SlamGlam said:

he means we've killed red, black, yellow & jews thinking god was backing us (not us, but humans in general)

I hear that some of the lyrics raise questions (his lyrics are often cryptic at best), but with the MLK quote, and the lyrics "we need to come together as one" and the title "The Rainbow Children" I have to believe that when all's said & done, he believes all people are equal in god's eyes and all deserve peace & love.

merry x-mas!

I have always understood 'Family Name' as saying, that while everyone knows about the sufferings of the Jews, the struggles of African-Americans have to remembered as well.

calldapplwondery83 said:

also that jews managed to maintain their religion and, to some extent culture, though many did change their names upon entering the US

TRC is a great album. i liked it upon first listen. even managed to get past the darth vader narration. as a christian though, i see the religious differences and can respect them even if they're rooted in misinformation. 1+1+1 =3 is a song i like and listen to even though it attempts to dispute the doctrine of the trinity. 1x1x1 IS 1! about family name, i didn't take the lyrics as anti-semitic. prince is acknowledging the suffering of others, but he's saying that despite all the suffering, at the END OF THE DAY, others still have something EXTREMELY signficant, their family name, something african americans do not, and cannot likely re-acquire. many don't even know which country or tribe to claim, let a lone a family name. so that's what he's communicating in addition to "race" as a human construct.

datdude said:

that's exactly what i got out of it.

thank you.

datdude said:

Yeah, that's a cool analysis. I don't know if Prince meant it to be looked at this way, but I think that since Family Name leads into Everlasting Now--which takes a retrospective look back at his own career as well as other black singers'--Prince is looking at the value of his name and others'. Because he made a career without his last name and then went on to change his name, it's all the more poignant. When he changed his name, he would talk about how he gave a lot of spiritual thought to his name and what it meant.

On a different TRC note, while the notion of the possibility of anti-Semitism is discussed a lot here, the way the album views women is not. When I hear him saying that the man should be subservient to God and the woman should be subservient to the man, I cringe. I actually don't think he's trying to be anti-Semitic, but that line about a woman's "place" is really shocking.

datdude said:

I don't think the song lyrics are discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. (It could be argued that Prince's position on the doctrine might be inferred from the lyrics of 'Last December').

Rather, '1+1+1=Is 3' is about the 'theocreatic order', which - as Efan mentions - also appears to be referred to in the opening lyrics of 'Rainbow Children'.

.

langebleu said:

1+1+1 is "the.....ocratic"

I always assumed it was also about the trinity. Trinity is just a group of three

I love that album!

It's definitely got its moments. "The Work Pt. 1", "Mellow" and "1+1+1 is 3" are the highlights, IMO.

Hello everybody, by the way. First post and all.

Hi!

The theological position Prince takes on this album is interesting and, to me, abhorent. I do believe there is an amount of anti-semitic intent on the album, AND I believe that there is a derogatory attitude toward women on the album. The problem stems from, in my humblest opinion, Prince's naive 'understanding' of JWs and their beliefs, his apparent strength of faith in JW and his suddenly learned doctrine.

1+1+1=3 is a poor song becasue it robs all of Prince's back catalogue without furthering its creativity, it's Hello and Erotic City minus the fun and invention.

The idea of Family Name being as significant as Prince suggests is interesting. I'm guessing that a number of Jews who survived the holocaust 'lost' their family name in their attempt to remain alive. I imagine that there are a number of people out there who have 'lost' their Jewish identity because, to remain alive, their ancestors took the brave decision to disguise their identity, subsequently leading to a generation that do not know their true history. Family Name is important, there have been many, many groups who have been persecuted in this fashion (identity loss), perhaps Prince wanted to shock? If he did, he succeeded... I would rather think this... than not this.

the math song (1+1) doesn't remind me of Erotic City. i keep hearing that. She Loves Me for Me is a good song, perhaps doesn't fit the overall theme, but it sounded great when i heard it on a somewhat progressive, urban adult station here in The D. Everywhere is excellent, its the "detination song" for me (often the one i put the album on to hear; is that Tamar on vocals?)

datdude said:

No it's Milenia.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/milenia

The reference to Prince co-writing some of their album material on the above link is not considered to be true.

