Just listening to Gold again and its still one of my fav songs from The Gold Experience. Terrific song and the video was cool too

[img:$uid]http://i497.pho.../img:$uid]

I liked it back then and still do to some extent but the album version sounds a bit too sterile for me.

The live versions sounded better, rawer.

Back then I did not like how he promoted it as a song that´s just as good as Purple Rain. That sounded a bit weird, like he was trying too hard to come up with something in the style of Purple Rain. The expectations are always much too high when you make such a statement.

I heard that there is a bootleg with rawer sounding, less overproduced versions of the Gold Experience songs. I know I have some versions of Gold that sound a bit different and less completed but I´m not sure if that´s what the org was discussing when they first mentioned those rawer sounding version of TGE songs.

.-

Anyway, I like it but I think this is a song that would benefit greatly from revisiting and rearranging it. That Welcome 2 .... tour version he did a couple of years ago sounded a bit empty without him playing the guitar.

-

Good song though.

KoolEaze said:

I liked it back then and still do to some extent but the album version sounds a bit too sterile for me.

The live versions sounded better, rawer.

Back then I did not like how he promoted it as a song that´s just as good as Purple Rain. That sounded a bit weird, like he was trying too hard to come up with something in the style of Purple Rain. The expectations are always much too high when you make such a statement.

I heard that there is a bootleg with rawer sounding, less overproduced versions of the Gold Experience songs. I know I have some versions of Gold that sound a bit different and less completed but I´m not sure if that´s what the org was discussing when they first mentioned those rawer sounding version of TGE songs.

.-

Anyway, I like it but I think this is a song that would benefit greatly from revisiting and rearranging it. That Welcome 2 .... tour version he did a couple of years ago sounded a bit empty without him playing the guitar.

-

Good song though.

How many versions are out there? Prince really said it was as good as PR?

He did not say it directly but made Mayte say it for him when she talked about that letter he wrote and that´s where she also hinted at the Come album, all those one-word titled songs and a song named Gold that he´d recently written that supposedly sounded just as good or even better than Purple Rain.

I love both songs but that was , in my opinion, a bit unnecessary. I understand why he was trying to distance himself from "Prince" back then but in hindsight I don´t think it was such a good idea to badmouth his older songs.

I love Purple Rain the song and the album, and , as much as I like Gold, Purple Rain will always be my preferred song.

nursev said:

KoolEaze said:

I liked it back then and still do to some extent but the album version sounds a bit too sterile for me.

The live versions sounded better, rawer.

Back then I did not like how he promoted it as a song that´s just as good as Purple Rain. That sounded a bit weird, like he was trying too hard to come up with something in the style of Purple Rain. The expectations are always much too high when you make such a statement.

I heard that there is a bootleg with rawer sounding, less overproduced versions of the Gold Experience songs. I know I have some versions of Gold that sound a bit different and less completed but I´m not sure if that´s what the org was discussing when they first mentioned those rawer sounding version of TGE songs.

.-

Anyway, I like it but I think this is a song that would benefit greatly from revisiting and rearranging it. That Welcome 2 .... tour version he did a couple of years ago sounded a bit empty without him playing the guitar.

-

Good song though.

How many versions are out there? Prince really said it was as good as PR?

There are a couple of versions out there but, honestly, there are so many other orgers who are much better at looking up the details or coming up with accurate info. I am not very good with exact data and details. I know I have a couple of versions, and I know there was talk of some rawer sounding, demolike versions of TGE songs. I have some, but I´m not sure if they are the ones that some orgers were talking about because they don´t sound that different to me.

People back then (in 2009?) were raving and praising them as if they were drastically different but if so, then I must have some different songs because the ones I found do not sound that raw or different. Slightly different , yes, but not drastrically.

Gold is an incredible song...Probably Prince's most 'epic' song of the 90's.

PurpleColossus said:

Gold is an incredible song...Probably Prince's most 'epic' song of the 90's.

Yes it is. And probably the most suitable one for a live show.

There weren´t really that many "epic" songs in the 90s, were there?

