i feel that it was alright but not as legendary looking back at it. I like dead on it, Bob george, superfunkicalifragisexi,rock hard in a funky place but the rest is okay, cincy c, le grind, 2 nigs are okay... what do u think?

Awwwww not this again!!!

I think it's a classic album...One I'm hella glad P recorded. It's a phantom album no doubt. One of the best albums P ever did, I think. I've heard some stories as to WHY P actually recorded the album and him wanting to release it, then not releasing it. It's so much that's swirling around the period of when P actually recorded it. I think he and Sheila were waaay out during this period. This kind of ties in with WHY Lisa and Wendy really quit...Again, just rumors, but it's way out never the less. It's "something" ON this album though, I know that. I think the name of it is aptly titled to say the least. And then for P to do an album like Lovesexy right after that. There is a connection definately. I think P was trying to "distance" himself from something that he was with when he recorded The Black Album. So then he did Lovesexy. To rid himself of what he called "Spooky Electric". That's code for something else. I never heard P sound so totally different as he does on those two albums. And for him to throw "When 2 R In Love" on Lovesexy which was initially on The Black Album. And I think it's the weakest song on both albums actually. Never know with Prince.
[Edited 9/1/08 1:53am]

Classic album and one of my favourites, possibly his last great album. But I think it's underrated overall.

A lot of the magic about it has gone for newer listeners because of it's official release. and how it was released just after just 'Come' in the stupid fight with Warners period also rubbed a bit of the sparkle off it. I think the reaction to it at the time from a more general audience was 'THIS is what all the fuss was about?'... Had it been released at a time where Prince's public image had a stronger footing, such as the past couple of years, I think it would've been looked on much more favourably.

It's over-rated to those who don't like it.
However,
on the flip-side,
there are many who do enjoy it who feel that it is under-rated.

Personally,
I'm still uncomfortable calling it the Black Album.
I prefer the term "semi-Funk-American" Album.

I did not like the Black album and think it was highly overrated.

I really, really like it. More than Purple Rain or LoveSexy.

See?
What'd I tell you?

I remember not liking it...feeling as if it was a sad and angry Prince....although I wouldn't mind listening to it again. I have the album, and my turntable is gone...maybe someday.

This is a REAl dead horse topic, but still:

'89 (for me - that's when I got hold of it finally) was an amazing time listening to illicit copies of this on vinyl and cassette. It's hard to describe that feeling to someone who wasn't around then...

It was a fun album in 88, but it's urban legend status kind of hyped it beyond it's capability. It's a sign of the times, really. It was at the time meant as a straight-up R&B album to show his older black audiences he still had 'it'. If you view it as just a little something to bridge SOTT with Lovesexy, then Lovesexy becomes indeed the cleansing after darkness, even though I still think Le Grind is way up there with the Lovesexy stuff and Rockhard in A Funky Place should have been a b-side to a SOTT single, a project way too early aborted, when it comes to promotion and touring.
Sad. The biggest momentum of his carreer just swept aside.

blackguitaristz said:

I always thought that When 2 R In Love was subversive and fit perfectly on both albums. It has such pretty melodies and a overall sweet sentiment but when you just listen to the lyrics, its one of his most explicit and "dirty" songs.

jdcxc said:

That's a cool way of looking at it. Thanks for the insight

rusty1 said:

I think it is definitely one of his better albums, but I agree it is not his most awesome work. But it is really great in either case. Speaking of "The Black Album", two of the songs on that album are on the Best Song by Prince ranking on Rankopedia. "Bob George" is # 25 and "When 2 R in Love" is # 41. I agree those are some great songs. Check it out here and let's get these songs higher up the ranking! http://www.rankopedia.com...1/2998.htm

Some good stuff on it, namely Cindy C. Although the subject of that song is kind of dated, the song itself is really good.

It's somewhere in the middle, I think.

I wanted to avoid it based on the fact that Prince had it withdrawn and didn't want people to have it. Plus, I thought it was a hip-hop album and its a genre I can totally do without.

I was surprised by it. I had such low expectations for it because I didn't think it'd be my kind of music.
After listened to it plenty of times since then, its just okay by me. It's not totally amazing. I prefer well-done lyrical ballads to dance music that really doesn't have a story behind it. That's just me.

The best tracks there amount to "Bob George" very gritty, daring and makes me laugh every once in a while. "Superfunkycalifragisexy" is the best of the dance-mode songs on there. And "When 2 r in love" a surprising gem, but then again, I own LoveSexy now and it goes better with that music.

In the debate between this album and LoveSexy, LoveSexy wins out because its simply my type of music.

wow! worth owning 4 Bob George alone

lottielooloo1968 said:

OHHH Yeah! i second that!

also "2nigs united for west compton" & "rockhard in a funky place" are some of my faves also

I think it's just alright....not quite the funk masterpiece that I expected.Maybe my expectations were too high? I actually prefer 'Lovesexy'.

