 12 September 1995. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Pop Chart and number 3 on the R&B Chart despite there being no video to support the single. A maxi-single was released the following week, 19 September 1995.

: eye Hate U - The Hate Experience (September 1995)
1. eye Hate U (7” Edit w/o Guitar) (3:50)
2. eye Hate U (Album Edit) (4:26)
3. eye Hate U (Quiet Night Mix By Eric Leeds) (3:55)
4. eye Hate U (Extended Remix) (6:17)
5. eye Hate U (Album Version) (5:58) – without NPG Operator

On the day of the eye Hate U single release, 12 September 1995, recorded Rock’n’Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis), which would become the B-side of the next single, Gold.

Release of The Gold Experience
Warner Bros. claimed that the release of The Gold Experience had been rescheduled twice because failed to deliver the master tapes, but on 26 September 1995 it finally saw the light of day. It has since been speculated by fans that was actually allowed to keep the masters for the album because of its failure to stay in print like his other Warner Bros. albums.
Although fans would have preferred to get the May 1994 configuration with Interactive, Acknowledge Me and Ripopgodazippa, The Gold Experience was still a pretty good release despite its impact being diluted by its much delayed release. With already having promoted and toured in support of the album, fans already knew most of the songs on the album by heart.
The title of Pussy Control had been changed to P. Control to avoid controversy from retailers who may have refused to sell the album with the word “pussy” printed on the packaging, but the record’s commercial performance still ended up being considered disastrous: Only 530.000 units were sold in the United States, with the album reaching number 6 on the Pop Chart and number 2 on the R&B chart.
Critics generally approved of The Gold Experience, calling it ’s best album since Sign ‘O’ The Times. “The Gold Experience may not be the deepest collection of songs has offered, but it's certainly the loosest - and the most accessible - in quite some time,” wrote Tom Moon in Philadelphia Enquirer. “The Gold Experience is a experience par excellence,” concluded Vibe Magazine. “The Gold Experience fully redeems as the ruler of his wildly imaginative, funky, sexy kingdom” said Vickie Gilmer in St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Danny Kelly of Q was a little less enthusiastic: “After a succession of breathtaking albums in the '80s, his output has been characterized by aimlessness.”
He concluded that The Gold Experience “is still no Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day or Sign ‘O’ The Times, but the gem-to-lint ratio is altogether healthier.”

The final Gold tracks
On 25 November 1995, revealed at a Paisley Park party that he had actually made a video for eye Hate U, but for some strange reason he had decided not to release it to the general public. A promo video was released for his next single, though. Gold was released 30 November 1995, but it only reached number 88 on the Pop Chart and number 92 on the R&B Chart.

: Gold single (November 1995)
1. Gold (Edit) (4:43)
2. Rock And Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis) (4:34)
3. eye Hate U (Extended Remix) (6:17)

In early December 1995, a cassette with the remixes of P. Control was handed out for free to the audience at a Paisley Park concert. A version of P. Control (Club Mix) with a different beginning than the version on the cassette was released on the 1998 Crystal Ball collection.

: P. Control cassette (December 1995)
1. House Mix (5:47)
2. Club Mix (6:02)

Around November 1995, made a new version of Mustang Mix co-produced by Ricky Peterson and remixed by Tom Tucker entitled Mustang Mix ’96. A single was made up intended for a Valentine’s Day 1996 release, but that ended up not happening.