Strays of the World was a good one, Three Chains of Gold....not so much, and maybe Holy River? Same December? The Love We Make?

.

Next would be TRC´s Last December....but that came after the 90s.

It's damn good.

.

My favorite P songs from the 90s are probably:

.

- Money Don't Matter 2Night

- Gold

- White Mansion

.

(Hon. mentions to '7', 'Diamonds & Pearls', and maybe 'The Holy River'.)

nursev said:

Just listening to Gold again and its still one of my fav songs from The Gold Experience. Terrific song and the video was cool too

[img:$uid]http://i497.pho.../img:$uid]

One of my favorite Prince albums. Didn't know it was his last album from Warner Bros. when it came out... It was the a great one to go out on...

I wouldn't mind if he opted to play it live more

GOLD is spot on. Love it.

When I think about it the lyrics 'there's a lady, 99 years old' and there on pop into my head.

Nice message 'all that glitters ain't gold' that's for sure and the music etc etc all good.

Not sure why it isn't on B-sides and or why the album isn't on Tidal!

Ok my fave as well,

Yes I agree with all of you, Gold is such a great song - on such a fantastic album..

Surely The Gold Experience is his best album of the 1990s, too bad the follow up, Emancipation was in such a bad saccharine plastic production, in case it was more edgy, it wouldn't have stopped in 1995.. (it = Prince's amazing line of great albums).

I rate The Gold Experience maximum 10/10, impressive so many styles and genres, excellent songwriting as well. Only it would have been better with the original version of The Most Beautiful Girl.... but thats a detail..

KoolEaze said:

thedance said:

KoolEaze said:

dodger said:

BlackCandle said:

KoolEaze said:

He did not say it directly but made Mayte say it for him when she talked about that letter he wrote and that´s where she also hinted at the Come album, all those one-word titled songs and a song named Gold that he´d recently written that supposedly sounded just as good or even better than Purple Rain.

I love both songs but that was , in my opinion, a bit unnecessary. I understand why he was trying to distance himself from "Prince" back then but in hindsight I don´t think it was such a good idea to badmouth his older songs.

I love Purple Rain the song and the album, and , as much as I like Gold, Purple Rain will always be my preferred song.

Actually, didn't he say it during the interview he gave to Vibe magazine?

I remember Mayte saying it. Not sure if Prince said it too.

KoolEaze said:

PurpleColossus said:

Gold is an incredible song...Probably Prince's most 'epic' song of the 90's.

Yes it is. And probably the most suitable one for a live show.

There weren´t really that many "epic" songs in the 90s, were there?

Strays of the World was a good one, Three Chains of Gold....not so much, and maybe Holy River? Same December? The Love We Make?

.

Next would be TRC´s Last December....but that came after the 90s.

Yep..Gold was the perfect concert closing song just like Purple Rain.

I also agree with those other 90's songs as being the most 'epic' sounding...I would include 'Still Would Stand All Time' as well.

The song is good but not the album. Come album is better.

nursev said:

Bohemian67 said:

GOLD is spot on. Love it.

When I think about it the lyrics 'there's a lady, 99 years old' and there on pop into my head.

Nice message 'all that glitters ain't gold' that's for sure and the music etc etc all good.

Not sure why it isn't on B-sides and or why the album isn't on Tidal!

.

do you mean The Hits/B-sides? it hadnt been released yet at that time. or what are you talking about?

[Edited 3/14/16 4:00am]

Great track, from a great album. My version of TGE however...replaces P Control with Interactive, We March with Love Thy Will be Done & Now with Hide The Bone.

Pretty good track but nowhere near the Purple Rain of the 90s imo, as lots of people have already commented the album track feels really overproduced (iirc 10,000 Wallpapers track is a lot better in this regard and has become my go-to version of the track if I want to listen), and even disregarding that there are some pretty iffy lyrics (the opening couplet of "There's a mountain and it's mighty high | You cannot see the top unless you fly" just sounds really cringeworthy and infantile to me). Overall a good, if overhyped, track.

