It would have 'made sense' for 3COG to have been released to accompany the album, sure.
But Prince records faster than filmmakers produce whole video albums (particularly when they, allegedly, don't get paid and end up bankrupt).

The Symbol album was the absolute bomb and to my great surprise and delight, a lot of people who had frowned at the mention of his name for a few years were suddenly 'He's Da Man'.

I first saw the vids from 3COG one by one (as they emerged in NME news items in the UK) at the NPG Shop in Camden.
They were really quite shocking and the pace at which they appeared (before the release or even the mention of the 3COG set) completely blasted my mind. There was SO much going on between the Symbol album and the 'Gold' single that it's taken me until now to catch up.

I understand the American excitement about Prince's initial phase running into ascendancy with Purple Rain but for me and some like minds in the UK, Prince's 90's incarnation as Symbol was futuristic in a way HE has yet to catch up on.

It was just an incredible pace and quality of shock-tactic fantastic work and the Symbol album is, to me, one of the first proper CD albums (there are very few to date) which took account of the format, the length and the sound during the production. The layering on Symbol is incredible. Every time I listen I hear more and more detail.

And Tony M was more than a fine addition to things as far as I'm concerned. When his rap kicks in on 'My Name is Prince', it's the stuff of pure legend. Read those lyrics!

dodger said:

SoulAlive said:

The Three Chains O' Gold movie is really interesting and it sorta explains what the album is all about,but it should have been released around the time of the album.Didn't it come out in late '94?

Yes, the usual bad timing - why release it 2 years after the album. Was a great time to be a fan though - seemed to be videos, maxi-singles, associated albums and albums being released every other week.

I think it was originally planned for release in Summer or Autumn 93: it was the trend back then to release the video collection about a year after the album, as a closure to its career. But then the WB wars began and I assume WB favored releasing The Hits video collection over 3COG. Perhaps if their relation with Prince had been good they'd have released both simultaneously.

Then finally they released it at the same time as Come. By then it made no sense, no one cared anymore except for us hardcore fans. It is clear by this point WB knew they were going to lose Prince and that they wanted to capitalize on what they had when still possible (hence The Undertaker, The Sacrifice Of Victor and The Black Album). I always suspected Prince purposedly slaughtered the songs by editing them on the release, just to give WB a shitty product that would be rejected by fans and critics alike. But in the end the victim wasn't WB, it was us poor fans who did put our money in this release and got ripped off by buying a collection of butchered videos.

To be honest anyway I always found the videos to be disappointing by comparison to the record. A great deal of money was wasted into making that film but several of the music videos themselves are a bit cheap. Not the ones for the singles: Sexy MF, MNIP, TMP, Damn U and 7 are ok, but several others are just not what you'd expect. I mean at the time the ultimate reference in music videos were MJ and Madonna, and most of the vids on 3COG weren't anywhere near those standards of production. The album was an extravaganza, the videos should have been one too.

XSX said:

It would have 'made sense' for 3COG to have been released to accompany the album, sure.
But Prince records faster than filmmakers produce whole video albums (particularly when they, allegedly, don't get paid and end up bankrupt).

The Symbol album was the absolute bomb and to my great surprise and delight, a lot of people who had frowned at the mention of his name for a few years were suddenly 'He's Da Man'.

I first saw the vids from 3COG one by one (as they emerged in NME news items in the UK) at the NPG Shop in Camden.
They were really quite shocking and the pace at which they appeared (before the release or even the mention of the 3COG set) completely blasted my mind. There was SO much going on between the Symbol album and the 'Gold' single that it's taken me until now to catch up.

I understand the American excitement about Prince's initial phase running into ascendancy with Purple Rain but for me and some like minds in the UK, Prince's 90's incarnation as Symbol was futuristic in a way HE has yet to catch up on.

It was just an incredible pace and quality of shock-tactic fantastic work and the Symbol album is, to me, one of the first proper CD albums (there are very few to date) which took account of the format, the length and the sound during the production. The layering on Symbol is incredible. Every time I listen I hear more and more detail.

And Tony M was more than a fine addition to things as far as I'm concerned. When his rap kicks in on 'My Name is Prince', it's the stuff of pure legend. Read those lyrics!

In Europe Prince was really the hype I'd say between 86 and 92, our golden age is on a diffrerent timeline than in the US.

NorthC said:

The marketing was for this album was no better or worse than for other Prince albums at the time. There were singles, videos, an appearance at Arsenio Hall, an American tour. Sexy MF was a big hit and was controversial for using the f word and then came the news of him signing that multi million dollar contract. So Prince was all over the media in 1992-93. People here often complain about Prince not promoting his album, but you can't say that about this one! But at the end of the day an album has to sell itself.

The effort was semi-aggressive but the single choices, order, etc... was a bit of a mess. Sexy MF was not a big hit in the US, nor was MNIP. It took them until the 3rd single to get something right, 7, and other more radio ready options were ignored.

