I really like it and always have. I can remember when I bought it, back in November 1994 and my wrekkastow was desperate to get rid of it, as they were given away a free copy of the Black Album with it.

I think people pan it because of the fact it came out under a cloud at the time and a few disparaging reviews derailed it. Some may say the 11 minutes of the title track is very self indulgent and borderline offensive, but who cares what they think, its funky, creamy and never not puts me in the mood. Only Solo is a self indulgent unlistenable experiment, the rest is decent or better.

To me the standouts are Letitgo an, extremely catchy and pop single, but with some great lyrics and a nice melody, this song is probably the most commercial thing he made outside Beautiful girl in this 1993 - 1995 period.

I also really love Drak, a brooding soul filled ballad in the Adore style with the darkish lyrics about a nasty girl who done him wrong, it makes him feel so dark "Took all my sex and money, took all self esteem, I never knew a bitch so mean, U absolutely drove a man 2 tears, and all I wanna know is that u were sincere" Great lyrics there, Sign o the times quality.

I kind of like Space, Pheromone too, even if they shriek on a bit, Space is great. Papa is okay if strange and I find Race poignant but predicatble, the token socially conscious track. Reminds me a lot of We March.

Overall its a solid B for me. I think my list gave it 74/100.

I can't remember if I already posted in this thread or not, but I just wanted to say that "Solo" is the best song on the album to me, and I'd put it in my all-time Top 20 Prince songs.

"Letitgo" is easily the weakest song to me. The rest of the songs are great.

This thread made me wanna relisten to this album and boy did I love it ^^. I loved it so much I wrote a review of the album. http://enewwave.tumblr.com/

I really like Letitgo and Solo, but all the rest doesn't really do it for me.

Papa has a brilliantly sculpted atmosphere but is a bit too creepy and dark for me.

All the rest are very sexual ("Come") dark too, they seem to be purposfully crass at times too.

P was obviously in a pretty weird mindset at the time !

Loved it then, love it now, probably love it til I die

Good: Solo

Ok: Come, Letitgo, Papa, Dark

Unconvincing: Space, Pheromone, Race, Loose

Skippable: Orgasm

Absolutely FUCKING LOVE IT!

Personally I think his greatest period musically was 94-96. Fuck the typical 82/84-87.

Come is really, really dark, but not negative and oddly sensual. Even the cover pulls you in. Come and Space have to be 2 of the best songs to fuck to in Prince's whole catalouge. Space is just one of his greatest songs I think. Pheromone is just so nasty, you can fuck to it or just play it in the car like I do. I love that beat. Loose! is really cool and I always show that song to my NIN-loving, industrial, elektro/rivethead friends. Probably one of the best hard electronic songs the man's done. Race an Dark are just really good songs that tie you into the whole mood of the album. It definitely works as a whole, I don't really know how else to explain it. And letitgo has to have one of the coolest guitar riffs in it. Period. I don't get too offended by Orgasm, sometimes I even listen to it, but mostly I just end it after letitgo. I wouldn't say he needed to strip it from the album, it has its place I think... it just isn't necessary to listen to it every single time.

My 2 cents anyway edit

[Edited 8/27/12 23:59pm]

GREAT album! It's in my regular rotation as well as the other albums from that time period, it was my favorite time. Race is my jam!

remember hearing Prince play 'Papa' live b4 it was released at the now defunct club Glam Slam in LA. It was so haunting & honest & sad the audience was in silence . But he got a long applause aftewards. It was a surreal experience 2 c live.Prince is so full of these moments inside of him. Makes me wonder why peeps give up so easily on him here..

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

remember hearing Prince play 'Papa' live b4 it was released at the now defunct club Glam Slam in LA. It was so haunting & honest & sad the audience was in silence . But he got a long applause aftewards. It was a surreal experience 2 c live.Prince is so full of these moments inside of him. Makes me wonder why peeps give up so easily on him here..

I have similar story about Papa. Prince did an aftershow at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago on the 2nd night of a 3 night run on the Act 1 tour. He was on stage and called out to a stage hand to bring him his purple notebook. He said the song he was about to sing was so new that he didn't remember all of the lyrics...and it was Papa. Great night (except for Malcom Jamal Warner jumping on stage and "rapping")!

motherfunka said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

remember hearing Prince play 'Papa' live b4 it was released at the now defunct club Glam Slam in LA. It was so haunting & honest & sad the audience was in silence . But he got a long applause aftewards. It was a surreal experience 2 c live.Prince is so full of these moments inside of him. Makes me wonder why peeps give up so easily on him here..