I liked it more before it came out.

Musicwise, quite overrated IMO.

When Prince pulled the album back in 1987 and when those grainy sounding bootleg typs were circulating, the Black Album sounded 'better then it actually is. The 'mystic' surrounding the album made people overrate that album.

And i still think its overrated by too many people. Why? Some of the songs arent well composed, the frequence of the songs isnt 'all that' and Prince has done quite a number of better funk songs before and after this so called 'funk bible'

From song to song:
1. Le Grind: one of the highlights off the album. Hard, dirty, syncopating funk. But it goes on a bit TOO long: 8/10

2. Cindy C: another strong funk-jam, maybe a bit too long again: 8/10

3. Dead on It: mocking the music of the hip-hop artists but not very strong itself, throwaway quality, sounding very dated now: 5/10

4. When 2 were in love: Not a bad song itself, especially very nicely arranged, but it just sounds very out of place on this album. It works way better on Lovesexy: 7/10

5. Bob George: dark humor, a sober but menacing funkbeat, hilarious and creepy at the same time: 8/10

6. Superfunkycalifragisexy: my personal highlight of the album. One of his all time best dance/funk songs. Brilliant rhythem guitarwork, hilariously perverse lyrics and the music is splendid music between Yello-like electro and bareboned Prince-funk: 9/10

7. 2 Nigs united for west compton: Prince, Eric and co show they sure can jam, but it sounds a bit out of place on the album, and should have kept for a Madhouse CD: 6/10

8. Rockhard in a funky place: One of those Prince songs from this period (1987/1988) that marries a brilliant, almost Zappa-esque arrangement (just count those number of notes in the horn-riff!) with not so brilliant songwriting. Eye Know and some of the madhouse tracks are other examples.

Concluding:
A quite uneven album, some true highlights (especially Le Grind, Bob George and Superfunkycalifragisexi) next to lesser material. It sure is not a classic, but nonetheless a nice example of Princes attempts to elaborate his funk-sound during 1987/1988.

7/10

Overrated. With a name like "The Black Album", I was expecting it to be a return to the "Old Prince" sound before he had a white audience.

Vainandy, Prince never had a complete black or white audience during his entire career.

Even when he was mainly 'scoring' in the R&B charts, and when mostly so called 'black music' magazines were writing about him, his music and his fans were a mixture of blacks, whites, hispanics and eskimo's.

On For You and Prince you can hear 'touches' of Earth, Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone, but also of Michael Franks, The Bee Gees and Todd Rundgren.
And Dirty Mind was embraced as much by 'black' funklovers as by 'white' New Wave admirers.

So, dont stereotype here.

I think it was rated correctly at the time and has retained its 'classic' status to those in the know - the opening of the album is IMHO the best opening of any off his albums. Bob George is still as uncomfortable as back then to me but thats why its so brilliantt. If he was fired up enough Iwould love another album with this much agression.

Who's stereotyping. I don't care if he was making country music at the time, the majority of his audience in those early years was black. If you don't believe it, go back and look at some of the bootleg concert footage.

Yeah, he had a few white fans during those years, myself included, but they were usually the above average white people that were cool as hell.

Funky, but overrated.

But Vain Andy,

Does 'having black fans' directly correlate with 'deliverin good music'.

I am trying to make connections based on your remarks.
[Edited 9/3/08 10:13am]

at the time of its scheduled release, hell no it's not overated but it's one of those albums that doesn't "age" well. by the time it was "officially" released, it lost some of it's zap.

but i will always cherrish this album, because without it, i wouldn't have been xposed 2 a whole other world of music that still hasn't seen the light of day 2 the "masses"

What connection is so hard to make? The single, "Little Red Corvette", and the album, "Purple Rain", was Prince's first big splash into the mainstream white pop/rock world. When Prince totally changed his style after "Purple Rain" beginning with "Around The World In A Day", many black fans accused him of changing his style to suit his new white fans. Many white fans, on the other hand, simply thought he had just lost his mind, so that wasn't the case either. Prince had just made so much money after "Purple Rain" that he could afford to change his style and say "fuck you" to all his fans that didn't like it.

Anyway, after "Around The World In A Day", "Parade", and "Sign O The Times" which were three albums in a row of Prince's new style at the time, when a title like "The Black Album" was leaked, naturally, a lot of people were thinking it was going to be the return of the "Old Prince" sound that so many black fans wanted, and white fans as well. Many people referred to Prince's pre-ATWIAD music as "The Old Prince" because it was the sound that made him famous in the black community for years (and later in the white community also). Since many black people criticised his style change, naturally, a name like "The Black Album" would lead people to believe he was going back to that old style.