IMO its the single most overrated album in here (The Rainbow Children being second).

I mean, song for song:

1. Come
Nice hornriffs, decent organic funk, but the length and the sucking / sexsounds come over as unneccesary selfindulge to me. I mean, i wouldnt have problems with those in 1982, but i would think Prince was over that kind of childishness in 1994.

2. Space
Very poor songwriting, a non existing chorus, and musically its a cheesy, boring attempt of Prince to create 'dance music'. Next to that his performance lacks any kind of inspiration.

3. Pheromone
Very mediocre songwriting and production again. The kind of material Prince wouldnt even put on a b-side in the eighties.

4. Loose
A better attempt at creating modern 'dance music', but again: its just so-so, its sounds forced.

5. Papa
One of the better songs on the album: quite creepy and intense, and original in terms of the arrangement. But the song would have been better, if he had excluded the Hendrix-like 'happy ending'-message at the end.

6. Race
Prince by numbers. A formulaic funktrack. He has probably dozens and dozens of songs like these lying in his vault.

7. Dark
Again, one of the better songs. One of his better ballads of the nineties IMO, keeping things sober and organic.

8. Solo
Nice vocal improvisation, but personally it leaves me cold.

9. Letitgo
The third good song in this album. Sounding a bit dated and generic in its production, but a strong melody and some honest, remarkably vulnerable lyrics offer compensation.

10. Orgasm
An unneccesary soundscape, not even an song. It doesnt make sense.

To conclude, three good songs: Papa, Dark and Letitgo, and the rest of the tracks being uninspired, formulaic and even unnecessary material, that makes it one of the worst Prince CD's for me. I dont get the admiration for this album in here....

when i listen to that album i hear music that i like.

i don't know how much simpler i can put it.

How can your heart be so cold? Even though this album came out at a rough time in his life (possibly at the height of his quarrels with Warner Bros), I believe Prince created a good record with well written songs and concise musicianship.

Let me warn you, if you think this is another Purple Rain, Diamonds And Pearls, and 1999 record, full of bubblegum and glossy pop tunes, you better think again. This album is utterly dark and bitter

I think Come, Space, Pheromone, Loose, Race, Dark and Letitgo are as worthy as anything Prince had committed back in the day. Sure, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's such an amazing record. Dark is probably one of his very best songs. I went back to this track last night and those horns, that organ, Prince's soulful vibe....it's just a classic in my eyes.

Because it's a masterpiece!

I totally disagree with you silverchild.

Well written? sorry, but songs like Space, Pheromone and Race are very poor when it comes to songwriting....Prince by numbers.

Utterly dark and bitter? Sorry, but i dont hear real intense emotions on this album, my main problem with it is that Prince doesnt sound in touch with the material he has written, but bored and uninspired. To me it more sounds like he doenst have a clue which way to go. I hear an artist copying himself, yes, in a dark way, but in a very unpleasant way when it comes to his artistic possibilities. A Dead End album, IMO.

I agree with you that Dark is one of his better ballads, but in general i consider it one of his weakest albums ever. It lacks songwriting / composition qualities and the way he performs the material is mostly uninspiring, detached.

MikeMantronik,

Prince hasnt released any 'masterpiece' IMO since Sign of the Times or maybe Lovesexy.

The closest he has come to this is with The Gold Experience, but even that album is 'just' very great IMO, but not a masterpiece.

Riverpoet31 said:

I consider Come & Rainbow Children both masterpiece!

But riverpoet31, one man's gold, is another man's copper...

It's a matter of taste, friend

Riverpoet31 said:

I also said that it's not everyone's cup of tea. It's probably his best "contractual obligation" record out of the ones he released at that time when he was about to leave Warners.

Maybe I was exaggerating when I said they are well written songs, but I have to admit it, some of those songs on there had some impressive lyrics. How could you deny the good songwriting of the title track, Dark, Race, and Papa?

Come certainly isn't one of my favorite Prince records, but it is a nice little ditty and one of his more personal ones as well.

silverchild said:

The fan made intended version is better...it has interactive and strays of the world in it!

