After reading through some reviews of the album from Rolling Stone, allmusic, and other sources i was suprised to find out that diamonds and pearls wasn't really appreciated by critics. To me this album is absolutely amazing and with songs like Gett Off, Cream, Willing and Able, Push, Diamonds and Pearls, Strollin, Money Don't Matter Tonight, and My dirty secret pleasure jughead (All make my top 150 PRince songs) its hard me to see why it wasn't appreciated when it's everything a record company or mainstream media could ever want. I understand that the hip hop element on the album wasn't very popular however I think that if Rosie Didn't rap on the album and most of the Rapping was left P and Tony M. some of the Rap would feel less cheesie. After these songs Insatiable and Thunder are the only middle of the pack songs and rest are well, left overs. I wrote this post not to really review the album but to analyze it and reflect on it. I think where the album fails is that Prince introduces for real supposedly to us, his new band yet the album doesn't really have an outside prescence other than rosie's strong backing vocals and tony's rapping. I was very shocked to find out that The Love symbol album got better reviews than Diamonds and pearls and to me this is completely wrong. However, as a band the new power generation got better. A question id like to pose is, Compared to his earlier works which we can easily classify as early 80s pop and post p funk and post disco , wat do we classify Diamonds and Pearls? Also feel free to post any reactions you have to the album or anything u just wanna let out.

As far as I can remember, the consensus in the press during the 1990s was that Diamonds & Pearls was the strongest Prince album of the decade. It was regularly included in those "best albums ever" lists along with Purple Rain and Sign "O" The Times. Magazines like Q (UK's most important music magazine of the decade) gave it five stars at least on their "Prince album" lists. When critics expressed their disappointment in the albums that followed it they often stated that he hasn't "released a good record since Diamonds & Pearls" or something similar. I don't remember reading any really negative reviews of it at the time.

It's more recently fallen out of favour with the fans and I suppose some of the reviews linked to Wikipedia were written more recently. I certainly don't think that it's one of his best albums myself.

Diamonds & Pearls is a pop album, if you need to place it in a genre.

riocoolnes said:

I love Thunder, Money Dont Matter 2night, Cream, Get Off, Insatiable... but...

My dirty secret pleasure jughead

I never expected to read this anywhere.

I understand that the hip hop element on the album wasn't very popular however I think that if Rosie Didn't rap on the album and most of the Rapping was left P and Tony M.

Would you defend Tony`s rap? I'd like to read your opinion about that.

A question id like to pose is, Compared to his earlier works which we can easily classify as early 80s pop and post p funk and post disco , wat do we classify Diamonds and Pearls? Also feel free to post any reactions you have to the album or anything u just wanna let out.

I think he's 80s output was early 80s pop, post p funk and post disco, but not easily just that. Many other things. It's like Stevie in the 70s (to stick to 1 comparision of many possible). Like him, P created his own sound in a mixture of countless influences and his own genre creations (Minneapolis Sound). However, I agree that D&P, on its turn, as a whole, feels more pop than any other P album.

BrazilianOnRaspberryBeret said:

riocoolnes said:

I love Thunder, Money Dont Matter 2night, Cream, Get Off, Insatiable... but...

My dirty secret pleasure jughead

I never expected to read this anywhere.

I understand that the hip hop element on the album wasn't very popular however I think that if Rosie Didn't rap on the album and most of the Rapping was left P and Tony M.

Would you defend Tony`s rap? I'd like to read your opinion about that.

A question id like to pose is, Compared to his earlier works which we can easily classify as early 80s pop and post p funk and post disco , wat do we classify Diamonds and Pearls? Also feel free to post any reactions you have to the album or anything u just wanna let out.

I think he's 80s output was early 80s pop, post p funk and post disco, but not easily just that. Many other things. It's like Stevie in the 70s (to stick to 1 comparision of many possible). Like him, P created his own sound in a mixture of countless influences and his own genre creations (Minneapolis Sound). However, I agree that D&P, on its turn, as a whole, feels more pop than any other P album.

Actually wen i really listen to the album, songs like cream, willing and able, strollin,money don't matter tonight. Those songs are tremendous and don't have Tony M in them at all. Songs like Daddy Pop where tony is focus or Prince is being a weird rapper im not fond of. I like jughead and push where i think tony's rap flows perfectly in the song however I just think rosie rapping killed those songs. I actually like tony's voice for rap just almost all early rap though now a days sounds cheesie. I'd say to a certain extent this is pop however i think diamonds and pearls to me would represent a change. I think the album represents an 80s Pop star transinitioning into a 90s pop star if that makes sense which many 80s star couldn't do. I think the album kept PRince relavent in the 1990s because he was able to show that an 80s star can have success in 90s without sounding like 80s. This is why P has always been so successfull and why he is still king.

If I recall correctly, the critics were particularly harsh on this album for a couple of reasons.

1. The Diamonds And Pearls album was considered by many to be a deliberately commercial album where the intent was to get Prince back on top of the charts again, particularly after the commercial failure of Graffiti Bridge. Some critics thought Prince had sold out by chasing chart success over artistic integrity.

2. Then there was the Hip Hop element. The Diamonds and Pearls album was the first album where Prince had employed a rapper as a full time member of of his band. Some found this odd as Prince had previously voiced his disapproval of Hip Hop music, which really began to make significnant progress in the music world in the late 1980-early 1990s. Again this was seen by many as being a deliberate ploy to cash in on this emerging trend, for the sake of gaining chart success.

That said, Diamonds And Pearls produced probably some of the best and most memorable songs in Prince's career, such as Cream, Diamonds And Pearls, and Insatiable has also become a bit of a fan favourite.

I love the entire D&P album. It totally rocks!

Empress said:

I love the entire D&P album. It totally rocks!

I don't recall many harsh reviews, but I do remember a good number of middling ones. Dave Marsh (I think?) gave it a rave review in Playboy, but most reviews were luke-warm with comments along the lines of 'it's OK, a mostly safe, commercial record with the eccentricities tamped down.'

It came in at 36 in the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, as compared to 10th place in '90 for Graffiti Bridge & 16th place for Lovesexy in '88,

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres91.php

I'll say this - it's definitely from 1991.

billymeade said:

I'll say this - it's definitely from 1991.

A lot of the material may sound dated, but the title track still holds up really well. I wish he'd perform it live again.

It's an okay pop-album, but all songs sound extremely dated, except for the brilliant masterpieces that are Money Don't Matter 2Night and Insatiable. Those two songs are ridiculously good.

Prince moved in the Hip Hop element alot better with rather than Diamonds & Pearls, where songs like Jughead, and the outro on Daddy Pop just didnt fit in with the rest of the sounds. It was like a fight between styles...he was trying to do slow jams, hip hop, pop, jazz, rock, gospel, funk ...it was like..no cohesiveness to any audience on this album..though there were good tunes that came out of it..albeit on one album can be overwelming!

I think D&P's problem is that its a typical popstar album in that it sells well with many hit singles for which the record hinges upon, but otherwise....well there is a drop off. Not to say the filler is bad, some is good. But...it's still filler. Or at least Prince's filler there is much much much obviously more filler than it usually would be for him.

But whatever, Prince intended to sell well with this and it did. The singles did well. Isn't it his 2nd best selling album ever?

(Yet "Gett Off" never did anything for me. Am I the only local who feels that? "D&P" is terrific melody, "Cream" kicks butt, and "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is sublime.)

[Edited 12/20/12 7:41am]

Diana80 said:

billymeade said:

I'll say this - it's definitely from 1991.

A lot of the material may sound dated, but the title track still holds up really well. I wish he'd perform it live again.

I was never a fan of the title track, too sappy. "Thunder" is still one of my all time favorite Prince songs, especially the last 2 minutes (and the guitar at 5:25! Mmm-mmm-MMM!).

"Violet the Organ Grinder" is a great song, too! I like the era, it's when I really started getting into Prince (I was 12... good times).

Dave1992 said:

It's an okay pop-album, but all songs sound extremely dated, except for the brilliant masterpieces that are Money Don't Matter 2Night and Insatiable. Those two songs are ridiculously good.

Bah!

All music is dated, that's part of their charm. I mean 1999 is definately a creature of the early 1980s, DIRTY MIND of the late 70s, and so forth.

In the end, what matters is what do you in 2012 get out of old music?

RRA said:

Dave1992 said:

It's an okay pop-album, but all songs sound extremely dated, except for the brilliant masterpieces that are Money Don't Matter 2Night and Insatiable. Those two songs are ridiculously good.

Bah!

All music is dated, that's part of their charm. I mean 1999 is definately a creature of the early 1980s, DIRTY MIND of the late 70s, and so forth.

