Since the Peach and Black podcast have reviewed, and everyone else has started a "rate this" or "rate that" thread, lets rate this trend chasing but still stisfying early 90s masterpiece.

You can put in ratings to if you like.

My choice

Cream 10/10 - a real gem, got me into Prince, catchy lyrics, great guitars, sexy vocals and killer video

Insatiable 10 - Some sexy ass pantie dropping shit there

Diamonds and Pearls 9 - A near perfect ballad

Thunder 9 - Great screaming opener, amazing vocals and solos, a great raw introduction to the NPG and what they could do.

Money don't matter 2nite 8 - Pretty great thought provoking song

Gett Off 8 - Funky as hell, catchy but a bit autotuney

Walk don't walk 8 - Great syncopated jive and rhythm, nonsense lyrics but good enough

Daddy Pop 7 - Lightweight but cool number

Live 4 Love 6 - Powerful but morose rock number - not bad, not great either

Strolling 6 - More fluff but funny and bearable

Willing and Able 5 - Pretty weak filler track, really goes nowhere

Push 3 - Dated cliche rap lite number, some pretty cheesy rapping

Jughead 1 - Goodness its terrible, the Tony M rapping is just dreadful and the skit at the end is not really that funny at all. Pretty much one of his worst.

Its one of those albums that covers the whole spectrum alright, its strengths is the diversity of styles it uses and the fact it chases but catches the trends quite well. Cream and Insatiable along with Gett Off are fairly original sounding at least.

But the fact it has so much filler and a couple of really awful songs, does weigh it down a bit. Taking out Tony M and the songs Push and Jughead would make this a lot better as an album.

Best to worst:

.

Willing & Able - one of Prince's very best tracks of the 90s, love it, love it, love it.

Strollin' - Awesome feel good track and kind of unique(?) at the time for Prince. Easy going and laid back, love that man with the blue guitar

Money Don't Matter 2nite - Classic single, and a good clear message without being heavy handed

Thunder - I never listen to this, but I used to love it. A great solo(?) track

Gett Off - Remixes are still enjoyable, but vanilla version - not so much, just over played like a lot of the hits I can't often get into them any more.

Walk Don't Walk - Goofy fun. Another good track, but one I don't listen to a lot, feels like filler but it's not really, deserves a better rep.

Daddy Pop - Goofy fun

Push - Goofy fun. Yeah dated, but like the other rap tracks it's daft and sing-along-able. For 5 minutes I can pretend to be Tony M and that's pretty damn cool, hi-top fade and shell suit time!

Live 4 Love - I've never clicked with this track, but it's not terrible. This track done a few years later with the 94-95 NPG might've been a bit better

Diamonds & Pearls - classic commercial pop single, but another one I've been bored of for years

Cream - Never need to hear it ever again

Insatiable - Okay it's okay, but just another cookie cutter seduction ballad added because he always feels he needs one "for the ladiez" Does it do anything Scandalous, Adore, etc don't?

Jughead - Goofy trash (but still a little fun! )

Cream is cool, no doubt. I liked it a little better when T. Rex did it back in the day, though. Prince's version of Bang a Gong has better lyrics, but the Marc Bolan lyrics he kept fron Bang a Gong are the best ones. Marc Bolan should've gotten a co-writing credit on that one since he did most of the work.

Gett Off I really like his -I call it- 'power tracks' (Elecrtric chair, Lovesexy, NPG...), absolutely one of his best!

Cream His 90's Kiss imo, perfect pop song, perfect clip.

Money don't matter 2 night I agree with this; NouveauDance said: Classic single, and a good Clear message without being heavy handed.

Willing and able Great track, just beautiful.

Diamonds & Pearls Cheesy? maybe but perfect hit & clip!

Push yes, I really liked this at the time of release (powerfull), like the message 2.

Strollin' nice intro 2 willing & able.

Daddy Pop Liked it better in '91

Thunder Good, solid opening song.Jughead well..it fits the early 90's.

Live 4 love never liked this one...sounds forced imo.

Insatiable Adore part...I know this is not the fav album 4 a lot of Prince fans here...(2 my surprise when I joined the Org, I thought Prince fans were excited with this hit album!)....but it's still in my top 5!!Some of the most solid work Prince released including image, clips, tour and production.

[Edited 6/23/13 12:43pm]

[Edited 6/29/13 3:43am]

I have to question someone's love of Prince's music if they rank "Willing and Able" low on their D&P totem pole.

