Quite the interesting topic.

I myself am a HUGE fan of this album. Like so many others in the beginning, I didn't want to get it, thinking that cuz Prince was so unhappy with the state of things in his professinal life, the music was going to reflect that.

I couldn't have been anymore wrong. Luckily someone sent me a link to watch "Love 4 one another," a VHS made 4 TV special that featured some 90's music from Prince. None of which were from this album (although "days of wild" was meant 4 this record b4 it was cut and "Rock n' roll is alive" was a b-side) with the exception of the title track.

I kinda learned in the late 90's when I was just starting to choose my own music (bubblegum pop courtesy of Jive records was my poison) that it shouldn't buy albums based on one song cuz chances are very good that I won't like the rest of the album outside of the singles.

But "Gold" was just that good, that brilliant and it touched me in more ways than I can count/recollect.
The album is brilliant, even though over time certain tracks like "P. Control" and "We March" don't do it for me the way they used to... not that "we march" was the best track on the album to begin with.

Not that the 90's was a bad decade for Prince, I own pretty much all of the commercial releases, the ones more easily recognized by the more casual fans opposed to the die-hards that own all of the NPG releases as well.
I just find it very inconsistent because he was spending maybe a little too much time trying to follow suit with everyone else, the trends of hip-hop and rap starting to come into the music industry.

Because I obtain the albums I hear the most praises about and I don't go out of my way to get the other releases cuz I can't find them in stores, I probably made that allusion myself (made the bed so I had to sleep in it, that sort of thing).

D&P: really clean and polished, some tracks kinda marred by Tony M taking them over with his rapping rhymes... I have a couple I like to listen to that didn't get put out as singles and have a special place in my heart for (namely the first and last track)

:: : inconsisent to a tee. I'll have to listen to the segues that were removed throughout the shining and polishing before its release... but except for the inept, incomplete storyline, the songs are brilliant, some of which are very basic and he doesn't have to pull out all the stops for them to be good

Come: probably my 2nd favorite album of the decade... I think it has an underground following and cuz I heard it was a good companion to TGE (all of the songs were written around the same time), I got curious enough to check it out. Although it can be depressing to listen to at kinds, there are several moments of brilliance and the fact the album flows as a single entity sometimes makes it superior to TGE

then I kinda own bits and pieces in between and there is a lot of disconnect

Emancipation: I have to get back to listening to because I haven't heard as much of it as the others I'd pretty much overplayed, lol

NewPower Soul: pretty much unlistenable to me a lot of the time as a whole, the only exceptions are the brilliance of "Come on" and "The One" (one of his best ballads in my opinion)

Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic: I agree is kind of a weak record and another example of him giving into trends by asking "guest artists" to come on... although I do kinda like the Gwen Stefani and Sheryl Crow duets

There are a few diamonds in the rough of the 90's, but it seems like that's true with a lot of people in the 90's. It was a decade of finding yourself and getting your life back on track.
Me personally, I'm experiencing all this music a decade or so after the fact. I'm going through that "finding myself" period at this very moment, lol

and yes, TGE is a very important album, not just in the 90's but Prince's career. So its kind of a shame that "The Most beautiful girl in the world" is the only track that really escaped that vortex of montomy and chaos

This thread should be called ' The impotence of "the Gold Experience"'.

NouveauDance said:

Yeah, interesting POV. TGE has it's flaws, and I don't return to it hardly at all these days, but it is the most consistent post-name change album 90s album, and looking at the list in the OP, does seem to 'prop up' the period.

There's great material on most other releases of course, but TGE is definately the most cohesive set from this time period. is up there though, it's a bit long though, some fat needs trimming.

I agree that TGE is a cohesive set. Come very much is too, though, for my ears. I think P. was spot on in his vision for Come as the last Prince album and TGE the first 0(+> album. Brilliant concept, IMHO.