In the end, what matters is what do you in 2012 get out of old music?

I would argue that the 1999 sound is alive and well, just turn on any pop channel.

Nobody's still clinging to the New Jack sound... yet. It'll come back eventually

paisleypark4 said:

Prince moved in the Hip Hop element alot better with rather than Diamonds & Pearls, where songs like Jughead, and the outro on Daddy Pop just didnt fit in with the rest of the sounds. It was like a fight between styles...he was trying to do slow jams, hip hop, pop, jazz, rock, gospel, funk ...it was like..no cohesiveness to any audience on this album..though there were good tunes that came out of it..albeit on one album can be overwelming!

You´re on point as far as lack of cohesiveness to any audience is concerned but....I really like the uplifting, positive messages of this album, and I guess THAT is the only cohesive thing about it....the positivity and uplifting feeling.

And maybe the anti-Iraq war stance in songs such as Live 4 Love and Money Don´t Matter 2nite.

I know a lot of people dislike this album but I still like it to this day. I wish he hadn´t used Tony M. on it though. Without the silly raps, this could´ve been a very timeless and strong album but the raps make it sound very dated and give the impression that he was obviously pandering to the mainstream but then again, Prince has ALWAYS incorportated current sounds and trends into his music so this should´ve come as no surprise to most fans.

Still, with my strong Hip Hop roots and true NYC Hip Hop foundation, I found Prince´s attempts at rap very silly.

The thing is that he didn´t really need to do that, and it is not really a little stylistic tidbit or instrument that one could easily emulate or incorporate, and that´s something that Prince doesn´t seem to get. The true Hip Hop heads and rappers have big respect for Prince the rockstar and funk and pop artist....no need to go all hard and gangsta. He should have stayed true to himself instead of compromising and bowing down to trends ( or rather, new musical subcultures or youth cultures). It´s just as silly as his attempts at house music.

But maybe the New Wave and New Romance artists and fans feel the same way about Purple Rain and 1999 the way we feel about him using rap elements.

I think Thunder, Live 4 Love, Insatiable, Get Off, Diamonds and Pearls , Money Don´t Matter 2Nite , Strollin and Violet the Organ Grinder are great songs to this day but that´s just me. I never understood why people dislike them so much.

The original configuration for this album was, in my opinion, quite horrible, it´s a good thing that he changed his mind.

It really is a very good album, except for a few songs (Daddy pop, Jughead and Push, that should have been b-sides).

Just imagine/edit it like this to a 10 song album:

1. Thunder
2. Diamonds and pearls
3. Cream
4. Strolling
5. Willing and able
6. Gett off
7. Walk don't walk
8. Money don't matter tonight
9. Insatiable
10. Live 4 love

Truly great.

Tremolina said:

It really is a very good album, except for a few songs (Daddy pop, Jughead and Push, that should have been b-sides).

Just imagine/edit it like this to a 10 song album:

1. Thunder
2. Diamonds and pearls
3. Cream
4. Strolling
5. Willing and able
6. Gett off
7. Walk don't walk
8. Money don't matter tonight
9. Insatiable
10. Live 4 love

Truly great.

Exactly! Great, positive and uplifting album that captured the zeitgeist of 1991. Plus a nice tour with great renditions of Purple Rain and Thieves in the Temple, to name a few, and fantastic renditions of the album songs only marred by the inclusion of Tony M.

Then again, I come from a very purist Hip Hop background but Tony didn´ t really bother me back then. He is much more horrible in hindsight than at the time of D&P.

Prince´s music from that era would have aged much better without Tony´s contributions.

Tremolina said:

errant said:

Tremolina said:

It really is a very good album, except for a few songs (Daddy pop, Jughead and Push, that should have been b-sides).

Just imagine/edit it like this to a 10 song album:

1. Thunder
2. Diamonds and pearls
3. Cream
4. Strolling
5. Willing and able
6. Gett off
7. Walk don't walk
8. Money don't matter tonight
9. Insatiable
10. Live 4 love

Truly great.

My main problem with it has always been its length. But that is the scourge of many a '90s release. Putting shit on a disc to fill it up. 01. Thunder 02. Daddy Pop 03. Diamonds & Pearls 04. Cream 05. Strollin' 06. Willing & Able 07. Gett Off 08. Money Don't Matter 2 Night 09. Insatiable 10. Live 4 Love

Oh no you can't switch Walk don't walk with daddy pop.

