Do you think this album could have been successful commercially? I think it may have done well. What do you think?

heckaslammin said:

Of course, it would have done very well, it woulda been.....heckaslammin!

[Edited 11/23/05 14:01pm]

I don't think too many of those songs could have become big hits.It's definitely not a "singles" album.

I don't think it would have done very well.

The albulm is great to listen to if you are into Prince. But it isn't very commercial. Plus the whole early 90's Alternative Music revolution crap hadn't subsided yet. The time just wasn't right, and the album wasn't worth it. THe Gold Experience would have sold very well though. It tookthe Symbol Album to the next level.

DavidEye said:

Yeah, I agree. I really don't see many singles on there at all.

The catchier, more concise songs like Pheromone are too weird for casual listeners, and then other songs like Papa are too short.

It's just not much of a commercial album.

Come was just too damn weird and dark to be a hit. It was not intended in any way to be commercial. It seems kind of like an orphan album, unloved by its creator and promoters and left to rot on the vine. It wasn't nearly as bad as Chaos and Disorder, another F U Warners project from the man, but there was nothing about it that was really welcoming to the masses. Well, Letitgo could have and should have been a big hit but the afterthought marketing approach killed it in the upper 30's on the chart. Dark could have been a decent hit on R and B radio but it just didn't happen. Other than that, you have over the too perverted funk of Pherenome and Come, the way too personal Papa, the all over the place Race, and the catchy but really poorly written Space. Nothing there for the masses to grab on to.

Two observations:1) Why did every song have to be one word, including Letitgo, which, in all fairness I have as part of my Org name so who am I to judge.

2) Does any other artist have more albums with spoken interludes? And why do the never make any sense when he does it?

YES! YES! YES! A GREAT ALBUM..... GREAT and FORGOTTEN AS SUCH..... EXCELLENT TUNES...VERY PLAYABLE...

nice album. like all his 90's stuff, didn't get the attention it deserved, but it wouldn't have been a major success.

There is a market 4 everything, so yes it could have. Prince just wasn't interested in promoting the Cd. Slamming videos & remixes would have had Come all over the place! The remixes 4 'Letitgo', 'Space' & 'Dark' are great but there was no promotion and Prince's CD cover was just so dark that it made listening 2 the CD dark. But it's still a great CD!

AsianBomb777 said:

Very much agree with this post. I do think that Loose had the potential to be a dance hit. People were playing it at raves. I personaly LOVED Space.

A collection of songs,not a solid album.
Love Papa,Race,Loose!
Letitgo,Pheromone,Dark are also good songs.

yeah, if they'd stuck Interactive on as the opener,
Lovesign as a single in the middle and Strays as an
album finale at the end. It might have been a bit
more succesfull.

i always love to include those, together with the
cb track "what's my name?" on my own comps of the
album.

As it stands, I don't think Come would've been much more successful. It's a bit
too 'uncommercial' in it's released form, and there's a lack of hit singles.
If it had been expanded to include a few other choice one-word titles in it's
tracklist, then I think it would have had much more potential. (Using a lot
of the sequencing off 'The Dawn') I think something like the following
tracklist would have had a lot of potential....

01. Come
02. Endorphinmachine
03. Space
04. Pheromone
05. Loose
06. Papa
07. Zannalee
08. Ripopgodazippa
09. Race
10. Lovesign
11. Extraordinary
12. Dolphin
13. Come

.

BorisFishpaw said:

Good tracklist. Although youre coming twice. Are you including different versions or just chopping up the overblown album cut into two sections?

Personally I like Come and I hate it too... Ive heard versions of trax that kick the shit out of the album versions... What came first? I dunno... But I suspect Prince wasnt really trying to put out his best work on that release...

The only song that would have stood a good chance would be, "Space". It has potential.

heckaslammin said:

Had "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" been on it and the album would have been released a couple of weeks after the song became a huge hit, then yes. People were quite boggled not to find it on the new Prince album, so my guess is lots of folks left it on the shelf.

GottaLetitgo said:

Possibly Janet Jackson may have more spoken interludes in total..
I wish she would stop doing it - its getting old.

Rebeljuice said:

Yeah, I'd include two different versions of 'Come' on the album as opening
and closing tracks. The long released album version would be the closing
number, and the original shorter faster version would be the opener (as was
originally intended). Originally Come-Endorphinmachine-Space was all segued
seamlessly together, and I've always liked this configuration. I actually
burned a CD with (almost) this tracklist and it works really well.

I always thought this album SOUNDED very commercial, it's the artwork that darkens it and also tracks like Pheremone (my fave) and Solo. Imagine it with bright colorful packaging, and think of how commercial the title track: come, space, papa, loose, race, dark are.... those are some immediately accessible pop songs.

don't let the visual marketing fool you!

ufoclub said:

Verrry good points.

This album got to number 1 in the UK and sold really well.

FunkyBrotha said:

Cool! I didn't realize it hit number 1 over here, thats awesome.

Personally I love "Come" and I think a radio edit of the title track could have been massive. I bump that track and "Letitgo" all the damn time.

ufoclub said:

great post!

ufoclub said:

Yes, I always blamed the artwork & the cryptic Prince is dead business.

yes. d&p was promoted and did better. Come is friggn genius, at the time it woud have made prince the king of pop.