I mean c'mon! imagine if BOTH Come and TGE had actually been released in the 1st half of 1994 as P. planned. I submit that many, many ppl, true and casual fans alike, would have been blown-the-f**k away by the sonic leap from the symbol album and D&P to these. From his new image, to the harder edged sound of the NPG, to the way the albums are mixed/mastered (IMO Come is mixed darker and less bright, representing death, while TGE is bright, big, and L-O-U-D(!), to convey new life) . I think music critics would have been lauding P. as 'returning to brilliance to reclaim his crown after a lackluster start to the '90's' and 'where has THIS prince been hiding since SOTT', etc etc... I don't know how well a two album set would have sold, and musical trends were changing fast around P. making him less relevant seemingly by the week. Also, as has been said elsewhere in this thread both Come and TGE were kinda eccentric and weird, ie P. at his leftest-of-center. But I firmly believe that had both records come out in early-mid '94 P. would have been back near the absolute top of the music scene. With a coordinated worldwide tour of the quality and devastating power of that incarnation of the NPG, US prince fans would most likely have been really, really enthused. Furthermore, P., with these relative successes (for arguments sake lets say TGE mighta gone platinum and Come gold) along with his indie smash success TMBGITW, would have successfully taken his 0)+> guitar and nutt*d all up in WB's faces, proving them to be utterly incompetent and childish. P.'s leverage with WB would have been stronger than ever. For WB, this would have had implications for all their frontline artists of the era, Madonna, and RHCP and Seal, etc; thus P. had to be kept on the plantation. Indeed, his sales by that time didn't really warrant the special treatment P. was demanding. So WB didn't let it go down. To both theirs and P.'s eternal detriment, IMHO. I mean, if these albums come out in '94 there's never any of the 'Slave' stuff, none of the terrible 'P. is a spoiled-brat-millionaire' bad publicity, no C&D -- - and no Emancipation, etc, etc, etc...This was a big, career altering set of business decisions WB and P. made and it turned out poorly for both!

Other thoughts: for me TGE is the last well mixed/mastered P. album. None of his albums after that sound the best they could sound, for my ears. His records just don't sound good anymore, setting aside the quality of the songs. (I liked 20TEN sonically though, think its a massive step in the right direction)

I actually like the songs and overall artistic affect of Come better though, Come is my fav P. album of the 90's. A melancholy masterpiece, P. at his most self-revealing. Papa, Solo, Lettitgo - - P. was trying to tell us something about himself!!

thedance said:

SUPRMAN said:

Yeah . . . .

^ TGE:

Nothing is wrong with the production.....

Prince is a great producer, and I don't find TGE dated.. either.

To me this album will always be a Prince masterpiece, it's timeless.

This and Come, they are so motherf*cking great........

I this music, very dear to me....

It has four songs that I love; 'Shhh,' 'The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,' 'Dolphin' and 'I Hate U.'

The rest I hear on random play. I don't like the album as much as I used to. I used to play it straight through. Now, it's down to four songs.

jilljones said:

NouveauDance said:

Yeah, interesting POV. TGE has it's flaws, and I don't return to it hardly at all these days, but it is the most consistent post-name change album 90s album, and looking at the list in the OP, does seem to 'prop up' the period.

There's great material on most other releases of course, but TGE is definately the most cohesive set from this time period. is up there though, it's a bit long though, some fat needs trimming.

I agree that TGE is a cohesive set. Come very much is too, though, for my ears. I think P. was spot on in his vision for Come as the last Prince album and TGE the first 0(+> album. Brilliant concept, IMHO.

I mean c'mon! imagine if BOTH Come and TGE had actually been released in the 1st half of 1994 as P. planned. I submit that many, many ppl, true and casual fans alike, would have been blown-the-f**k away by the sonic leap from the symbol album and D&P to these. From his new image, to the harder edged sound of the NPG, to the way the albums are mixed/mastered (IMO Come is mixed darker and less bright, representing death, while TGE is bright, big, and L-O-U-D(!), to convey new life) . I think music critics would have been lauding P. as 'returning to brilliance to reclaim his crown after a lackluster start to the '90's' and 'where has THIS prince been hiding since SOTT', etc etc... I don't know how well a two album set would have sold, and musical trends were changing fast around P. making him less relevant seemingly by the week. Also, as has been said elsewhere in this thread both Come and TGE were kinda eccentric and weird, ie P. at his leftest-of-center. But I firmly believe that had both records come out in early-mid '94 P. would have been back near the absolute top of the music scene. With a coordinated worldwide tour of the quality and devastating power of that incarnation of the NPG, US prince fans would most likely have been really, really enthused. Furthermore, P., with these relative successes (for arguments sake lets say TGE mighta gone platinum and Come gold) along with his indie smash success TMBGITW, would have successfully taken his 0)+> guitar and nutt*d all up in WB's faces, proving them to be utterly incompetent and childish. P.'s leverage with WB would have been stronger than ever. For WB, this would have had implications for all their frontline artists of the era, Madonna, and RHCP and Seal, etc; thus P. had to be kept on the plantation. Indeed, his sales by that time didn't really warrant the special treatment P. was demanding. So WB didn't let it go down. To both theirs and P.'s eternal detriment, IMHO. I mean, if these albums come out in '94 there's never any of the 'Slave' stuff, none of the terrible 'P. is a spoiled-brat-millionaire' bad publicity, no C&D -- - and no Emancipation, etc, etc, etc...This was a big, career altering set of business decisions WB and P. made and it turned out poorly for both!