I have similar story about Papa. Prince did an aftershow at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago on the 2nd night of a 3 night run on the Act 1 tour. He was on stage and called out to a stage hand to bring him his purple notebook. He said the song he was about to sing was so new that he didn't remember all of the lyrics...and it was Papa. Great night (except for Malcom Jamal Warner jumping on stage and "rapping")!

The 2 of you...got to experience that song live. I am so envious right now, I know it had to be as you said KCOOl a very surreal experience. How did he perform it though I'm wondering, meaning like did he add some different sounds music wise to it that's different from the album version. It had to be something for him to perform that song for all of you after all.

i still like the title track, race and dark but i'm not keen on the rest anymore.

This album took me by surprise, perhaps because after the hype of the Gold Experience, there was virtually none around this album, which was released in a shockingly low key manner for a major artist who had just a couple of years earlier gone platinum and even more recently released a major hit single, TMBGITW. I went to a shop in Fords, NJ and the girl at the counter didn't even know it was out.

She said "Prince? I thought he wasn't doing that anymore." "After this, he's not", I said, and pointed to the death date on the cover by way of explanation, as if what he was doing with his name at the time made any sense.

Very few, if any, artists could hold my attention for 11 minutes the way Prince does with Come, but it's a tribute to the catchiness, sexiness, and most of all, the stellar arrangement of the song, which really showed what Prince had become capable of on that front.

Space was also all sex and catchy, and I only wish Pheromone, perhaps the last time Prince got really freaky, was fleshed out into a slightly longer jam. A stellar beat, and I love that horn (or synth?) sample! Can't believe it's used so sparingly in the song, it's like a tease.

Loose was always a favorite. The guitar was cranked to eleven, and the whole thing makes you want to jump from beginning to end.

I loved the dark "Papa", though it ends frustratingly early.

From there, things go sideways for me. I liked "Letitgo", I thought it had a pleasing rhythm and hook that I found myself returning to again and again. But "Dark" was a lesser ballad, "Race" was bland, and "Solo" and "Orgasm" did nothing for me.

Still, half a great Prince album ain't bad, and that's what I feel we have here.

motherfunka said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

remember hearing Prince play 'Papa' live b4 it was released at the now defunct club Glam Slam in LA. It was so haunting & honest & sad the audience was in silence . But he got a long applause aftewards. It was a surreal experience 2 c live.Prince is so full of these moments inside of him. Makes me wonder why peeps give up so easily on him here..

I have similar story about Papa. Prince did an aftershow at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago on the 2nd night of a 3 night run on the Act 1 tour. He was on stage and called out to a stage hand to bring him his purple notebook. He said the song he was about to sing was so new that he didn't remember all of the lyrics...and it was Papa. Great night (except for Malcom Jamal Warner jumping on stage and "rapping")!

All can say is wow!

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

motherfunka said:

I have similar story about Papa. Prince did an aftershow at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago on the 2nd night of a 3 night run on the Act 1 tour. He was on stage and called out to a stage hand to bring him his purple notebook. He said the song he was about to sing was so new that he didn't remember all of the lyrics...and it was Papa. Great night (except for Malcom Jamal Warner jumping on stage and "rapping")!

All can say is wow!

The gig is on a bootleg. Not sure of the name of it though. This was the setlist:

The Sacrifice of Victor

Come

Goldnigga

Gett Off

Black MF In The House

Them Changes

Little Red Rooster

Sexy MF/Love 2 The 9s

Peach

Papa

Bambi

Call The Law

Johnny

Partyman

1999

Baby I'm A Star

Push

motherfunka said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

All can say is wow!

The gig is on a bootleg. Not sure of the name of it though. This was the setlist:

The Sacrifice of Victor

Come

Goldnigga

Gett Off

Black MF In The House

Them Changes

Little Red Rooster

Sexy MF/Love 2 The 9s

Peach

Papa

Bambi

Call The Law

Johnny

Partyman

1999

Baby I'm A Star

Push

Prince's aftershows are legendary...But they are starting to become more extinct now.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

motherfunka said:

The gig is on a bootleg. Not sure of the name of it though. This was the setlist:

The Sacrifice of Victor

Come

Goldnigga

Gett Off

Black MF In The House

Them Changes

Little Red Rooster

Sexy MF/Love 2 The 9s

Peach

Papa

Bambi

Call The Law

Johnny

Partyman

1999

Baby I'm A Star

Push

Prince's aftershows are legendary...But they are starting to become more extinct now.

