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It's Thunder (BOOM!) when we're on the mic, are you willing & able 4 this album review ?

We finally get 2 review the massive 1991 album 'Diamonds & Pearls'..

So Walk don't Walk to your music machine & PUSH play !

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Episode Link: http://peachandblack.podb...um-review/

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Peach & Black Home: http://peachandblack.podbean.com

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Find us also on Facebook and Twitter and join the conversation!

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Willing & Able start this show RIGHT !!

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[Edited 6/21/13 21:43pm]

[Edited 6/21/13 21:48pm]

YES! Great night tonight at work listening to this! Thanks guys!

Going to listen. This is one of my fave albums!

Btw, Strollin, Willing & Able, Insatiable .

Two absolutely hilarious moments: the opening skit borrowing from the Cream Maxi single and the Rosie scenario at the end of the podcast. I was in stitches. Good job again, boys, and thanks for a thoroughly enjoyable review. Captain has even made me revisit KC's remix!

Cheers guys...been waiting for this one! Listened to the LoveSexy review for the second time today while attacking my to-do list around the house. Will be cueing this one up next Saturday for the next installment of weekend warrior activites.

Kudos...on another great show. I love the Diamonds and Pearls era and I agree he wrote some of his strongest material for that album. On a interesting note on "Insatiable" (which I'm surprised wasn't mentioned) is the fact that the cd booklet contains the lyrics from the section that was omitted from the album. Even though at 6:40 the song is rather long for that album, I find the 8:02 version far superior with the passage being omitted an incredible vocal delivery with Prince pleading Insatiable. That edit is a crime. Insatiable is such a masterpiece ballad. During the intro of the song Prince isn't singing Martha but what sounds like my girl or my dear. "Live 4 Love" is one of the most atypical songs Prince has ever wrote. Writing from the perspective of a fighter pilot is certainly a different idea, i just could never picture Prince being a jet fighter pilot. While a great album closer and album track, I felt it just didn't translate that great live. It came off kinda languid live not really adding anything to the song. I would rather see 3rd Eye Girl attempt something else live (Rockhard in a Funky Place would make my year) than "Live 4 Love". I just can see that being revisited successfully.

Big Chick

"Security Ensuring Thee"

I was a bit underwhelmed, I felt you guys dismissed the album a bit harshly. Daddy Pop is a lot better than described and you all spent far too much time on Jughead. But at least you were fair on cream. Like Captain I think I aim towards sentimentality with this album, as it was the one out when I became a Prince fan.

And as great as it is, its fluff next to his 80s stuff. its still enjoyable enough, and I feel maybe it was made out to be tend chasing fluff so it could pick up people like myself and then hopefully after I had grown to love Prince's pop songs, I could seek out his more adventurous and jazzy soul material.

Well it worked. And we really only got 2 marks out of 4, I think all of them need to state the mark from now on and then say why. I think overall they did well, its a hard album to grade as its not a typical Prince album, its more like Prince as say some pop group like Roxette, Madonna, MJ, George Michael, a contemporary hit maker rather than Prince as the eclectic, sometime frustrating but entirely gifted musical god. Its Prince lite, yes, and they picked it up, still they liked Cream and that's all I was really listening for and they did justice to Insatiable, probably the closest part of Prince the eccentric artist rather than Prince the hit maker for the Top 40.

I keep receiving an "unknown error" when attempting to Download...anyone else experiencing issues?

batman89 said:

I keep receiving an "unknown error" when attempting to Download...anyone else experiencing issues?

Me too. It does not seem to want to download. Eh, I am certain the the resident Peach and Black techie will have this resolved fairly soon. Until then I am going to imagine how fantastic it will be when the lads finally give Bria Valente's Elixer a full and proper review. It is going to happen! Eventually they will run out of proper Prince albums to review and there are only so many satellite albums they can tackle.

^Thanks for the heads up. It's not working on my end either now. Could be a podbean thing. If it's not working by tomorrow, we'll re-upload it.

toejam said:

^Thanks for the heads up. It's not working on my end either now. Could be a podbean thing. If it's not working by tomorrow, we'll re-upload it.

