some people on the org are talking nonsense about this album.
i had to review it,
to get it out of the system,maybe i'll help somebody to give it another chance.so here it goes:

1)-the rainbow children-nice miles davis like groove with jazzy fusion guitar,
giving it nice flawour.
At the end song turns into frenetic chaos with a refference to contaversy track sexuality "the reproduction of the brand new leader,stand up organise."-overall very nice track

2)-MUSE TO A PHAROH-organic hip hop with prince rapping in the laidback style that comforts him very well.one of his better attampts at that genre ,
also very nice p.s. how many times you had oportunity to listen to prince jamming on fender rhodes?

3)-digital garden-hypnotic groove with prince jamming on guitar in the style of ac/dc angus young.very intersting and unpredictable song

4)-everywhere-before god it wasn't there now i found it everywhere.-prince says in this song and he sounds so happy ,
so convincing that we have to belive him.
also very nice solos by john blackwell on drums and prince on the bass.this is a strech for prince.
i think prince never before did song in this time signature.

5)-the work pt.1-probably the weakest part of the album,many times before seen james brown influenced funk but overall,not bad.

6)-sensual everafter-very nice moody instrumental with prince soling on guitar and bass.it perfectly combines with concept of the album.

7)-mellow-prince paying tribute to billy holliday? very nice jazzy like song .prince is going dirty on this one(wet cyrcles around the toy ,
while you bring your self to joy)-so he likes to watch his girl playing with
vibrator hehe

8)-1+1+1=3=mineapolis sound is back.great bass line.nice funky song.

9)wedding feast-many people on the org haven't got this practical joke by prince.it's very funny track .always make me laugh.

10)-she loves me for me-great calypso song with very nice singing and guitar playing by prince.its an dedication to meni.

11)-family name-one of the best tracks on the album.it's a great crossover track .here he goes from funk to heavy metal .he succesfuly goes unites folowing genres. also prince spitting before plaYING GUITAR IS a classic.

12)the everlasting now-sly and the family stone funk meets santana and james brown-clearly a dedication to his former self.
amazing groove

13)-last december-what can i say about this song?this song is amazing,amazing ,amazing.it's a journey.journey to the soul of his royall badness. great ending track very nice lyrics.

so overall a very nice album.many people don't like it's religios message but i think that album is not necesserly that.

i find it as a story of prince finding himself.it's his lovesexy for the new millenium,but with more mature sound.

for me this is prince's real return to form with excelent musicianship,message and great organic flow.great production also.
i strongly belive that many people were not ready for that album and it's content.
eventually this will be consider one of the best if not the best prince album ever!!!

It is Larry Graham who plays the bass on Everywhere.
[Edited 5/11/05 23:53pm]

Papaj said:

Sorry, I got mistaken. It is Prince...

I love this album, it's great!

Musically speaking, TRC is probably the most mature album Prince has ever made.

The produtcion is fantastic. The musicianship is fabulous all over the album.

I understand that many people do not like the voice all over the album though. It dos not bother me at all. It is a link between the tunes.

Regarding the religious message...Well for me it is like a tale. I do not give a flying fuck about his JW believes but the man does whatevr pleases him and that's great.

I'm like you...I'm not far from considering this album as his best. In his top 4 for sure.

nice job...

I think the Rainbow Children is fun 2 listen 2 with the headphones on.....

and overall it's a fun little trip.....

I fucking love thia album its a trip! But THE WORK is HOT! my fav, well that and 1+1+!=3, and The Everlasting Now of course! ) xx

TRC is a great cd. The religious babble is quite unnecessary, but the music kicks ass!

kisscamille said:

I agree

"Digital Garden" and "Sensual Everafter" are excellent for my Jedi meditating.

i really dont understand why people dont like this album.
Some people hate TRC others (like myself) hate NPS.

To each their own i suppose.After all this place would be a little boring if we
all agreed with each other.

thanks for the effort banishedone, but you did forget to name the dumb, awfull lyrics..

I agree with most of the sentiments in the previous posts. I'd also add that from an artistic standpoint this was the first album since Lovesexy that you couldn't have seen coming. Every Prince album is different and has some quality songs but from Batman on there was nothing that really stood out (in a good way).

Those of us who like to be challenged as much as entertained were pleasantly surprised with this album. The voice is hardly reason to dismiss the entire album.
[Edited 5/12/05 13:58pm]

It's his best album in the past 10 years, and if he cared about such things, he would rerelease it on a label with good distribution. But like so many geniuses, he only looks forward.

Shout-out to thebanishdone for correctly noting that "The Wedding Feast" is a joke. Anyone know what the joke is?

If no one does, I'll come back with the answer.

I'm one of those people who loved TRC when it first came out but then a couple of months later, I stopped listening to it for several months and when back to my other Prince CD's. I like it but it's not my favorite. The ONA live CD gave it some life. Having said that, I'm glad TheBanishedOne did this review. I'm willing to "do the work" and listen to the CD again. Maybe I'll love it again.

