...because you felt it was so below what you expected of Prince? Then following that, were there other albums which made your jaw drop for all the wrong reasons? And finally, have you since revisited any of these albums and been left with a more positive impression?

The first album which me was Chaos & Disorder.

Following the strength of The Gold Experience (though even that was not quite as strong as I hoped for based on the preceeding live shows and vibe), I was expecting something of a similar calibre or perhaps an album which rocked Days Of Wild. Unfortunately, I found Scrap D. instead and the most bizarre, rawest sounding album indeed. Whilst Emancipation was a palatable enough set (it didn't quite hit the mark at the time either), the next album which made me stop dead in my tracks was Newpower Soul. My first impression was seriously as follows:

!

From the man who knew funk, this joint made me seriously think that maybe I had put the guy up on some pedestal all this time. Gone was Camille dripping funky-ass horns or sexy vocals to die for. Instead I was listening to Newpower Soul, Mad Sex and Until U're In My Arms Again (you know what I mean). Of course, Come On, The One and Wasted Kisses felt like P still had it but the album overall came across like one HUGE rhythmically miscalculated step. Or so I thought until I heard...

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic. Need I say anymore? ( for Moonbeam)

All said and done, I have revisted each of these albums and actually found something quite refreshing about each of them since. Chaos & Disorder has even become one of my favourite albums from the '90s (alongside Come and The Vault). They're all such hastily compiled joints that they have quite a charm to them now that I look back. And away from my expectations, I can now listen to these albums for what they are (as opposed to what I wanted them to be at the time). As for Newpower Soul, it's actually become something of a guilty pleasure of mine (I know; trust me, I know). No, it's not The Black Album in the funk stakes (nor could it ever be) but it does boast great horn lines scattered all throughout the arid wasteland and whilst the beats aren't the most inspired, I do seem to enjoy playing it rather loud for the party vibe (and just something different from the classics). And finally, Rave. It's probably the least-enjoyed album I have grown to enjoy the most over the years. It's not got the stripped down finesse of Musicology, 3121 or Planet Earth but then again, I guess in some ways it served as the most recent prototype for those kind of albums (something which he has since toyed with and refined to a fine art).

So that's my story in a nutshell. What about you? What first happened that made you go ?!

When I was younger, I could say that "Dirty Mind" kind of took me off guard, but it wasn't shocking that a man his age would sing his heart and thoughts.

i was never shocked, i am Lovin that i am sharing the vibes though

No question it was 1999. "I just wanna fuck the taste out of your mouth" had me just about falling out of my chair. Mind you I was 12...it was the 1st time I heard something that dirty on a record.

Controversy_ Jack U off

The Gold Experience

Control... all those curse words

I thought that was bad, but then came Endorphinmachine
...think it almost gave me a heart attack and at times, it still ruins some of the immediatley preceding songs 4 me.

That was my 3rd album.

Of course, all u guys know that TGE & I are now.

Shockingly good: Parade was such a left turn...I remember my friends and I cutting class to go buy it and then putting it on and it was like "whoaaa what the hell is this"...its really hasnt been the same kinda magic since.


Shocking Bad: NPS's Shoobedo

[Edited 10/15/07 17:27pm]
[Edited 10/15/07 17:34pm]

Definitely New Power Soul and Rave.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I guess you don't listen to rap or hip-hop.

For me it wasn't an album.
It was a single.
Electric Intercourse.
I didn't pull out soon enough.

1988 - Black Album - it sounded so much harder, darker, denser, more creative, and crazier than anything else I heard that year or before on radio and people's homes.

Rinluv said:

Uh.... .NO!

That's not my genre at all... that's why I went 2 diff. artists a lot these past few years... cuz that's everwhere I look.
Luckily, Prince (or in this case, ), makes it sound good... to a certain degree. (still hate a few of his gangsta rap tracks).

I just wanted 2 add that
Rave Un2 kinda came off all weird the first time I heard it (a month ago), I was afterwards

But
ATWIAD
Dirty Mind
Planet Earth

were a few albums that shocked me with how good they really were when I heard them the first time.

Around The World In A Day

I was absolutely thrilled that it didn't sound like "Purple Rain", but a majority of it (outside of "Pop Life" and "Raspberry Beret") sounded like ultra messed up psychedelic bullshit that was far beneath someone of Prince's stature.

But months or years later (can't remember exactly anymore) it became a natural favorite.

But now it's getting increasingly difficult to shock me, as I've pretty much heard it all; or so I thought.

In 2007, "Lion" sounded terribly distasteful and clumsy to me, not unlike that experience I had years before with Wendy & Lisa's possible influence. And this time, strangely enough, it also became an all-time favorite.

But, on the somewhat flip side, "Mr. Goodnight" sounded awfully embarrassing initially, only to later become partially stupid and fully braggadocios fun that sounds like it would be right at home with "Exodus".

So hate can transform all over the place, including most of the time just staying put.

And then there was this girl that I used to punch in grade school that I secretly...(ah, never mind, you get the point about how we don't always fully comprehend our own feelings.)

Sometimes, only sometimes, we need some space to see more objectively into ourselves.

ReginaCarman said:

i will add that there are many writers in history that express the pain that has been inflicted upon them through metaphors. Shakespeare is one of them. i think everyone alive tries to express how painful, or confusing, or Happy, or transversely, how Loving, or sexual,and writing catharically to expell and tell people about abuse inflicted upon themselves or others that hurts so very much the Heart and and Soul of not just one's self but also everyone alive. It's not unusual to write about one's own experiences. When other people hurt another there is something to talk about and write about. Thank u to the people brave enough to express and share their expereinces and emotions, because some of us can't reach a massive audience and/or don't have the Karma to do so.

