Endorphinemachine - just one example of many songs which Prince just can't help but 'embelish' with quirky sound effects and ill suited instruments. The original is far superior and has an energy which the Gold Experience version lacks. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Prince experimenting - its what makes him the artist he is - but sometimes he just needs to resist the urge to add 14 vocal tracks and a cow mooing in the background!

Other examples: Zannalee, We Can Funk, TMBGITW

I'll leave you to suggest some others, or maybe you disagree.

Agreed. Often.

I often think that's true, in other cases I that's what I love about certain songs. Prince does definitely over-produce, and I think that's something I generally like about his music. There's always a new sound hidden in there to discover. Sometimes it makes an average song more interesting.

Other times it's completely unnecessary.

That's why it's always nice to get an album like One Nite Alone.

Havn't heard One Nite Alone yet. It sounds a promising release but its not worth me joining the NPGMC with the slow internet connection i've got. Just have to wait for Audiogalaxy to host it on their site. Getting back to my original point though, the Zannalee intro on the Undertaker Video/Bootleg Album sounds fantastic and the Video version that was played on the 95' tour was great too. When I heard Zannalee was going to be on Chaos & Disorder I couldn't wait to get my copy! Then I heard the album version - its OK but, well ... asmuch as I like all his experimental music, I don't think taking a classic guitar driven track like that and adding mock Police conversation over the top of it really adds to a song.

I think it really depends on a song.

I also think the situation is...he sits waiting to release an album and gets some more ideas for it, still waiting, and then changes the songs again. The Gold Exp is a perfect example. He had that album done in 93 or 94 and then played with it for a while before it came out in Sept 95.

I liked the original Interactive and Days album versions better and i can kind of hear that in the 'connection'(the feeling between songs, and then of course PControl was added later.
My favorite albums are the ones where (it seems to me)he makes them right as he's thinking them and then leaves them in their original order: Lovesexy, ATWIAD, TRC, Emancipation.

Sup fam...

I like it when P over does a song on his albums...hence the "a" song..yeah he overdoes it, but its P. Who else can diss a record company and then piss in tha executive board room like a whiny 4 year old...and run off to Minni and ova-do everything he touches...hence other artist not askin him to produce them(that I've heard of) other than Larry which is actually laughable...lmbao...see pic in profile to understand b, or maybe u dont need to...

There are alot of songs where P will do jus enuff and u figure tha sense of logic does exist in him..."ya see he not crazy"(me tellin my friends from tha 80's era)

I think if you look at Prince's most classic tracks they are all underproduced, almost demo quality, stripped down and raw, and he seems to have lost this with many of his 90's releases. What made When Doves, Kiss, 1999, Strange Relationship and most of the Dirty Mind and SOTT albums so original was the lack of slickness and overproduction. Give Prince 8 tracks and he'll blow you away. Give him 48 tracks and he begins to sound like a jumbled mess with way too many ideas fighting for your ears.

I agree with you about "Endorphinemachine".Months before the 'Gold Experience' album was officially released,I had a bootleg copy that was much rawer,less polished than the released CD.Prince obviously spent months on that album,re-recording tracks over and over.The result is a killer album,but one that sometimes sounds a little too "worked on" in certain places.

true in many cases... and the most over-produced Prince record to date is in my opinion Emancipation...

it is quite comprehensible in fact... when one wants to make 3 disc record, 12-song, 60-minute each then it's obvious one needs to add extra minutes here and there and fill it with sounds, ergo the music is overproduced

but of course many times it works or even saves the song ("Damned If I Do" being a noticable example)

Sometimes. But We Can Funk? The demo may be good, but bringing George in on another round of production, that was awesome.

I think Endorphinmachine is the classic example. Sirens and cow bells ??? The Gold Experience sat unreleased in Paisley Park far too long, and he just couldn't stop playing with it.