Genesia said:

i'm starting to gather that.

I know and I love ARROGANCE....And how each song flows into the next one....

Rock to the F..L...O...W! Minneapolis...Minneapolis...

My Name Is Prince, I love this - he sings this track so agressive....
Sexy MF, a classic...
The Morning Papers,
Melt With U,
7

9/10 to this - great album.

the remarkable thing about 'o(+>' is that the tony m sections almost kind of work. i think he fits into 'the sacrifice of victor' really well. hell, his rap on the studio version (NOT LIVE) of 'my name is prince' works well enough.

stanleylieber said:

I won't resort to swearing, but come on, there are so many albums worthy of more admiration than this one. So you like songs with lines like
"What nigger man wants to be a star, and what nigger man wants to play guitar" and laudatory crap like Three chains o Gold.

This album was mammothean self indulgence with cream, cherries and molasses on top. Comparable to Rick Wakeman performing "The Knights of King Arthur" on ice in 1975.

Why do folks expend the energy to NOT like something? If you don't like it, why bother commenting? It's an appreciation thread. No one's trying to convince you "Arrogance" is the track of the century, no more than they're trying to tell you "The Morning Papers" is worse than "The Wedding Feast". Letitgo.

I love this album. It's got some of my fav Prince tracks on it and while Tony's rapping is very, very dated, Prince's music on the album is pretty fantastic.

This was the first album of Prince's that I bought, back many moons ago. Got me totally hooked, listened to it over and over. A unique sound for back then, and still a great one in my opinion.

Huggiebear said:

i hear you but i also hear the album. it's okay that you don't like it; i don't like most of what's come out since '95.

self-indulgence doesn't bother me. i want that from artists. i'm not really looking for prince to be a mainstream act. actually, that part of him has always been really unappealing to me. it's the artistry and musicianship that i'm interested in. 'o(+>' is a masterwork of composition and recording craft. there's some complicated shit happening in those songs. follow the through-line from start to finish. listen to the mix. it's probably his most flawlessly executed album, but at the same time it doesn't sound sterile.

i think the line is "what make a nigga want to be a star." the answer was "arrogance." the same thing that made him want to play guitar. the same thing that made eve take the first bite. that track in particular is probably one of the most honest things he's ever written. so, yeah, i really do like that kind of thing, and i wish we'd get this kind of mixture of high-functioning craft, sincerity and emotional directness from him all the time.

'the rainbow children' is the closest we've come to this, after 1995. even though i find his latter day theology entirely objectionable, the music on that album is slamming. even using the same tired patches and drum fills that persisted since '96 and have persisted ever since. (i love the opening and closing tracks on 'lotusflow3r,' but i defy you to tell me with a straight face that you would have thought twice if someone had claimed they were outtakes from 2000.)
[Edited 4/25/09 1:00am]

ernestsewell said:

heh

ernestsewell said:

Agreed. People are a little uptight in here



Smooches;)

stanleylieber said:

Um, yeah...


Smooches;)

Love this album! One of his better releases of the 90's

I think the ballads on this album are the best part of it. Songs like Damn U and Sweet Baby are so classy and show up many of the tacky uptempo tracks.
[Edited 4/25/09 8:31am]

It's my favorite Prince album of the 90s.The music is so relentless and powerful....truly inspired!

Huggiebear said:

I thought he was saying "what makes a man wanna be a star?"

The Max, My Name Is Prince, Blue Light and The Continental are all filler and bog the album down alongside those silly interludes that don't make sense.

Underneath all of that nonsense is actually a very inspired album. On a first listen however, it just sounds like a mess.

It was, and always will be, one of my favorite Prince albums.

I was surprised when Diamonds & Pearls was a hit, since it was the first "normal sounding" Prince album since "For U", minus a couple of tracks.

So when the symbol album quickly followed with it's messy mix of themes, genres, screams, yelling, and crooning, it was like a jolt of electricity to what I thought was music verging on "easy listening" (at least for Prince).

I drove from Birmingham AL all the way up to New Jersey, playing that album over and over again in my car. And in Germany, I converted about 3 of my friends over to Prince fans due to that album. They'd never heard songs like 7, God Created Woman, and The Max.

It brings back alot of really fun memories for me.

It is a schizophrenic, insane mess of an album... but the highlights of the album are some of the greatest things he ever did.

jtfolden said:

Except for Sexy MF, I agree. His rap on that is...really bad.

The album is a joy to listen to. I wish somebody would remaster it.

yes, love album all tracks r awesome funk soul blues reggae ballad slow whatever so rich & so complex best Tony M. per4mance in this album yes album is AWESOME!

Tony m.'s rapping was so embarrassing. Prince was an innovator and then decided 2 incorporate rap in2 his music. "the flow", "arrogance", horrible

SoulAlive said:

shit, you're right.

rusty1 said:

i agree with this in a general sense, but somehow, on this album, i think it works. not "works" in the sense of comparing it with other contemporary rap, but in the sense of internal consistency. i view the album as one work. it's a big stew of oddly matched pieces that somehow makes a very satisfying whole.

I like it! Listened to almost non-stop when it came out and still do.

MattyJam said:

Those are HARDLY filler to me and in fact, are some of the ones I enjoy the most - The Max, Blue Light and The Continental are great!

stanleylieber said:

I agree... Prince really made his own "wall of sound" on this album, there are probably even sounds of a kitchen sink in here somewhere, and I think the rapping works within the context of what he created.

If you listen long enough...all his Albums are Brilll (brilliant)

hahaha..he does say..what makes a man want 2 b a star?? what makes a man want 2 play a guitar...get it together..this is about Prince's transformation..7 is one of the best mystical uplifting songs..and love 2 the 9's is off the hook! really..this site should be called hater.org.

SoulAlive said: