Thibaut said:

Emancipation

Emancipation... ok...? really.....?


Different opinions. This album was when I got lost with Prince, in nov. 1996.

It was my 1st major Prince-album disappointment, BUT ok.. I have learned to appreciate Emancipation a bit more through the years.

But back then I was hugely disappointed by this 3cd set....

Adorecream said:

The Gold Experience by far, so many great songs on that album, Endorphinmachine, Gold, Dolphin, Beautiful Girl, 319, Shh! and I hate U. Just amazing stuff.

.

Next I would actually say Come, as apart from Solo and Orgasm, that album is tight, Letitgo, Come, Space and Dark are true classics.

.

Then Lovesymbol, yes there is some crap like Arrogance and the Flow, but it also has Love 2 the 9s and Morning Papers along with his very best track of the 90s - Damn U!

.

Diamonds and Pearls is right up there too, a lot of very catchy and commercially friendly tightly produced, funky pop songs like Cream, Gett Off, Daddy Pop, Willing and Able and of course Money don't matter 2nite.

.

Least favourite is NewPowerSoul, that album is just wrong.

.

My order

1. Gold Experience - 89/100

2. Come - 77/100

3. Lovesymbol - 75/100

4. Diamonds and Pearls 73/100

5. Crystal Ball 72/100 (Only 90s tracks, the 80s tracks are gold, but 90s a mixed bag)

6. Chaos and Disorder 70/100 - Some great rock numbers here, Sonny and Michael B with Prince, the new power trio.

7. Graffiti Bridge - 68/100, Ok but a lot of slipshod filler

8. Emancipation - 65/100 Some classics, but a lot of crap and average songs

9. Rave - 55/100 Ugghh!!!!Does have Beautiful Strange on 2000 version though, but thats a 2000s song.

10. The Truth - 50/100 - Yawn!

11. Newpowersoul - 42/100 I gave marks to the one and come on, rest is crap

12. Kamasutra - 2/100 - Not even an album, just crappy ballet type music.

.

Others

1. The Vault - fairly good album of outtakes - between Crystal Ball 90s trax and Emancipation depending on my mood for My little pill (About 65 -70/100)

2. Hitz/Bsides, theres only 3 new tracks here, Peach is pretty good, Pink Cashmere average (And from the 88/89 period) and Pope is terrible. So between Emancipation/rave (60/100?)

3. Goldnigga - Very poor and boring wannabe gangsta crap - A bit better than newpowersoul

4. Exodus, see above, some classic songs like Count the days, Goodlife and the classics get wild and cherry cherry ruined by stupid segues and rubbish trend cursing.

5. The War - Havent heard it

6. The Undertaker - Not really an album, but I like it (I had the videocassette), same level as Chaos and Disorder I guess.

[Edited 6/9/15 3:23am]

Agree about New Power Soul with the MAJOR exception being the song "Come On". That song could have been on Sign O The Times IMO. Way too good for this album.

I think Gold Experience is probably the best. But I find myself listening to Emancipation the most. He just gave himself a lot of time to stretch out the jams on that one and it's a lot of fun to listen to. Gold Experience is kind of like watching a blockbuster over and over again and knowing where all the explosions are.

jfrost said:

jfrost said:

The Dawn 4:1.......officially the best record of the 90s

Yeah... but since it ain't official, let's go with unofficially the best record.

.

If I have to go with what Prince actually put together, I'd say The Truth. But even so, when I saw the list and it wasn't there, I didn't even notice the omission. I was gonna go with Come at first, but I just really like the playfullness and freedom I hear in The Truth.

thedance said:

Thibaut said:

Emancipation

Emancipation... ok...? really.....?


Different opinions. This album was when I got lost with Prince, in nov. 1996.

It was my 1st major Prince-album disappointment, BUT ok.. I have learned to appreciate Emancipation a bit more through the years.

But back then I was hugely disappointed by this 3cd set....

Emancipation has become one of my faves of the decades as well. Its one of the few albums from the 90s I still listen to on a pretty regular basis. Yeah it does have some clunkers, (Mr Happy...ugh) but overall I find it's a very positive and enjoyable album.

The album that questioned my fandom back then was Symbol...I just was not a fan of Prince attempting hip hop. My Name is Prince was the one that I was like...are you kidding? This is SHIT. I didn't come back until I heard a tape of Gold experience songs late in 94.

In my humble opinion, just because it was the tail end of the essential era, i'd go with Graffiti Bridge. It still had a bit of the feel of the 'That's fucking EXCELLENT!' period, though in admittedly small amounts

Come/Gold

Symbol

Gold

Exodus. How anyone doesn't love this record, segues aside, is absolutely beyond me. It's the spiritual successor to 1999 and just drips and oozes funk (Return of the Bump Squad, Big Fun, Get Wild, The Exodus Has Begun, The Good Life). Shit is THICK as hell. Shame it's buried in Prince's catalog. Everyone I play it for loves it.

[Edited 6/11/15 17:22pm]

COME, EXODUS & CHAOS... Wow been re listening to these... I prefer these over D&P, TGE and EMANCIPATION...

jfrost said:

The Dawn 4:1.......officially the best record of the 90s

is this updated from original 3 disc fan set? can u post track list?

jillybean said:

Graffiti Bridge or Come.

^^ that. maybe also TGE

graffitti bridge

symbol

come

gold

emancipation

chaos

just these 6 make the decade stellar

Adorecream said:

The Gold Experience by far, so many great songs on that album, Endorphinmachine, Gold, Dolphin, Beautiful Girl, 319, Shh! and I hate U. Just amazing stuff.