Other thoughts: for me TGE is the last well mixed/mastered P. album. None of his albums after that sound the best they could sound, for my ears. His records just don't sound good anymore, setting aside the quality of the songs. (I liked 20TEN sonically though, think its a massive step in the right direction)

I actually like the songs and overall artistic affect of Come better though, Come is my fav P. album of the 90's. A melancholy masterpiece, P. at his most self-revealing. Papa, Solo, Lettitgo - - P. was trying to tell us something about him,self!!

I'm with you on Come. To me Come is so un-mistakeably Prince. I really dug all the mass of output from that period. Even though it was a last minute deal throw in, even the Black Album/Come releases around the same time, seemed fitting. Both so dark/sexual. Prince was most definetly out of his gord for a long time with his business decisions, and I would have loved for him to have shined publically like he deserved, but he was in a zone, and it was his experience. So be it.

It was a groovy ride, and a lot more of it deserved the radio, but that wasn't gonna happen. Not that it wasn't accessible, just that it felt like Prince doing his own thing like the old days. (Around the world, Parade,Lovesexy). Prince in the NPG/Tora/Slave/Symbol universe.

Hey, it didn't happen like I think he might have liked. Whatever, he's still playing, still making money. I have the cds. It's all good. Kinda wish he would get back in the studio now. Something doesn't quite feel right if there isn't a new album every year. Hope he doesn't wait too long.

I think he messed around with both Come and TGE too much. There were great songs from that prolifiic period that should've been on one or the other.

Come suffers the most because of Prince's needless cannibalising of it. He intentionally held back some great tracks from it which would've really rounded out the set, and I don't think the artwork (which in it's own right is a pretty cool concept) works at all for the stronger material on there. It basically puts a downer on the whole thing, which was obviously intented with odd additions like Solo, which sticks out like a sore thumb, and, IIRC; the last addition to the album, Letitgo. Which is simply a maudlin self-pitying commentary.

TGE was simply more a case of guilding the lilly. There's maybe a couple of fillers, but overall it's the stronger set.

I think it would've been really cool to release both as 'competing' albums - without the spite and career suicidal tendancies that is - just putting out two records by two 'personas' of the same artist, that's a fun idea and lends itself so well to video concepts and fun sprinkles. - I'm a big fan of Japanese Indie rockers, The Brilliant Green, who's lead singer Tomoko Kawase released two singles at the same time, each by two different 'alter-ego' characters with different music styles, the videos having a running theme, great fun and very much what this thing called pop music is all about. Which, at this time, Prince did kind of forget - the music was still kickin', but he took it all way too seriously everywhere else.

TrevorAyer said:

This thread should be called ' The impotence of "the Gold Experience"'.

yeah such an impotent album, got great reviews from most critics despite prince's public image, is considered a great album by the vast majority of the fans, produced hit singles. Unlike trolls such as yourself, most of us appreciate prince's music from different parts of his carrear. Comparing this to P diddy's records show how much of a troll you really are.

hhhhdmt said:

TrevorAyer said:

This thread should be called ' The impotence of "the Gold Experience"'.

yeah such an impotent album, got great reviews from most critics despite prince's public image, is considered a great album by the vast majority of the fans, produced hit singles. Unlike trolls such as yourself, most of us appreciate prince's music from different parts of his carrear. Comparing this to P diddy's records show how much of a troll you really are.

aww ur still not over everyone calling you a troll eh .. glad to know u are still obsesed with my every post .. everyone knows gold killed prince career dead .. as it was intended to

V10LETBLUES said:

To me this is the most overrated album in the Prince canon by far. Cheesy songs and production.

