StoneCrib said:

I think that can be answered pretty easily (at least halfway)...

He cared enough to put the same effort in recording those tracks as he put into any other work (confirmed by Michael B. on his org thread) and to shoot videos for a couple of them at a time when there was no demand to do so (significantly before C&D was compiled).

He didn't care of them being on a WB record instead of a record released independently like "Emancipation" (= he didn't save them for a later release on NPG records), though this also could have to do with the angry and dark tone of the tracks. At the time C&D was finally compiled, he already was making the much more positive "Emancipation", so maybe he saw C&D as a chance to clean up his act and get rid of some negative stuff from the past (though thinking that some of the material was rather strong).

What we know is that he didn't want to give "Empty Room" to WB.

Overall, I think it's rather questionable to say that he deliberately gave material to WB he considered to be shit. Though I think he might have liked the fact that the style of the music, plus the artwork, made it rather impossible to sell a significant amount of CDs, so he could piss WB off.

rudeboynpg said:

An Irresistible Bitch attempt.

i HATED this album when i first got it.
it was a frigging embarrassment. at that time, i was heavy on meshell's peace beyond passion and maxwell's uhs.
at first listen, i thought that it WAS chaos and disorder.
but as a few weeks/months passed, i fell in love with the "fuck u" attitude of this album. i would skip "i rock.." and "dig u". then my roomate at the time was raving about how funky those songs were and sure enough, they were.check out the rhythm guitar on "i rock" when that god awful rapper is on.

i just put this back in and this album is still one of my personal favs. no, it isn't parade or sott. but it's a lot daring and riskier than 3121 or musicology.
when i listened 2 this, i couldn't believe i was wishing that he would do another album like c&d instead of his well polished music of recent.

Still a album to my ears.

Yeah, it has energy.
Yeah, it rocks.
Yeah, it's still lame.

I can't even remember when I last played it.

I love Chaos & Disorder. I'm not normally down with the track-by-track rebuttal thing, but here we go.

Chaos & Disorder. 'He's gay... used 2 mean he's happy. Nowadays... happy ain't allowed' (marching in background) Oh yeah baby, this is how we begin an album when we're funky and pissed off! If you don't like this track, you haven't heard it loud enough.

Like It There. 'More than love my hair... yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!' (solo) Again, awesome. If you don't like this track, you haven't heard it loud enough.

Dinner With Delores. 'Introduce the carpet 2 something other than Ur knees...' This track took the longest to grow on me, but it seems to be the one song that even my Prince-hating mother can enjoy, and I love it to death now. If you don't like this track, you haven't listened to it enough.

The Same December. 'So let's go!' Oh yeah, here we go with the 3-song KICKASS SUITE... If you don't like this track, you haven't heard it loud enough.

Right the Wrong. ''m six feet in the grave!!!' One of P's most unique tracks. Have you HEARD the funky guitar break in the middle, or did you all switch off too early because the funk was too UNIQUE on this one? 'Nor shall the guilty be 4given, until they can find it in their hearts, 2 right the wrong.' If you don't like this track, you ain't getting deep enough. And before you have a chance to get over that...

Zannalee. If U want a headline, U better B all U can B... DAMN that intro riff! What a groove... See ya 2morrow... bigass If you don't like this track, you haven't heard it loud enough!

Rock, Therefore Am. don't need U 2 tell me/what clothes 2 wear/ don't want suggestions about my hair/if the whole world buys yo bullshit, don't care/'d rather put on somethin' that U won't dare... Us Prince fans never seem to heed these words. What a tune. Definitely feeling Rosie as ever on this one. If you don't like this track, then you obviously don't know what being pissed off and rocking out is all about.

In2 the Light/ Will These two songs need no defense. If you don't like 'em, you don't like music.

Dig U Better Dead. A toke or 2, wtf? Again, nobody listened to him on this one. A direct message to the 80s-clingin, static mindset fools who preferred the dead 'Prince' to the real . Bleak electronica beats and STILL U ain't happy?

Had U. Fuck U... First song for WB was 'For You', and this was the last one. I only wish this track would go on for about 5 more minutes...

Just for interest, FROM A PREVIOUS THREAD:

Firstly what was the significance of releasing albums by both Prince and during this time-period:

the Prince albums: Come, Black album, Girl 6 and The Vault, would on the face of it appear to be contract filler. Two compilations, one dated already bootlegged and all with no obvious promotion from Prince via promo videos etc.

Now the albums:

TGE had 4 videos made, 3 aired on commercial TV being TMBGITW, Dolphin and Gold and the fourth I hate U – which was delayed to the point where it made no sense to air it - probably to spite WB. This doesn’t include the TOTP video of Endorphinmachine which may have been made with a single in mind. Now I state all this to demonstrate that this project was very close to Prince’s heart at one point and we know the ownership of the masters probably lies with Prince.

Similarly C&D again released under was heavily promoted via the lead single Dinner with Delores for which a video was made and there were several TV appearance tie-ins. In addition we know that the Same December video was updated [with additional graphics in 1996 and copyrighted to WB] so we can assume it was intended as a single release. In additon, videos for Zannalee and I like it there were also shot – although to assume this was for a possible single releases is less certain. On top of this we know that having given WB C&D, Prince then decided to re-record / [record new] material in April 1996 [Miami sessions] with a view to updating / improving the record before release. Not the actions of a man going through the motions to get out of a contract as quickly as possible. [Still a great shame that Da Bang, Calhoun Sq and a travesty that the original Zannalee and Empty Room where omitted]

Now along with the name the album was released under i.e. this leads me to believe that Prince did not [at the time] consider C&D a contract filler album per sae and had every intention of trying to make it a success and regain recently lost ground. Until that is, he changed his mind or something else on the horizon took his interest – i.e. most likely Emancipation.

Anybody have any thoughts?????

The videos [along with Same December and Dinner with Delores] may well have been fimed in 1994 but to me that shows Prince thought the songs had merit enough to record videos [same with TGE videos]. No videos were recorded for Space or Letitgo.

C&D may well be a compilation album [of songs from 1993-96] but then again so therefore was TGE and then one could summise SOTT, Lovesexy, Grafitti Bridge etc..

I think Prince wanted the best of both worlds for his WB albums - i.e. to get out of the contract ASAP but also to provide just enough good songs with videos to keep him in the music-buying public's eye for when he became a 'free' man and release music to his rules. I think this differs to Prince albums of the time because he knew he was going to record under the name in the immediate future and he didn't want to tarnish the brand.

Same as I said about Come:

He has the best "contractual obligation" CDs I ve ever heard.

wickyb said:

.. rhymhs with a female bodypart..
Love that episode!