Adorecream said:

But the most overrated by a longshot is THE RAINBOW CHILDREN its Hitler set to music, weak songwriting, religious bigotry, el cheapo technics, silly god voices and worn out phone in beats from a Soviet disco album of the 70s. Its absolute shite.

You nailed this one for me.

People here really need to look up the work overrated in the dictionary.

Just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean it's overrated. It just means you didn't like it.

The Rainbow Children couldn't possbly be overrated because it didn't sell, and it wasn't critically acclaimed.

So, what exactly makes it overrated?

^ Unduly praised by fans....that's what makes them overrated.

It's like 20TEN is massively overrated compared to Lotusflow3r set which was great, but didn't get the recognition it deserved IMO.

Grafitti Bridge, The Vault, Rave, NEWS, Planet Earth and MPLSSound are vastly overrated.

(There: I completed the list.)

Paris9748430 said:

People here really need to look up the work overrated in the dictionary.

Just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean it's overrated. It just means you didn't like it.

The Rainbow Children couldn't possbly be overrated because it didn't sell, and it wasn't critically acclaimed.

So, what exactly makes it overrated?

You are right, it was a flop and some critics did not like it, but a few did, the main reason is I mean its overrated because the majority of fans and people posting on this site, do like this album and several orgers count it amongst their favourites up there with albums like 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, SOTT and the Gold Experience. There is no way the musicality and songs on TRC come close to these gems (Even with the religion and bigotry shaved out).

Its like most of his later (Post 1992) material, the general public hates it or barely notice it, but fans seem to love it. Why I don't know, Rave is much better and Musicology is lamost redemption in my eyes. But really The Rainbow children is overrated.

You have to be blind if you can not see much love TRC gets from some people in the rate the album threads and best of threads. Most people give it like a 9 out of 10. To me on a good day its a 2 out of 10.

wally1970 said:

,,!,, u joe tyler , there r no overrated prince albums just underrated . And I love FOR YOU . U must b a jack o fan , so beat it .

ya talkin' to me?

See? This is why I hate opinion threads, because people get pissy and testy when you mention their favorite album that, in your opinion, you think is overrated.

Oy!

MajesticOne89 said:

TheFreakerFantastic said:

^ It dated quickly. I first heard PR in 1995 and i remember thinking, this stuff sounds really old..(although there is a certain timeless quality to WDC and PR).

I hate the dated argument. There are so many factors that go into the recording of sound (music). The available recording facilities and equipment available, the current recording trends in popular music at the time, a lot of stuff is going to sound like it came from a certain era in time. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" doesn't sound fresh or like it was just recorded, but it's a great peformance and the musicians sounds good; what more can you ask for?

For me it's not the dated sound... so much of Prince's work is dated (eg, that horrible orchestra hit synth patch that he was using around SOTT, the amount of sampling on the early 90s stuff, the rapping... yowza. During the 90s didn't he continue to use drum machines and synths, but the technology was at the point where synthetic drums/bass didn't sound novel, just shttty? I could start a thread about this.)

Come to think of it, the least dated album of the 80s/90s is probably Parade - but that's partly because it's hard to believe that anyone in any era of history thought that the production on that album was good.

Anyway back on topic. I guess PR doesn't do it for me because it's not particularly funky, it's not particularly rockin, and it's too poppy to have anything interesting on it, or anything that's hard to digest. As pop songs they're all pretty good, I guess...

fusk said:

Come to think of it, the least dated album of the 80s/90s is probably Parade - but that's partly because it's hard to believe that anyone in any era of history thought that the production on that album was good.

Adorecream said:

I think Gold nigga is way overrated.

Totally. People on here go "Gold Nigga this", "Gold Nigga that". Or "If this had come after Purple rain, his legacy would have been secured, like, forever".

"Gold Nigga is the (other) New Power Soul of the 90s", as they used to say.

Rav Un2 The Joy Fantastic

Musicology

3121

Lotusflow3r

Even though some of those albums have pretty good cuts..overall they are all weak :/

Another thing i never understood is why "chaos and disorder" rated so bad by prince fans?
that album is unique and is the most unusual out of all prince albums i love the whole rock sound on it.

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic

Musicology

[Edited 12/3/11 0:42am]

Paris9748430 said:

People here really need to look up the work overrated in the dictionary.

Just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean it's overrated. It just means you didn't like it.

The Rainbow Children couldn't possbly be overrated because it didn't sell, and it wasn't critically acclaimed.