The public passed this album over rightfully so. There was so much more going on in this time in music that this album seemed quaint and silly. It sounded worse than dated when it was released. It felt and sounded completely forced and desperate, like by an out-of-touch artist of a long past era clinging to what he believed the "kids" would like.

But the same can be basically said about everything he released in the 90's, when all his music seemed written with dorks in mind as his target audience.

You don't even like "I Hate U"?

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Quite the interesting topic.

I myself am a HUGE fan of this album. Like so many others in the beginning, I didn't want to get it, thinking that cuz Prince was so unhappy with the state of things in his professinal life, the music was going to reflect that.

I couldn't have been anymore wrong. Luckily someone sent me a link to watch "Love 4 one another," a VHS made 4 TV special that featured some 90's music from Prince. None of which were from this album (although "days of wild" was meant 4 this record b4 it was cut and "Rock n' roll is alive" was a b-side) with the exception of the title track.

I kinda learned in the late 90's when I was just starting to choose my own music (bubblegum pop courtesy of Jive records was my poison) that it shouldn't buy albums based on one song cuz chances are very good that I won't like the rest of the album outside of the singles.

But "Gold" was just that good, that brilliant and it touched me in more ways than I can count/recollect.
The album is brilliant, even though over time certain tracks like "P. Control" and "We March" don't do it for me the way they used to... not that "we march" was the best track on the album to begin with.

Not that the 90's was a bad decade for Prince, I own pretty much all of the commercial releases, the ones more easily recognized by the more casual fans opposed to the die-hards that own all of the NPG releases as well.
I just find it very inconsistent because he was spending maybe a little too much time trying to follow suit with everyone else, the trends of hip-hop and rap starting to come into the music industry.

Because I obtain the albums I hear the most praises about and I don't go out of my way to get the other releases cuz I can't find them in stores, I probably made that allusion myself (made the bed so I had to sleep in it, that sort of thing).

D&P: really clean and polished, some tracks kinda marred by Tony M taking them over with his rapping rhymes... I have a couple I like to listen to that didn't get put out as singles and have a special place in my heart for (namely the first and last track)

:: : inconsisent to a tee. I'll have to listen to the segues that were removed throughout the shining and polishing before its release... but except for the inept, incomplete storyline, the songs are brilliant, some of which are very basic and he doesn't have to pull out all the stops for them to be good

Come: probably my 2nd favorite album of the decade... I think it has an underground following and cuz I heard it was a good companion to TGE (all of the songs were written around the same time), I got curious enough to check it out. Although it can be depressing to listen to at kinds, there are several moments of brilliance and the fact the album flows as a single entity sometimes makes it superior to TGE

then I kinda own bits and pieces in between and there is a lot of disconnect

Emancipation: I have to get back to listening to because I haven't heard as much of it as the others I'd pretty much overplayed, lol

NewPower Soul: pretty much unlistenable to me a lot of the time as a whole, the only exceptions are the brilliance of "Come on" and "The One" (one of his best ballads in my opinion)

Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic: I agree is kind of a weak record and another example of him giving into trends by asking "guest artists" to come on... although I do kinda like the Gwen Stefani and Sheryl Crow duets

There are a few diamonds in the rough of the 90's, but it seems like that's true with a lot of people in the 90's. It was a decade of finding yourself and getting your life back on track.
Me personally, I'm experiencing all this music a decade or so after the fact. I'm going through that "finding myself" period at this very moment, lol

and yes, TGE is a very important album, not just in the 90's but Prince's career. So its kind of a shame that "The Most beautiful girl in the world" is the only track that really escaped that vortex of montomy and chaos

Have not seen you here post here in ages, great to see you back, hope all is well, are you still studying?

TrevorAyer said:

hhhhdmt said:

yeah such an impotent album, got great reviews from most critics despite prince's public image, is considered a great album by the vast majority of the fans, produced hit singles. Unlike trolls such as yourself, most of us appreciate prince's music from different parts of his carrear. Comparing this to P diddy's records show how much of a troll you really are.

aww ur still not over everyone calling you a troll eh .. glad to know u are still obsesed with my every post .. everyone knows gold killed prince career dead .. as it was intended to

not "everyone", just a troll like YOU. Exactly how did Gold "kill" his carrear? 11 years after tge, he had a #1 album. 14 years after that, he had a #2 album. He sells out whereever he goes, he has gotten amazing reviews for his live performances at the rock and roll hall of fame, Saturday Night Live, superbowl, cochella etc.