Mine:

Willing and Able: One of my favorite Prince songs from the 90s. I especially love the video version.

Cream: Very good track. Especially since he turned a song about himself into a sexy song.

Insatiable: I love the bedroom r&b Prince ballads.

Gett Off: Funkly diddy. I'm glad there are LOTS of remixes because the album version is too damn short for a good song.

Thunder: Great way to intro the album.

Money Don't Matter: Great song and great message.

Diamonds and Pearls: I've never really cared that much for this song, but it's a good song.

Strollin': Not my favorite track from P, but I think it is a great jazzy song. I hope he can pull it back out and rearrange it with the new big band. I think they could make this ok song so much better.

Live 4 Love: I never really got this track, but it's not bad, just not for me.

Daddy Pop: This song would have been so much better if it was released as it was performed on the Arsenio Hall show. Not a bad song, but not my favorite.

Push: I definitely never cared for this song. I always skipped it.

Jughead: One of the worst P songs ever.

Okay, let's try this. I haven't listened to this album for a while, so I'm kind of going by memory here, and I'm not going back to listen to anything--ratings would be meaningless. I can probably rank them. Here goes:

1. Gett Off -- But I'm not glad there are lots of remixes; I really don't care for the Houstyle based ones

2. Thunder -- It is a nice start. Like "Gett Off," it doesn't really fit the rest of the album, though.

3. Strollin' -- I like it for the fun of the lyrics. They've got an off-handedness like some of the tracks on The Truth that I enjoy.

4. Willing and Able -- It just moves. Just this constant forward motion that drags you along--even when Tony's rapping

5. Daddy Pop -- Doesn't move as well when Tony's rapping. But just for "I've got grooves and grooves up on the shelf--deep purple concord jams" it's at least this high.

6. Cream -- yeah, I've heard it a lot, and yeah, it's pretty much "Bang a Gong," but I still enjoy it

7. Diamonds and Pearls -- Kind of pristine (I'm thinking I like that word for it) and empty, though pretty. Except for that ridiculous "D to the I to the A to the M" foolishness. Seriously, why you spelling at us?

8. Insatiable -- it's the ballad. It's okay.

9. Money Don't Matter 2 Night -- dull groove, lyrics that try too hard to say something that honestly I have trouble taking from someone with money. It ain't bad, but I'm never gonna pull it out to play to someone.

10. Live 4 Love --okay, it's a bit of a mess. Lyrically, I just don't buy it. Musically, seems a bit all over the place. I think I liked the outtake better--lower voice, maybe. "At the end of my recital"? Odd use of language there.

11. Push -- pretty nondescript. About the only thing I really like is some stuff around Prince's rap. I like his "You don't want me on the mic" thing. "From Pakistan to Poland and straight to your town" for some reason makes me laugh.

12. Walk Don't Walk -- dull, dull, dull and chirpy, chirpy, chirpy. A terrible combination. And a preachy tone.

13. Jughead -- okay. It's bad.

The fact is, I enjoy every track on the album to some extent. Sometimes only for a few seconds at a time, and though I hate to spout something obvious, Tony is not remarkably helpful, here. Probably not a particularly inspired album, just the result of a talented guy working at his music.

If I were putting together a setlist, I don't know that I'd choose anything from it. "Gett Off" if it were more stripped down than he tends to perform it (like I said, I hate the "Houstyle" arrangement), and "positions" instead of "scriptures."

[Edited 6/25/13 5:05am]

1. Gett Off

2. Cream

3. Money Don't Matter 2Nite

4. Willing and Able

5. Thunder

6. Diamonds and Pearls

7. Daddy Pop

8. Strollin'

9. Push

10. Live 4 Love

11. Walk Don't Walk

12. Insatiable

14. Jughead

Not sure why Thunder is ranked so low - that would be #1 for me. Great guitar work, great layered vocals, and typical overblown bombast (foreshadowing 3 Chains O Gold and much of the Symbol Album).

1. Thunder

2. Gett Off

3. Horny Pony!

4. Willing and Able

5. Walk Don'T Walk - dumb song, but I find myself humming it constantly.

6. Live 4 Love

7. Cream

8. Money Don't Matter 2 Nite

9. Strollin'

10. Daddy Pop

11. Diamonds and Pearls

12. Insatiable

13. Push

14. Jughead (duh).

Amazing, every single person so far has ranked Jughead last. The venom for that song is astounding.

