Se7en said:

I've thought about this for a bit, and I think it's because the criticism for Prince's work is moving inward into his previously-untouchable "Classic" period. Like a cancer, if you will.

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The critiques used to start with Chaos & Disorder/Emancipation/NPS all the way up to present day. We'd explain away C&D as a "contractual obligation", Emancipation as "EMI went under" and NPS as "just a side project, not a real Prince album".

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1978-1988 was always off limits, and 1989-1995 was treated almost with the same respect, but 1996 onward was fair game.

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Now, I think we've grown bored of tearing apart the "usual suspects" and have moved on to the Classic period. It doesn't always spread from the outside-in, but if it did, then the first target would obviously be TGE.

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I don't see how TGE would be dropping in status. Quite honestly, it's in a lot of Top 10 Prince (or ) album lists. The more albums that Prince releases, just pretty much means that there are more albums under TGE. At least IMHO.

Thats an interesting perspective, and I mostly agree. Sure, beating a dead horse ala 96-present certainly has gotten stale. But, you'de be a total fool to stir the pot by starting to pick at the body of work from 78-88. Those ten years are the reason 85-90% of us here are on this forum to begin with. Was every single song he put to tape amazing during those ten years? Of course not. However, there aren't many other artists/musicians/bands walking this planet that have produced and released a solid decade's worth of music that compares to the sheer greatness that our main man was dropping during this time. As for 89-95? It's not nearly as untouchable as the first ten years, but definitely open to more constructive criticism. But even so...why the urge and need to criticise simply because you got bored of taking the 96-present era's lunch money all the time? Its like...don't go out of your way to find faults with The Mona Lisa just because you're sick of hearing how much of an inarguable masterpiece it is.

.

Anyway, TGE to me just isn't as powerful as some of his other records. It doesnt even crack my top 15 of his albums, not a chance. Hell, IMHO I feel a generous portion of The Symbol Album has aged much more gracefully than TGE, and I stated in another thread that I feel Come is a more interesting, odd album of his that doesnt get the credit it deserves, probably because its overshadowed by TGE.

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But I'd also like to say that I wasn't actively around during TGE's era. I was only 9 when it was released, and I only recall at the time him causing a fuss with the whole Slave thing, and just being a real spoiled brat (Even though he willfully signed that lucrative deal). If I were older and was a first day buyer when the album was released, then id imagine my outlook on the album would be vastly different. Yeah, considering the time it was released, TGE is insane. Fresher than milk delivered the day it was squeezed out of the cow. However, it aint 1995 anymore, and the album's 1995isms aren't very subtle, and it's downfall is the simple fact that it's a product of it's time, and the product hasn't held up well fighting against good ol' Father Time. "Y'all Motherfuckas iz tight..."

[Edited 5/9/15 14:59pm]

Because TGE is the most OVERRATED ALBUM by the people on this site.

kygermo said:

Se7en said:

I was only 9 when it was released, and I only recall at the time him causing a fuss with the whole Slave thing, and just being a real spoiled brat (Even though he willfully signed that lucrative deal). If I were older and was a first day buyer when the album was released, then id imagine my outlook on the album would be vastly different.

[Edited 5/9/15 14:59pm]

Precisely, most of these haters were young people when it came out. Not a valid reason guys. I was 9 when Around the World in a day came out and yet all I thought was that the guy looked weird. I was also aged between 4 and 12 during the Golden period and barely noticed him, except possibly Alpahabet street at the very end and that was only because he reminded me of TTD.

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How ignorant I was back then. I was 19 when TGE dropped and I had lived through Symbol, the Hits, Beautiful Experience, Come and Exodus all being released to. I loved the album then and I love it now, yet when I was 19 I already knew Symbol was crap and so was half of the Come album, some how I knew Gold would ride off into the future with its reputation intact and only in 2015 would people start to despise it because it sounds dated. Yes they threw a monkey wrench in my plans. Of course the album sounds dated, it was recorded in 1994, does that not count for something. Most albums from 1994 do, take Madonna's Bedtime stories, some great songs, but a lot of dated as hell filler. Yet do we beat up on her for it - No!

.

