Some clippings after the Dublin show in 1992 in Ireland.

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc5/level11/Clippings/RDS199204.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc5/level11/Clippings/RDS199202.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc5/level11/Clippings/RDS199203.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc5/level11/Clippings/RDS199201.jpg[/img:$uid]

His hair!

This was when I felt he REALLY dropped the ball. I was VERY disappointed by this album. I was hoping it would be a return to form after GB, instead I hated it. In fact, I didn't listen to him for 8-9 years after this. I am one of the people who does not like the 1990-2000 period. Yeah, I was pissed when I got this album. What an embarrasing time to be a fan! Just my opinion, of course. I love your Era threads, even this one!

Dogsinthetrees said:

This was when I felt he REALLY dropped the ball. I was VERY disappointed by this album. I was hoping it would be a return to form after GB, instead I hated it. In fact, I didn't listen to him for 8-9 years after this. I am one of the people who does not like the 1990-2000 period. Yeah, I was pissed when I got this album. What an embarrasing time to be a fan! Just my opinion, of course. I love your Era threads, even this one!

Everyone has their likes and dislikes, being a Prince fan doesn't mean we have to agree with and love everything he puts out. I love fans who are objective...

I do these era threads also because I'm not a fan of every era and some eras I just didn't follow.

4 me it's also a way of learning from other fans of those albums/eras that I was not that into.

Each 1 Teach 1

Sometimes I look at an album/era with new eyes or even a song or 2

I admit the 1990 - 2000 period wasn't a fav of mine. Having come out the Purple Rain of 1978-1988 what followed was hard 2 follow. I checked him out, checked out new videos, loved some songs hated others

This is the first album I ever owned. It's funny how this turned me into a Prince fan, yet now, it's possibly in my bottom 5 Prince albums.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Dogsinthetrees said:

This was when I felt he REALLY dropped the ball. I was VERY disappointed by this album. I was hoping it would be a return to form after GB, instead I hated it. In fact, I didn't listen to him for 8-9 years after this. I am one of the people who does not like the 1990-2000 period. Yeah, I was pissed when I got this album. What an embarrasing time to be a fan! Just my opinion, of course. I love your Era threads, even this one!

Everyone has their likes and dislikes, being a Prince fan doesn't mean we have to agree with and love everything he puts out. I love fans who are objective...

I do these era threads also because I'm not a fan of every era and some eras I just didn't follow.

4 me it's also a way of learning from other fans of those albums/eras that I was not that into.

Each 1 Teach 1

Sometimes I look at an album/era with new eyes or even a song or 2

I admit the 1990 - 2000 period wasn't a fav of mine. Having come out the Purple Rain of 1978-1988 what followed was hard 2 follow. I checked him out, checked out new videos, loved some songs hated others

As I remember the 1990s, it was a strange & difficult time for music generally. I like that Prince was still somehow different, the 90s needed that. But I do think he had issues, musically and personally. I've read on here often that the 90s stuff sounds "dated," but the 80s stuff sounds "dated" too, with those synths & drum machines. When I listen to 90s music, whether Prince's or not, of course I'm fully aware it's from the 90s! I think the difference is simply, were the 80s "your decade" in terms of your age, or were the 90s "your decade." For me, it was the 90s. I liked D&P! And even more.

hls2000 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Everyone has their likes and dislikes, being a Prince fan doesn't mean we have to agree with and love everything he puts out. I love fans who are objective...

I do these era threads also because I'm not a fan of every era and some eras I just didn't follow.

4 me it's also a way of learning from other fans of those albums/eras that I was not that into.

Each 1 Teach 1

Sometimes I look at an album/era with new eyes or even a song or 2

I admit the 1990 - 2000 period wasn't a fav of mine. Having come out the Purple Rain of 1978-1988 what followed was hard 2 follow. I checked him out, checked out new videos, loved some songs hated others

As I remember the 1990s, it was a strange & difficult time for music generally. I like that Prince was still somehow different, the 90s needed that. But I do think he had issues, musically and personally. I've read on here often that the 90s stuff sounds "dated," but the 80s stuff sounds "dated" too, with those synths & drum machines. When I listen to 90s music, whether Prince's or not, of course I'm fully aware it's from the 90s! I think the difference is simply, were the 80s "your decade" in terms of your age, or were the 90s "your decade." For me, it was the 90s. I liked D&P! And even more.

