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Printablethe answer is , in a word -COMPROMISE -, he compromised everything i.e. the multitude TV interviews /performances on Teenage TV around the world, the sound, the production [produced by Prince!] etc. He admitted as much with those withering comments on his site at the time aimed at C Davies ['where's the hit you promised' or words to that effect].
Don't get me wrong there are some trax on there I like , but it does rank pretty low. Thing is though all artists who have released that much always have a duff album or 2. | |
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TGRES is the shiznit bitches | |
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PurpleKnight said: NEWS was dull. TRC was controversial. Musicology was run of the mill. But Rave...Rave is simply an awful Prince album. One so bad, it opposes everything that Prince represented at his best.
I mean, you could argue that NEWS was at least a daring experiment for a widely released Prince album. You could argue that TRC was Prince at his most inspired peak in years regardless of how you felt about the message. You could argue that Musicology was a solid return to his pop roots. You could even argue that a lame album like NPS was at least more consistent in its mediocrity (and technically an NPG album anyway). But Rave is Prince at his lowest. It all goes to hell early with the cover. 
What the hell is that?! A serious looking Prince dressed up in some strange Blue Man Group knock-off? Definitely strange, and not in the cool Princely way. Then we get to the absurd song order, where there's just zero cohesion. The album flows more awkwardly than a pre-teen's first sexual experience. There are some good songs here, but they're thrown together like a bucket of paint being splashed against a wall. Only on an album like Rave can you go from a great sounding, simple song like Tangerine suddenly stopping so we can hear wretched, pandering pop like So Far, So Pleased. And how is it possible that some of his most uninspired/offensively bad songs ever, like Every Day in a Winding Road and Hot Wit U can be scattered on the same album as the brilliant, heartbreaking I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore? It just makes the album more painful to listen to when the quality seems to randomly range anywhere from great to depressingly lame. And what's with all the guest stars? Since when has Prince needed to rely on flavours of the month on an album? Eve's rap contributes nothing but a see through cameo, and the same goes for Gwen and Sheryl Crow. They serve no purpose other than to give the album a phony "big time" feel. It winds up just feeling pathetic, like that girl in Joy in Repetition who's begging the guy to love her. But that brings us to the album's single most annoying quality; it absolutely reeks of desperation. Vile, blatant desperation. Prince often sounds like a reluctant child being pushed back into the spotlight on this album with trite, generic numbers like Baby Knows and generic R&B. It's a comeback album with an artist who doesn't sound like he really gives a damn. He's made clear commercial attempts before, but he never sounded as flat out bored and pressured as he does here. To top off the schizophrenia of Rave, we get subjected to a long silence and then a fucking advertisement of all things. That seems to sum the album up perfectly in a way. I just had to vent. I listened to this album again recently, and it's just such a mess. I agree. And the having guest stars on the album was an all-time low. Sellout, sellout, SELLOUT! Prince needed his ass beat for that move. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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SexyBeautifulOne said: Shapeshifter said: No, replace "Prince" with "KFed" or "Clay Aitken" and you've got a work of jaw-dropping genius. 
Don't ever put Prince and KFed in the same sentence again! You're shooting blanks. There are three sides to every story. My side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently | |
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vainandy said: I agree. And the having guest stars on the album was an all-time low. Sellout, sellout, SELLOUT! Prince needed his ass beat for that move. I actually think he went along with it because he realised how marginalised he'd become after his disastrous (though not creatively) foray as an "independent". It was a calculated attempt - by him - to get basck into the mainstream, and by Mr Davis to make lots of money. Result? Flop album, Prince gets $10m, Clive Davis gets fired from his own company and Prince writes the sublime "Golden Parachute". There are three sides to every story. My side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently | |
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Rave is a mess but some gems are on there. I feel that way about 3121, Musicology and NPS as well. Was there even a tour for Rave? | |
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pkidwell said: Rave is a mess but some gems are on there. I feel that way about 3121, Musicology and NPS as well. Was there even a tour for Rave?
One gig on DVD, I think. I agree with you about NPS, and, to a much lesser extent about the last two albums, which I don't play at all. Typically, Prince could have lifted "Musicology" by putting "Magnificent" on there, but he released it online instead. And had he put Beautiful Strange on Rave, instead of tacking it on to a the Rave Remix album, he would have made a slightly better album. [Edited 12/5/06 8:16am] There are three sides to every story. My side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently | |
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PurpleKnight said: Rave is great!! -sexxydancer
How did u know my answer??   | |
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sexxydancer said: PurpleKnight said: Rave is great!! -sexxydancer
How did u know my answer?? 
 | |
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Ah, Rave. I agree with PurpleKnight on one thing - The album is without a doubt the most poorly sequenced/organized Prince record ever. However, despite the fact that half the album is made up of flat-out boring and desperate material, there are a few gems that save the album from oblivion.
The Fantastic Tangerine The Sun, the Moon and Stars Man O' War I Love You, But I Don't Trust You Anymore Silly Game Strange But True The bad/desperate/pathetic Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic Undisputed Hot Wit U Everyday is a Winding Road Baby Knows Where U Go, Whatever U Do the average/servicible tunes The Greatest Romance Ever Sold So Far, So Pleased Overall, that's a pretty startling split between great and pretty bad songs. But while it's extremely inconsistent, the album's highs are worth seeking out once in a while. I've seen the future, and boy it's rough... | |
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Risico said: Ah, Rave. I agree with PurpleKnight on one thing - The album is without a doubt the most poorly sequenced/organized Prince record ever. However, despite the fact that half the album is made up of flat-out boring and desperate material, there are a few gems that save the album from oblivion.
The Fantastic Tangerine The Sun, the Moon and Stars Man O' War I Love You, But I Don't Trust You Anymore Silly Game Strange But True The bad/desperate/pathetic Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic Undisputed Hot Wit U Everyday is a Winding Road Baby Knows Where U Go, Whatever U Do the average/servicible tunes The Greatest Romance Ever Sold So Far, So Pleased Overall, that's a pretty startling split between great and pretty bad songs. But while it's extremely inconsistent, the album's highs are worth seeking out once in a while. Remember the live aftershow versions in '88 with the Guitar rippin' it up, dayum!.I think he usually coupled it with God is alive. | |
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MattyJam said: [No need for that snip - luv4u]
Rave is much better than Musicology and literally pisses all over 3121. Some of the ballads on this album are amonst his finest... I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore, Silly Game, The Sun The Moon & Stars (how gorgeous is the strings on that one?). Whever U Go Whatever U Do could've been such a big hit if it were released. That song alone is more inspired than any of the drivel on 3121. The Greatest Romance is a great R&B jam and got a shit-load of airplay when it was released in the UK - more so than any Prince song since TMBGITW. Shame they fucked up the formatting of the single. It may be all over the place and have some pretty weak moments but at least the album HAS highlights. 3121 and Musicology have the occasional enjoyable song - but hardly anything that really excites. [Edited 12/5/06 7:03am] Wow, that's a little hostile, but anyway. The Sun, Moon, and Stars is a great song until he ruins it with the reggae rap. That part is embarassing and completely takes me out of the song. TGRES sounds like what it was; a single that's trying too hard to be a hit. It doesn't sound inspired to me at all, and that makes it a little boring. But it's not bad at all. Same goes for Silly Game. I already mentioned that I adore I Love U But... (and I once had this AMAZING .mp3 of a live performance of it that I miss dearly). I'm not saying that Rave doesn't have highlights, but as a complete album, it's awful. It's all over the place and doesn't have an identity. Musicology and 3121 are at least coherent and consistent. [Edited 12/5/06 10:08am] The world is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
"You still wanna take me to prison...just because I won't trade humanity for patriotism." | |
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shockadelica777 said: But since when was NEWS a widely distributed album? Seemed pretty small & specialized to me since I've only seen it @ NPGMC, Amoeba in San Francisco, etc... it was sold at Tower even in small towns | |
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MattyJam said: [No need for that snip - luv4u]
Rave is much better than Musicology and literally pisses all over 3121. Some of the ballads on this album are amonst his finest... I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore, Silly Game, The Sun The Moon & Stars (how gorgeous is the strings on that one?). Whever U Go Whatever U Do could've been such a big hit if it were released. That song alone is more inspired than any of the drivel on 3121. The Greatest Romance is a great R&B jam and got a shit-load of airplay when it was released in the UK - more so than any Prince song since TMBGITW. Shame they fucked up the formatting of the single. It may be all over the place and have some pretty weak moments but at least the album HAS highlights. 3121 and Musicology have the occasional enjoyable song - but hardly anything that really excites. [Edited 12/5/06 7:03am] Ill agree here. Tired of jackass threads shittin on RAVE and GB movie, for that matter. | |
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origmnd said: MattyJam said: Oh, fuck off.
Rave is much better than Musicology and literally pisses all over 3121. Some of the ballads on this album are amonst his finest... I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore, Silly Game, The Sun The Moon & Stars (how gorgeous is the strings on that one?). Whever U Go Whatever U Do could've been such a big hit if it were released. That song alone is more inspired than any of the drivel on 3121. The Greatest Romance is a great R&B jam and got a shit-load of airplay when it was released in the UK - more so than any Prince song since TMBGITW. Shame they fucked up the formatting of the single. It may be all over the place and have some pretty weak moments but at least the album HAS highlights. 3121 and Musicology have the occasional enjoyable song - but hardly anything that really excites. [Edited 12/5/06 7:03am] Ill agree here. Tired of jackass threads shittin on RAVE and GB movie, for that matter. Then stop posting in them. The world is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
"You still wanna take me to prison...just because I won't trade humanity for patriotism." | |
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Hey, ppl - QUIT BASHING RAVE! Just stop it! RIGHT NOW! Or else I'm gonna chase after you with various lethal weapons, like this.....
