For Real Ya'll Rainbow Children is Weak, Very Weak

I’m sorry but TRC is just not very good. Simply stated, it’s like Prince trying

to make Jazz and not Prince being Prince. TRC reminds me of ATWIAD, like Prince

just started listening to the Beetles and made Sergeant Pepper inspired pop

songs without really letting the sound sink down to the bone. Compare a track

like “ATWIAD” with the real deal “I Could Never Talk the Place of Your Man” and

you see what I’m saying. One sounds like a half-digested influence regurgitated

and the other sounds like Prince with traces of the Beetles. It’s like the

rapping on Diamonds and Pearls and Symbol, Prince raps without really

understanding what rap is all about. P. ends up sounding like a naïve

interpreter of something he just does not really get. Prince’s busy and

impatient mind is always absorbing new and different forms of music but

sometimes the process of absorption is incomplete. TRC liked other failed

attempts to diversify, is stuck in this stage of incompletion. The funk songs

are weak (1+1+1 sounds like a watered down version of Erotic City and the work

is completely indistinct, the James Brown equivalent of Prince doing Sly on

“Make Your Mama Happy”). The title track is boring and without real

feeling. You think is Jazz? Please, this is the shell of jazz, hollow, empty,

and soulless. “Mellow” and “Muse 2 the Pharaoh” are aight but what’s new here?

“Everywhere” and the first half of “Last December” fall flat. And “Face Down”

is awful; I can’t even listen to that song anymore. The “meaning” connecting

the songs is inchoate and insulated and alienating and the music is stale. Fans

say that this record is the most “experimental” Prince music he has recorded?

No, I just can’t agree with that. This music is regressive and empty.

Experimental Prince (The entire Black Album, most of Lovesexy, most of 1999,

Computer Blue, most of Dirty Mind, about a third of Sign of the Times) has edge

and vitality, two things the dismal TRC lacks. One of the reasons Musicology is

so solid is because P. all the influences that P is working with are deep down

there, twisted up in his soul and part of the man. On TRC P. is reaching and it

shows. What am I missing folks?

You're gonna get it for this one. The Org is swarming with TRC fans. It's scary.

CORRECTION: "FACE DOWN" should read "FAMILY NAME" and while I'm typing might I say damn that songs sucks.

All of TRC sucks.

see, it's all about opinions, and IM, Rainbow Children is a solid effort. Even though the religious psycho babble drives me nuts, MUSICALLY it was the 1st album he's done in years that made me think "maybe he HAS still got it."

I like it when he tries new grooves, I really do and for MY ears, TRC works

It's a good album to listen to if you have food poisoning and need to vomit.

EvilWhiteMale said:

17ways69days said:

To each his own. I enjoy TRC, and I enjoy the albums that spun from TRC's sound even more (NEWS and XPectation). It all sounded like nothing Prince had recorded before. And that's what impresses me.

EvilWhiteMale said:

Doozer said:

Well, I disagree. I love TRC.

You want to know what your missing?

Musicianship. Groove. Great production.

TRC, News, and Xpectations have it by the bucketload.

It's not weak. I think it's difficult, annoying and frustrating in some places. But I don't think it's weak. Give it some time...it may never be one of your favorite Prince albums, but you'll come back to it.

EvilWhiteMale said:

endorphin74 said:

EvilWhiteMale said:

It's a good album to listen to if you have food poisoning and need to vomit.

you are cute

hilton02895 said:

Doozer said:

Anxiety said:

i have to agree. Although I do think the Last December and She Loves Me 4 Me are fantastic tracks. You have to wade through a lot of murky nonsense to get to the few good moments.

I beg to differ!
TRC is great to me

EvilWhiteMale said:

I beg to differ TRC is one of My Favorites and a BIG WINNER for Prince.I say it's a Masterpiece actually.

Are you kiddin'? TRC is one of the best albums! Whether or not you agree with the message you have to admit the music is still slammin'. I love, love that album, everything about it came out so perfect. Weak? Please RAVE is weak. Followed by NPS.
[This message was edited Sun Apr 11 21:24:19 2004 by CocoSweet]

EvilWhiteMale said:

theblueangel said:

SKYWALKER: Silly mistake on the Beatles. But if that's all it takes to loose credibility

so be it. As for my reasoning ringing hollow, break it down and tell me why. I like

“Pussy Control” bunches and Prince’s “rap” on that track is aight but Prince can’t hang

with Chuck D. and Doug E. Fresh’s real claim to fame has nothing to do with his rapping

ability which is sub-par anyway. Listen to TRC and then A Love Supreme or Sketches

off Spain or Monk’s Blues and, while this somewhat unfair, I think you will come to the

conclusion that TRC is vapid by comparison. Listen to Pope, The Flow, and yes even P’s

rap on Pussy Control and then any song on Illmatic or Ready to Die or Paid in Full and

again you will see the Prince is missing something crucial. I think Prince’s ability to

combine different style of music all while retaining his own distinct sound is truly

astounding but sometimes he falls way off the mark and while Curtis, James, and Sly are

all deeply lodged in his soul, he has yet to completely jive with jazz and he is far, far

away from getting rap.

Well, we all can't have great taste...

TRC is easily in my top 5 Prince CD's (don't ask what I'd take off)
Musically, it's brilliant. I mean, throw on some headphones and
there is so much going on. Lyrically, it's deep and that turns alot
of ppl off. This is truly a masterpiece, and will be regarded in that
light for eternity.

I should have asked ya’ll how much jazz you listen to. I would not be the least bit

surprised if most of the fans that are feeling TRC are coming at without a real Jazz based

referent point. Without the horns of M. Davis, Monk’s piano, and the drums of M. Roach

echoing through the mind and soul TRC is a very different record. Possibly a better

record? I don’t know, I can’t listen to it without that putting it into a certain context.

Placing Prince in any context is dangerous and often times, in the case of Prince, context

blinds you from the brilliance and originality of the music. But listening to TRC with a

Prince-centric context or without any sort of real familiarity with Jazz is going to, in my

opinion, create a warped impression about the quality of the music.