Prince: Looking Back at ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ 25 Years Later

Read it here: http://radio.com/2016/09/...pearls-25/

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"Diamonds and Pearls" was released on October 1, 1991.

[Edited 10/1/16 12:52pm]

Thank goodnes for Insatiable - especially the extended version !!!

wouldntulove2loveme said:

wouldntulove2loveme said:

Thank goodnes for Insatiable - especially the extended version !!!

Insatiable is an AMAZING song!!! His falsetto is second to none. And I love the video too, in all of its raunchiness.

Let Love Decide: Prince’s ‘Diamonds and Pearls’

Source: http://www.spin.com/2016/...sic-album/

The Man Who Would Be Prince

Source: http://www.gq.com/story/p...isley-park

TONY M.-FREE VERSION FTW!

206Michelle said:

Let Love Decide: Prince’s ‘Diamonds and Pearls’

Source: http://www.spin.com/2016/...sic-album/

Well written article, I agree with just about everything.

funkaholic1972 said:

206Michelle said:

Let Love Decide: Prince’s ‘Diamonds and Pearls’

Source: http://www.spin.com/2016/...sic-album/

Well written article, I agree with just about everything.

Me too! My favorite part of the article is this paragraph:

The title track is one of the most gorgeous pop songs Prince ever recorded, a melodically lush pop-rock ballad that also echoes the sublime Philly Soul productions of Linda Creed and Thom Bell. It became a standout showcase for the New Power Generation band in full flight — especially vocalist/keyboardist Rosie Gaines. A beautifully soulful duet, the song is one of Prince’s most beloved, and for good reason.

The guitar solos in "Live 4 Love" are outstanding!!!

I've always loved, 'Thunder'...

he should have wona grammy for the vocal on 'insaitiable'. way better the the vocal he did on 'future baby momma' imo.

great album except for that dud Jughead. incredible live performance on Arsenio when the album came out. I still have the CD from 1991 and notice the hologram is faded and doesn't work anymore

[Edited 10/1/16 17:27pm]

Love that album

The first Prince album I waited for and purchased on the day of release. God that sounds like a lifetime ago, but I can still see myself, 14 years-old, purchasing it at the store, opening the cassette back home, playing it for the first time while reading the lyrics in my bedroom. I was a little disappointed at first (comparing it to earlier records) but it grew on me and became the soundtrack of my late 91-early 92. Prince was a major star at the time, D&P was right behind Dangerous in terms of intense advertisement and airplay, and the videos were all over MTV Europe.

The album that made me a fan, for that reason, I will always have fond memories of it. It wasn't until Cream was a big hit I drank the purple Kool aid and I don't recall buying the album until early or even mid 1992. Cream really got me hooked and from that point I remember buying the Gett Off and the Diamonds and Pearls single when it came out. I also remember buying Insatiable and Money don't matter 2 nite as singles too in 1992.

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The music resonated with me and it made me want to discover earlier stuff. Basically how I got hooked, was watching the Cream video one morning and wanting to buy all the Prince stuff I could see immediately afterwards. But I was only 15 and carless and living ina rural district, so easier said than done. Also I only $15 a fortnight pocket money and this paid for school lunches and bus travel as well, so $5 cassingles were all I couldl afford (Jobs were 2 years off). NZ in 1991 everything was a rip off and it wa sthe first year vinyl had disappeared, we threw out our record player in the late 80s and all I had was a cassette player that chewed things a lot.

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Diamonds and Pearls is still a great album and apart from two songs, I still really like listening to it. Insatiable and Cream are the best jams and all of the songs except Jughead and Push are at least good (Well Live 4 love is a bit boring).

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Also the other thing too, stopping me from reaching fully into it, was the fact MJ released Dangerous that year as well and in 1991 I was a hardcore MJ fan and unlike Prince, my parents had no problem with me listening to Michael Jackson, no matter how disturbing they thought the videos to Black and White were. I only discovered Prince at the same time Black or White was released as a single, and like many people was glad the wait was over for the new MJ album, as much as we all loved Bad and Thriller they had been done to death by late 1991 and MJ kept teasing us with when this album would come out.

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I am sure I actually bought the Black or White song at the same time or just after I bought Cream (It may have been when I bought Gett Off a few days after I got Cream - yes it seemed even then I was one of these people who had room for both Prince and Michael Jackson in my life).

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When I was 15 and it came out I was also heavily into Colour Me Badd and had got into them after I had gotten over Milli Vanilli, I was also hardcore in Madonna and the rougher side of me liked rap particularly Ice T, Cool J and Public enemy (Other albums I bought in late 1991 were Mama said knock you out by cool J, Fear of a Black Planet by Public enemy and I got OG Original Gangsta by Ice T as a Christmas present. So it was not all pop for me back then. So yeah my musical taste back then, Gay and Gangsta with a touch of Pop.

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Think of doing a video about it.