: The Most Beautiful Girl In The World ’96 Mix single (late 1995)
1. Mustang Mix ´96 (4:25)
2. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (4:37)

In early 1996, resumed The Gold Experience tour, this time in Japan 8 – 20 January 1996 and on Hawaii 17 – 19 February 1996. Endorphinmachine and Shhh were now played as a brief medley and P. Control was played in a short medley with Get Wild like in P. Control (House Mix).
On 27 January 1996, VH-1 broadcast the premiere of Love 4 One Another, a TV movie resembling The Beautiful Experience TV film with dramatic scenes interspersed between live performances and videos. Love 4 One Another included videos for Gold and Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis), as well as live performances of Days Of Wild and The Jam filmed at a concert at Paisley Park 28 October 1995.
The film caused quite a stir amongst ’s fans because he stated that “fan” was short for “fanatic” upon looking it up in a dictionary. It wasn’t until 1998 that redeemed himself a little by releasing Acknowledge Me, Ripopgodazippa and Hide The Bone on the Crystal Ball collection, which also included a live version of Days Of Wild. It was an edit of a 9 December 1995 performance at Paisley Park.
In 2005, a live version of We March recorded at Paisley Park 22 October 1995 became available as a download from 's now defunct NPG Music Club website.

Thanks to:
Virgo, BorisFishpaw, Gavin H., JediMaster, Groovement, Neversin and Hamsterhuey

Sources:
Julie Baumgold: Glitter Slave, Esquire Gentleman, Fall 1995
David Cavanagh: Sign Here…, Q, 1995
Axel Engelhardt: Child Of The Sun – an interview with Mayte, Uptown #21
Alex Hahn: Possessed – The Rise And Fall Of
Liz Jones: Purple Reign – The Artist Formerly Known As
Harold Lewis with David Irving: Everybody Wants 2 Sell What’s Already Been Sold, Uptown #20
In Print: http://O(+>text.tripod.com/
Andy Richardson: My Name Isn’t And I Am Funky, NME, 11 March 1995
Scififilmnerd: More evidence of COME 1993: http://prince.org/msg/7/105603
TTMAN: The original Come album configuration: http://prince.org/msg/7/141904
Uptown Presents Days Of Wild – A Documentary Of /

Part 1:
The Come(back) album that never happened: http://prince.org/msg/7/317254

Part 2:
No records allowed, only videos: http://prince.org/msg/7/317534

Part 4:
Slave to the system: http://prince.org/msg/5/319042

Part 5:
Chaos and disorder: http://prince.org/msg/7/319752

Appendix 1:
List of unreleased album configurations: http://prince.org/msg/7/319757

Appendix 2:
List of unreleased Associated Artists album configurations: http://prince.org/msg/5/319895

Appendix 3:
List of chronological recordings: http://prince.org/msg/7/320445

Probably his last really good album. This one still sounds good today. Perhaps a little overcompressed (everything is nowadays) and loud but it goes with the overall energy of the album.

Would have preferred he kept "Interactive" and the original mix of Endorphinemachine but there was a lot of effort put into this.

Make Love Not War

The only good song from that period is 'SHY'

My personal favorite part of his whole musical career

OldFriends4Sale said:

its 1 of my favorite prince albums and time.
on this he was wild again and thats what i'm missing lately the wild prince

12. 3. 1995 tv VH-1 Fashion & MusicAwards
P Control (House Mix)

February 14. 1996
Park Avenue United Methodist
Church Minneapolis Wedding
Prince & Mayte Jannell Garcia



anyone else other wedding photos?

OldFriends4Sale said:

2 more:

Incredible era! One of his best albums for sure, even the artwork is fantastic! Should get a Warner cash-in re-release remaster or something.

Moonbeam said:

Here, here. There's a freshness and raw energy to The Gold Experience that every album after Lovesexy lacked. He was at a creative rebirth in 1994.
[Edited 2/14/10 3:27am]

vivid said:

Gotta love these type of hyperboles.

Not quite the album it could/should have been -- for me, it never quite did justice to the material he'd showcased on the Beautiful Experience TV special -- but still an exciting record of what seems to have been his greatest 'purple patch' of the 90s. The concert he put on at Wembley Arena in early 1995, with all the new material turned out live, was electrifying - and closing the show with Gold (at that time, a brand new song) was sublime!