Prince was working through some major issues in 1995 with Warners, Mayte, his band and finances, he is not known for taking pressure well, so let him live and as I recall Warners held back the Gold Experience, many books allude to the fact Prince wanted it out in early 1994 with Come as a Prince set and TGE as the new TAFKAP album.

It was slated for early 1995, but with Exodus coming out in May 1995 under the NPG label and having Prince as Tora Tora on it, probably pissed them off no end, as Exodus was a band album and had more recent music on it.

Despite the fact WB would never release it for the mixed quality, excessive swearing and gangsta themed songs and general lack of quality (6 good songs with filler and way too many segues). By the time TGE emerged, it was no longer really promoted by Prince, who showed little interest and had already moved on to recording most of Emancipation (The Truth and Chaos were both done in 1996). Even then it still shipped gold, which was rare for a Prince release by then.

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By 1995 the charts were over him, they were full of g funk sound alikes and gfunk itself, Tupac, naughty ragga songs like Shy guy and angry females like Alanis Morissette along with MJ having his last fling on chart domination and the rise of many quick made for a buck techno style dance songs like anything by Real McCoy and LaBouche. There was also the last death throes of grunge and alternative music mixed along with a lot of crappy rap and cheesy r and b songs. Only Mariah Carey and TLC were the real highlights (There was no Toni Braxton between 1994 and 1996)

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Its great to own that you were a spoilt brat at 9, I think we all were. At the ageI thought my life revolved around getting as much lego, money and popsicles as possible, but you know we outgrow that phase

[Edited 5/9/15 16:25pm]

Adorecream said:

kygermo said:

[Edited 5/9/15 14:59pm]

Precisely, most of these haters were young people when it came out. Not a valid reason guys. I was 9 when Around the World in a day came out and yet all I thought was that the guy looked weird. I was also aged between 4 and 12 during the Golden period and barely noticed him, except possibly Alpahabet street at the very end and that was only because he reminded me of TTD.

.

How ignorant I was back then. I was 19 when TGE dropped and I had lived through Symbol, the Hits, Beautiful Experience, Come and Exodus all being released to. I loved the album then and I love it now, yet when I was 19 I already knew Symbol was crap and so was half of the Come album, some how I knew Gold would ride off into the future with its reputation intact and only in 2015 would people start to despise it because it sounds dated. Yes they threw a monkey wrench in my plans. Of course the album sounds dated, it was recorded in 1994, does that not count for something. Most albums from 1994 do, take Madonna's Bedtime stories, some great songs, but a lot of dated as hell filler. Yet do we beat up on her for it - No!

.

Prince was working through some major issues in 1995 with Warners, Mayte, his band and finances, he is not known for taking pressure well, so let him live and as I recall Warners held back the Gold Experience, many books allude to the fact Prince wanted it out in early 1994 with Come as a Prince set and TGE as the new TAFKAP album.

It was slated for early 1995, but with Exodus coming out in May 1995 under the NPG label and having Prince as Tora Tora on it, probably pissed them off no end, as Exodus was a band album and had more recent music on it.

Despite the fact WB would never release it for the mixed quality, excessive swearing and gangsta themed songs and general lack of quality (6 good songs with filler and way too many segues). By the time TGE emerged, it was no longer really promoted by Prince, who showed little interest and had already moved on to recording most of Emancipation (The Truth and Chaos were both done in 1996). Even then it still shipped gold, which was rare for a Prince release by then.

.

By 1995 the charts were over him, they were full of g funk sound alikes and gfunk itself, Tupac, naughty ragga songs like Shy guy and angry females like Alanis Morissette along with MJ having his last fling on chart domination and the rise of many quick made for a buck techno style dance songs like anything by Real McCoy and LaBouche. There was also the last death throes of grunge and alternative music mixed along with a lot of crappy rap and cheesy r and b songs. Only Mariah Carey and TLC were the real highlights (There was no Toni Braxton between 1994 and 1996)

.

Its great to own that you were a spoilt brat at 9, I think we all were. At the ageI thought my life revolved around getting as much lego, money and popsicles as possible, but you know we outgrow that phase

[Edited 5/9/15 16:25pm]

I think there's either some creative editing by Kygermo here, or a computer glitch, because what is being quoted was not said by me.