Yes it was, the 1990s went thru a strange transition.. and with hip hop playing a bigger influence than need. Seems like every r&b singer had to have a rapper on their song

No matter what people think when your world surroundings associates and friends change so drastically it has a heavy affect on you. Most people in his D&P era were new, even his engineers and people like Sheila E & Eric Leeds came and went silently

I don't mind dated it doesn't mean it's not good. For it's when I heard the music it felt easy or compromised... That was an easy album for Prince to make.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Love that last pic - do you have any more 'production pics'? I love this video!

OldFriends4Sale said:

hls2000 said:

As I remember the 1990s, it was a strange & difficult time for music generally. I like that Prince was still somehow different, the 90s needed that. But I do think he had issues, musically and personally. I've read on here often that the 90s stuff sounds "dated," but the 80s stuff sounds "dated" too, with those synths & drum machines. When I listen to 90s music, whether Prince's or not, of course I'm fully aware it's from the 90s! I think the difference is simply, were the 80s "your decade" in terms of your age, or were the 90s "your decade." For me, it was the 90s. I liked D&P! And even more.

Yes it was, the 1990s went thru a strange transition.. and with hip hop playing a bigger influence than need. Seems like every r&b singer had to have a rapper on their song

No matter what people think when your world surroundings associates and friends change so drastically it has a heavy affect on you. Most people in his D&P era were new, even his engineers and people like Sheila E & Eric Leeds came and went silently

I don't mind dated it doesn't mean it's not good. For it's when I heard the music it felt easy or compromised... That was an easy album for Prince to make.

So true!

What happened to the planned double album 'Whispers and Screams' which the Brian Boyd article above mentions had been ready for eight months? Never heard that mentioned before?!

Love it....One of my favorite albums. Love the pictures too! Can't wait for "Emancipation Era"

TheFreakerFantastic said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Love that last pic - do you have any more 'production pics'? I love this video!

I believe I do, let me check on it

Some of the best, if not the best, of his music videos were made during this time. Love them all soooo much!

aardvark15 said:

Some of the best, if not the best, of his music videos were made during this time. Love them all soooo much!

I agree, he put some quality into these (most likely had someone else direct)

the best though is the Parade era

This album is really great for anyone new who wants to get into Prince, this album is a classic.

OldFriends4Sale said:

aardvark15 said:

Some of the best, if not the best, of his music videos were made during this time. Love them all soooo much!

I agree, he put some quality into these (most likely had someone else direct)

the best though is the Parade era

I do wish more went into Mountains though

aardvark15 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I agree, he put some quality into these (most likely had someone else direct)

the best though is the Parade era

I do wish more went into Mountains though

Yeah just a little more lol it seems Screams of Passion & Mountains were shot the same

This era is cool, but I finally checked out the whole album. It has shining moments, but I won't be buying it.

DIAMONDS AND PEARLS
PRINCE AND THE NEW POWER GENERATION
Paisley Park/Warner Bros.

PRINCE HAS NEVER SOUNDED SANER than he does on Diamonds and Pearls. After his obsessive struggles -- in terms that were deeply insular and allegorical -- with spirituality and sexuality on Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge, Minneapolis' resident genius has refocused his attention on his first love: pop songcraft. The results are hardly Prince's most monumental work, but they do reveal a long-buried subtlety and -- dare I say it? -- modesty.

Range is the name of the game on Diamonds and Pearls, but not the sprawling stylistic hybrids that characterized such masterworks as Dirty Mind and Sign o' the Times. Rather, Prince limits himself to fleshing out a carefully bound pop formalism. His creative madness -- a chorus of car horns in the delightful "Walk Don't Walk" or the interlocking keyboards of "Daddy Pop" -- is strategically women into (relatively) conventional structures. The album is packed full of irresistible hooks, though some -- like the dreamy chorus of the title track -- seem hastily pasted onto unfinished songs.

