Brilliant album.

I remember vividly the first time I heard it, Love 2 the 9s, particularly. The chorus just pinned me to the wall and smacked me about the face. I'd never heard anything like that before.

...Come to think of it, I haven't head anything like it since!

To me this album is Prince's 1 true masterpiece.

TyphoonTip said:

it's certainly the culmination of a lot for me.

i don't like to listen to this album piecemeal. gotta be the whole thing. it's like one very long song. i got it shortly after release in '92, and i listened to it over and over again all christmas vacation.

i like that it is stylistically very different from his other albums. prince carried over some of the visual notes from the 'd&p' era, and there are horns on the album, but it's just... out there. it's all about harmonies and interplay between multiple instruments with the very well placed quiet spaces. even the grooves have harmonies. in its own way it's nearly as complex as 'lovesexy,' though not in such a blatant, in-your-face fashion. it sounds almost like lounge music, but the closer you zoom in, more and more detail becomes apparent.

i don't think it's a coincidence that he lifted melodies from the unreleased '88 stuff. though it sounds radically different, it is the next logical step (sonically) beyond 'lovesexy.'

'the max' was originally tracked in 1988.

stanleylieber said:

That's the thing. The complexity is astounding in some places. Yet it all seems to flow effortlessly.

You mentioned the horns. WOW. The use of horns as strings in some parts, 'The Morning Papers' springs to mind, Oh & the 2nd 1/2 of the 'Love 2 the 9s' chorus, Fan-bloody-tastic.

There are only a few albums that I've listened to literally hundreds (possibly thousands?) of times; and still occasionally pick up something new.


Queen - II & A Night @ the Opera
Radiohead - OK Computer

...there are a couple more, but you get the idea.

This song was the beginning of Prince's angst, and arguably his best material forthcoming in the next few years. I've always said that Prince being angry is the best Prince there is around. Prince having slave angst with WB spawned great Cds like Come, The Gold Experience, Exodus, and even other albums with gems here and there like Chaos and Disorder, and of course "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World".

Prince was living a very ying yang life. He was angry and fighting WB, yet was quickly falling in love with Mayte. His rage and love was fully balances, and his music benefited for it. It was after he became free, and was able to do his own thing that his music started to suffer again.

He's had no real conflict w/ band members, no public falling outs with someone, his divorces were kept secret as much as possible and of course he never talked about it except through his music. I would even venture to say not many fans even gave a fat shit about Manuella. She never seemed personable, looked like an older knock off of Mayte, and all we heard was the fights between them. The peaceful Prince is the boring Prince. The JW Prince is the annoying Prince. He's not a positive nuisance anymore.

Having said all that, "The Sacrifice of Victor" started the best music of Prince's career through the 90's, and it ended when Emancipation hit.

TyphoonTip said:

THIS. --^

there are two major pieces of weight to this album:

1. astonishing breadth
2. he makes it sound effortless



the use of horns on this album is the best i've heard from him. and the way they are recorded. i could write books about the mix on this album.

stanleylieber said:

It's crazy but cool!

This is the best song on the album.

I LOVE Sacrifice of Victor!! I remember taping the ABC Special, & watching this performance over, & over, & over again!! It was so MOVING to me!!

stanleylieber said:

Are you sure? I was under the impression that they were two different tracks with the same title.

TwiliteKid said:

ooh, maybe so. given that the 'o(+>' track recycles the hook from 'rave unto the joy fantastic,' i just assumed it was an updated version of the original 'the max.'

has anyone actually heard the '88 version?

Date: 10-02-1988
Timing:
Remark: Version 1
Performer: Prince
Composer: Prince
Studio: Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen

i'm fascinated by that '88-'89 period of unreleased recordings. the sound was never really captured on an official release.

3121 said:

Yeah took us back to church... well me anyway

TwiliteKid said:

I had no idea there was another version floating around out there

Decent track with a great ending and I love "Joy lives round the corner"

"decent"

HATERZ!!!!!

stanleylieber said:

In terms of melody, harmony and arrangement, this is Prince's best work. There are moments of genius, like the piano run that comes in after the 'groove section' in Love 2 the 9's, the bass run into the third verse of 'The Morning Papers', and the vocal harmonies in Sweet Baby, that always amaze me. Great stuff.

I've been listening to this song almost non-stop since this thread arrived.

I can’t ever begin how much this scene from this movie touched me but I will never forget the first time I saw it and how hard it threw me because I recognized myself in Evey. I had no idea what this movie was about when my friend rented it and I had no idea this scene was coming but it pretty much sums up the revelation of my resurrection:



Evey held onto one single thread of hope, it was all she had. Life reduced down to a single inch. It’s not much but if you have even an inch of your true self, you have everything .

The beginning of the second clip doesn’t show you but she is just released from the prison where she found those wonderful letters:



To discovere life was colluding against her, she had a decision to make and she chose fearlesness…..

That’s why I love this song so much because it takes the real pain of life and turns it into a joyous manifesto of triumph

supa have you read the book? far superior to the film, i think you'd like it.

stanleylieber said:

No but that scene rocked my world like you wouldn't believe. My friend couldn't understand why I was crying so hard

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Amen!

One of the BEST songs he's ever done and I LOVE the gospel... I think he should revisit this genre

MrsGoodnight said:

at this point it might be totally cheesy. This spur of the moment out of left field stuff though....

ernestsewell said: