skywalker said:

And SOTT is not overrated. It's his best album.

Well albums are basicly a collection of songs... SOTT dos not contain hisbest songs.

Forver In My Life... Dorothy Parker... Strange Relationship... Beautiful Night Give me When Doves Cry, Purple Rain, Alphabet St. or Gett Off ANYDAY.

I'm gonna get my ass kicked for this but, i actually fing Musicology just as enjoyable as SOTT.

(Both are very good albums but not as good as PR)

GoldenGlove said:

I like Musicology too. I think it's a very good cd, but it doesn't come close to SOTT!! When I first heard this album, I couldn't get over how different is was. If I was your girlfriend blew me away. I couldn't get over how a man could sing a song like that and still sound macho and manly. The dvd of SOTT still kicks my ass and I've seen it too many time to count. It's his greatest work IMHO!

GoldenGlove said:

Maybe if "Strange Relationship" had been a hit single you would like it more...

skywalker you are right about the fact that sign o the times show maturity.
but so does parade.

yes he did blend many of the styles together and and make it his own,
but at the same time he did that thing much before sign o the times.

starfish and coffie is a song for kids.
you just can't take that song serious.

somebody on theorg said :how canb anubody say that trc is better then sign o the times.
well the only part of sign o the times that is better the the rainbow children is in the lyric department.
i agree that prince's lyrics on the rainbow children are a bit utopistic(utopia)
and unreal.
on the other hand keep in mind that the rainbow children is conceptual album.
if you try to ignore some of the lyrics on the rainbow kids
you come to the music department.

music is so fluen and sonic,at the same time so angry but still very beautifull.
if we talk about the production.
production of the rainbow children is unreal.

never ever i heard prince produce like that.
it's his best production ever.he made his music so organic and acessable.
musicianship is top notch.

i think that some ppl on the org just didnt give a chance to trc.
if they did ,
they would definetly be in for a ride of their life(musicicly speaking)
i could talk about the rainbow children on and on.

to me and i know to many other orgers also the rainbow children is
prince's definitive statemant.
if i want to show prince genius to anybody ,ill play them trc.
oinly a genius can make an album like that.

renfield said:

co.sign.Definetely.

I saw it in the store (didn't expect it). Surprise!
Then @ home .....WOW!

I don't listen 2 the CD.
Everytime I put it in...I think, well ...hell naw! Bad record, even though I know it better...but the CD sounds really dated and the music is boring.
It has no magic. When the records came out on vinyl, I can't stop listen 2 it.
I 4got 2 sleep. I was endorphined. That never happened 2 the CD. Maybe skipping.
But way better was it when 'Black album' should have been released 1988.
The whole album was played by a moderator called Ruth Rockenschraub.
She knew, what she was doin' but noone could fire her afterwards (well it was no bootleg, it was a stolen original). Same in 1986 when I 1st heard Kiss (and then the 12") on the radio. And I was sitting there 4 hours with my headphones on waiting 4 the awaited new single. There I got wet hands and goosebumps.

thebanishedone said:

Yoy are really banished now.....buddy!

I happen to REALLY LOVE SOTT. It is one of my absolute favs. I wouldn't say best ever, cuz I couldn't. I can pick out least fav. and fav. albums, but who am I to say this is the BEST/WORST. They all have different purposes and places in my heart.

Although I have yet to even hear TRC.....

thebanishedone said:

Hey - I love TRC, up there with his best for me. But it ain't no SOTT - the difference? SOTT is real, natural, human, symbiotic, people can relate to it, you dig? Songs about Aids and hurricanes, being at school (I doubt you really know the meaning behind Starfish to pass it off as a kids song!), love, religion, sex, commitment (shit, I'm sounding like TGE!) - EVERYTHING!!!. Musically, its out of this world - and that's some 20 years later...back THEN, it was like he was from another planet!

TRC, whilst beautifully produced, amazingly performed and being as totally committed and focused on its artistic outlook as SOTT, is not a work that represents most people. Its lyrics are sometimes exclusive, chronicly religiously motivated and "preachy". Rather than the album being about life, like SOTT, its Prince telling you what life should be about! I'm cool with him being happy as a Witness, but I wouldn't want him selling me pepsi on an album and I don't want him selling me a religion either. That said, its a wonderful piece of work and, knowing plenty about the witnesses as I do, its an amazing interpretation and communication of hisbeliefs and doctrines - which is great artistry. And he is certainly the fonkiest witness on the planet!

Both albums are "concept albums" that are timeless, achieve their aims brilliantly and are 2 examples of Prince's most cohesive works - but SOTT is just that more appealing, inclusive and broader in musical terms. And whether you like it or not (just because its considered a great work, you don't have to like it) you cannot ignore somethings artistic merit on preference and neither can you ignore such a concensus of opinion amongst critics and fans alike.
[Edited 9/20/05 10:30am]
[Edited 9/20/05 10:33am]
[Edited 9/20/05 10:34am]

The Rainbow Children ..... Genius ????

Prince is a musical genius..... without a doubt & i will defend him to the hilt with my non-prince liking mates , but The Rainbow Children is not what i would play them . This is not because of the fact that it is not a easily listenable as some of his albums but just because i dont think it's anywhere near as good as most of them ..... i like Last December & love "she loves me for me" ,some of the rest of it is decent i'll admit BUT i much prefer Come,Gold Ex,Musicology & RaveUN2 in his more recent work .

Anyway every1 should have there own opinion ,thats what makes these posts great

Rainbow Children for the record is still a great album BUT personally i much prefer SOTT

Keep in mind that describing as "overrated" what's generally considered an artist's best work is just about the most unoriginal thing you can say. Everything from Citizen Kane to Bob Dylan has been called overrated. Personally, I hate it because it sounds like this person knows exactly how to rate a certain creation, as if he/she personally knew its true objective worth. At least, when an album, movie or book has the reputation of being the best, that is the result of cumulative subjective opinions.

i think a lot of people confuse being burnt out with something they've heard a million times with something being overrated. at this point in my life, i'd rather listen to the "come" album than SOTT, but that's mainly because i haven't listened to "come" as much as i've listened to SOTT, and i've listened to SOTT so many damn times, i've gotten just a little bit tired of it...doesn't mean i love it any less, just means i listen to it less than stuff that sounds fresher to my ears.

i've noticed over the past few years, a lot of people find it really easy to shrug off albums like "purple rain" and SOTT, but i think it's just because we've gotten SO used to those albums, we forgot what it was like when those albums were fresh and new and we couldn't get enough of them.

i think time has proven the worth of prince's "classic" albums, and i think over the years, more of his albums will be considered must-haves by the critics and by fans alike. but SOTT will always be at the top of the heap.

Interesting point, Anxiety and I'm in agreement. Undoubtedly a contributing factor - you knowe what they say about familiarity!

And its true - I often listen to more recent albums, because I haven't had 2 decades of listening to them

-----


Give me RAVE anyday!

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only joking

. You can play both 'The Cross'on guitar and 'Starfish and Coffee' on piano , within a few hours!
cos they only have like 2 chords in each song! always a sign of great music i feel.

My fav Prince album is Dirty Mind, Sign is 2nd

Actually Starfish has 4, but I get your point
[Edited 9/20/05 12:01pm]

renfield said:

Nope.

Paisley4u said:

You are so right. Having the time to listen to an album over and over (even a double LP) gives a very different experience. maybe one of the reasons the prince albums from say 1995 or so on are not so familiair to me as the albums from the 80's and early 90's

Anxiety said:

Cloudbuster said:

So where is the funk on this album?

Rhondab said:

Oh don't get me wrong, I think SOTT contains some of his best songs ever. However, I am not about to chop someone up because they think his best songs are not all on the album.

skywalker said:

Play it backwards

I can't deny that I was a little bit disappointed when I first heard the album. I had waited so long for the album to buy, and was absolutely excited when i found it with a justifiable price. then i put it into and -hmmm. I knew a lot of the songs already (the usual suspects), and had bought the SOTT DVD bout 9 months earlier. I was sure that the album would grow a lot on me - but it just grew a little. It was not like Dirty Mind (still my fave): bought it - did not expect too much - and was overwhelmed.

- i had expected to hear the "long" intro on U Got The Look (like in the video)
- It's gonna be a beautiful night - very disappointing to me, it lacks some punch. (though i think the SOTT DVD runs too fast and so it ruined me the original version...)

Sign of the Times is one of the BEST albums I have ever listened to EVER! I first had it on audio cassette and I listened to it so much I wore it out!

remko said:

Okay, whatever.... real funky-that almost tops "housequake".

skywalker said:[quote] No one before or since had so successfully straddled so many genres on a pop album and still made it uniquely their own. Prince did that.



Stevie did that before with 'Songs In The Key Of Life'.
SOTT is still brilliant though.

vainandy said:

First, let me say that many good points have been made in defense of SOTT.
Also, I'm a little (and pleasantly) surprised by all the praise for TRC.
I enjoy it very much as well.

In response to folks not feeling Prince in '87, "Sign" went double platinum that year, not bad for a double album. Sure, the movie didn't do that well, but a concert film cannot possibly be expected to break the box-office bank (i.e.Jay-Z's "Fade to Black").

Numerous singles got all kinds of airplay on all kinds of different radio stations throughout that summer (at least in NYC).

And "ICNTTPOYM" was in heavy rotation on MTV as late as November, eight months after the album's release.

I will let the above above points in defense of SOTT speak for me, they are right on the money.

But I will say that IMO "Adore" is still his all-time greatest ballad, and "ICNTTPOYM" perhaps his best pop-rock tune. (The worst being the ear-offending "Damned if i do, damned if i don't" from "Emancipation")

I have one thing to say