I just downloaded it with no problems so hopefully whatever was wrong fixed itself.

I loved the episode but I disagree with you guys concerning this album. There are a few gems but for the most part the blatant commerciality of the album really turns me off. I didn't have that problem with Purple Rain or even the Batman soundtrack because there was still the typical Prince "weirdness" on those albums but for too much of Diamonds and Pearls he is just desperately chasing trends (something that arguably started with the previous album). Like Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic I have always considered Diamonds and Pearls to be his most disappointing album. Not necessarily because the songs are bad but because at that time I believe that he was capable of much, much better. I guess that it doesn't help that a song like "Gett Off" has always annoyed me. I realise that a lot of folks love it but I have alwas found it to be very mediocre and grating. Songs like "Daddy Pop," "Willing and Able" and "Walk Don't Walk" aren't terrible but they are extremely lightweight and lacking in substance. Including one song like that may have been okay but three of them? For me it is just too much. I also can't say that I share your enthusiasm for "Thunder" and "Live 4 Love." Both of those songs have interesting bits but for me they do not add up to anything of substance. "Cream" and "Diamonds and Pearls" were fantastic singles, especially for that era, but I don't think that either one of them has aged very well. To me they are not timeless and are very much tied to that era. That leaves "Jughead" and "Push." I can't say that I hate "Jughead" and basically agree that musically it is fairly interesting but the lyrics/vocals really do not serve the song. "Push" is decent enough if for nothing else than the strings.

"Strollin'," "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" and "Insatiable" are probably the highlights of the disc to me and that may be why I don't like the album. Those are all fine songs but in previous years they would be considered pleasant filler. When the filler is the highlight you know you have a dog of an album.

I was definitely happy to have the "weird" Prince back with the next album.

Great show, as usual guys. MC had me laughing when he referred to Insatiable as 'sex on a stick', or 'sex in a song'...I concur, btw. Hope you have a blast at Montruex, and Prince knocks it out of the park like he did in '09. Looking forward to the next episode already.

[Edited 6/27/13 14:28pm]

FunkyStrange said:

wow live 4 love is average ? and thunder is bad ? wahh?

yeah, i noticed y'all gave thunder a lot of love. i'm just not feelling it. it doesn't work as an opening song for me and then i don't like daddy pop so the whole album starts on the wrong foot. then it recovers with D&P, cream, strollin, willing & able, and gett off. that's a good stetch of songs. thunder has this artificial middle eastern sound going through it that would be so much better if it were on an actual middle eastern instrument instead of synth.

live 4 love is good, but it's not great. there's something about it that's just a bit harsh or grating. maybe it's the tone of the guitar. but the lyrics and concept are cool.

glad you and i think toe jam had good things to say about push. i like it, including tony m.'s "i push" in the chorus. prince's rap on it is a bit corny. he didn't really hit his stride rapping until p. control & days of wild.

I can't recall an album (from the 90's) with a better opener than Thunder. Perhaps I am talking partly out of sentimentality as D&P era was my late teens and Australia was in the throws of Prince hype never before or since experienced. Thunder, as a studio cut is an example of loud, stomping, melodic guitar driven perfection. As a fan of live guitar driven tracks, it's rare that I prefer to hear a studio version over a live recording, but with Thunder I personally feel it's personality comes through superbly.The composition, fidelity, performance and energy of Thunder make it one of Prince's finest studio moments of the 90's.

[Edited 7/12/13 7:46am]

The album is very commercial, but that was the point, since Graffiti Bridge did so poorly, I'm sure Warner's was sabre rattling.

The thing that always matters in art is the songs, which are mostly pretty good to great.

Thunder: Pretty good, not great. The boys may have overrated it a tad. Decent track.

Daddy Pop: Good song as well, nothing mind blowing. Fun song to sing along with.

Diamonds and fucking Pearls: Masterwork of the highest level. One of his best 90s songs. The breakdown with Rosie spelling at the end always rocks my socks. Substance in abundance.