I agree tho', the length and filler is a problem. Like with GB and

The latter suffered as well and should have been limited to something like this:

1. My name is Prince
2. Sexy mf
3. Love 2 the nines
4. The morning papers
5. Damn U
6. The continental
7. 7
8. And God created woman
9. 3 chains of gold
10. The sacrifice of Victor

No "segues", no filler, just a really strong album.

Tremolina said:

errant said:

Tremolina said: My main problem with it has always been its length. But that is the scourge of many a '90s release. Putting shit on a disc to fill it up. 01. Thunder 02. Daddy Pop 03. Diamonds & Pearls 04. Cream 05. Strollin' 06. Willing & Able 07. Gett Off 08. Money Don't Matter 2 Night 09. Insatiable 10. Live 4 Love

Oh no you can't switch Walk don't walk with daddy pop.

I agree tho', the length and filler is a problem. Like with GB and

The latter suffered as well and should have been limited to something like this:

1. My name is Prince
2. Sexy mf
3. Love 2 the nines
4. The morning papers
5. Damn U
6. The continental
7. 7
8. And God created woman
9. 3 chains of gold
10. The sacrifice of Victor

No "segues", no filler, just a really strong album.

The Continental IS filler. I´ve never listened to it in its entirety.

Tremolina said:

RRA said:

Dave1992 said:

It's an okay pop-album, but all songs sound extremely dated, except for the brilliant masterpieces that are Money Don't Matter 2Night and Insatiable. Those two songs are ridiculously good.

Bah!

All music is dated, that's part of their charm. I mean 1999 is definately a creature of the early 1980s, DIRTY MIND of the late 70s, and so forth.

In the end, what matters is what do you in 2012 get out of old music?

Depends on your defition of the word "dated". While a bit of musical background knowledge will make it possible to relate most of his albums to certain halves of decades, in this particular context I meant that Diamonds and Pearls sounds as if it somehow "tamed" itself into the early 90s. It sounds as if it wanted to be a 1991 record. Hardly any other Prince album sounds like it wanted to reflect the year of its release (even though many people say that he has been following trends since the 90s, I still think most of his work sounds extremely original). Apart from MDM2N and Insatiable, Diamonds and Pearls does.

KoolEaze said:

paisleypark4 said:

Prince moved in the Hip Hop element alot better with rather than Diamonds & Pearls, where songs like Jughead, and the outro on Daddy Pop just didnt fit in with the rest of the sounds. It was like a fight between styles...he was trying to do slow jams, hip hop, pop, jazz, rock, gospel, funk ...it was like..no cohesiveness to any audience on this album..though there were good tunes that came out of it..albeit on one album can be overwelming!

You´re on point as far as lack of cohesiveness to any audience is concerned but....I really like the uplifting, positive messages of this album, and I guess THAT is the only cohesive thing about it....the positivity and uplifting feeling.

And maybe the anti-Iraq war stance in songs such as Live 4 Love and Money Don´t Matter 2nite.

I know a lot of people dislike this album but I still like it to this day. I wish he hadn´t used Tony M. on it though. Without the silly raps, this could´ve been a very timeless and strong album but the raps make it sound very dated and give the impression that he was obviously pandering to the mainstream but then again, Prince has ALWAYS incorportated current sounds and trends into his music so this should´ve come as no surprise to most fans.

Still, with my strong Hip Hop roots and true NYC Hip Hop foundation, I found Prince´s attempts at rap very silly.

The thing is that he didn´t really need to do that, and it is not really a little stylistic tidbit or instrument that one could easily emulate or incorporate, and that´s something that Prince doesn´t seem to get. The true Hip Hop heads and rappers have big respect for Prince the rockstar and funk and pop artist....no need to go all hard and gangsta. He should have stayed true to himself instead of compromising and bowing down to trends ( or rather, new musical subcultures or youth cultures). It´s just as silly as his attempts at house music.

But maybe the New Wave and New Romance artists and fans feel the same way about Purple Rain and 1999 the way we feel about him using rap elements.

I think Thunder, Live 4 Love, Insatiable, Get Off, Diamonds and Pearls , Money Don´t Matter 2Nite , Strollin and Violet the Organ Grinder are great songs to this day but that´s just me. I never understood why people dislike them so much.

The original configuration for this album was, in my opinion, quite horrible, it´s a good thing that he changed his mind.

I agree with you buddy.

I cant forget about some good ol' Violet!