It's an underrated album... the vinyl version of this is amazing... so sweet on the wax for the candy ears.

RJOrion said:

i just heard Goldnigga for the first time last week

not impressed at all

too much Tony M..

im a lifelong hiphop fan...(WuTang, Nas, Hov, Camron, Slum Village, Pharoah Monch, etc.)

and Tony M's delivery is too basic and old school to get respect from more hardcore hiphop fans, who listen for advanced wordplay, metaphors and similies, punchlines, and intricate flows, cadences and multisyllabic rhyme pattern...he's just too basic and his rhymes have aged terribly...they sounded outdated when they were new...always sounded like he was trying to recreate ChuckD/Dr. Dre/ Ice T all at once

To be fair though, didn't Prince write that album for Tony M?

I love the Symbol album, one of those where the composition, arrangement and production are just sublime. Incredible vocals from Prince and amazing guitar, NPG delivering every time and horn playing like none other.

Shame he ballsed up the concept, so nearly could have been his 90s masterpiece. In all the Prince revisionism of recent years this is always overlooked. Maybe the lead single and name change are still too much to get beyond.

Yeah, Love 2 The 9's is still up there as my favourite song by him, ever.

http://prince.org/msg/7/412608

[Edited 11/1/15 7:49am]

One of my favs, always giving it praise.

KingSausage said:

I've always liked the Symbol album, but lately it's grown to be one of my absolute favorite Prince albums. I love its wackiness, its variety, its sheer creativity. Every song is great. The segues are bizarre but dammit that's just part of the fun. Prince's vocals are top notch throughout. The production is warm, organic, and aggressive. The slow songs are great, the fast songs are great, the funk is great. Most importantly, the Symbol album might be the weirdest Prince era. Have you seen the 3 Chains of Gold video? Have you read the 3 Chains of Gold comic? His weirdness is absolutely stunning. [Edited 9/26/15 7:52am] [Edited 9/26/15 10:19am]

I had a very strange experience with the Love Symbol album.

After like I month I have it, I take an evening, in the dark, and listen to it on perfect phones, on a perfect AIWA, with my twenty-something still perfect ears (remember you lose kHz with age, please adjust your EQ).

And I listen to it in the dark, in sequence, start from finish, one big sip, alone in my bedroom.
In the kind of state where you hear everything that is played as if you were there, in real-time, and there's not a single reverb tail that you miss, everything happens as it happens.
You're the drums. You're the bass. You're Skipper.

Well, believe me or not. I cried. Tears of joy, of sadness, pouring down my bedsheets.

For 75 long, filled, precious minutes, non-stop.

I cried on "My Name Is Prince", I cried on "The Continental".
The last "amen", at the very end of it, killed me.


t felt like Salieri having aural orgasms, one after the other.

jtfolden said:

The effort was semi-aggressive but the single choices, order, etc... was a bit of a mess. Sexy MF was not a big hit in the US, nor was MNIP. It took them until the 3rd single to get something right, 7, and other more radio ready options were ignored.

Yeah,I wasn't too crazy with some of the single choices.This album is filled with strong,potential singles but I'm not sure if the right ones were chosen.

"The Morning Papers" is a decent,but unremarkable track.A better choice would have been the superior "And God Created Woman".That song is perfect.

I also think "The Continental" should have been a single,at some point.

bonatoc said:

I had a very strange experience with the Love Symbol album.

After like I month I have it, I take an evening, in the dark, and listen to it on perfect phones, on a perfect AIWA, with my twenty-something still perfect ears (remember you lose kHz with age, please adjust your EQ).

And I listen to it in the dark, in sequence, start from finish, one big sip, alone in my bedroom.
In the kind of state where you hear everything that is played as if you were there, in real-time, and there's not a single reverb tail that you miss, everything happens as it happens.
You're the drums. You're the bass. You're Skipper.

Well, believe me or not. I cried. Tears of joy, of sadness, pouring down my bedsheets.

For 75 long, filled, precious minutes, non-stop.

I cried on "My Name Is Prince", I cried on "The Continental".
The last "amen", at the very end of it, killed me.


t felt like Salieri having aural orgasms, one after the other.

I recently had the same experience with the Gold Experience. I played the cd in my new Denon cd player, the sound was so beautiful Tears came to my eyes. The music was almost tangible

I love the Love Symbol album. It was one of the first Prince albums I latched onto upon discovering him around 5 years ago. For whatever reason, for three years or so, I only knew the first 9 songs or so of the album. I'd get bored (gasp!) halfway through and lose attention, haha.

Luckily I came around from my stupidity and realised I loved the back half of the album almost more than the front! It's a great album for the most part. My only gripe is that it is very long, but that's almost a non-complaint. The more the merrier!