LAtimesinc said:

Funny, it didn't work with TRC.

I agree, it is a fantastic album but if u want a real classic album from the '90's then search 4 The dawn 3 disc set, just found it the other day and it is brilliant, I wonder if this is what Prince wanted 2 put out in place of the Gold experience. Find it mate, honestly, i'm loving it and I ain't the greatest lover of his '90's stuff.

jtfolden said:

Don't know your listing level...
I think Prince's music is so multi-leveled for a seasoned listener you get it right away.
For a casual listener it may take years to get the full impact of a Prince album, laugh if you will but he's just that brilliant!

levels:
music
lyrics
composition
background
etc.

you gotta be scientific to listen to Prince music.
Real Music for real music lovers!

This was the album where Prince lets loose from his Lovesexy piety that ran from '88 to '91. During that period his sound was sterile, plastic, hatched in a vacuum. With the Symbol album, he goes spastic. The vocal delivery on the opening track is gutteral, like he's foaming at the mouth. And the songs are prolix, meandering beasts, bent out of shape and bursting at the seams. My guess is, he had a very serious boner for Mayte and it pulled him out of his ascetic cave. He blew his creative wad with Symbol. And predictably, the next album is a bit of a downer. Come is dark and moody and emo. Post-coital emptiness.

I think Lotusflow3r represents the same sort of busting out as Symbol, this time from his JW strictures. So I predict P's next album, in 2010 or 2011, will be a "Come"-like letdown: A morose, gloomy thing.

padawan said:

padawan said:

You have a very eloquant way with words.
[Edited 4/25/09 15:34pm]

MattyJam said:

Thank you. It's a gift.

But you forgot to mention how classy I am.

It made me laugh out loud, which can only be a good thing.

padawan said:

it's a good thing you don't write for pitchfork or you might not be getting compliments for you vocabulary.

stanleylieber said:

I know, right. Maybe that pitchfork guy should've used more four-letter words.

padawan said:

Apart from Come being a let down, I agree with most of that. Beautifully worded! ...Seriously!

SoulAlive said:

U have the clean version of this album, the dirty uses the words nigger, fuck, motherfucker and shit a lot

SoulAlive said:

I thought that too...

Huggiebear said:

I just learned something new.

Huggiebear said:

The lyrics don't change, as far as I know. I do NOT have the clean version and he doesn't use "nigger" in that particular track.

jtfolden said:

i think you're right. my brain was on the fritz.

Since it first came out, I always said it was brilliant, funny how time flies without Janet Jackson.

damn said:

iGene said:

My absolute favourite it expesses everything Prince does well in one album!

My naive brother once thought Sexy MF was about someone havging sex with their mother! No matter how hard I tried to explain he was convinced and thought it was disgusting

I seem to remember reading somewhere--probably here on the Org--that quite a few segues/storyline elements that were supposed to appear on the album got cut to shorten the overall album length. That's why those that DID make the cut are so confusing and random in the context of the released project...

Paging Boris...please post the tracklist for that includes ALL segues (and tell us about the ones that were cut). I'm very curious about these; the album is among my favorites by Prince, but I'm sure putting back the "missing pieces" would make it that much more of a stronger project overall.
[Edited 4/26/09 0:09am]

Here's the original tracklist with all the segues intact...

01. Album Intro (1:46)
02. My Name Is Prince (6:25)
03. Sexy M.F. (5:26)
04. Segue (1:02)
05. Love 2 The 9's (5:45)
06. The Morning Papers (3:57)
07. The Max (4:30)
08. Segue (0:21)
09. Blue Light (4:38)
10. Segue (2:03)
11. Sweet Baby (4:02)
12. Segue (0:44)
13. The Continental (5:31)
14. Damn U (4:03)
15. Segue (0:44)
16. Arrogance (1:32)
17. The Flow (2:26)
18. Segue (0:48)
19. 7 (5:08)
20. Segue (0:16)
21. And God Created Woman (3:18)
22. 3 Chains O' Gold (6:02)
23. Segue (0:34)
24. The Sacrifice Of Victor (5:58)

I have seen a few other minor variations on this too, including a version
identical to the one above, but also including "Eye Wanna Melt With U"
(the inclusion of which was actually one of the main reasons for the
removal of the segues... so it would fit on one CD)

Bottom line: If you don't like this album than your vagina smells of fungusy toe jam.

bluefish said:

There was more Kirstie Alley segues with more of a storyline between her and Prince. It was cut down for time, and they are actually out there somewhere, floating around in bootleg land. I forget if I have them still, but I have heard them.

Boris is right about them being cut because of "I Wanna Melt With U". They weren't THAT deep or insightful, but it might have made more sense to the listener. I just take them as light hearted silliness on the album.

When I lived in MPLS in 1997, I actually called a phone chat line and logged in as a woman (I'm a guy), and used snips from those segues on the album as my "introduction" and responses to guys trying to say hi to me. It was HIGHsterical! haha I did it just for shits and giggles.

There'd be a guy say "HEy you sound hot, what's up?"

I'd play "How old are you?"

They'd reply a few minutes later with their age and I'd record "That is not the truth and you know it! Don't sweat it honey ,I'm too young for you."

They'd "ASSURE" me "I" wasn't. haha I was hectic because I didn't have the samples on a computer, so I was cueing everything up by hand on a CD player, but it worked. No one talked one to one back then, it was all little recorded messages back and forth. SO fun and silly.

Genesia said:

Well hot damn, Genesia and I have found a topic that we agree on 100%! From 2:14 on, Love To the 9's becomes one of the most bitter pills I've ever had to swallow from a Prince composition Everything else you wrote is completely on point as well

i'm glad the full segues weren't included on the album. i like the storyline much better as a vague sketch.

Genesia said:

Lol, it has been 17 years....
We can now selebrate:

Prince (1979) 30 years ago, lol....:s
Purple Rain (1984) 25 years ago ofcause :p
Batman (1989) 20 years ago... ( woooot!!!)
Come (1994) 15 years ago. He was suposed to be dead then...lol.
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999) 10 years ago..his blue suit prob fitts still
Musicology (2004) 5 years ago.... makes you wonder how fast time goes... 5 years is longer than most artists carear alone... :s
[Edited 4/26/09 15:38pm]

stanleylieber said:

Agreed. + I really like "Eye Wanna Melt With U.

british slang is so ugly sounding

damn said:

agree that the album is great. But not as good @ the 3 Chains o' Gold VHS, IMO. Awesome collection of videos! And it has its own storyline, 2.

jtfolden said:

Nah. That album is musically BRILLL. Lyrically, it's RIDICUUU. Most of the albums afterwards follow this trend...