What do you guyz actually think of the album??
Myself at 1st was a little shocked(not in a provocitive way )and thought that i wouldnt like it.

After a few listens and seeing him play a big section of the album live recently,i totally love it.

I hear many prince fans are not into it,maybe cos of the whole preaching aspect.

whats your views ??

?
[This message was edited Thu Feb 27 0:15:34 PST 2003 by IstenSzek]

Ive had it for months and after disliking it intensely at first,well lets just say that its slowly growing on me.

Much love Pochacco

I Love the album so Much. It's Great. I think Prince gets better and better with every album he does. He never ceases to Amaze me with his efforts. He's absolutely Brilliant and I wish every Man could be this Brilliant and Gorgeous. He blows my Mind with his Music and his Genius takes me to another place in my mind and in Exctasy. I am Devoured by his Power. I enjoy him so!

Fantastic album. a masterpiece. Heard it first at the celebration listening sessions, and loved it from the first time.
It was a surprise, a wonderful one.
First album in years that is really an album, and not just a collection of songs.

i don't really have any views on the "rainow" children, but if you're ever looking for any opinions on the draino children... unclogs a drain better than anything i've ever found...

It was musically rich but the overt nature of the lyrics made it impossible for me to listen to it without cringing sometimes. The Everlasting Now and The Last December are just too Christian TV and i find them slightly embarrassing. What i did appreciate about The Rainbow Children is that it was in every other sense a album worthy of the name. It had focus and it was obviously done with a lot of passion unlike Emancipation and Rave sounded so laboured and contrived, despite having some good songs. So in a sense it was a return to form for Prince IMO.

Loved it the first time I heard it. To me it shows Prince's growth. It exhibits a more mature Prince both musically and spiritually. The texturing of the music is magical. For those fans who don't like the album lyrically, just listen to music. Once you hear the music and get past the lyrics you'll come to enjoy it. Then maybe the lyrics will s-l-o-w-l-y creep it's way into your consciousness and you will be able to feel the message. TRC is a great compilation -- but hey that's just my opinion.

Great post! And I agree wholeheartedly.

IstenSzek said:

I love the Rainbow Children CD I loved it as
soon as I first heard it. Prince makes his
music bounce move to the beat. I loved the way he
did that Bob George type voice on the CD when
telling the story. The entire CD has excellent
songs. These kids are jazzy, funky, classical
and flow free to the beat.

The artwork on the cover is beautiful. I'm still
listening to TRC everyday in the car and at work,
at home. I enjoy it when friends come over and listen
and they say that is great who is that makes me
feel real good when I say Prince.

Yeah, what Isten said.

If it were an instrumental album, I would have more respect for it. The lyrics are very heavy handed, which kills the album for me.

eye love this album .its an amazing masterpiece .it blows me away everytime eye play it.the opening track is printed in my brains 4ever not commercial but still so catchy.eye don't mind the lyrics .thats prince u now .he always have been like this.the battle between his spiritual and nasty side.eye'm just the same person .eye'm very spiritual 2 but very nasty just the same.if all preachers were this funky then halleluja brothers and sisters eye was in first row everyday.its his best album as an artist .and he had really the guts 2 make this one just when he got his name back 2 prince.he could easly create a very commercial album.but he didn't thats whats so amazing about him.and now finnaly after the concerts it would have the respect it diserves.and lots off people who didn't bye it will do now. the voice on the album u have 2 see trc as a story .and he's the storyteller .then it doesn't sound so enoying anymore .

I was put off by the preaching aspect of the record but musically its his most daring thing for years. I love the title track! and 1+1+1 is 3. cool live too!!

I too, was very bothered by the content. After loving the content of his music in the past, it was unusual for me to be apprehensive. The content was a distraction from the music at first. But by and large this album has grown on me immensely. It really is georgeous!

I LOVE it...it's perfect...


...and I don't give a sh*t about lyrics...

-SWANGthescragglyheadsonofa

I'm not Christian there4 I don't anderstand the disturbing lyrics in that LP.

My musical roots are Jazz and Arabic oldies, that LP is def resembling the Jazzy Mellow yet groovy style. The music is just BREATHTAKING(This is the 1st time I hear him use the fender rhodes like that-AMAZING).

TRC is simply a fresh of air. Wait 10 years and you'll hear the ones who bashed this motha PRAISE him the most you'll said Harlepolis said so,,,

Let me just put it this way...TRC is Grammy award material, jack...

?Donde es? RdHull...

Where are you RdHull, I'm gonna need your help on this one...

Blue Prince

I remember people comparing it to the Lovesexy album, saying: he was religious back then, so nothing new.

But there is a major difference. Lovesexy is much more playful, humorous and sexy than The Rainbow Children, especially concerning the lyrics.
In my opinion Prince got a little too serious with himself, his religion and his ideas about it (the obvious JW subject matter) on the Rainbow Children. He's clearly thinking about major issues that are important in his life right now, trying to find some sort of guiding light...