The album introduces the New Power Generation, which proves fully capable of jumping from the sly garage rock of "Cream" to a light ska groove in "Willing and Able." Drummer Michael B. is an especially impressive anchor, helping give Diamonds and Pearls the most band-oriented sound of Prince's career. It is telling, though, that the hardest rocker on the album -- "Thunder," a roof-raising plea for salvation -- is the one track Prince handles all by himself.

Less successful are the attempts to integrate rap into Prince's pop universe. A verse or two by N.P.G. rapper Tony M. in "Willing and Able" is a fine addition, but giving him an entire song -- "Jughead," a silly attempt at a new dance craze -- is simply a waste. Tony's rapping style, also featured on "Push," is functional, but his rhymes are insubstantial. "Housequake," on Sign o' the Times, was a great dance "instruction" song because Prince so clearly loved the James Brown funk he was aping; in contrast, "Jughead" sounds like an obligatory effort at including a genre with which Prince has never been comfortable.

The recurrent themes of Diamonds and Pearls are lighthearted self-motivation and positive thinking -- "Push until U get 2 higher ground" or just "walk on any side U like." Most ambitious is "Live 4 Love," a grinding seven-minute internal monologue of a troubled fighter pilot, while "Insatiable," the requisite seduction ballad (still Prince's most underrated style), is simply gorgeous, highlighting his effortless to great effect. But only the bass-heavy first single, "Gett Off," includes the loopy lewdness we have come to expect from Prince. "Slip yo dress down like I was strippin' a Peter Paul's Almond Joy" may not make a whole lot of sense, but it's got the demented excess that much of Diamonds and Pearls seems to be missing.

-- ALAN LIGHT

ROLLING STONE, OCTOBER 17TH, 1991

OldFriends4Sale said:

DIAMONDS AND PEARLS
PRINCE AND THE NEW POWER GENERATION
Paisley Park/Warner Bros.

PRINCE HAS NEVER SOUNDED SANER than he does on Diamonds and Pearls. After his obsessive struggles -- in terms that were deeply insular and allegorical -- with spirituality and sexuality on Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge, Minneapolis' resident genius has refocused his attention on his first love: pop songcraft. The results are hardly Prince's most monumental work, but they do reveal a long-buried subtlety and -- dare I say it? -- modesty.

Range is the name of the game on Diamonds and Pearls, but not the sprawling stylistic hybrids that characterized such masterworks as Dirty Mind and Sign o' the Times. Rather, Prince limits himself to fleshing out a carefully bound pop formalism. His creative madness -- a chorus of car horns in the delightful "Walk Don't Walk" or the interlocking keyboards of "Daddy Pop" -- is strategically women into (relatively) conventional structures. The album is packed full of irresistible hooks, though some -- like the dreamy chorus of the title track -- seem hastily pasted onto unfinished songs.

The album introduces the New Power Generation, which proves fully capable of jumping from the sly garage rock of "Cream" to a light ska groove in "Willing and Able." Drummer Michael B. is an especially impressive anchor, helping give Diamonds and Pearls the most band-oriented sound of Prince's career. It is telling, though, that the hardest rocker on the album -- "Thunder," a roof-raising plea for salvation -- is the one track Prince handles all by himself.

Less successful are the attempts to integrate rap into Prince's pop universe. A verse or two by N.P.G. rapper Tony M. in "Willing and Able" is a fine addition, but giving him an entire song -- "Jughead," a silly attempt at a new dance craze -- is simply a waste. Tony's rapping style, also featured on "Push," is functional, but his rhymes are insubstantial. "Housequake," on Sign o' the Times, was a great dance "instruction" song because Prince so clearly loved the James Brown funk he was aping; in contrast, "Jughead" sounds like an obligatory effort at including a genre with which Prince has never been comfortable.