Strollin: Wow, what an underrated tune. Another masterwork. This is one of the few songs from this album I go to first. Jazz, lilting beauty. Actually, I wish he made a whole album like this. The Truth came close.

Cream: Wonderful tune too. Love that organ. Not masterful, but very good.

Willing and Able: Agreed, the video version is much, much better. The Steeles are great. Too bad Prince sold them out. Another very good song.

Gett Off: Gangsta. Funky, powerful, dirty, clever, sexy, freaky, me.

Walk, don't Walk: Nifty, but nothing stunning.

Jughead: Super funky, I even dig the raps. Robert Christgau loves this song. Captain knows his shit. Maybe the single most underrated song in music history.

Money Don't Matter: But this song does. Another stunner. One of the greats. Powerful lyrics. Captain has a tin ear on this.

Push: Funky, but a bit over the top. Worth listening to, but not great. Fun at times.

Insatiable: Boy, I just don't get the love. It's a standard Prince ballad about sex. So many superior ballads, and I'm a huge Prince ballad man. It's good but I've heard it before. A song like Baby Mama or Extraordinary kill this. Worth listening to, but jeez, far from classic. Give me the b-side any day.

Live 4 Love: Rock candy with a peppermint twist. Really rockin pop tune with deep lyrics about war or Prince's addled sense of things. No classic but decent. Good ending.

Overall a really good album. A-

2freaky4church1 said:

The album is very commercial, but that was the point, since Graffiti Bridge did so poorly, I'm sure Warner's was sabre rattling.

The thing that always matters in art is the songs, which are mostly pretty good to great.

Thunder: Pretty good, not great. The boys may have overrated it a tad. Decent track.

Daddy Pop: Good song as well, nothing mind blowing. Fun song to sing along with.

Diamonds and fucking Pearls: Masterwork of the highest level. One of his best 90s songs. The breakdown with Rosie spelling at the end always rocks my socks. Substance in abundance.

Strollin: Wow, what an underrated tune. Another masterwork. This is one of the few songs from this album I go to first. Jazz, lilting beauty. Actually, I wish he made a whole album like this. The Truth came close.

Cream: Wonderful tune too. Love that organ. Not masterful, but very good.

Willing and Able: Agreed, the video version is much, much better. The Steeles are great. Too bad Prince sold them out. Another very good song.

Gett Off: Gangsta. Funky, powerful, dirty, clever, sexy, freaky, me.

Walk, don't Walk: Nifty, but nothing stunning.

Jughead: Super funky, I even dig the raps. Robert Christgau loves this song. Captain knows his shit. Maybe the single most underrated song in music history.

Money Don't Matter: But this song does. Another stunner. One of the greats. Powerful lyrics. Captain has a tin ear on this.

Push: Funky, but a bit over the top. Worth listening to, but not great. Fun at times.

Insatiable: Boy, I just don't get the love. It's a standard Prince ballad about sex. So many superior ballads, and I'm a huge Prince ballad man. It's good but I've heard it before. A song like Baby Mama or Extraordinary kill this. Worth listening to, but jeez, far from classic. Give me the b-side any day.

Live 4 Love: Rock candy with a peppermint twist. Really rockin pop tune with deep lyrics about war or Prince's addled sense of things. No classic but decent. Good ending.

Overall a really good album. A-

You're making a great point with this sentence. Considering the quality of the songwriting here, Diamonds And Pearls could even be among his five best albums. OK, it's not as groundbreaking and mysterious as before, it's commercial, it has Tony M., etc. But the songs are from rather good ("Daddy Pop", "Push") to simply excellent ("Willing & Able", "Thunder", "Money Don't Matter 2Nite").

[Edited 7/12/13 3:20am]

yep good point, I think where alot of perople get sidetracked is the commerciality of it...

From being a long term fan from the early days I can get why many of those people don't really dig this album that much ..

but me, who became a fan basically when this album came out and the many new fans this album brought him, reckon it's freakin great as we didn't have the history of everything that came before to compare it too

and even now that I know what came before, I still love this album as it was one of my first... and you always remember your first - right everyone ?