Nobody calls me a troll. Gold did not kill his carrear, go read the review you troll. I am not the one who is clueless, you are. Gold got great reviews when it came out, and it still does now. Prince's carrear is not dead, regardless of what trolls like you will say. Many people in recent years have discovered how mega talented he really is and he has gained more respect, not just as a guitarist but as a musician too. If you actually bother to go on different sites, even non fans respect him and are surprised as to how good he is. "I didnt know he could play guitar that well", or "i didnt know he could play bass that well". Prince has gained more respect with age and will continue to do so.

And getting back to topic, TGE was important. I am not very impressed with Come, Diamonds and Pearls had some great stuff but some filler two. TGE and Love Symbol are his two best albums of the 90's without a doubt. Though i prefer the unreleased version of Endorphinmachine to the released one.

[Edited 7/19/11 7:28am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:30am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:33am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:56am]

Whitnail said:

Have not seen you here post here in ages, great to see you back, hope all is well, are you still studying?

Been doing my best to stay on top of the purple universe through word of mouth thru friends. And no, I graduated a couple years ago but am still looking for work (got fired from my last crazy job at a microbiology laboratory a little less than a year ago)... but hoping for a hit on my DQ app in a couple days.

I'm doing somewhat regular stops here to comment on topics of interest to somewhat get back into the swing of things as an admirer of Prince's work. Haven't quite been up to that task in a couple years, but it feels good to develop other interests too

hhhhdmt said:

TrevorAyer said:

aww ur still not over everyone calling you a troll eh .. glad to know u are still obsesed with my every post .. everyone knows gold killed prince career dead .. as it was intended to

not "everyone", just a troll like YOU. Exactly how did Gold "kill" his carrear? 11 years after tge, he had a #1 album. 14 years after that, he had a #2 album. He sells out whereever he goes, he has gotten amazing reviews for his live performances at the rock and roll hall of fame, Saturday Night Live, superbowl, cochella etc.

Nobody calls me a troll. Gold did not kill his carrear, go read the review you troll. I am not the one who is clueless, you are. Gold got great reviews when it came out, and it still does now. Prince's carrear is not dead, regardless of what trolls like you will say. Many people in recent years have discovered how mega talented he really is and he has gained more respect, not just as a guitarist but as a musician too. If you actually bother to go on different sites, even non fans respect him and are surprised as to how good he is. "I didnt know he could play guitar that well", or "i didnt know he could play bass that well". Prince has gained more respect with age and will continue to do so.

And getting back to topic, TGE was important. I am not very impressed with Come, Diamonds and Pearls had some great stuff but some filler two. TGE and Love Symbol are his two best albums of the 90's without a doubt. Though i prefer the unreleased version of Endorphinmachine to the released one.

[Edited 7/19/11 7:28am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:30am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:33am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:56am]

edit

hhhhdmt said:

TrevorAyer said:

aww ur still not over everyone calling you a troll eh .. glad to know u are still obsesed with my every post .. everyone knows gold killed prince career dead .. as it was intended to

not "everyone", just a troll like YOU. Exactly how did Gold "kill" his carrear? 11 years after tge, he had a #1 album. 14 years after that, he had a #2 album. He sells out whereever he goes, he has gotten amazing reviews for his live performances at the rock and roll hall of fame, Saturday Night Live, superbowl, cochella etc.

Nobody calls me a troll. Gold did not kill his carrear, go read the review you troll. I am not the one who is clueless, you are. Gold got great reviews when it came out, and it still does now. Prince's carrear is not dead, regardless of what trolls like you will say. Many people in recent years have discovered how mega talented he really is and he has gained more respect, not just as a guitarist but as a musician too. If you actually bother to go on different sites, even non fans respect him and are surprised as to how good he is. "I didnt know he could play guitar that well", or "i didnt know he could play bass that well". Prince has gained more respect with age and will continue to do so.

And getting back to topic, TGE was important. I am not very impressed with Come, Diamonds and Pearls had some great stuff but some filler two. TGE and Love Symbol are his two best albums of the 90's without a doubt. Though i prefer the unreleased version of Endorphinmachine to the released one.

