Am I the only one that finds it strange that there's no clear evolution between the sound of the Rave/"High" era tracks and the era that began with The Rainbow Children album.

It's like someone pulled the switch (Larry?) and bye bye plastic production/Kirky Jam and welcome retro-fashion real instruments sound...

MikeMatronik said:

I know...it was just a straight PULL OUT. Thats good because it left us suprised as hell and bewildered

naww, all three suck,bad lyrics musically uninspired.

Musically, Rainbow Children did kind of come out of nowhere. Kudos to his band for the inspiration. Lyrically, to me though, Prince has been de-evolving quite sadly, and opaquely since Diamonds And Pearls.

John Blackwell was definately a major factor in that sudden change. It was like a breath of fresh air into his music. The only track that I can think of that really links the two periods is "Cybersingle" which definately has that Rainbow Children sound.

I have always thought that Prince collapsed after Rave and realized that all that electro-plastic-pseudo shit-hop music was restricting his own talents; so Rainbow children was a dramatic "fuck off" to the kind of music he had been doing since Emancipation. Rainbow children was a fresh album with a new organic sound and a therapeutic masterpiece (from a musical point of view) which showed that Prince just needed a new direction (as well as spiritual guidance...)

MikeMatronik said:

That switch was pulled by Prince and mixed by Femi .

they went for a conservative old school sound with Rainbow.

I agree that the music seemed to come out of nowhere, but it certainly seemed that Prince was capable of that sound the whole time.

That said, I really like the Rave/High Era. SOngs Like Judas Smile and S&M Groove are some of his best. However, I also think TRC was superior to that era and think TRC as his last great album. Seriously.

I think it would be great if that kinda drastic change happened more often...

Well maybe the Rave/High music were older songs or they just were not working for him.

Prince was also going through alot of personal and spiritual changes during this period. The divorce, turning 40, didn't his parents die in the late 90's -early 00's, lots going on.

I think Rainbow Children had a musical cleansing effect for Prince.
Similar to LoveSexy, or his phase.

He may need another cleansing period after the last few years.

I think doing an extended concert gig in Paris would do wonders.
Lots of inspiration there, maybe in the Spring would be good.

Then we would hear it in the music later.

I just hope he is feeling good and doing well.

Overall, Rainbow Children was a retro step for Prince. It is mostly 70's style song production. Nothing new! It also featured uncharacteristically conventional arrangements for a Prince album, despite his creative touches like the slowed down narrator. It sort of referred back to musical theatre like HAIR in my opinion.Even the artwork reflected the soulful musical theatre idea.

RedKite said:

Yeah, he could've done with a good colonic after Musicology and 3121 that's for sure.



I think Prince just wanted to try something out with TRC, he was high on JW and conspiracy theory stuff (which links TRC to The War for me), and he was obviously influenced by the Neo Soul stuff.

As he often does it was the direction he felt and the inspiration of those around him, Rhonda and Renato and John Blackwell were great in his corner. This to me is Prince's best little era of work. Rainbow Children,NEWS,One Nite Alone, the Xepctation cd, it was a great place for him with that lineup, and honestly i think it would have be great if he kept it to those 3 plus him as the lineup, its easily the tightest players. And the One Nite Alone tour still ranks as one of my top Prince shows, just between the NYC soundcheck,Concert,than the after show, you basically were getting the best day of musicianship ever, it took me weeks to come down from the high of that night.

lastdecember said:

The music of this era i personally didn't find that exciting but i think it was the last time Prince as an artist seemed truly focused on his music. Those albums you mentioned seemed like cohesive works. Unlike the last three albums which seemed thrown together without any particular theme.
[Edited 1/31/08 17:10pm]

WildheartXXX said:

Yeah i feel the same, Prince it seems has a serious "focusing" problem at times, and at other times he's in the moment. I feel that alot of times he feels that "we" want a mixed album, a ballad, a pop song, funk, rap, and whatever else, it seems that he is constantly throwing that mix. I feel that certain tracks on 3121 and PE could have been removed or replaced with songs that fit the themes of the records. FBM and MR goodnight, made no sense on PE at all and Te amo really didnt fit on 3121, it almost sounds pasted into it. So i think by really trying to please everyone he tends to pull his albums down, if he wants to sound "current" he throws in tracks like "incense and candles" or "Illusion Coma" and "Life o the party" and "Get on the Boat", i mean the formula between the 3121 and Musicology records is indentical. To me i like when Prince "retreats" and gets into a groove, whether its the groove he was in on "lovesexy" or the jazzier side during "rainbow children" he seems to be more relaxed and the material stronger.

lastdecember said:

Agree completely with both your posts.

I think he may think the audience expects him to have a varied record and he wants to showcase his versitility - Sometimes it leads to a calculated tracklisting and spreading himself too thin.

FBM and Mr Goodnight on PE are perect examples - they rip the album in half, and I think FBM is great, just not particularly suited to the flow of that LP.

NouveauDance said:

The concept/sound/story of Rainbow Children is certainly cohesive. But it is conservative! It's not a new direction, but a retro direction to my ears. Planet Earth is also a different kind of retro direction, sort of retro in a very general sense. With a song like Future Baby Momma sounding like an 80's purple Prince outtake, while much of the rest sounds like 70's/early 80's mainstream pop

Rainbow Children sounds like the Stevie Wonder/Hair/Emerson Lake and Palmer (in complexity at times) but then you have something like 1+1+1 thrown in that sounds like a rip off of himself on Erotic City.

I could be way off!

I like his crazier pastiche albums as well. I mean, he was criticized for patching together or jumping all over the place on many of his album after Purple Rain.

ufoclub said:

Its not so much his jumping around, it seems to be jumping around in a "formula". 3121 and Musicology to me are two indentical "formulas", not bad work but just "formula" ballad,funk,rockier song, try to sound current song,and than he tosses in trademarks of himself. None of these are bad overall records and just seems that often he is putting songs in that should be left off and interchanged there creating more structure to an album. Rainbow Children to me works better, because you can tell everyone involved is there. With the past 3 albums, i would debate there have been any band members really playing on the records at all and hes there doing it all himself. I think the last 3 albums work, but there are BIG things that dont work at times and it always seems to be the same mistake.