I was 23 when TGE came out. It was a strong Prince/ album then, and it holds up today. What Prince had going at the time with Sonny T., Michael B. and Tommy Barbarella was pretty great.

Adorecream said:

kygermo said:

[Edited 5/9/15 14:59pm]

Precisely, most of these haters were young people when it came out. Not a valid reason guys. I was 9 when Around the World in a day came out and yet all I thought was that the guy looked weird. I was also aged between 4 and 12 during the Golden period and barely noticed him, except possibly Alpahabet street at the very end and that was only because he reminded me of TTD.

.

How ignorant I was back then. I was 19 when TGE dropped and I had lived through Symbol, the Hits, Beautiful Experience, Come and Exodus all being released to. I loved the album then and I love it now, yet when I was 19 I already knew Symbol was crap and so was half of the Come album, some how I knew Gold would ride off into the future with its reputation intact and only in 2015 would people start to despise it because it sounds dated. Yes they threw a monkey wrench in my plans. Of course the album sounds dated, it was recorded in 1994, does that not count for something. Most albums from 1994 do, take Madonna's Bedtime stories, some great songs, but a lot of dated as hell filler. Yet do we beat up on her for it - No!

.

Prince was working through some major issues in 1995 with Warners, Mayte, his band and finances, he is not known for taking pressure well, so let him live and as I recall Warners held back the Gold Experience, many books allude to the fact Prince wanted it out in early 1994 with Come as a Prince set and TGE as the new TAFKAP album.

It was slated for early 1995, but with Exodus coming out in May 1995 under the NPG label and having Prince as Tora Tora on it, probably pissed them off no end, as Exodus was a band album and had more recent music on it.

Despite the fact WB would never release it for the mixed quality, excessive swearing and gangsta themed songs and general lack of quality (6 good songs with filler and way too many segues). By the time TGE emerged, it was no longer really promoted by Prince, who showed little interest and had already moved on to recording most of Emancipation (The Truth and Chaos were both done in 1996). Even then it still shipped gold, which was rare for a Prince release by then.

.

By 1995 the charts were over him, they were full of g funk sound alikes and gfunk itself, Tupac, naughty ragga songs like Shy guy and angry females like Alanis Morissette along with MJ having his last fling on chart domination and the rise of many quick made for a buck techno style dance songs like anything by Real McCoy and LaBouche. There was also the last death throes of grunge and alternative music mixed along with a lot of crappy rap and cheesy r and b songs. Only Mariah Carey and TLC were the real highlights (There was no Toni Braxton between 1994 and 1996)

.

Its great to own that you were a spoilt brat at 9, I think we all were. At the ageI thought my life revolved around getting as much lego, money and popsicles as possible, but you know we outgrow that phase

[Edited 5/9/15 16:25pm]

Lol may I be honest? Im not sure if you're bustin my stones, or displaying empathy for me. Ill choose the ladder. I'm not a hater of this album. I said earlier in this thread that when this album is good, its GREAT. Did you own ATWIAD at 9 years old? And if you did, heres the million dollar question: Can you honestly say with a straight face that you were able to fully grasp and take in what was going on within the ATWIAD album at 9 years old? Like really? The first P album I bought was the Symbol Album in 92 when I was six, and with the exception of "My Name Is Prince", the album did what you think it might do and proceeded to fly over my head. It was a clean copy too, and the edited version of Sexy MF where you hear his "IOWA" scream dubbed over the "fucker" part had me thinking thats how the song was. Imagine my shock when I got older...lol

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Sure, its well-documented that he was having some major issues during this time. However, he didnt help matters much and he ultimately made things harder for himself just by how he handled said issues. He may have been in a super-rut with his record label, but the Slave fiasco, name change, releasing sub-par albums to get out of his contract (regardless if we as a fan page like those albums) and taking TMBGITW to an entirely different record label did zero favors for the guy.