[Edited 10/2/16 15:19pm]

Just thinking the Mods should make this a sticky. The album was not everyone's cup of tea, and may have not been on the level of his 1980s classics and other 90s albums, but it was very a very successful and an important album as it was bringing the big noise for the 90s.

(And yes I know that line was off Graffiti Bridge).

Happy Birthday! Wow 25 years went fast . Although I know I'm going to sound cliched, IMO it's not as good as his 80's material . It's an ok album, The title track really isn't my cup of tea. I've never felt anything but annoyed by the lyrics especially the pityful D to I to the A to the M..... part and Jughead among others are abrasive to my sensitive ears. I loved a good video back in the day, so Willing and Able, Insatiable and Money Don't Matter redeem it for me.

Adorecream said:

I am sure I actually bought the Black or White song at the same time or just after I bought Cream (It may have been when I bought Gett Off a few days after I got Cream - yes it seemed even then I was one of these people who had room for both Prince and Michael Jackson in my life).

Yeah. Me too. I always was and still am a bigger MJ fan, but I always liked Prince too (though my fandom here is more on the musical side and less the person). It was a great time to have both Michael and Prince have big albums at the same time and ruling the charts and airwaves (I was to young for Thriller/Purple rain) well into '93 (while I like Dimonds and Pearls, I think the love symbol album was even better). I Immediatly fell in love with Gett Off. I think the first time I heard that song was on the MTV Awards.

206Michelle said:

206Michelle said:

The guitar solos in "Live 4 Love" are outstanding!!!

I think Live 4 Love is the strongest track on the album

TrivialPursuit said:

TONY M.-FREE VERSION FTW!

I love this album but I must conclude that this man is correct.

This whole anti-Tony M circus has lasted long enough. I assume we should all have grown-up in the course of 25 years, maybe it's time to quit having immature way-too-extreme emotional reactions to a record which is what it is. It's not like -contrarily to what some have written- listening to a rapper one doesn't fancy can literally, physically make one cringe (and why not puke and have a diarrhea while we're at it, or even better cause a cardiac arrest).

D&P is what it is. Tony M. is on it. Get over it. Live with it.

And those butchered, fanmade copies that edited Tony out should not be shared anymore on the interwho, for the sake of Prince's legacy.

I agree Databank, I mean this thread is not even one page long and yet D and P was a very important album, it was the last time he was a massive superstar and well known to the general public. Even with the Symbol album onwards Prince emerged into a cult artist he was until he left us.

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I mean they are slagging off songs like Push and Jughead and forget the power of songs like Insatiable (One of the finest ballads ever made), Cream (The single that was his last smash #1 hit and bought me to Prince mania), Gett Off (One of the coolest and nastiest jams ever made), Diamonds and Pearls (A beautiful and heartfelt ballad), Daddy Pop (Where Prince talked about himself as an icon and his first true "I'm so great song", and proved he really was that great). Thunder (A killer album starter and the guitar playing is just explosive).

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Diamonds and Pearls in general gets so much shit from the org in general and I do not understand why, because there is so much to love on this album. Also the general public and non fans loved it too, I have been to a lot of homes, where the only Prince albums they have are Purple Rain, A greatest hits collection or this one. And why it was his second best selling album after Purple Rain (Although some dispute Batman may have sold more), this album was a 6 million seller.

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I love this damn album and already had, okay its not Sign o the Times or Parade, but it sure as hell not the Rainbow children or the Slaughterhouse either and both of those albums get so much love and yet they are shittier than the shitty parts of Jughead. Some of Mr Mosley's raps are not bad and I think the rap here is better than on Symbol or Goldnigga. The live 4 love rap is good and so is the rapping and singing he does on Willing and Able.

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DIAMONDS AND PEARLS ROCKS!

databank said:

This whole anti-Tony M circus has lasted long enough. I assume we should all have grown-up in the course of 25 years, maybe it's time to quit having immature way-too-extreme emotional reactions to a record which is what it is. It's not like -contrarily to what some have written- listening to a rapper one doesn't fancy can literally, physically make one cringe (and why not puke and have a diarrhea while we're at it, or even better cause a cardiac arrest).

D&P is what it is. Tony M. is on it. Get over it. Live with it.

And those butchered, fanmade copies that edited Tony out should not be shared anymore on the interwho, for the sake of Prince's legacy.

So because someone disagrees or simply doesn't like something, it's a circus and immature? I think not. Tony M. is a cancer on those two albums, and without him, they are stronger records. Hell, I never dug D&P much to begin with. But when I took him out of those songs, it was a whole new appreciation for that record.

You've obviously not heard the ones ernestsewell did. They aren't butchered like the others that flat out edit out the chorus of "The Max" or whatever, and piece together the non-Tony M. parts. The former set uses instrumental loops in areas to dub his voice out when possible but keeps the integrity of the song. A lot of those songs, like "Daddy Pop" for example, weren't meant to have that MFer in them. Listen to that song on Diamonds and Pearls Beginnings that came out. You can hear a different version of that song, with a different ending, and no Tony M. rap in sight. The song shines like never before. Same with "Willing and Able" on that boot.