The recurrent themes of Diamonds and Pearls are lighthearted self-motivation and positive thinking -- "Push until U get 2 higher ground" or just "walk on any side U like." Most ambitious is "Live 4 Love," a grinding seven-minute internal monologue of a troubled fighter pilot, while "Insatiable," the requisite seduction ballad (still Prince's most underrated style), is simply gorgeous, highlighting his effortless to great effect. But only the bass-heavy first single, "Gett Off," includes the loopy lewdness we have come to expect from Prince. "Slip yo dress down like I was strippin' a Peter Paul's Almond Joy" may not make a whole lot of sense, but it's got the demented excess that much of Diamonds and Pearls seems to be missing.

-- ALAN LIGHT

ROLLING STONE, OCTOBER 17TH, 1991

I agree with most of what the critic said. I only think that writing superb pop songs, though not as groundbreaking and "excessive" as in the past, has a lot of merit, more than the reviewer seems to acknowledge. So I'd rate it with 4 stars and a half... But, as I said, it's a very accurate commentary.

The outfits and clips from this Era are fantastic!

PRINCE Diamonds & Pearls (Rare official 1991 US Paisley Park/Warner label promotional only press pack comprising of a 10-page press release/biography printed on Paisley Park headed paper, includes a brief biography from '78 -'91 plus album discography, also includes a 8" x 10" black & white publicity photograph - all housed in a Warner label card folder)

OldFriends4Sale said:

DIAMONDS AND PEARLS
PRINCE AND THE NEW POWER GENERATION
Paisley Park/Warner Bros.

PRINCE HAS NEVER SOUNDED SANER than he does on Diamonds and Pearls. After his obsessive struggles -- in terms that were deeply insular and allegorical -- with spirituality and sexuality on Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge, Minneapolis' resident genius has refocused his attention on his first love: pop songcraft. The results are hardly Prince's most monumental work, but they do reveal a long-buried subtlety and -- dare I say it? -- modesty.

Range is the name of the game on Diamonds and Pearls, but not the sprawling stylistic hybrids that characterized such masterworks as Dirty Mind and Sign o' the Times. Rather, Prince limits himself to fleshing out a carefully bound pop formalism. His creative madness -- a chorus of car horns in the delightful "Walk Don't Walk" or the interlocking keyboards of "Daddy Pop" -- is strategically women into (relatively) conventional structures. The album is packed full of irresistible hooks, though some -- like the dreamy chorus of the title track -- seem hastily pasted onto unfinished songs.

The album introduces the New Power Generation, which proves fully capable of jumping from the sly garage rock of "Cream" to a light ska groove in "Willing and Able." Drummer Michael B. is an especially impressive anchor, helping give Diamonds and Pearls the most band-oriented sound of Prince's career. It is telling, though, that the hardest rocker on the album -- "Thunder," a roof-raising plea for salvation -- is the one track Prince handles all by himself.

Less successful are the attempts to integrate rap into Prince's pop universe. A verse or two by N.P.G. rapper Tony M. in "Willing and Able" is a fine addition, but giving him an entire song -- "Jughead," a silly attempt at a new dance craze -- is simply a waste. Tony's rapping style, also featured on "Push," is functional, but his rhymes are insubstantial. "Housequake," on Sign o' the Times, was a great dance "instruction" song because Prince so clearly loved the James Brown funk he was aping; in contrast, "Jughead" sounds like an obligatory effort at including a genre with which Prince has never been comfortable.

The recurrent themes of Diamonds and Pearls are lighthearted self-motivation and positive thinking -- "Push until U get 2 higher ground" or just "walk on any side U like." Most ambitious is "Live 4 Love," a grinding seven-minute internal monologue of a troubled fighter pilot, while "Insatiable," the requisite seduction ballad (still Prince's most underrated style), is simply gorgeous, highlighting his effortless to great effect. But only the bass-heavy first single, "Gett Off," includes the loopy lewdness we have come to expect from Prince. "Slip yo dress down like I was strippin' a Peter Paul's Almond Joy" may not make a whole lot of sense, but it's got the demented excess that much of Diamonds and Pearls seems to be missing.

-- ALAN LIGHT

ROLLING STONE, OCTOBER 17TH, 1991

He is so funny! I love these crazy-ass lyrics!

Diamonds and Pearls is a GREAT Pop album!