It's as bland as The Gold Experience is fierce. This speaks volumes to Prince's genius cause these were recorded at the same time right?

Imago said:

So Come is a bottom album and Gold is a top album?

MikeMatronik said:

Hell yeah! Gold is better than Come by a mile.

Riverpoet31 said:

wow!-my friend what utterly ignorant comments-have you just got into prince and ordered all his cds in bulk??

lyrically SPACE is pure prince poetry

have you actually read those lyrics?

and alongside i wish u heaven the maxi single is one of the most loved upon in the prince canon

so my newbie friend-chill-in a few years you'll "get it"

till then my love-ciao

as prince himself said on his love4oneanother site-come"has aged like fine wine"

Riverpoet31 said:

See, this just goes to show how varied opinions can be on the same albums. I love the 'Come' album, but I personally don't get the neverending praise for Lovesexy. It's good, but it really does nothing for me. It's just my personal taste, but I really don't like Prince's sound from that era (Lovesexy and The Black Album). But I'm sure there will be dozens who will come and question my sanity. But to each his own, you konw.

I've never listened to Come, Space, Pheromone in full. I get bored with the title track to quickly

I could listen thru more of Come than TGE, Musicology, News, Rave, NPS or The Vault, better than Come would be Emancipation, Crystal Ball, The Truth, Rainbow Children, Exodus & Planet Earth, slightly better than or equal 2 Come would be 3121, Chocolate Invasion, Slaughterhouse, Chaos & Disorder & maybe (again) TGE

bboy87 said:

you gotta be in the right mood to be receptive to it...when you are, you're hooked. the techno-ey unreleased version of the title track is killer, too.

“Come”, the darker “Black Album”.

1. Come: A horn gently coaxing out an orgasm, both real and hallucinatory, slow and sedated. Soulful, jazzy, intimate funk that lingers long after you’ve undressed. Oral sex, and even the sounds that it motivates, is never childish. Perfectly placed on a track embolden with double entendre.

2. Space: My goose flesh would spin a far different narrative, especially when listening to the "Universal Love Remix". I’m dancing softly at a campfire, not flopping around at some trendy night spot.

3. Pheromone: I think many of Prince’s b-sides of the 80s were amongst his greatest works, especially when they were allowed to fully stretch. Challenging funk that couldn’t be lifted for radio play.

While this certainly isn't 80's b-side material to me, just imagine Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock’s magnificent “Rear Window” seeing something like this play out right before his voyeur's view. Now that would be a bizarre movie of a completely different stripe. Hitchcock in thigh highs!

4. Loose: Not an award winner, but a hell of a lot of harmless fun and one of the few times the house lights show, even if it is just a strobe. And no one was even beaten here. We’ll save that for the next track.

5. Papa: If Prince were to get all dire like The Cure or Morrissey, he wouldn’t be Prince. Prince often tries to interject uplift, even as were left shuddering in a closet. Even abuse victims can thrive.

6. Race: Ironically it’s about race while being as brightly lit as this joint will ever get. I surely won’t show it out like some of those flashy “Gold Experience” tracks, but just like “Pheromone”, it solidifies the album for me. Might be written from a naïve place, but it’ll eventually be how ridiculously we view racism. And by then we’ll be hating each other for entirely different reasons.

7. Dark: My respect for this song has grown with time like a fine wine. I think we are in complete agreement here. You can seek therapy on Monday.

8. Solo: Being left cold is not a bad emotion to me. No tacked on message of hope here. Prince is lonely and depressed. Even he sometimes is low enough to camp beneath the shade of a curb.

9. Letitgo: We are in somewhat of an agreement again (please don’t feel bad). Sheila E. and his conquests pile up like so many drum kits as Prince tries to find peace through the releasing of his past. One of the great Prince tracks of all time.

10. Orgasm: He has put together a bit of a concept album here, weaving together the loose ends with waves and writhing women. Concept albums are often frequented with such freaky non-songs. Would I prefer orgasmic themed music? Perhaps. But I already have that with the title track.

The whole album plays quietly in the darkness amongst satin sheets and orgasmic verges. Properly navigates the old Prince era, coming off like that of a lurid tome poem of change.