[Edited 7/19/11 7:28am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:30am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:33am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:56am]

actually my dude .. last time u called me a troll a bunch of people that were not me called you the troll because you just pick fights with people if they disagree with you .. and call them trolls and clueless and whatever other condescending names you can think of .. gold was put out after he hated WB .. it was mostly fluff and a bit embarassing .. you go ahead and love it .. you are in fine company with anyone who reviews gold and thinks its great .. its not .. but thats ur opinion .. not mine .. and i can have mine without being a troll .. prince never touched his previous success after gold .. and its fair to say that even tho beautiful girl was a hit .. putting songs like pussy control and cover your ass with this sheet rape song killed any potential the record had to sell .. mixed with horrid rapping crap about a think tank and dolphins and freaks doing it now and other dumb shit no one cares about .. that was the last straw for many and if it wasn't he threw in chaos as well .. for the final flush .. so again we disagree but we both know you just like to pick fights with me cuz you cant stand being wrong all the time .. go back to your hole troll

TrevorAyer said:

hhhhdmt said:

not "everyone", just a troll like YOU. Exactly how did Gold "kill" his carrear? 11 years after tge, he had a #1 album. 14 years after that, he had a #2 album. He sells out whereever he goes, he has gotten amazing reviews for his live performances at the rock and roll hall of fame, Saturday Night Live, superbowl, cochella etc.

Nobody calls me a troll. Gold did not kill his carrear, go read the review you troll. I am not the one who is clueless, you are. Gold got great reviews when it came out, and it still does now. Prince's carrear is not dead, regardless of what trolls like you will say. Many people in recent years have discovered how mega talented he really is and he has gained more respect, not just as a guitarist but as a musician too. If you actually bother to go on different sites, even non fans respect him and are surprised as to how good he is. "I didnt know he could play guitar that well", or "i didnt know he could play bass that well". Prince has gained more respect with age and will continue to do so.

And getting back to topic, TGE was important. I am not very impressed with Come, Diamonds and Pearls had some great stuff but some filler two. TGE and Love Symbol are his two best albums of the 90's without a doubt. Though i prefer the unreleased version of Endorphinmachine to the released one.

[Edited 7/19/11 7:28am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:30am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:33am]

[Edited 7/19/11 7:56am]

actually my dude .. last time u called me a troll a bunch of people that were not me called you the troll because you just pick fights with people if they disagree with you .. and call them trolls and clueless and whatever other condescending names you can think of .. gold was put out after he hated WB .. it was mostly fluff and a bit embarassing .. you go ahead and love it .. you are in fine company with anyone who reviews gold and thinks its great .. its not .. but thats ur opinion .. not mine .. and i can have mine without being a troll .. prince never touched his previous success after gold .. and its fair to say that even tho beautiful girl was a hit .. putting songs like pussy control and cover your ass with this sheet rape song killed any potential the record had to sell .. mixed with horrid rapping crap about a think tank and dolphins and freaks doing it now and other dumb shit no one cares about .. that was the last straw for many and if it wasn't he threw in chaos as well .. for the final flush .. so again we disagree but we both know you just like to pick fights with me cuz you cant stand being wrong all the time .. go back to your hole troll

No, you are wrong all the time, not me. You were the one who was owned when you dismissed Prince's drumming as "dabbling" and compared it to Kurt Cobains drumming. Instead of telling me to stop picking fight, why dont you go cry, whine and troll on some other forum. Gold is a great album and is regarded so by the vasy majority of fans and critics. I have never been owned the way you were on that thread regarding his drumming. . So please, get lost. Anyone who compares prince's drumming to a non drummer like Kurt Cobain or claims that there are "hundreds of thousands" of "far more talented" musicians than him is trolling. You are just a bitter and whiny troll who will never have anywhere near the talent and success that prince has had.

Not to mention your equally absurd post on Prince "failing" to do most genres well. Yeah, the man has had multiple hits in different genres, his pop/rock/funk and r&b tunes have been covered by respected musicians. Or the even more absurd post about Sheila e being the only "real musician" he has worked with in "years". Yeah John Blackwell isnt a real musician, right? You are nothing but a troll who doesnt add anything constructive to this forum other than whining about the 80's being gone.

[Edited 7/19/11 14:06pm]

Kurt Cobain was a drummer?

JoeTyler said:

Kurt Cobain was a drummer?

That's news to me too.