For me it was Newpower Soul that shocked me most. Outside of his working with Chaka and Larry, the new album was quite shocking after all the "collective" spiritual talk of the Emancipation, Holy River, L4OA days. In an interview at the time, Prince called the album very spiritual, and yet my having worked with him up to that point, I found it to be quite different. The only thing spiritual were the sayings he had written around the outer frame of "The One" video, displaying the first real evidence of his newly-adopted JW beliefs (outside of some very recent cryptic conveyances thru L4OA). And after waxing so spiritual just previous to the album's release, you woulda thought the new single "The One" would've actually been about The One! But to someone as egocentric as Prince returned to be, the song was merely another song about himself. How dare he credit his L4OA friends in the liner notes and make reference to Lovesexy. Newpower Soul was anything but what we once knew the words to mean. This was the year Prince closed down L4OA, turned his back on the charity and "friends," dug into JW-only interpretations of The Word, and focused more on an exclusive race-specific role in society.

To me, it was all like a slap in the face. That's where we stopped. And yet, here I am, offering up my other cheek.

Batman - couldn't believe that the person who had created Lovesexy could release such a 'commercial' album.

for me it was smack papa, smack smack papa papa

Wonderwall said:

Just like me.
What an influence?!

ufoclub said:

It's probable I'd still think The Black Album sounds as you describe had it not been officially released.

Brendan said:

I was reading an article that suggests that it is only until quite late into our lives that we can reach a kind of truth (or true understanding) in terms of what the reasons are as to why we have reached certain destinys e.g, professional and personal identities.

Snap said:

Prince calling Newpower Soul 'spiritual' says the same thing to me as when he called The Black Album 'evil'. It sounds to me that what he is actually referring to is the meaning he has ascribed to the period in which the album was made. Thus, Newpower Soul was made at a time of spiritual enlightenment for Prince (as opposed to the album actually being spiritual in nature) and The Black Album was made at a time of dark times for Prince (as opposed to the album actually being evil in nature).

I thought nothing could shock me...'til I heard the appallingly bad lyrics on Planet Earth.

Snap said:

I can see how this was shocking to you, Snap. I do find the psychology of such an apparent U-turn fascinating though.

Anji said:

I think that there's a lot of truth in that.

I'm a recovering perfectionist, so what I'm trying to do is only concern myself with this stuff as it pertains to real self improvement.

In other words, I don't wish to sit around anymore and waste energy worrying about the unchangeable past or future.

Living in the moment, just like a great actor is trained to do, is where it's at.

Improve yourself by being honest (objective) about your mistakes, but don't beat yourself up over them.

Of course some people aren't even interested or haven't even reached a point where they can be that self aware.

But that's why psychologist/psychiatrists can expertly guide you into uncovering what was there all along.

Brendan said:

I wonder how you feel that statement about yourself relates to your experience of working on The Essentials list?

Anji said:

Quite different about it now than when I first started.

I'm trying to (but certainly often still failing) to take only the good out of perfectionism, and leave all the bad in my wake.

Over the years I've developed the skill to almost expertly be able to recognize most of my many faults and foibles, either soon after the incident, or mostly within a day or so.

Therefore it's important for me to use that as a means of self improvement, not to waste precious energy on that which I cannot control anyway.

Use mistakes as platforms for improvement, not as reasons to denigrate. Find ways to correct your mistakes, then move on. It's really no big deal.

And it feels quite good when I achieve this type of peace.

So the "Essentials" has become a great means in which to tackle the impossible, the unreachable (being totally objective and without bias), while not worrying at all about where and when I fail.

Failure might not be fun, but we can learn quite proficiently this way.

Brendan said:

That sounds really good, Brendan. Thank you for taking the time to answer that.

With regards the bolded statements, I'm wondering whether you're also someone who allows yourself a pat on the back, a well done, a congratulatory reward, alongside not worrying/beating yourself up about wherever you fall in the learning process?

Anji said:

Yea, that's a really excellent point.

Let's just say that I'm learning that I need to reward myself as often as I'm correcting, else the whole thing can just unravel.

I've actually sat around and destroyed myself over my slowness in some activity (below average) as well as for something that I performed way beyond the Bell Curve (in the top 5% of all testers).

That's when you know that you're truly suffering from the ill effects of perfectionism, when you can hate on yourself regardless of whether your deficient or completely off the charts.

But I don't like that feeling.

I like the feeling where I don't second guess myself over anything, just keenly notice (and even laugh at) where I can improve through practice.

Brendan said:

That's really good to hear, Brendan. And do you feel you can allow yourself a reward for where you are now and what you have already achieved in the Essentials List?

I'd also like to add that how I perceive an album sometimes has to do with other "factors".
Like if I'm expecting it sound a certain way and it doesn't, I have a harder time getting into it.
But early on, I didn't know what to expect.

I expected good music from TGE... but I certainly wasn't counting on Endorphinmachine. All of the crazy guitar and the screaming... before that, I've heard Purple Rain and Musicology, so I wasn't anywhere near prepared for this.

I came into Rave with certain expectations ( material, no less)... never heard a more bizarre album in my life... that's what I first said.
NewPower Soul was kind of a shock, but not on such a great scale. I expected it to be sub-power, but I had no idea that I wanted the title track to end so badly towards the last minute of it. Just got sick of it and wanted it to end.

Again 1999 again is classic for me. I expected all track 2b like the first two... I didn't get the vision I hoped for. But I worked with that album for a couple of weeks before it finally did it for me.

But the albums I worked with the hardest tend to be the ones that I end up loving the most. 1999 & TGE are living proof.
I have a good relationship with all the albums I own overall, though. Where my mind is when I hear it the first time gives me one impression of it, but listening several times make first impressions out 2b false (turning negatives into positives).