Perhaps there are only 4 or 5 great or near great tracks here (“Come”, "Space [Universal Loves Remix]", "Papa", “Dark”, “Letitgo”), but what connects does so with the bonding ferocity of Super Glue.

The French refer to the orgasm as the “tiny death”. And as it states on the front cover, this is the death of a whole era (*** out of ****).

**I hate editing. Please help me.**
[Edited 8/25/07 2:39am]

Come is an amazing album, and Space is a bonafide classic. (Not to mention being one of the best maxi-singles with some bad ass remixes)

Amazing album.Love it!

Orgasm is a 'jump the shark' moment for me with Prince, when it first came out I took a little Prince break for a while. After Gett Off and Sexy Mf this album got a heard-it-before-and-better response. I picked it up later and gave it another few spins and thought "Ok, it's still a Prince record". I think the climax in the song Come is great, the payoff is worth enduring the sucking/moaning sounds. I think Space and the Universal Love Remix is great. I can take or leave most of the middle tracks. Don't hate them, don't love them. I really like Letitgo. I can think of probably 10 albums I like better, but it's better than I originally thought.

In a hundred yrs time they will look back at Prince's output, and they would of heard about PR, the black Abum and SOTT and PE. Then they would hear 'Come' for the first time and understood what Prince was getting at, this album is about (imo) Lost love or love dieing hence the reason that it sounds so bleak and dark a bit like a stormy night on Dartmoor. Im not going to go into each song but as an album this is in my top 10 (which changes like the weather mind you).

If this was a book it would be up there with 'The French Lieutenant’s Woman'

What he did with the remix of Space (Universal Love Remix) now thats what you call a B side

it gets praise cos people like it .. simple as that really
. i like it, i think its a good album . i definetley don't think it is one of his best albums . but to my ears its better than FOR YOU .NEWPOWERSOUL .ect ect
i personally dont see what the fuss is about LOVESEXY .. thats an album i seldom listen to .. although i really like DANCE ON an ALPHABET STREET . which are two of his very best songs .. i just hate the fact i cant skip to em! lol

Wow, you don't like 'Space' Riverpoet? I really love that song and I think the lyrics are kinda cool too - another Prince paean to masturbation.

I don't think it shoulda been a single though, nor Letitgo, it's just a really poor song IMO - only a single because of the lyrics I think, and IIRC, it was the last track added to the album? - like several other of Prince's lead singles.

I like most of the tracks on Come individually, but as an album, I'm not that enthused by it. I find it missing several of the better Glam Slam Uylsses and 93/94 era tracks that could've been on there (or were on the early version).

Were any promo videos made for this album? I can't think of any

silverchild said:

I never really noticed or thought about it before because I just listened to it but you're right, it is very dark. I didn't own the copy I first heard. I remember my brother brought it home on cd and played it and I thought someone that was like a mad scientist had took over Prince's recording studio.

I was truly like WTF!! but I think that has happened for me with at least 3 of his albums.

Admittedly this album has grown on me; I used to think it was %90 filler and completely bland, and just there for its own sake. I agree with what someone said about having to be in the right mood for it; only then will you really be perceptive to this album's sound. It's not a cheerful album by any means, and I wouldn't consider it one of his stronger works by any stretch, but there's some solid artistic stuff here. Space in particular I have a soft spot for.

I agree it is quite overrated hereabouts, but it's not a travesty.

Well I fucking love this album. Yeah, I tend to skip over the segues because they're so goddamned annoying, but aside from that, I'd consider Come a favourite. It's the second Prince album I ever bought -at a second-hand record store -after Purple Rain. That's one helluva way to launch a 14 year old into darker royal territory, innit? I hadn't a clue what I was in for.

I wasn't a huge fan of this one for a long time. Your assessment of the songs were exactly what I used to think too. However, this CD has aged very well imo. I agree that the title track is WAY too long and self indulgent. Solo still blows and Orgasm is a waste of CD space. The rest though is classic Prince. The 2 songs that have grown on me more than any are Phermone and Race. I HATED these songs the 1st few times I heard them, but now are highlights. I think all those contractual obligation CDs are decent. My fave is The Vault.