This album is a baffler to me, you have Cream, D and P, Thunder Daddy Pop, Insatiable, Money Dont matter 2nite and Live 4 Love on album with lesser nuggets, it came at a strange time for Prince after GB and he was messing with headbands and stuff.
It has Tony M on it in a bad way, he was way up there with Vanilla Ice in the rapping stakes there. Especially the rap "Fellow artists push for yours etc".
Despite the fact we knock it had some great stuff, Rosie Gaines and Cream the song that got me into Prince anyway, so do you guys like this album or see it as dated tosh.

It's the album that got me on board. I still think it's a pretty solid pop effort, there's only about three tracks I don't care for.

Gett Off & Cream will likely always be among my fave tracks of his.

I was completely stunned by the album.

It was the first time in my Prince fan history (which started around 1999) that Prince released an album that sounded...erm...normal?

All his albums prior sounded a bit insane. This one sounded normal. only Get Off and Thunder were "Prince like", and even then, we went overboard on the rap.

When he scored his number hits with the album, I was totaly shocked. I think Prince's videos, performance on MTV's music awards, then quick performance on Arsenio a week later just around the time the album dropped help push both the single "cream" and album sales up.

I know it gets slammed a bit these days, but I still like it a lot. It's a good
solid album and shows the start of the denser more layered sound of the classic
NPG (particularly on tracks like Gett Off, Jughead and Push).

This was the album when Prince went downhill for me. Gett Off is ok... don't like the other songs much.

i really like the jazz elements in it: strollin, money don't matter tonight and willing and able.

it would have been more solid if it didn't have jughead
[Edited 5/13/06 5:49am]

Only a few good songs , 1st album that wasn't stellar imo

He was trying to appeal to the masses here more than ever before imo


Rosie Gaines' wailing was annoying as hell as was the rapping
[Edited 5/13/06 7:44am]

I maybe want this album combo:

Thunder
My Name Is Prince
Sexy MF
Gett Off
Daddy Pop
Cream
Willing and able
Diamonds and Pearls
Arrogance/The Flow
The Max
Insatiable
Push
7
Sacrifice of Victor

hidden: 3 Chains of Gold

I think its a great album. Sure, there's nothing mind-blowingly original but there are 9 or 10 good strong tunes, rare even for a Prince album. I think alot of old school fans are down on this album because of 1) Tony M and 2) the fact that it sold so well to people who hadn't been into Prince before - you know, the old "oh he's sold out" bullshit that any artist who dares to appeal to a wider audience gets from the hardcore fans. It's like the artist is being unfaithful to them.

I think it was something of a return to form after the twin disappointments of Batman and Graffiti Bridge and contains some real gems;

- Thunder - Prince in all his full over-the-top Princeness. You either love it or hate it but no one else could have recorded this track, a great opener.

- Daddy Pop - Funky, Dancey, Sly on acid. Good fun and love the vocals.

- Diamonds and Pearls - Not exactly groundbreaking and not normally my cup of tea but this is a piece of pop perfection, beautifully constructed.

- Cream - Ok so its a rip off of "Get It On" but its so cool and so sleazily Princified that you forgive the guy.

- Strollin' - Too sweet.

- Willing and Able - One of Prince's best vocal performances. It took me several listens to completely convince myself that it was Prince and not some large-framed female gospel singer.

- GettOff - Prince

- Money Don't Matter - Love this song, so simple, so perfect.

- Insatiable - Another great vocal performance and one of my favourite Prince slow jams.

- Live 4 Love - A fairly simple song but P takes it through so many changes of mood that it retains your interest. He also throws in some great guitar playing just for the hell of it. Great live.

I think the symbol album was great too, though a little less consistent.
[Edited 5/13/06 11:20am]

I'm not fond of this album, mainly for its title track and Jughead, of course, but I love a couple of the songs on the album: Money Don't Matter Tonight and Strollin'.

I'm listening to the album right now in headphones.... it's actually quite a nice sequence.

The ballad Diamonds and Pearls has appeal to me in it's gorgeous fade out chorus repeat.....

And the nutty perc/rhythm of Daddy Pop has some sick funky nice texture. I wish I could hear the separate tracks to learn the tricks!

there are some very creative touches in those mixes....

I can't even get through one sitting of this album. I liked the singles.
[Edited 5/13/06 16:47pm]

I can't listen to this album.

I quite like 'Walk Don't Walk' and 'Insatiable' but that's about it.

It's my least favorite Prince album... the only song I can stand is Walk, Don't Walk. Everything else sounds completely flat or annoying, especially with Rosie and Tony M. hanging around. It's the only Prince album that sounds dated in a bad, bad way, in my opinion.

Edit: And yes, the cover art is my avatar... I just like the art quite a bit, superficial as that is.
[Edited 5/13/06 17:11pm]
[Edited 5/13/06 17:14pm]

CinisterCee said:

I listened to the whole cd for the first time today.....and I'm gonna have to agree.

but....."Insatiable" is the jam....it's something about P's falsetto and a slow beat

This album caught me off guard. I did not know what to think about it. Once I played it over & over i thought it was fair not good. Gett Off, Cream, & Money Don't Matter 2Night are the best songs too me. Diamonds & Pearls always kinda annoyed me. I think the song is too corny.

November said:

You say the song title like I was supposed to have once been familiar with the album.

They should have at least released Schoolyard as a b-side. That would have been better than stupid shit like Horny Pony. Rosie's acting on that was monsterous. "Is he weird or what?" Shut up, bitch..lol

I dig it!

actionthisday said:

All of it?

CinisterCee said:

Not jughead, but P has made worse songs. Style for example.
[Edited 5/13/06 19:49pm]

actionthisday said:

haha Style.

How do you like "Girl 6"?

I don't mind the album. When I first got into Prince, I was playing Gett Off all the time. The only tracks I skip through are Thunder, Willing and Able and Walk Don't Walk. I LOVE Strollin', Money Don't Matter 2Night and Insatiable. And yes, I don't mind Jughead at all.

I like this album. It was one of the first Prince albums I listened to. My favorite song is Insatiable.
[Edited 5/13/06 20:38pm]

CinisterCee said:

it was the only song that grabbed my attention during my busy workday

Loves it!

I like it. I became a diehard fan of Prince right around this time and I played the cassette to death so I have a lot of fond memories with it. It's got some classic tunes on there. My favorite now is Insatiable & Money Don't Matter 2night. It's the one CD aside from Purple Rain where he released the right songs for singles. It also has some junk in it too, i.e. Push (I used to like this song) and Jughead. Overall it's not bad.
[Edited 5/13/06 21:45pm]

CinisterCee said:

Bleh

it cracks me up that you all like money don't matter tonight (the most musically boring thing to me), and walk don't walk (I couldn't listen to this even in spite of the horns sfx)

At least jughead has some interesting production and musical ideas (even though its an echo of housequake's ideas)

Push has some incredible layers of production in there.
[Edited 5/13/06 23:11pm]
[Edited 5/13/06 23:11pm]