FunkyStrange said:

yep good point, I think where alot of perople get sidetracked is the commerciality of it...

From being a long term fan from the early days I can get why many of those people don't really dig this album that much ..

but me, who became a fan basically when this album came out and the many new fans this album brought him, reckon it's freakin great as we didn't have the history of everything that came before to compare it too

and even now that I know what came before, I still love this album as it was one of my first... and you always remember your first - right everyone ?

Yeah, personal history influences a lot. I became a fan gradually since 1989, but the first album I bought as a huge fan was Diamonds And Pearls. But personal history influences also the people who lived Prince's 80's music, and that found that this album was something different to what they were used to. Personal history has an influence on all of us regarding musical preferences, that's for sure.

[Edited 7/12/13 5:34am]

Cockin a freak in a low pro.

Chaps - another sterling effort - very enjoyable. Best bits were the opening and closing skits, especially the opening one - very funny!! Don't know whether it's because I'm a long-term fan or not, but like Player said - although there are some great tunes on this album - I hardly ever play it. I've never been a fan of "Thunder" although I do appreciate it's craft. It's death knell for me was when I went to see either the only Act I or Act II concert at Wembley Stadium in 1993, trying to get near the front with my mates (some their first Prince gig) and waiting for hours in the heat with people endlessly pushing and shoving. They had something wrong with the sound system so that the only song they played until Prince came on stage was "Thunder" on loop - must have been about 50 times?! Ahh man - I've never heard so many people collectively groan whenever the opening line of "THUNDER...all through the night" blasted out for the zillionth time. It still sends gut-sickening waves through my very being when I hear it.

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I'm with Captain with "Push" and "Jughead". Not as worthy as "Cream" and "Money don't matter tonight" etc. but I enjoy listening to them a whole lot more - fun and funky!! For me, my favourites are "Walk, don't walk" and "Strollin". Love the sentiment, easy chord progression and lyrics of "Walk, don't walk" - certainly brightens my day when I've been a little low, and love the imagery of the "La la la la las" walking against the traffic with the traffic horns going. Top tune. I also love the live version of "Strollin" at "The Alladin" - what a lovely moment when he plays the guitar solo and then sings "There's so much hate goin' round, hard to not let it get you down. Least we can do is make a joyful sound, oh yeah" pointing to his guitar. Gorgeous.

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Oh, and love the Cream maxi-single like Captain, but prefer the "Q in doubt" AND "Ethereal Mix" - I'm just a sucker for breakbeats...

[Edited 7/16/13 9:58am]

Thanks guys - another top show. Had to laugh at the bit about the Tony M skit at the end of Jughead. Picture the manager punching Tony, not the other way round. Priceless.

Some great tracks on this album - Willing & Able, Walk Don't Walk: a couple of underrated great tracks.

kangafunk said:

Fantastic show lads! The part where I think toejam mentions thunder sounding like music from sonic the hedgehog was a little crazy, d and p's was my first p album and I had it on cassette for Christmas along with a Walkman, a mega drive and sonic, so I will always link the two together as I used to keep dying on the marble zone over and over while listening to d and p's on loop on my Walkman. Such great childhood memories!

It is. Love listening to their podcasts.

luv4u said:

kangafunk said:

Fantastic show lads! The part where I think toejam mentions thunder sounding like music from sonic the hedgehog was a little crazy, d and p's was my first p album and I had it on cassette for Christmas along with a Walkman, a mega drive and sonic, so I will always link the two together as I used to keep dying on the marble zone over and over while listening to d and p's on loop on my Walkman. Such great childhood memories!

It is. Love listening to their podcasts.

Thanks Luv

thanks everyone

MC is back from Europe in a few days and I'm just back from Malaysia, Toejam is back from touring soon I think and Niki will be back sometime this week, so we'll be recording as soon as we can all get together at the same time, so we can have a new show

^^