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I can also tell you with sincereity that my opinion of TGE was not formed over-night, let alone within the year 2015. Back during the days when the Housequake forum (RIP) was still around before P had his way with it and shut it down, I was vocal about my tiffs of TGE there too. I felt this way the very first time I ordered TGE off cdnow and received it a couple days later, and listened to it start-to-finish in my car. I couldnt lie to myself and say I loved it and proceed to hold it in such high regard. I've had TGE for 11 years now, and my thoughts on the album, as many chances as I gave it to really sink it's teeth in, have not changed. It's an overall over-produced, over blown and over thought album that could have really afforded to be looked over again and trimmed down. Those segues and that awful typing beeping noise thats prevalent throughout the album has really taken some shine off the album's wax job which leads me back to my initial point: The Gold Experience is very much a product of it's time, a time that has not aged very well. Of course there's amazing material throughout the album. It's a Prince album after all. But his over-indulgence pertaining to the album's theme has really done more harm than good 20 years later, and I can't help but think of the emergence of America Online, Toy Story, Die Hard With A Vengeance, WCW Wrestling and Tabitha Soren and Kenneddy doing quick MTV News clips in between videos. Prince may as well should have recorded an early 90s printer printing on pieces of paper you had to manually seperate from the ridges in between as the segues instead of the operator reminding us where we've been welcomed to every chance it gets. I'm sorry, I dont mean to fight (and Im doing my best to add some humor to this), but TGE's self-indulgence is a real turn off for me, and ultimately makes the album operate while using crutches. If Prince had done away with the glittery, over blown excess nonsense that runs rampant throughtout the album and just released an album of 10-12 songs without the fat, it would be more loved and more highly regarded than it already is amongst the fans.

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And while I had my short little stint with legos, my allowance and reasons for good grades was because of the special time of every month I worked my ass off to keep receiving: The trip to the record store, and earning one cd a month. My peers were watching Sesame Street and Nick Jr. I was developing my first crush on Downtown Julie Brown, and playing air guitar with a bamboo stick to Van Halen's "Jump" video. I've built my life around my love for music, please dont lowball me and assume I used to chew on lego pieces. I dont even know you, but I know you're above the petty insults.

[Edited 5/9/15 17:58pm]

As a kid I didnt like it that much i admit. More so with every failed release after until Rainbow Children came out.

Thats when I had faith in him again.

The album is good but I still dont play it as a whole because alot of it is long and overdone. By the time Shy comes on I'm beat down. As a whole. Seperatley track by track I can listen to it though opn different occasions but I never go to listen to the whole thing its overwhelming.

PurpleKnight said:

The album version of The Most Beautiful Girl is a perfect example of the overproduced sound on this album. The single version is a perfectly pleasant, catchy pop song. Then you pop in the CD and hear completley unnecessary production effects like clock sounds in the background.

I HATED that version so much i replaced it with the single version on my ipod and deleted it forever

The era was great.

Maybe it's dropping in status because by now we know the album(s) that could have been.


I have nothing but admiration for "The Ride" and its live performances.
Lovesign has probably been #1 on the Billboard in a parallel universe.
The Undertaker, the whole Exodus, the fantastic boombastic over the top 64 channels full on of "The Exodus Has Begun",

Poor Goo, 7, 3-19, Dolphin, he was pissed at Warner (whether he was right is another subject) and on fire.

And what about "Calhoun Square", "The Truth", "What's My Name" ? Was it the first time he sang with a lollipop in his mouth?
Until Emancipation, all albums from through Chaos & Disorder are like one massive album to me.
It's the one, same focused mind, on new patterns, new instrumentations (no more horns for a while), Hammond organs,
and after that he would be someone else again, probably Mayte being pregnant had an influence.

Shhh remains untouched, it's like this song can stand the same arrangement night after night,
Prince will always find a new lead vocal persona, and climb a step higher as a guitarist.
On fockin' live performances, man. Night after night after night.
The drummer will always his/her moment.

I don't think the correct Endorphinmachine landed on TGE.
You hear the spit much more clearly in the unreleased version,
and it's delightful. And the mix is a little easier on the lungs.