So, what exactly makes it overrated?

By this definition(which I agree with), SOTT is overrated I think. It's a very good album, which sold well (in Europe at least), got a lot of ctitcal acclaim but TO ME, just isn;t THAT much better then the two preceding albums

Sott

Parade

TRC

By this definition(which I agree with), SOTT is overrated I think. It's a very good album, which sold well (in Europe at least), got a lot of ctitcal acclaim but TO ME, just isn't THAT much better then the two preceding albums

so does that mean it isnt deserving of the critical acclaim?

uuhson said:

By this definition(which I agree with), SOTT is overrated I think. It's a very good album, which sold well (in Europe at least), got a lot of ctitcal acclaim but TO ME, just isn't THAT much better then the two preceding albums

so does that mean it isnt deserving of the critical acclaim?

no, that's exactly what it DOESN't mean; it's a good album, just not that much better then the other two preceding albums, although it ususally is said to be.

IMHO

so an album becomes overrated if another album isnt rated as well?

Rainbow F-ing Children.

Wack Album

uuhson said:

so an album becomes overrated if another album isnt rated as well?

dude, you just don't want to understand , I'm done

eelco said:

uuhson said:

so an album becomes overrated if another album isnt rated as well?

dude, you just don't want to understand , I'm done

I understand, and agree that the whole "overrated/underrated" thing can lead to some strange discourse.

V10LETBLUES said:

The Gold Experience

The Rainbow Children

Both of these are over the top overrated by some in the Prince community. Both of these were complete failures in sales, and if given a chance to listen to them, the general public rate as low and as bad as they should. This is one case where sales and quality and public perception really match perfectly. No amount of marketing can make people other than the most obsessed amongst us declare these "good" or the "best" of even pretend to like it.

You really do need to brainwash yourself to like these. TRC is a prime example. We have comically seen people here over and over subject themselves to the torture of it in yet another failed attempt to see how or why pupledidgdong123 thinks it's so great

By far these are the two most overrated Prince Albums.

Or simply enjoy good craft in music? Wonderful songs, brilliant arrangement, marvellous instrumental work, fine production, Prince being fully focused on what he was doing?

funkomatic said:

^Since Parade and ATWIAD are among the strongest albums Prince has ever made, it's like saying Prince as an artist is overrated.

See,that's the thing...I don't think those are among the "strongest" albums he has ever made.Even Prince himself doesn't think much of Parade.A few months after it was released,he called it a "disaster",saying that he recorded it too soon after ATWIAD and that he "didn't have enough great material ready.I'm not gonna make that same mistake again".

Lol, because Prince said so! Are you really that naive to ever believe what comes out of Prince's mouth?

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to discuss the quality of Prince' albums with you, because I know that my criteria are totally different from yours. I appreciate music that is interesting, challenging, edgy, well crafted, a piece of art.

BTW: There are no perfect albums in Prince's oeuvre except for Purple Rain maybe (looking at it from a pop point of view).

funkomatic said:

Lol, because Prince said so! Are you really that naive to ever believe what comes out of Prince's mouth?

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to discuss the quality of Prince' albums with you, because I know that my criteria are totally different from yours. I appreciate music that is interesting, challenging, edgy, well crafted, a piece of art.

BTW: There are no perfect albums in Prince's oeuvre except for Purple Rain maybe (looking at it from a pop point of view).

I'd argue that 1999 is damn near perfect

Not a lot of love for Around The World In A Day. Shame really, I think it's one of his best, and it spawned some of his best B-Sides too. Sure it's often experimental, but I think many of those songs are a great insight into the direction Prince went in next for Parade and SOTT, doubtlessly two of his best (in my opinion).

[Edited 12/5/11 7:24am]

SoulAlive said:

funkomatic said:

^Since Parade and ATWIAD are among the strongest albums Prince has ever made, it's like saying Prince as an artist is overrated.

See,that's the thing...I don't think those are among the "strongest" albums he has ever made.Even Prince himself doesn't think much of Parade.A few months after it was released,he called it a "disaster",saying that he recorded it too soon after ATWIAD and that he "didn't have enough great material ready.I'm not gonna make that same mistake again".

The fact that Prince doesn't like Parade only makes me like it more. It's my favorite album ever by anyone.

sign o the times. Never understood why people like this so much. This cd has always bored me. This cd actually drove me away from Prince in the 80s. Luckily Batman brought me back.

some of you are really deaf, and ungrateful towards the classic stuff.

tells more about you than about those Prince albums..