.

.
[Edited 12/28/06 5:38am]

Everywhere is superb... It's the sound of Prince and (I like to think) all his audience smiling.

BoySimon said:

1+1+1 is still a catchy tune it always gets Me groovin and singin along when Im hearing it driving in my car I dont know if its like another Erotic City cause when I first heard Erotic City it was just something else like its just one groovin sexy song and its more balanced well rounded groove bass and high and male and female voices on it round it out nicely ...EroticCity would be good song for Prince to remix and fatten it up a bit, oh yeh back to about TRC eeeem I dont know if I put it amongst My Fav Prince albums I mean the ones that really tripped Me out but amongst Prince albums that came out in last 7 or 8 years or maybe 10 years well I think TRC is one of the better ones I have said it before the voice between tracks and the over religiouse theme annoys Me a bit but there are several good tracks on it for sure I dont think I put it as better album or even as good as LoveSexy but it was a pleasant suprise in the last 6 years as was 3121 but in a different way

Digital Garden !!

TRC is an album you either love or hate, it seems.... which is cool.

Personally, I respect what he did with TRC and I enjoy parts of it, but I don't listen to it that often. It's a little pretentious and meandering and self-important to me.

But it has great moments... "She Loves Me 4 Me" is just gorgeous.

Overall the material was there, but I think it could have been improved by some tightening and focus.

NDRU said:

What is the MLK quote?

heartbeatocean said:

"Black men and White men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics
will be able 2 join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!"

.

langebleu said:

right, at the end of Family Name.

To me Prince is addressing problems and raising questions, allowing anger & emotion to show, but his belief in the dream is still there. The album ends with two very positive songs.

A lot of his albums take you on that journey through a bit of worldly ugliness to ultimate redemption. Purple Rain, Around the World, Lovesexy, , Gold. Even Dirty Mind ends with Partyup.

To me, Prince's core beliefs are where the albums end, but his daily emotions show in some of the places the albums travel through.

langebleu said:

I love how MLK worked for the freedom of African Americans, but treated the cause as a symbol for all people.

lezama said:

As I said in the past Im not into the Darth voice between tracks or the over religiousity themes, but I have recently been listening to this cd a bit more lately and I just dont rank it as a Prince masterpiece I like many fans see Prince classic and best period was most if not all the 80's albums well I dont think I would put TRC on par with any of the 80's someone said its as good as LoveSexy I say in my oppinion it isnt my fave tracks and I think the best tracks on TRC are "Muse to the Pharoah", "The Work" , "1+1+1", "Family Name", "Everlasting Now"
"She wants Me for Me", "Last December" these are the best and some of them are quite likeable but nothing very innovative or uniquely interesting and suprising amongst them...then look at LoveSexy ...everybody on the block say it is the best ...most vital is what they say more or less , man when I heard for the 1st time tracks like "LoveSexy", and "I know" and "When 2 r in Love" I was totally blown away when I heard "Muse to the Pharoah" I was a little blown away too its a sweetn sour soulfull tune but using the total blown away scale TRC is not on par with LoveSexy and in my oppinion not on par with any of the classic Prince albums I dont think its on par with Graffiti Bridge and Im even tempted to say its not on par with Batman if Prince albums were to be put into the following categories... less than mediocre,mediocre, good, very good, and great , I would probably put TRC in good section but I wouldnt put it on par with the classics, been listening to Musicology lately too and there is maybe 4 tracks I find likeable thje rest of that album I would put in the less than mediocre section.

In my top 3 Prince albums ever. I LOVE TRC.

calldapplwondery83 said:

***

Exactly.

The accusations of anti-semitism seemed reactionary and idiotic to me.

