Risico said:

I don't think I'd want to be moved to tears all the time cuz it'd just get to be too much after a while. It took me 10 minutes to stop sobbing over the beauty of Gold

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I totally get that - 'April' is one of a select few of his songs that's moved me to tears, so I listen to it sparingly. It's not depressing or anything, just sometimes too overwhelming for me when I'm in a certain mood.

Anyway, not sure if anyone's brought up Soul Sanctuary on Emancipation yet - That's one gorgeous little song. I had it on replay for a half an hour once because it sounds so lush and cool.

Risico said:

Yeah, I don't find Gold depressing. It just reaches me unlike anything else before it. It's very uplifting and spiritual... maybe Prince wrote it when he was getting more in touch with himself and his spirituality... totally crazy.

Nobody's cared to mention any good songs off of Emancipation yet, but I did say that I've looked up a few sets of lyrics for diff. songs. Emancipation, Soul Sanctuary, Slave, Let's Have a Baby, are among the ones I looked at and I liked what I read. I kinda want to go for lyrics that aren't your average lyrics, poetic lyrics. And with the few I selected based on title, I like what I see.

Whilst stimulating a lot of debate, this all seems an incredibly complex way of acquiring music.

Furthermore, I suggested earlier in this thread that you're going to have to get everything anyway (or at least listen to it) and this suggestion is bolstered by the fact that, at the end of the day, only YOU can decide what is the best of Prince and what isn't. You're the best judge of what you consider to be a great piece of work - its almost worthless listening to everyone else's opinion. Whilst it may help inform your choice, nothing will do that better than actually listening to the music itself.

"I bought Rave cos everyone said it was the best, but when I got it home, I didn't like it!" - there is a good chance that would happen.

Haven't you noticed the disparity just on this thread of fan's views of his work? Everyone has a different idea as to what was good, what worked for them, which were his failures - its all so subjective and nobody is right or wrong.

You might hear NPS and consider that to be his best work - many here wouldn't agree, but that doesn't make you wrong. If that's what moves you and really appeals to your ears, then so be it.

As an artist and producer myself, I can't really consider who's going to think what about the music I produce - at the end of the day, I do as a lot of self-respecting artists do and make music for myself first. If other people dig it, that's a bonus.

So, get listening to it all and then go and buy the stuff you liked most - easy (altho, if you're not in to listening to the "profane", that's going to seriously limit your options )

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

The song "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" was ousted from the Batman soundtrack in the late eighties in favour of the more commercial pieces that ended on the actual record (it was a big project with a lot of financial investement for the production companies involves). But it has nothing to do with the "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" (1999) album itself, which only contains that song as its title track. WB had no saying over Prince's post-1996 output.

Update:!!!


I now have five Prince CD's in my possession!

Musicology (listened to it already, an interesting new twist, it's not the kind of pop I was looking at, but then again, Prince isn't ordinary)
The Very Best of... (got all of his hits that I wanted)
3121
And I found "The Gold Experience" used at FYE for $17.99 and I was jumping up and down (figuratively, of course)... cuz it's a brilliant find. I won't play it for a while cuz I want to take it slow. I just spent close to $71 on Prince CD's.

And I'm still unwinding after seeing "Purple Rain" the movie... Love the movie! And Purple Rain the song brought me to tears, lol...

I'll listen to them chronalogically, starting with my Very Best of... CD to get me to 93, then I'll do The Gold Experience and hope that there isn't a scratch on it that would let someone to return it... then Musicology and 3121.

Oh, and my dad has the Purple Rain soundtrack so I can listen to that when I feel like... there were a couple of songs that I liked from the movie... heck, all of them were good... although Darling Nikki was just plain terrible (somebody had a dirty mind when he wrote that one).

I'll most likely watch the movie a couple of more times this week while I have on loan from Blockbuster... cuz it'll be a while b4 I come into enough money to buy it (or my bday, w/e comes first)

For those who were interested in hearing, here's my review of "The Gold Experience".

before a) the site blocks me from logging in again and also b) while I have it fresh in my mind.

"The whole CD is like going through a journey for me... slowly leading me on a leash through a threshold of different music. I'll address them one track at a time.
1) P control- my first time hearing Prince rapping... sure, it's different from what I'm used to, but I adjusted pretty quickly to the rapping as well as the "contents" of the whole thing. Although very risqué, it's kinda catchy (just hope it doesnt get stuck in my head).
2) gives a good transition into 3) Endorphinmachine, but the edge the song had caught me off guard a little, gave me a shock to the system (maybe that's why chose the name)... I don't know what to think of this song yet cuz right now, it creeps me out. Luckily, 4) Ssh helps slow everything down and helps me relax into a somewhat comatose state that I'm in for a while... there were a lot of good instrumental input for this song that I was very impressed with
5) We march, lost me the first time around, but after hearing it, it has a really interesting storyline behind it and I really like where was going with it.
Then my comatose state really takes over into TMBGITW, a very sweet, well played out song and it's definitely one of my fav. romantic anthems of Prince... Dolphin prolongs the comatose state I was in and it really came off as smooth as he was suggesting in the lyrics... I'm getting to like it more with each listen.
Now is also a pretty good track, even with the rapping that went on... the overall theme was good.
319 was one of my least faves on the CD... when I rememeber why, I'll add the info.
Shy was also a pretty good track as well.
Billy Jack made me feel a little sick in all honesty... when he kept throwing in a certain word in a very irritating tone... it's hard to get used to and I doubt that I will.
Eye Hate U is full of all kinds of the stuff I like in any Prince song and the paradoxial nature of it made it one of my faves on the CD as a whole.

As I said initially, the CD was a journey through all kinds of versatility that is capable of. "Gold" wraps everything together in a very nice bow. It's definitely one of my favorites of any Prince song, but my fav. on this disc. It mixes a very catchy, loveable tune with some very deep and cryptic lyrics, one of the things that sets Prince above the rest. I've thought that and Prince were two different people, but I think "Gold" combines the two persona I see back into the Prince I know and "love". I feel like the song is the overall message that "The Gold Experience" carries with it, but it makes it very clear and obvious in song form here. With all of the new and different things offers in this album, it feels good to come back to a vibe that I'm very familiar with, that feels like home.

The overall album has a really nice flow to it. As I was laying in bed from 11:30pm-12:30am this past night, I felt like I dropped into a different world. I forgot where I was lying and all about everything else going on... I was originally feeling a little down because my first listen to the disc made it hard for me to go back to enjoy "Purple Rain"... but after prepping myself with a few hits from the 90's before the era of , the transition was easy and I forgot about the depression I felt. This CD is definitely great for taking me somewhere else and I love the flow that it has, not interrupting my state of mind... although Endorphinmachine kinda screwed things up for me in the beginning, a few more listens might or might not change my mind. But if I take out a couple of tracks from the mix, the overall flow shouldn't be interrupted in my view.

"Gold" really moved me, just like it always has and I finally realized what it means to me and how I feel about the enigma Prince is. It redefines him as the musician whose poetry and guitar has moved me to tears on a few occasions already. He called "Gold" the "Purple Rain" of the 90's. Do I agree? In a word, no... I don't think it is and I'll say why. Because "Purple Rain" is special on its own and overall defines Prince and what his music does for/to me. "Gold" is merely a reminder of Prince's past musical successes and moves me to look forward to his successes in the future."

I only hope that my computer will let me log in again later on... today, and read/reply to your comments on my review... I'll have to see how it compares to my other CD's before I decide how much I like it compared to the others.