When you're in a 747 Grand mood, it's an extra-terrestrial album,
and I'm pretty certain TGE alone made the Loudness Wars go from Defcon 4 to Defcon 1 in the subsequent years of its release.
It's a problematic album, like 1999 is, because your first reflex is to touch the EQ.
It's what we call in France "parti pris", who could be interpreted as "take position".

Trouble is, the radios were starting to compress like maniacs too, and this has probably been a no-go for radios
when the received the CD sampler. I mean TGE IS LOUD! ONLY EXODUS BEATS IT IN TERMS OF VOLUME!
And, as always, bad choice of singles, this plague on Prince's relationship with the mainstream public.

Gold is, well, shiny and glossy. Is that a bad thing?
No, it's been said, it's all jewelry.
And Come 1958-1995, The Sagrada Familia, Prince laid on the floor, crucified, both eyes staring at nothing at all...
This is some crazy shit, man. Gotta love it.
The Mashed Potatoes Girl Segue, man!
It was, at last, Prince's gang. Like in the VH1 Dolphin video, they merged into one strange androgynous polymorph musician,
kind of disturbing from time to time (the eyeliner to The Max), the pompadour haircut, Tommy B. manners...

They're all very strange albums, very "take it or leave it" (which could also be interpreted as "prendre parti").
TGE is fascinating that way.
TGE is massive.
TGE is a Technicolor Superproduction, like "in selected theaters", it screams "in selected hi-fi systems".


After more than twenty years of playing and singing on a daily basis, Prince is, in the midst of the nineties, an incredible musician, litterally.
His guitar solos became all of a sudden, very bluesy, free-jazz. Not only he had the balls to let go of
all that he had learned the past decade, but he expanded his guitar sound in strange multi-octave wah-wahs,
and fuzz pedals fuzzier than a hedgehog armed with chainsaws.

His vocal technique was at its peak, and thank God "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" reached #1,
so the mainstream public could ear what out-of-this-world range and technique Prince has.


But therein lies the problem.


It exsudes paranoia all over. Everything is intended to make your jaw drop at the man's abilities.
Hey, look how good I am! And, it's like, what can you say? He's awesome all the way.
But... The name change, for crying out loud! Shhh-lonk!

The beginning of the "me against the world" attitude. The NPG, the crazy vagina-shaped stage set,
Dolphin (which Delores is a cooler, nostalgic version),
TGE is at the same time very inventive, but so far gone, uncompromised, and, let's admit it, narcissistic that
it's easy to understand how codified and bizarre it may have looked to the mainstream public.

We tolerate "P Control" from Prince, because we know it's only a facet of the musician he is.
Therefore, it's precious, because it's part of broader spectrum. Prince simply could not make a career
in a world dominated by singles. He's one of the last to have tried concept-albums, and,

what I'm talking about, he still does to this day. AOA, doesn't matter if you like it or not, IS a concept-album.

But when "Slave" appeared on his cheek, no matter how good the music was, to the public he had just become a freak.
TAFKAP soon became a household name, a running gag. Comedians suddenly had an easy target, for years.
And the musical genius of it all,became hard to defend.
In the process, we turned out to be the NPG, exactly as he wanted us to be.
The fans that will defend him in spite of everything. Even when he overdoes it.

Surely we all grow up, but I wouldn't call TGE a "childhood memory distorsion".
It was a bold attempt to reinvent himself from the ground up, and the musical legacy of it, in any genre, outweighs its flaws.

If the mainstream thought Prince was a joke, musicians kept on listening, and most of all producers.
Modern productions owe a great deal to TGE's lavish, über-enhanced and über-compressed sound.

Except it's all Pro Tools.

Wheras with Prince, a few rehearsals, and boom, here's your album take. — next song!

[Edited 5/9/15 20:39pm]

TGE had a terrible mix and was way too loud. It was released in the middle of the Loudness War to compete with the other loud CD's. More than likely it was Warners decision.

SanDiegoFunkDaddy said:

TGE had a terrible mix and was way too loud. It was released in the middle of the Loudness War to compete with the other loud CD's. More than likely it was Warners decision.

I like the "loudness" of TGE.It kinda reminds me of Purple Rain,which also had a loud,powerful sound (the drums,in particular).