1. Gett Off - raunchy funky fun
2. Money Don't Matter 2Nite - pleasant humble song
3. Strollin' - light, breezy, perfect falsetto
4. Thunder - kick ass way to start the album
5. Walk Don't Walk - great sing a long reggae style ditty
6. Diamonds and Pearls - cheesy cute ballad
7. Willing and Able - underappreciated
8. Cream - sexy
9. Live 4 Dance - good if only for the guitar, the raps are lame
10. Insatiable - nice ballad but the last 3 mins could be shaved off
11. Push - an enjoyable goofy gospel rap take
12. Daddy Pop - funky but kinda shallow and drawn out
13. Jughead - You all know

Take off the 3 weakest here and you'd have a solid album. I'd defend this album tooth and nail against TGE, which is just devastatingly overrated.

[Edited 6/25/13 7:04am]

[Edited 6/25/13 7:05am]

This was the first Prince album I truly did not like, and I’d still rate it down near the bottom – I’d rather listen to almost anything else he’s done.

Money Don’t Matter Tonight – 9/10 – has a Steely Dan feel that pleases me every time I hear it. It’s the only top tier, fairly classic song on the record in my books.

Strollin’ 8 – Nobody’s going to label it an epic track or scream for it at a show, but I think it’s light & breezy in the best sense.

Those are the only two songs I really like without any reservations. I think some of the remaining tracks are OK, but they all come with an asterisk or a ‘yeah, but…’

Insatiable 6.5

Cream 6

Thunder – 5

Willing and Able – 5

Gett Off - 4

Walk Don’t Walk – 4

Daddy Pop – 4

Push – 3

Live for Love – 3

Diamonds and Pearls 1 – My least favourite Prince song, probably. I’m slotting it above Jughead, but at least Jughead was meant to be a bit of a joke, a goof. I dislike d&p for its sappiness and that ‘happy boy or a girl’ line that grates on me to this day, but I also just don’t like it musically. I’m not a musician, so I’ll completely defer to the people who praise it for its multiple time signatures, but this track has always seemed really messy & awkward to me. In particular, I think the way it moves into the chorus with that speedy ‘If I gave you…’ seems choppy & clumsy. And then you get into that ‘d to the I to the…’business - argh. I truly hate every second of it, and It’s one of the few Prince songs I simply cannot stand to hear.

Jughead 1

[Edited 6/25/13 4:30am]

1. Money Don't Matter Tonight (10) -- only true masterpiece on the album imo... one of my top ten Prince songs. Beautiful music and some of Prince's best lyrics.

2. Willing Able (9) -- Really cool memorable jam that has a unique feel

3. Gett Off (8.5) -- Nobody could have done this song but Prince... maybe a little over the top even, but still lots of risque fun and really shows off Prince's "brand."

4. Thunder (8) -- Another song with a unique feel -- powerful and memorable. I'm not religious, but the religious references in the song fit well and feel honest without being preachy imo.

5. Cream (8) -- Hard to know where to rate this. It's a very good, very catchy rock song, but it's a total copy of another very good, very catchy rong song ("Bang a Gong (Get It On)" by T-Rex), which makes me feel a little funny about it.

6. Strollin' (7.5) -- A fun jazzy number that is just super-listenable.

7. Diamonds and Pearls (6.5) -- There's nothing really wrong with D&P and it's a nice enough song, but it's very generic. This could have been a ballad by lots of adult contemporary singers imo... no real Prince feel to it.

8. Insatiable (6) -- Another song that is well-done enough for what it is, but somewhat generic. In this case, it's generic R&B and feels like a lot of ok but forgettable early 90s R&B imo.

9. Daddy Pop (6) -- I know many fans hate this song... I'm actually not that down on it and think it's somewhat catchy, but it's definitely below-average Prince imo.

10. Live for Love (5.5) -- An ok, but pretty forgettable song with lyrics that err on the schmaltzy side imo

11. Walk Don't Walk (5) -- An interesting experiment that has a fairly unique sound, but I just feel like it doesn't really work. I've never particularly liked the song, but give it points for originality.

12. Push (3) -- Dated to the point where it really sounds out-of-touch, and it already seemed quite thrown together, generic, and uninteresting to me when it came out.

13. Jughead (2) -- Always in the discussion for worst Prince song -- I don't know if I hate it quite that much, but it's definitely goofy and I think the album would be far better off without it.

Okay, everyone has "Jughead" at the bottom. You don't get consensus on anything on Prince.org, so this seems awfully suspicious to me. Is it really possible it's actually that bad?