If there is one thing bothers me on TRC is that I wish 1+1+1=3 was funkier than it was. The live version was awesome but on the regular CD, I felt like something was missing. Maybe it should have been faster, I don't know, I just needed to get that out of my system.

thebanishedone said:

Thats why he's refered to as 'the man'

As far as musicianship goes this album along with ONA : Live! show off Prince at his absloute best as far as i'm concerned, far more than anything else he's done.

purplecam said:

Same here. I was quite enthusiastic about it to start, but now it would rank in my bottom third of Prince albums. It's decent, but I feel it may be the most overrated Prince album on this site.

maybe 1 +1+1=3 sounds a little bit cold on the funky side,because he wanted
to reproduce "minneapolis sound".
that sound (1982-1985) was cold and very funky.
yeah live version is much better.

p.s. -you couldn't belive how i felt when i heard prince realing that great masterpiece in my time.
i mean whole decade of the 1990's had
some very nice albums ,but lots of it were fillers.

albums were good but not strong statements like sign 'o' the times,lovesexy,purple rain,1999,dirty mind all were.

i belong to a younger age group of prince fans.
im 23 years old so i can't rember the hype of purple rain,or other great classics.
i think it's much better to hear classic in the same time as they go out in the market.

so the rainbow children come out when i was 20 ,
mature enough to live up with that album and understand.
i had(still have) much better feeling in my mind after hearing it after not so great "rave un2 the joy fantastic.
i don't know if u catch my drift.. .

Moonbeam said:

I'm starting to feel the same way about it. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.

purplecam said:

Exactly the opposite for me. It is getting better and better with time like a good wine. It is not something I can say about SOTT for instance who has aged terribly.

I agree about Family Name. That one kicks major ass! I only wish the opening part would be a seperate track. His scream on that is awesome.

You had me. That is, you had me right up until you blessed 'Wedding Feast'.

I think it is as good as all other great Prince albums like Lovesexy, Purple Rain etc.. Just different mood. It's an entity in its own, it's not like he throwed some songs here and there like RAVE, musicology and Diamonds and Pearls. It's incredible and flows nicely.

And family name is a incredible track. It is among his best tracks ever.

my friend vinicius salles is right.family name kick ass

My view is that the Rainbow Children is hugely overrated. Indeed, the songs sound more 'organic' and the production is more 'loose' then on earlier records, but when it comes to his songwriting / compositions, Prince is not really exploring new territorities here: Prince has tried jazz-rock compisitions in the late eighties (with Madhouse) and i did find that efforts more sharp, less laid-back then the ones on The Rainbow Children.
Songs like Muse to the Pharaoh and She loves me for me are ballads in the vein Prince has done quit often before in its 27 years of releasing recordings... the SOUND might be more organic, the songwriting is just sounding familiar.
The Last december is 'just' an anthemic rock-track in the vein of Purple Rain and Gold, there are some jazz-rock kind of breaks in this song, but apart from that, its not really a new style of music.

I agree that going for a more organic sound, bringing in a jazz-like drummer like John Blackwell, gives the music a superficial freshness, but when you look beneath that (the craft of songwriting, arranging, and delivering spiritual lyrics that are spiritual instead of dogmatic, brainwashed and grieving) Lovesexy is a FAR better record in this vein.
On that latter record he seemed able to incorporate almost all of his influences and styles he performed in the past into one unique sound (thanks for the band he had at that moment!) and deliver 'spiritual' lyrics that both sound personal, and on the other hand sound recognisable for people with different believes (whether its christianity or buddhism).
On the Rainbow Children Prince is ramming such a specific message down peoples throath (the JW-faith), that its almost unbearable for me to listen to this music. I mean, i am very openminded and spiritual, but i look right trough false expressions of faith, and here's a guy spending a whole record expressing shortminded, sexist, even racist views...

So, to sum things up:
- On the surface this record might sound fresh and organic
- But when it really comes to the songs and compisitions there isnt really to find anything new or truelly inspiring in it and
- The record is definitely spoiled by dogmatic, awfull lyrics.

riverpoet you are wrong.
yes prince tried jazz rock but those songs are naive if you compare it to recent efort.

which is normal.he grows musicaly.
she loves me 4 me is a composition in calypso style.prince never had composition like that before.

prince never did song in time signiture as "everywhere " is.
prince never before did a crossover between funk and heavy metal.
compare digital garden to any of his songs.

did he ever realised song like digital garden?!
or muse to the pharaoh-he never made song like that.

feeling of muse to a pharoah i can only find on his first album.
only songs that prince did in simular vain as before are "the work pt1,1+1+1=3 and last december.

but last december while you can say that its power ballad in the sense like purple rain ,is totaly diffrent then any attampts of his in recreating purple rain atmosfere.

last december is more then a song.i'ts a journey.
if somebody ask me ,what is prince.why is he a genius.i would pull out last december.

only genios can make a song like that.
do you know how complicated that song is?
it's a musical mastrubation.

in that song he goest throw hendrix,santana,steve vai,indian music,even gospel.
after that journey he succesfully goes back to the theme of the song.
do you even now how hard is that???

it's 20 times more compliceted to compose that song then purple rain.
its 30 times more comlicated to play it live note by note as he did in studio.and belive it or not he plays it the same.
not missing a bit.
lovesexy is the one lacking melodies.but thats another story.
so if you wanna say something give me facts just like i did.

purple rain is spewcial.but gold???
hehe that song is just an ordinary pop song with cheesy lyrics ,conventional rock solo.simple harmony.
did you know last december have 5 or 6 more chords then gold does?
did you know that in last december there are no standard chords beside
b major?
gold chords are a minor ,f major,c major ,g major.
its one of the most standard harmony,you have tons of song like that.
tell me how many songs you know that resemble last december?>??

man if somebody else was talking about teocratic order i would have been offended.
but prince is doing it so funky that it dont bothers me at all.
if you ask me :the rainow children story is about prince finding god and banishing the devil .it's as simple as that.
last december for example have one of the nicest,personal lyrics by prince.
it's about colecting your thoughts before you die.