In other words: I don't like it for the lyrics. Although I like some of the ideas. I don't think Last December is overtly religious. It deals with life in general, u should make the most of it- no matter what u may find 'on the other side' (if there is any).
I just don't like lyrics that are forced onto the listener. I had this feeling several times listening to TRC.

Saying this I also think musically TRC is one of Prince' best efforts since a long time. I've always loved the adventure, the unpredictability and the musicianship on his records. Since the album his music seemed to lose a bit of its cutting edge (with a lot of exceptions of course, f.e. The Truth). - with Rave un2 The Joy Fantastic being the ultimate example of this. But- hopefully - the last one.
TRC struck me with its musical depth and beautiful warm arrangements.

This all sounds a bit blabla, but I really mean it!

I think on the long term TRC will prove to be a very timeless record.

Peace 2 TRC!

LadyCabDriver said:

that bad huh?

I love it, it grew on me after a couple of listens.musically it's perfect.It's also the most daring album he's done since 1980 IMO.

LadyCabDriver said:

That may be true LCD, but we know that just ain't gonna happen.
I'll be pleasantly surprised if he's inducted in the
Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

Housequake2K2 said:

he will be NEXT year.

Put $ on it!

tha album's lyrics bothered me at first, and I didn't like ...oh I dunno... the first half of the album (!) but then a few months later, the whole album...lyrically and musically clicked for me, and I just got it. now it is my favorite album! I think if everyone who just hated t at first and just shelved it gave it more of a chnce, they would realize just how wonderful an album it is.

Thecherryloon said:

I hope you're right...I wanna see him on TV playin' guitar!

Fantastic! I loved it from the first listen.Bobby whats your view on it 16 months later?

A FLAWED masterpiece. Great playing pulling from Prince's diverse influences in pop and rock even jazz-fusion. There are some strong songs, but the quasi-religious parable at the heart of its theme is rendered largely unlistenable by an annoying tiresome basso-profundo voiceover, little munchkin voices and a single index tracking making it difficult to play individual trax in random order.

Hmmm-i guess its a hit and miss album.Masterpieces being the bass on the beginning part of Family Name(TOO cool!),Muse 2 The Pharoah(b-b-b-beautiful!!),and Mellow(def a favourite), and now after seeing the tour-The Work,didnt really take 2 it b4 i saw the shows, but it definately works live.
Then we got Wedding Feast(I know its jokey, but that still dont make it good!)and Everywhere(WAY too much going on!)
All this is my humble opinion , of course!

---

I think the fact that people know that Prince hobknobs with Larry Graham and other JW's kills it for them, not necessarily the religious content, which he's incorporated into his music for over 20 years. Or maybe the fact that Christianity is blatantly in the choruses of a couple of songs. I was never uptight about his sexually explicit lyrics, so I'm not uptight with his religious ones. When thinking about the narration I do think it could have been clearer sonically in some places so people could understand what's being said, but it's not even part of every song.

Quite frankly I found the album revelatory when I first listened to it. He hasn't sounded this inspired in over a decade, and it shows in the arrangements, his playing, Blackwell's playing, the background singers' singing, etc. The addition of the Fender Rhodes on so many songs adds a new wrinkle to his sound that he hasn't attempted to this extent before.

Love the fact that I can hear his hand coming off the fretboard towards the very end of the title track, wish "Digital Garden" had been longer because it's exquisite, was unenthused about "The Work" before I heard it within the context of the album (it works better on the album than alone), "Family Name" makes me put pedal to the metal on the freeway once the mid section comes up throughout the end, love Johnny Bwell's tone and attack, Kenny G., err, I mean Najee doesn't relegate any of it to syrup like I thought he might, really dig the Blackwell's all over the place tom tom work on "Everywhere", the guitar work is wicked, subtle, sexy, and damn sublime, the subtle flute on the coda of the title track, the blatant flute in "Mellow", the screaming Prince does like he did in the good ol' days which had been missing (and which tells me a lot)...

It was all just so focused and had a sense of urgency compared to what he had been doing for years before. The obvious contrast of TRC compared with what he had been doing for years makes Prince seem like 2 ENTIRELY different people. People within my proximity hear it and ask me who it is. Once they know they go into a spiel about not knowing Prince could sound like that, not knowing Prince was still making music, etc. I don't give a gerbil's ass about what anybody says; if I were to compile the top 5 Prince albums TRC would be on my list somewhere.

Sports writer Scoop Jackson once alluded to a Kobe Bryant/Prince analogy with TRC that conveyed even he knew that Prince was ON again (though I doubt very many of his readers knew what he was talking about). It doesn't take up the entire article, and is short, but if anybody's interested I'll give you the URL.

Funny, with all of Graham's reputation on bass, and as much as I dig the old music he's played on with Sly & The Family Stone and with GCS, I find Prince's bass playing to have more of an impact on this album than the two songs Graham is on.

It was the first Prince album since Lovesexy that made me go What was that? after I listened to it and that was a good thing cause I hadn't felt like that in many years with his music. It's still one of my favorites. The music is so kick ass. I look at the lyrics as a story. I'm not at all offended by them, even though there were a couple of things he said that I didn't agree with, I just laughed at it. It's a masterpiece and I wish more people could hear this.