     
This album is one of the best he did in the 90s. All you punks bashing it are not listening with your ears, but with your "little Prince" or "pair of Princes". GRRRRR! | |
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Rave isn't that bad. The real difference between it and something like Musicology is that it's just too long. In the end it's like another disk of Emancipation. It has it's good & bad points, just like every Prince album of the 90's.
But the real disaster of the album was the missed opportunity. There was always a sense of Prince holding out on us, waiting for the right time to hit us with something big, and this (like Emancipation) was the right time. It was 1999 for god's sake, people were ready for something hot from Prince. "Prince" was producing the record for  and it was called Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. It should have been fun & exciting, the party of the millenium, but it was bland, uninspired, and actually depressing.
Some decent music? Yes. Another flop? Yes. My Legacy
http://prince.org/msg/8/192731 | |
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NDRU said: Rave isn't that bad. The real difference between it and something like Musicology is that it's just too long. In the end it's like another disk of Emancipation. It has it's good & bad points, just like every Prince album of the 90's.
But the real disaster of the album was the missed opportunity. There was always a sense of Prince holding out on us, waiting for the right time to hit us with something big, and this (like Emancipation) was the right time. It was 1999 for god's sake, people were ready for something hot from Prince. "Prince" was producing the record for and it was called Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. It should have been fun & exciting, the party of the millenium, but it was bland, uninspired, and actually depressing.
Some decent music? Yes. Another flop? Yes. That's the thing with Rave. Even with its uptempo songs, it still feels depressing, like Prince is pretending to be happy or something. You can almost sense the turmoil he was going through at the time when you listen to this one. It's pure chaos. There are good songs spread throughout, but the album's joyless. The world is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
"You still wanna take me to prison...just because I won't trade humanity for patriotism." | |
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PurpleKnight said: NDRU said: Rave isn't that bad. The real difference between it and something like Musicology is that it's just too long. In the end it's like another disk of Emancipation. It has it's good & bad points, just like every Prince album of the 90's.
But the real disaster of the album was the missed opportunity. There was always a sense of Prince holding out on us, waiting for the right time to hit us with something big, and this (like Emancipation) was the right time. It was 1999 for god's sake, people were ready for something hot from Prince. "Prince" was producing the record for and it was called Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. It should have been fun & exciting, the party of the millenium, but it was bland, uninspired, and actually depressing.
Some decent music? Yes. Another flop? Yes. That's the thing with Rave. Even with its uptempo songs, it still feels depressing, like Prince is pretending to be happy or something. You can almost sense the turmoil he was going through at the time when you listen to this one. It's pure chaos. There are good songs spread throughout, but the album's joyless. And an album that was openly depressing or angry could have been great, too. Just don't pretend it's about joy! My Legacy
http://prince.org/msg/8/192731 | |
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NDRU said: PurpleKnight said: That's the thing with Rave. Even with its uptempo songs, it still feels depressing, like Prince is pretending to be happy or something. You can almost sense the turmoil he was going through at the time when you listen to this one. It's pure chaos. There are good songs spread throughout, but the album's joyless. And an album that was openly depressing or angry could have been great, too. Just don't pretend it's about joy! I couldn't have said it better. There's a dishonest quality about Rave that makes it feel more like a manufactured product than a piece of art. Songs like Tangerine and I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore work for me because they sound like songs from Prince, the artist and Prince, the human being rather than Prince, the marketable pop star attempting to make a commercial comeback. The world is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
"You still wanna take me to prison...just because I won't trade humanity for patriotism." | |
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clarityman said: PurpleKnight said: NEWS was dull. TRC was controversial. Musicology was run of the mill. But Rave...Rave is simply an awful Prince album. One so bad, it opposes everything that Prince represented at his best.
I mean, you could argue that NEWS was at least a daring experiment for a widely released Prince album. You could argue that TRC was Prince at his most inspired peak in years regardless of how you felt about the message. You could argue that Musicology was a solid return to his pop roots. You could even argue that a lame album like NPS was at least more consistent in its mediocrity (and technically an NPG album anyway). But Rave is Prince at his lowest. It all goes to hell early with the cover.