That's not such a bad thing. I used to want to see the aftershow more than the main show, not the case anymore.

All I can say is...Expect a review on this soon!

Adorecream said:

I think people pan it because of the fact it came out under a cloud at the time and a few disparaging reviews derailed it.

I think i fell into that category. I fed into all the controversy surrounding Prince with his name change and some of his other eccentric ways. All that stuff kinda influenced my dislike of Come when it was first released. At the time i thought the album was self indulgent, boring and just plain weird.

A couple years later i re-listened to Come and i came to the conclusion that it was a funky lil gem and not nearly as bad as i thought it was. I really love Space, Papa, Dark and Letitgo. I like(a lot) Come(too long and indulgent lyrics) and Loose. Race is cool and Pheromone is half way decent but expendable. Orgasm is weak and Solo is interesting but doesn't fit the album. If Pheromone, Orgasm and possibly Race and Solo were replaced with stronger songs Come would be a real winner.

I give it a B plus.

[Edited 8/31/12 2:33am]

EyeJester7 said:

All I can say is...Expect a review on this soon!

Review on what?

It climaxes early.

artist76 said:

Love this album. Love the 90s era. Based on the posts, it seems that if you were there at the time since sometime in the 80s, the reviews/ aura/ manner of release of this album sort of tainted people's perception of it. The weakest songs are Race and Dark. Orgasm is not a song, so it doesn't count. The rest is great to amazing. The album fits into the darker vibe of the 90s generally. I like that this album also seems To contain more personal themes, and really sexy vibe. Also has some of his best vocal performances on a record. His vocals on Space, for example, are perfect IMO.

Dark is a fantastic vocal performance. He tore that up!!

So, I'm surprised you don't like it...

[Edited 8/30/12 22:41pm]

artist76 said:

Love this album. Love the 90s era. Based on the posts, it seems that if you were there at the time since sometime in the 80s, the reviews/ aura/ manner of release of this album sort of tainted people's perception of it. The weakest songs are Race and Dark. Orgasm is not a song, so it doesn't count. The rest is great to amazing. The album fits into the darker vibe of the 90s generally. I like that this album also seems To contain more personal themes, and really sexy vibe. Also has some of his best vocal performances on a record. His vocals on Space, for example, are perfect IMO.

Dark is a fantastic vocal performance. He tore that up!!

So, I'm surprised you don't like it...

[Edited 8/30/12 22:41pm]

motherfunka said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Prince's aftershows are legendary...But they are starting to become more extinct now.

That's not such a bad thing. I used to want to see the aftershow more than the main show, not the case anymore.

Is that because of the main shows or the aftershows?

djThunderfunk said:

artist76 said:

Love this album. Love the 90s era. Based on the posts, it seems that if you were there at the time since sometime in the 80s, the reviews/ aura/ manner of release of this album sort of tainted people's perception of it. The weakest songs are Race and Dark. Orgasm is not a song, so it doesn't count. The rest is great to amazing. The album fits into the darker vibe of the 90s generally. I like that this album also seems To contain more personal themes, and really sexy vibe. Also has some of his best vocal performances on a record. His vocals on Space, for example, are perfect IMO.

Dark is a fantastic vocal performance. He tore that up!!

So, I'm surprised you don't like it...

[Edited 8/30/12 22:41pm]

Plus I love the haunting bassline......by the way Come performed moderately well, reaching #15 in the U.S., going gold and receiving heavy RnB airplay with the single "Letitgo"....

udo said:

motherfunka said:

That's not such a bad thing. I used to want to see the aftershow more than the main show, not the case anymore.

Is that because of the main shows or the aftershows?

Because of the aftershows, for at least the last decade. The old aftershows were legendary, for many reasons. They have become expected and for the London run even tickets sold in advance. Kind of takes away the excitement of it all! Crappy covers and the backup singers taking control doesn't do it for me either.

Listening to it right now in fact. Great grooves for fucking, not among his best but far from his worst.