Come is a better album than TGE and had it not been for the Come album, TGE would have never had life anyway. Come gave birth to TGE, and paved the road.

Come is a very very flawed album, but I like it much better than TGE.

To me TGE is a by-the-numbers poppy rock album. Seemingly a calculated effort to pander to the widest possible audience (TMBGITW).

Whereas to me, Come has more of the daring and originality I had come to expect from Prince. There is nothing safe about "Solo" or "Pheromone", or the undoubtedly Prince signature sound to "Let it Go". "Space" is like nothing he had ever tried.

Sure there is a lot of the same 90's goofiness to Come, but to me it feels a lot less contrived than TGE. One thing is for sure, no one could accuse "Come" of the pandering to the teenyboppers as seen on TGE. It is dark and strange and decidedly Prince.

V10LETBLUES said:

Let's put TGE in perspective.

Let's take a quick look at how ridiculously childish and dated Prince and TGE comes off in the field of it's 1995 contemporaries.

- Prince overproduced his stuff most of the times (with few exceptions). He always loved keys and programmed beats. It´s easier to sound dated this way. And Prince seems to never have truly cared about it.

BTW, I really love TGE, maybe because I was becoming a fan in 93 and because I really love that NPG. I would only replace ´We march´ and ´319´ for ´Days of Wild´ and ´The ride´.

The Gold Experience is important 2 me cuz its blasts my ear drums out everyday!!!!!!!Simple...

GustavoRibas said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Let's put TGE in perspective.

Let's take a quick look at how ridiculously childish and dated Prince and TGE comes off in the field of it's 1995 contemporaries.

- Prince overproduced his stuff most of the times (with few exceptions). He always loved keys and programmed beats. It´s easier to sound dated this way. And Prince seems to never have truly cared about it.

But to me it is much more than that. In the comparison to his 1995 contemporaries, Prince was talking down to his audience, musically and lyrically, while the best artists of 1995 were doing none of that. Prince was seemingly catering to the NKOTB crowd for whatever reason, instead pushing forward. No one likes to be talked down to, and I think the lack of sales to his millions of fans reflected that.

V10LETBLUES said:

GustavoRibas said:

- Prince overproduced his stuff most of the times (with few exceptions). He always loved keys and programmed beats. It´s easier to sound dated this way. And Prince seems to never have truly cared about it.

But to me it is much more than that. In the comparison to his 1995 contemporaries, Prince was talking down to his audience, musically and lyrically, while the best artists of 1995 were doing none of that. Prince was seemingly catering to the NKOTB crowd for whatever reason, instead pushing forward. No one likes to be talked down to, and I think the lack of sales to his millions of fans reflected that.

- Well, I never took Prince seriously as a lyric writer (although he had his moments). For me, it´s a typical Prince album. Some good songs, some cheesy ones. Some daring stuff, some conservative. For example, Alanis Morisette had very interesting lyrics, but those programmed beats on some of her albums were extra boring. And she would never have the guts to put a screaming guitar solo like the ´I hate U´ on her album. Everything was too polished, especially after her first album.

I dont see NKOTB on the arrangements of ´Shh´, on the lyrics of ´P Control´, even on the political views of ´We March´ (the cheesiest song on the album) and re incarnation (Dolphin). Billy Jack Bitch had very sophisticated horn arrangement in the end (courtesy of Michael B Nelson), to give some examples. I think Prince was more desperate for a younger audience on Rave.

[Edited 7/19/11 16:14pm]

hhhhdmt said:

TrevorAyer said:

actually my dude .. last time u called me a troll a bunch of people that were not me called you the troll because you just pick fights with people if they disagree with you .. and call them trolls and clueless and whatever other condescending names you can think of .. gold was put out after he hated WB .. it was mostly fluff and a bit embarassing .. you go ahead and love it .. you are in fine company with anyone who reviews gold and thinks its great .. its not .. but thats ur opinion .. not mine .. and i can have mine without being a troll .. prince never touched his previous success after gold .. and its fair to say that even tho beautiful girl was a hit .. putting songs like pussy control and cover your ass with this sheet rape song killed any potential the record had to sell .. mixed with horrid rapping crap about a think tank and dolphins and freaks doing it now and other dumb shit no one cares about .. that was the last straw for many and if it wasn't he threw in chaos as well .. for the final flush .. so again we disagree but we both know you just like to pick fights with me cuz you cant stand being wrong all the time .. go back to your hole troll