This album showed, great as it was, the poor sequencing and lack of "sight" of making a cohesive album, whether it was Prince, the WB people fighting him, but if you take all the tracks from COME/GOLD/CHAOS which were all complete at this time and throw in the ones that got shelved and then appeared on Crystal Ball, any fan can put together a few cohesive albums better than the executives making the calls. I love this era of Prince, because there was so much music, and videos flying under the radar, bootlegs, whatever you wanna call it, he was the one circulating all of it, had he been able to market all these things that got lost, he would have some amazing output in the big picture, instead of looking like a crazy person to most of the world by changing his name and writing slave on his face

I agree with your statement in regards to the albums but with the statement that Prince looked like a fool with the protest I humbly disagree.
Whoever told Prince that he couldn't make another hit was the fool.

He took a stand on an issue and 15 years later he is still standing on that principle.

We ,the fans, can sit back and debate the outcome but he's still highly regarded among his peers and is in the Hall Of Fame.

Lastly.
The "suit" that told Prince that he would never have another hit may be the reason why he has not had one. In the past 15 years of bullshit music I can think of at least 10 Prince songs from that period that could have been hit material.

The music biz is full of non music people deciding daily what is and what "ain't" hits.
[Edited 2/14/10 10:35am]

We can blindly blame a corporation "suit" for the lack of "hits" but the fact of the matter is WB promoted that stuff as much as Prince let it be.
Prince still had clout but was quickly burning it up with these type of records.
By the time this record came out it sounded corny as hell (to me at least)
If people didnt want to buy any of the supposed "hits" on it, how can you blame the "suits", they dont care what people buy they just want to make a buck like everyone else.

1995 was a year music was moving away from cornball new jack type stuff and more towards earthier grunge and rap, and here was prince covered in glitter sparklies and sprinkles (literally!) still 5 years behind the curve with this cringeworthy slop with Vanessa Bartholomew segues and all.
MAYBE if you look at all the material produced as a whole from this era we can say their was something there, BUT what was actually released to the public in 1995 is a sad sad mess.
[Edited 2/14/10 12:20pm]

violetblues said:

I actually agree with this. I think the reason this album is rated so highly amongst the diehards is because it was the last record he did which displayed his more open-minded, liberal beliefs before veering off and becoming a religious fanatic. The overtly sexual content and brash lyrics remind people of post-PR Prince.

The actual songwriting is fairly poor. P Control is sheer novelty, We March and Now are complete throwaway NKOTB boyband dross. The title cut is merely a cynical and contrived attempt at creating a stadium rock anthem.

Like much of his early 90s work, the whole record has aged horribly. Save for about three tracks it's difficult to listen to any of this record in 2010 without cringing.

I've never understood the fans who hail this as a classic. To my ears songs like Joint 2 Joint, Face Down, New World, TGRES, I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore, Strange But True sound far sophisticated and inspired in comparison.
[Edited 2/16/10 7:33am]

violetblues said:

I totally agree. When The Gold Experience hit the street, I thought it was a pretty weak album, considering what came before it and what the radio was playing at the moment.

Yeah, grunge was "over" (or assimilated into mainstream, take a pick) by the time The Gold Experience came out, but the musical landscape that it entered (and the records in the charts at that time) sounded far more geniunely "heavy" on guitar and anger and every record was made to sound raw.
I mean, this was the year Garbage made it big, a POP band if ever, and they sounded far more urgent and unpolished than Gold Experience. Sonic Youth had a hit record, and Smashing Pumpkins had that 2xLP set and were selling like a pop act. I mean look here and tell me that rock was out.

The Gold Experience is a GREAT f+cking album .. but at the time, it sounded years behind the curve.
[Edited 2/16/10 7:06am]

MattyJam said:

I agree with this part of your statement but there are many here who will tell you that the songs listed are bullshit and throwaway as well.

Sad thing is that many great songs in the 1990's are thought of in that manner simply because they were not so called hits.