I consider 'The Rainbow Children' to be one of the best albums Prince has ever made.

I wanted to buy it cause I liked the cover but whenever I would listen to it before purchasing, I seemed to change my mind.

I like.....

1 + 1 + 1 is 3
She Loves Me For Me
Family Name
Last December
The Work

The first half of the album is absolutely horrible. At least it got better towards the middle.

VainDandy has a somewhat limited taste, Am I right, or am I wrong?

My fave on that album is the first track. The album has a few great grooves, and more conceptually is like a sequel to Lovesexy. It has its differences but it's in no way inferior to L.
It dwarves Graffiti bridge (but that isn't difficult)
I don't quite get this anti-semitism Vibe/content that some orgers are twittering about.
P. sometimes sings about the down trodden, blacks, jews, the healthy and conscientious, etc.

He's not a jew hater!! He's not dumb! AAHHH!!!

Please don't dirty this fine album with mumbling hollow spectacular theories!

"Black men and White men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics
will be able 2 join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!"

It's a fine work, and can b counted as 1 of his best.
[Edited 1/11/07 18:20pm]

I dont know why some people are saying its a sequel to LS is this just an oppinion or did Prince say this at some point?

To me TRC is more like the soundtrack to a stage musical/play or even movie soundtrack so I would see it as being closer to Graffiti Bridge but in a diffeent way.

I guess its a matter of oppinion as to how it compares to GB I think I prefer GB on the whole as there is something about the overall presentation of TRC that I feel takes away from it, maybe its too busy all the narration between songs and then tracks like wedding feast that interrupt any excisting coolness the album had , Ithink it really could have been a truly Great album its just that certain things hold it back I think , IMO GB on the whole is a cooler album, check this
... We can Funk, The Question of You, Joy in Repition, Still would stand All time, Elephants and Flowers, Melody Cool, Graffiti Bridge, I mean its got as many good grooves as TRC and without cerain elements that TRC has that I feel hold it back so I dont see that it dwarfs GB or is necessarily better than it.

Judging on the number of reactions The Rainbow Children gets on different threads in here, at least its still a controversial album among the Prince fans.

Many have 'hailed' it as a return to form, and have called it his best record since The Gold Experience or even since Sign of The Times.

I disagree with that because of the following aspects:

After a number of albums with a plastic-sounding production (Emancipation, New Power Soul, Rave) it is indeed a fresh air that Prince delivered a more organic sounding, live-sounding record. But IMO it doesnt necessarily means an improvement: most of the compositions (when it comes to songwriting) arent very strong or convincing, next to that Prince sounds out of touch with himselve, obsessed with singing about the JW-dogma's, a very uncomfortable experience.

Alltough some people in here are trying to defend the lyrics on The Rainbow Children, some of those lyrics are just downright dogmatic, rigid, brainwashed, shortminded, showing a Prince trying to convince us he 'believes' in what he sings, but unable to really convince us.
Alltough 'literally' a song like Family might not be anti-semitic in a strict way, and other lyrics might not be directly sexistic or religiously discriminating, anyone with a healthy mind can conclude that Prince is losing himselve way too far in dogmatic remarks and rigid idea's about life.
I have read the stories about Prince suffering from the death of his baby, his divorce, and the dead of both his parents. I can relate to him looking for certainty. It seems at that time the JW-movement offered a solution for him. It might have helped him. But on the other hand when youre trying to 'preach' those new found certainties to people who are a bit further in their lives, and notice that youre not really being yourselve, Prince, its a very unsettling, irritating experience. In short, this record made me feel sorry for himselve, he isnt sincere on it.

The last thing, named alot of course, the slow, deep 'darth vader' voice telling us the story. Skits and segues are irritating mostly. But the way Prince takes it on this record, is even more annoying. Havent i heard enough dogma's in the lyrics allready?

Concluding:
Music: 6,5 / 10
Lyrics / overall concept: 2 / 10