What the hell is that?! A serious looking Prince dressed up in some strange Blue Man Group knock-off? Definitely strange, and not in the cool Princely way. Then we get to the absurd song order, where there's just zero cohesion. The album flows more awkwardly than a pre-teen's first sexual experience. There are some good songs here, but they're thrown together like a bucket of paint being splashed against a wall. Only on an album like Rave can you go from a great sounding, simple song like Tangerine suddenly stopping so we can hear wretched, pandering pop like So Far, So Pleased. And how is it possible that some of his most uninspired/offensively bad songs ever, like Every Day in a Winding Road and Hot Wit U can be scattered on the same album as the brilliant, heartbreaking I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore? It just makes the album more painful to listen to when the quality seems to randomly range anywhere from great to depressingly lame. And what's with all the guest stars? Since when has Prince needed to rely on flavours of the month on an album? Eve's rap contributes nothing but a see through cameo, and the same goes for Gwen and Sheryl Crow. They serve no purpose other than to give the album a phony "big time" feel. It winds up just feeling pathetic, like that girl in Joy in Repetition who's begging the guy to love her. But that brings us to the album's single most annoying quality; it absolutely reeks of desperation. Vile, blatant desperation. Prince often sounds like a reluctant child being pushed back into the spotlight on this album with trite, generic numbers like Baby Knows and generic R&B. It's a comeback album with an artist who doesn't sound like he really gives a damn. He's made clear commercial attempts before, but he never sounded as flat out bored and pressured as he does here. To top off the schizophrenia of Rave, we get subjected to a long silence and then a fucking advertisement of all things. That seems to sum the album up perfectly in a way. I just had to vent. I listened to this album again recently, and it's just such a mess. come on go listen to Emancipation!! now that was a let down On the contrary Emancipation's biggest flaw was that it was three disc instead of one...Rave was just a poor album musically and artistically... | |
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murph said: clarityman said: come on go listen to Emancipation!! now that was a let down On the contrary Emancipation's biggest flaw was that it was three disc instead of one...Rave was just a poor album musically and artistically... I'm one of the few that think Emancipation works fine as a triple disc album. Sure, some songs were obviously just put on there to fill up space, but he was so inspired at the time. The world is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
"You still wanna take me to prison...just because I won't trade humanity for patriotism." | |
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PurpleKnight said: murph said: On the contrary Emancipation's biggest flaw was that it was three disc instead of one...Rave was just a poor album musically and artistically... I'm one of the few that think Emancipation works fine as a triple disc album. Sure, some songs were obviously just put on there to fill up space, but he was so inspired at the time. Understood...I guess my point was that Emancipation was a good album with all of its flaws...It was a "Prince" album...I can't say the same for Rave... | |
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Rave was alright, it's big problem was the sequence of the songs. Some gems, some ok, some shit.
Gems I Love U But I Dont Trust U Anymore Tangerine ManoWar Prettyman Decent Greatest Romance Ever Sold So Far So Pleased The Sun The Moon and Stars Baby Knows Whereever you go, Whatever u do Everything else was either mediocre(Undisputed) or just flat out sucked(Everyday is a Winding Road, Silly Game) | |
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Rave is not a bad album. New Power Soul and Chaos & Disorder hold that honor.
I ahve both Rave Un2 and Rave In2. There are some gesm on ther: I Love U But I Don't Trust U, Hot Wit' U, Man O' War, Silly Game, Party Man, Strange but True | |
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Just to make things clear, I think NEWS is his weakest song-to-song. And nothing on NPS or Chaos is as sublime as I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore. But Rave still blows as an album. The world is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
"You still wanna take me to prison...just because I won't trade humanity for patriotism." | |
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I like it, not his best but I enjoy it and thats all that matters. Yeah I do hate the cover, I agree with you on that |
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I have to say I enjoyed Rave too. No, it isn't his best work, but better than a lot of his recent stuff. And don't come on saying "can't the man do something different" -- I'm all for an artist expanding and growing, and neither do I expect him to sing "Head" for the rest of his life. But flat out, in recent years, Prince began traveling down this old soul, jazzy -- Miles Davis joint and I just couldn't smoke it. I don't like jazz, especially that Monk and Miles stuff - I'm aready insane so I don't listen to music that draw and quarter my brain anymore than it needs to be - the techno I listen to does enough.
LQ | |
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I might be among the only ones who like this album.
The only songs on it that I don't like are Tangerine and Silly Game (I also don't like the Larry Graham vocals on Everyday Is A Winding Road). Other than that, it's very good IMO. What is depressing to me as a Prince fan is not Rave (which I like a lot) but the fact that this seems to be his last unique visual interpretation of PRINCE. What I mean is that the Rave-era look was very different (amongst the coolest eras looks-wise) but after that we've had pretty much the same toned-down, grown-up look. I don't see another major transformation like that happening again. |
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As Mattyjam said pretty much , Rave is a far more enjoyable album than Musicology and 3121 . Musicology ...coherent and consistent , the only thing
consistent about that album is that none of the songs rise above the "OK" level . Check out Chocadelica , updated with Lotusflow3r and MPLSound album lyrics April 2nd 2009 :
http://homepage.ntlworld....home2.html | |
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