I wonder how well Horny Pony and Schoolyard would have been on this album? The mood was a bit dark in this album..not depressing but ...edgy in parts..where then it would suddenly become soft and heartfelt...it was too much back and forth!

paisleypark4 said:

KoolEaze said:

You´re on point as far as lack of cohesiveness to any audience is concerned but....I really like the uplifting, positive messages of this album, and I guess THAT is the only cohesive thing about it....the positivity and uplifting feeling.

And maybe the anti-Iraq war stance in songs such as Live 4 Love and Money Don´t Matter 2nite.

I know a lot of people dislike this album but I still like it to this day. I wish he hadn´t used Tony M. on it though. Without the silly raps, this could´ve been a very timeless and strong album but the raps make it sound very dated and give the impression that he was obviously pandering to the mainstream but then again, Prince has ALWAYS incorportated current sounds and trends into his music so this should´ve come as no surprise to most fans.

Still, with my strong Hip Hop roots and true NYC Hip Hop foundation, I found Prince´s attempts at rap very silly.

The thing is that he didn´t really need to do that, and it is not really a little stylistic tidbit or instrument that one could easily emulate or incorporate, and that´s something that Prince doesn´t seem to get. The true Hip Hop heads and rappers have big respect for Prince the rockstar and funk and pop artist....no need to go all hard and gangsta. He should have stayed true to himself instead of compromising and bowing down to trends ( or rather, new musical subcultures or youth cultures). It´s just as silly as his attempts at house music.

But maybe the New Wave and New Romance artists and fans feel the same way about Purple Rain and 1999 the way we feel about him using rap elements.

I think Thunder, Live 4 Love, Insatiable, Get Off, Diamonds and Pearls , Money Don´t Matter 2Nite , Strollin and Violet the Organ Grinder are great songs to this day but that´s just me. I never understood why people dislike them so much.

The original configuration for this album was, in my opinion, quite horrible, it´s a good thing that he changed his mind.

I agree with you buddy.

I cant forget about some good ol' Violet!

I wonder how well Horny Pony and Schoolyard would have been on this album? The mood was a bit dark in this album..not depressing but ...edgy in parts..where then it would suddenly become soft and heartfelt...it was too much back and forth!

Am I the only person that really doesn't like Schoolyard? Not hating on those that do like it, there seems to be a lot, I just would put that in my top 10 most disliked.

Like others said, I remember that critics didn't hate D&P, they just mentioned the obvious, that it was for commercial success. I also remember going to Glam Slam in Mpls was fun around this time.

It's a strong album with several excellent songs: "Cream","Strollin","Live 4 Love","Insatiable" and "Gett Off".

I used to really like the title track,but I guess it just hasn't aged well.I can't tolerate it these days.

SoulAlive said:

I used to really like the title track,but I guess it just hasn't aged well.I can't tolerate it these days.

I agree with you here. When I first listened to the song Diamonds And Pearls I immediately loved it and played it in heavy rotation, but when I hear it these days it just sounds bland to me.

7souls said:

paisleypark4 said:

I agree with you buddy.

I cant forget about some good ol' Violet!

I wonder how well Horny Pony and Schoolyard would have been on this album? The mood was a bit dark in this album..not depressing but ...edgy in parts..where then it would suddenly become soft and heartfelt...it was too much back and forth!

Am I the only person that really doesn't like Schoolyard? Not hating on those that do like it, there seems to be a lot, I just would put that in my top 10 most disliked.

Like others said, I remember that critics didn't hate D&P, they just mentioned the obvious, that it was for commercial success. I also remember going to Glam Slam in Mpls was fun around this time.

There were some other folks that didnt like it from discussion. I thought it was upbeat and had a good vibe...would have been a nice closer. Money Dont Matter, Live 4 Love was imo kinda depressing

VictoR3mix said:

SoulAlive said:

I used to really like the title track,but I guess it just hasn't aged well.I can't tolerate it these days.

I agree with you here. When I first listened to the song Diamonds And Pearls I immediately loved it and played it in heavy rotation, but when I hear it these days it just sounds bland to me.

Yeah. It hasn't dated well. Prince probably knows that too and that's why he doesn't play it live except sometimes as a short snippet. It would be one of those songs that a lot of casual concert goers would recognize, but he's left it out of his sets.

I can "tolerate" it, but it's certainly kitschy in retrospect. People were just really into bells and that type of "majestic" sounds at the time.