[Edited 6/26/13 5:07am]

EddieC said:

Okay, everyone has "Jughead" at the bottom. You don't get consensus on anything on Prince.org, so this seems awfully suspicious to me. Is it really possible it's actually that bad?

[Edited 6/26/13 5:07am]

Yeah, it's that bad.

EddieC said:

Okay, everyone has "Jughead" at the bottom. You don't get consensus on anything on Prince.org, so this seems awfully suspicious to me. Is it really possible it's actually that bad?

[Edited 6/26/13 5:07am]

This song gets so much universal hate it's almost SLIGHTLY underrated, by like a cunt hair. Might be his worst song of the 90's but I'm sure you could find hammier embarrassing songs in his more recent catalogue a la most of Planet Earth

01. Gett Off - It's hard for me 2 say what's right, when all I wanna do is wrong
02. Thunder - love it (just think it goes on a bit too long)

03. Cream - just a fun, fun song

04. Walk Don't Walk - another cute one (love the Rebirth of the Flesh throwback)

05. Diamonds and Pearls - good sing-along song

06. Willing and Able - I agree with what others have said: underappreciated
07. Money Don't Matter 2Nite - it's okay (I like the way it starts, then it goes into a war-protest, which is fine, but doesn't really 'fit' here)

08. Daddy Pop - it's kinda cute
09. Insatiable - not one of my favorite 90s ballads, but its alright

10. Strollin' - sweet
11. Live 4 Love - never liked this song much
12. Push - I prefer Push It Up, not sure if that's a compliment or not
13. Jughead - Get stupid, indeed

Adorecream said:

Since the Peach and Black podcast have reviewed, and everyone else has started a "rate this" or "rate that" thread, lets rate this trend chasing but still stisfying early 90s masterpiece.

You can put in ratings to if you like.

Money Don't Matter 2nite

Gett Off

Willing And Able

Live 4 Love

Cream

Strollin'

Push

Thunder

Daddy Pop

Walk Don't Walk

Insatiable

Jughead

Diamonds And Pearls

daPrettyman said:

EddieC said:

Okay, everyone has "Jughead" at the bottom. You don't get consensus on anything on Prince.org, so this seems awfully suspicious to me. Is it really possible it's actually that bad?

[Edited 6/26/13 5:07am]

Yeah, it's that bad.

Would rather hear Jughead than suffer through one more "D to the I to A to M..." etc.

Ugh!!

At least they don't play Jughead all the time on the pop station at work like they do D&P. Everytime it comes on, somebody says "Hey, it's Prince! Your favorite, right?"

No. Not that one.

djThunderfunk said:

daPrettyman said:

Yeah, it's that bad.

Would rather hear Jughead than suffer through one more "D to the I to A to M..." etc.

Ugh!!

At least they don't play Jughead all the time on the pop station at work like they do D&P. Everytime it comes on, somebody says "Hey, it's Prince! Your favorite, right?"

No. Not that one.

That's brave.

I do hate that "D to the I to the A to the M." Actually, if I had to listen to that part (alone) or to "Jughead" I'd go with "Jughead." That part is terrible, but most of "Diamonds and Pearls" is just dull.

djThunderfunk said:

daPrettyman said:

Yeah, it's that bad.

Would rather hear Jughead than suffer through one more "D to the I to A to M..." etc.

Ugh!!

At least they don't play Jughead all the time on the pop station at work like they do D&P. Everytime it comes on, somebody says "Hey, it's Prince! Your favorite, right?"

No. Not that one.

I feel ur pain.

errant said:

Take off Jughead, Push, and Walk Don't Walk and add the longer version of Gett Off and you've got something approaching a 5-star album. 4 stars at least, even considering Tony M's involvement. And it isn't that Walk Don't Walk is bad, it just feels like filler on this album.

Eh walk don't walk seems a bit underrated to me. I'd definitely take out daddy pop before that one. That song's just drawn out and silly.

[Edited 6/27/13 10:40am]

I'd rather listen to Jughead then Strolling any day from 1992 till now. Strolling does absolutely nothing for me, whereas Jughead is the same musical idea/structure as Housequake.

Wow! I can't believe how many ranked "Insatiable" so low.

StyleandFashion said:

Wow! I can't believe how many ranked "Insatiable" so low.

Neither can I, that song is up there on a pedestal with Scandalous, Do Me Baby, When 2 R in Love and I love u in me. Its a great sex ballad on a very okay album.

I see two of you have given Jughead a second to last place, its definitely moving up in our estimations.