D&P is what it is and it's better without Tony on it. I'll live with the edits only. (And removing "Jughead" - because come on...)

TrivialPursuit said:

Tony M. is a cancer on those two albums, I call this kind of language pretty excessive and immature, yeah and without him, they are stronger records. This is such an arrogant statement to make, like you guys know better than Prince, and anyone else who disagrees, sure. Who are we to doubt it? I do call that a circus, no less.

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But when I took him out of those songs, it was a whole new appreciation for that record. It is not for you to decide how this record is to be heard, but for Prince. However while you are totally free to edit those songs and hear them in any way you like for your own enjoyment, you are not to harm Prince's legacy by sharing then online. The problem with doing so is that certain people may download them or copy them from a friend's hartddrive and believe they are the genuine versions, and never get to hear D&P the way it was originally released. For all we know in 100 years there may be more Sewell versions floating around than original versions, and most people wouldn't even know. I call this destroying an artist's legacy. I have the same problem with certain classic jazz records that have been "reconstructed" by the labels for CD rerelease, BTW. It is now impossible to find the original versions of Thelonius Monk's Straight, No Chaser or Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder in CD or digital formats, for example, and that's just so disrespectful for those 2 musicians who were not alive to defend their original vision when this was done. And the worst is, were I not super careful to verify the tracklist of every album I download, I wouldn't ever have known!!!

You've obviously not heard the ones ernestsewell did. They aren't butchered like the others that flat out edit out the chorus of "The Max" or whatever, and piece together the non-Tony M. parts. The former set uses instrumental loops in areas to dub his voice out when possible but keeps the integrity of the song. A lot of those songs, like "Daddy Pop" for example, weren't meant to have that MFer in them. Listen to that song on Diamonds and Pearls Beginnings that came out. You can hear a different version of that song, with a different ending, and no Tony M. rap in sight. The song shines like never before. Same with "Willing and Able" on that boot.
I haven't heard ANY of them and regardless how good they may be, I have no desire to do so. I respect works of art and the vision of artists for what they are. I want to hear Diamonds And Pearls exactly the way it was released by Prince, period. Neither would I want to read an fanmade edited version of certain novels I've read, even though I felt some passages were too long and boring when I read them. Neither would I want to look at a fanmade photoshopped version of a painting even if I dislike the upper-left corner of the picture. Neither would I want to watch a fanmade edit of a movie even if I dislike certain scenes or lines of dialogue.

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Now you gonna say why do I care? The bottom line is that I'm also a writer and a spoken word artist, I'm about to release a record this year, which is in the final stages of mixing: were I to find in a year that some people have edited my album, shared it online and that some people were to hear butchered versions of my work, I would be mad as hell. Same goes if anyone was to edit out some parts of a story or poem I've published and shared it online as such. You put so much honest, hard work into those things, it's not to see amateurs reconstructing them according to their taste and republishing them.

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I know some photographers who were pissed as hell to find some of their pics reframed online, even if they were properly credited to them. Ask any of the artists on the org how they'd like Ernest Sewell to re-edit their work at his convenience and share it online? I'm sure you won't find too many who'll say "yeah sure, be my guest". Does it mean that our work is perfect? No. Could it be perfected by someone else? Maybe, who knows. But it's ours. And it's our call to make. No one else's.

[Edited 10/4/16 9:57am]

Now, as a hypothetical I'd like to know this -

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if Prince had been like George Lucas what would the remastered version of D&Ps sound like? I notice Tony wasn't around too long and ultimately ended up on bad terms with Prince at the end, with Tony M even suing Prince from what I understand.

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Clearly - even in 2016 this album is capable of making for really divisive discussion - and that is just a beautiful thing. To me that means it's still alive and out there making waves of sorts.

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Edit: I just thought to add this - databank I think I fully understand your perspective on this - that people are free to edit as desired for themselves (and themselves only since otherwise risks the possibility of fans thinking the edits are not edits).

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A lot of this is situational and while I can't deny that I've heard these versions and that I really love them - I also love the albums as Prince made them and would gladly listen to either one as my mood allows me.
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If every single person who bought this album in a legit fashion was made aware of a fan edit they could locate would your opinion be different if there was no possibility of this sort of misunderstanding? Also - what is your opinion on sampling in hip hop?

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Last thing - I'm delighted you brought up Brilliant Corners and Such Sweet Thunder. I've wanted SST for some time and haven't been able to buy it on CD since I found out that it was not the original. Furthermore I have a copy of BC on CD and will now inspect it to see if what I have is legit but it sounds like it likely is not. I am willing to track down an LP if needed.

[Edited 10/4/16 11:28am]