No, you are wrong all the time, not me. You were the one who was owned when you dismissed Prince's drumming as "dabbling" and compared it to Kurt Cobains drumming. Instead of telling me to stop picking fight, why dont you go cry, whine and troll on some other forum. Gold is a great album and is regarded so by the vasy majority of fans and critics. I have never been owned the way you were on that thread regarding his drumming. . So please, get lost. Anyone who compares prince's drumming to a non drummer like Kurt Cobain or claims that there are "hundreds of thousands" of "far more talented" musicians than him is trolling. You are just a bitter and whiny troll who will never have anywhere near the talent and success that prince has had.

Not to mention your equally absurd post on Prince "failing" to do most genres well. Yeah, the man has had multiple hits in different genres, his pop/rock/funk and r&b tunes have been covered by respected musicians. Or the even more absurd post about Sheila e being the only "real musician" he has worked with in "years". Yeah John Blackwell isnt a real musician, right? You are nothing but a troll who doesnt add anything constructive to this forum other than whining about the 80's being gone.

[Edited 7/19/11 14:06pm]

hmmmpth u are a shit stirrir for sure if there ever was one and no .. what i said was that stevie wonder blows prince out of the water on drums .. and he does .. i also said prince sucks at rap and he does so you cant say hes is awesome in sooo many genres when he sucks at most of them .. classical, rap and jazz being formost .. go ahead and make up your delusional script that never happened .. ur full of shit with anything you attempt to reiterate that I said ..

Sorry... I tried it again. I hadn't listened to TGE in a long time, so I thought I'd give it another chance since Shhh & Endorphin Machine have remained two strong Live songs in Prince's catalogue...

This album is terrible.... The production blows & the songs are cheesy.

I do like "Shy"... but that's about it.

Unfortunately, most of his albums in the 90's are 90% garbage to me... And that hurts to say.

"Come" & "The Truth" are the only albums I can listen to more than 60% of.

Things got somewhat better in the early 2000's but everything after 3121 kinda feels like the 90's all over again.....

I'll go see him perform all of these album live though... Any day, every day.

V10LETBLUES said:

rialb said:

Fair enough, you do not like the album but one persons opinion doesn't matter. I think that Diamonds and Pearls is a steaming pile of crap but a lot of people love it. The point is that The Gold Experience was a very commercial album that, with the proper promotion, should have been a much bigger hit. The consensus among hardcore fans is that The Gold Experience is his best album of the '90s. It is indisputable that the promotion of the album was severely flawed and almost certainly had a negative impact on its sales. Had the album been released in 1994 fresh off the success of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and with a tour to promote it I strongly believe that the album would have achieved platinum sales and subsequent singles would have charted higher. "I Hate U" almost made the pop top ten and that was over a year after the massive success of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and with virtually no promotion.

The Gold Experience was probably Prince's last, and best, chance to have a big hit album and he completely screwed it up.

[Edited 7/16/11 8:25am]

I will have to disagree. No amount of promotion other than payola would have had an impact on sales.In 1995 Prince was by far was the most recognizable act of the top 20 albums that year. That he was outsold by obscure, indie, and new artists that year tells the entire story.

Your argument doesnt really make sense. The top SELLING songs and albums of 95 were people like Celine Dion, Queen, Hootie & The Blowfish, Coolio, TLC, Boys II Men, Bon Jovi, Kenny G etc. Not the albums you listed. Quality music in the music industry doesn't equate to sales. Otherwise TGE would have done a lot better than many of the top 20 albums that year.

I agree with the post. I'm 16 and the album is my favorite for the 90's.

TrevorAyer said:

hmmmpth u are a shit stirrir for sure if there ever was one and no .. what i said was that stevie wonder blows prince out of the water on drums .. and he does ..

actually, making statements like that is pretty damned troll-like, especially since its something u'd never be able to verify unless the two ever went at it together. A professional drummer like John B or Chris Coleman could blow Prince out of the water maybe, but Prince himself is extremely solid on the drums himself, I don't see any casual player coming close at all to doing that.

Nueva Dance . you said awhile back that sign o' the times wasn't that great. Real true prince fans know that's a classic album hands down, the only waek track was U got the look. Otherwise, a kick-ass album from start to finish. and u put that album down? unbelieveable!