.

Next I would actually say Come, as apart from Solo and Orgasm, that album is tight, Letitgo, Come, Space and Dark are true classics.

.

Then Lovesymbol, yes there is some crap like Arrogance and the Flow, but it also has Love 2 the 9s and Morning Papers along with his very best track of the 90s - Damn U!

.

Diamonds and Pearls is right up there too, a lot of very catchy and commercially friendly tightly produced, funky pop songs like Cream, Gett Off, Daddy Pop, Willing and Able and of course Money don't matter 2nite.

.

Least favourite is NewPowerSoul, that album is just wrong.

.

My order

1. Gold Experience - 89/100

2. Come - 77/100

3. Lovesymbol - 75/100

4. Diamonds and Pearls 73/100

5. Crystal Ball 72/100 (Only 90s tracks, the 80s tracks are gold, but 90s a mixed bag)

6. Chaos and Disorder 70/100 - Some great rock numbers here, Sonny and Michael B with Prince, the new power trio.

7. Graffiti Bridge - 68/100, Ok but a lot of slipshod filler

8. Emancipation - 65/100 Some classics, but a lot of crap and average songs

9. Rave - 55/100 Ugghh!!!!Does have Beautiful Strange on 2000 version though, but thats a 2000s song.

10. The Truth - 50/100 - Yawn!

11. Newpowersoul - 42/100 I gave marks to the one and come on, rest is crap

12. Kamasutra - 2/100 - Not even an album, just crappy ballet type music.

.

Others

1. The Vault - fairly good album of outtakes - between Crystal Ball 90s trax and Emancipation depending on my mood for My little pill (About 65 -70/100)

2. Hitz/Bsides, theres only 3 new tracks here, Peach is pretty good, Pink Cashmere average (And from the 88/89 period) and Pope is terrible. So between Emancipation/rave (60/100?)

3. Goldnigga - Very poor and boring wannabe gangsta crap - A bit better than newpowersoul

4. Exodus, see above, some classic songs like Count the days, Goodlife and the classics get wild and cherry cherry ruined by stupid segues and rubbish trend cursing.

5. The War - Havent heard it

6. The Undertaker - Not really an album, but I like it (I had the videocassette), same level as Chaos and Disorder I guess.

[Edited 6/9/15 3:23am]

reviewing albums out of 100, interesting concept. I wonder what Prince would think. tbh I think u got D&P 3 out of 100 out. I would have given it a 7, not that Prince ever really does anything less thatn 7/10 albums. I should know. I am his cousin.

The Gold Experience.

If The Undertaker was a commercial release, that would be my second choice.

Come.

One of his strongest albums. The funkiness and horns of Come and Letitgo, the utter brilliance of Space and Pheromone. Race and Dark are also wonderful. Its an eclectic album and one of his best.

I do enjoy The Gold Experience but I think in comparison to other 90's albums, its a bit overrated.

herb4 said:

Symbol

Gold

Exodus. How anyone doesn't love this record, segues aside, is absolutely beyond me. It's the spiritual successor to 1999 and just drips and oozes funk (Return of the Bump Squad, Big Fun, Get Wild, The Exodus Has Begun, The Good Life). Shit is THICK as hell. Shame it's buried in Prince's catalog. Everyone I play it for loves it.

[Edited 6/11/15 17:22pm]

Yes motherfucker yes!

Exodus still sounds fresh n futuristic to me. Its like an extension of Gold.

1) The Truth

2) Symbol

1. Emancipation

2. Come

3. Gold

4. Black Album

5. Symbol

Toss up

Graffiti Bridge is the best thing he's done in the past 25 years. Interesting most of the album was written in the 80s.

[Edited 7/29/15 12:39pm]

For me, Come. I find a real chore and the Gold Experience is a little overblown imho.

The Dawn 4.1 probably gets the most plays around my place though.

[Edited 7/30/15 1:24am]

Yup!

motherfunka said:

KingSausage said:

Symbol. Hands down.

The Truth

Followed by The Vault

The most unpretentious albums in a decade of trying too hard (I also prefer Chaos and Disorder to other more hit oriented albums due to this)

For me it's always been Chaos & Disorder, I explain why on my website where I review all Prince's 90's albums.

http://princereviews.com/category/prince-reviews/the-nineties-90s/

fortuneandserendipity said:

Graffiti Bridge is the best thing he's done in the past 25 years. Interesting most of the album was written in the 80s.

[Edited 7/29/15 12:39pm]

I agree. People always judge the album because it's tied in with the movie... Also a lot of filler songs not needed on that album by other artists... Strip it down just to the Prince songs, you deff have the strongest album of the 90's due to the fact that many of those songs were recorded in the 80's...

But if you just break it down song by song, I don't feel any other album of the 90's has as many strong singular tracks like GB has.

Elephants and Flowers

The Question of U

We Can Funk

Joy in Repetition

Thieves in the Temple

Diamonds & Pearls was his most successful album in the 90s so by default it's the strongest.

The album holds up well too.

"The Dawn" is the album Emancipation should have been, but it ended up being broken down into other configurations.

Come is Princes accidental masterpiece. In attempting to cobble together an album WB wouldn't be able to sell he compiled his darkest album to date. It was savaged by critics at the time but is now a standout point in his career.

Gold is nothing short of spectacular and is probably the most cohesive and coherent album from the 90s. I'n retrospect we can now look back and see Prince was at least 5 years ahead of any other pop star at the time.

Exodus is deep dark dank funk. I would love "hitandrun" to echo this sound. Despite all the FX and multi layers it retains something of an organic sound.