KoolEaze said:

I liked it back then and still do to some extent but the album version sounds a bit too sterile for me.

The live versions sounded better, rawer.

I remember seeing him in early '95, when he was doing all-new material, and he closed with Gold. It worked for me as the 'statement' song that defined where he was at at that point, seemingly shedding his old skin and starting anew; and it seemed suitably bold and heartfelt musically, such that it felt like an 'instant classic' at the gig.

It was some months before we actually got an album, so the first time I heard it was on a live bootleg. And, yeah, I think it did have something really good about it there. The warmer and more organic Hammond organ sound sticks out in my memory, in opposition to the piercing 'church organ' from the recorded version. And it wasn't overdubbed to within an inch of its life - or, at least, all those trigger samples were further back, with the live instruments at the fore. I never liked the guitar solo all shrouded in synths, either. He had a habit of just putting too much into the mix to prettify everything, at that time.

I grew to like the record, though. Still one of my favourites of his 90s tracks. Seemed like he had something to say, rather than just retreading the same old ground.

deebee said:

KoolEaze said:

I liked it back then and still do to some extent but the album version sounds a bit too sterile for me.

The live versions sounded better, rawer.

I remember seeing him in early '95, when he was doing all-new material, and he closed with Gold. It worked for me as the 'statement' song that defined where he was at at that point, seemingly shedding his old skin and starting anew; and it seemed suitably bold and heartfelt musically, such that it felt like an 'instant classic' at the gig.

It was some months before we actually got an album, so the first time I heard it was on a live bootleg. And, yeah, I think it did have something really good about it there. The warmer and more organic Hammond organ sound sticks out in my memory, in opposition to the piercing 'church organ' from the recorded version. And it wasn't overdubbed to within an inch of its life - or, at least, all those trigger samples were further back, with the live instruments at the fore. I never liked the guitar solo all shrouded in synths, either. He had a habit of just putting too much into the mix to prettify everything, at that time.

I grew to like the record, though. Still one of my favourites of his 90s tracks. Seemed like he had something to say, rather than just retreading the same old ground.

TGE is a weird album. On the one hand I love almost every single song on it before it was released because I either had them as bootlegs or knew them from the live shows, but on the other hand I felt very disappointed when I finally bought the album and the songs sounded so overproduced and clean and tamed.

This was especially evident when I heard the album version of Shhh... It´s such a great live song (with questionable lyrics for a grown man) and there had been so many amazing live renditions, and each performance sounded different, too. But the album version did very little for me.

The same goes for Now and Gold. I understand why he didn´t release the studio version of Days of Wild because like he himself said it , the studio version pales in comparison to the live versions he would play during the spring of 1995.

And don´t get me started about those cheesy sounding synthesizer melodies on Gold. Very unnecessary.

This song needs to be revisited and brought back with a new, rawer arrangement.

The record itself was truly a statement and a good indicator of where he was and what he was going through at the time.

alandail said:

Gold is cool, I'm rediscovering the period today

since I just got THE DAWN 3CD set.

a lot of great music 93-95.

I like this fan boot better than the original WB albums.

KoolEaze said:

deebee said:

I remember seeing him in early '95, when he was doing all-new material, and he closed with Gold. It worked for me as the 'statement' song that defined where he was at at that point, seemingly shedding his old skin and starting anew; and it seemed suitably bold and heartfelt musically, such that it felt like an 'instant classic' at the gig.

It was some months before we actually got an album, so the first time I heard it was on a live bootleg. And, yeah, I think it did have something really good about it there. The warmer and more organic Hammond organ sound sticks out in my memory, in opposition to the piercing 'church organ' from the recorded version. And it wasn't overdubbed to within an inch of its life - or, at least, all those trigger samples were further back, with the live instruments at the fore. I never liked the guitar solo all shrouded in synths, either. He had a habit of just putting too much into the mix to prettify everything, at that time.

I grew to like the record, though. Still one of my favourites of his 90s tracks. Seemed like he had something to say, rather than just retreading the same old ground.

TGE is a weird album. On the one hand I love almost every single song on it before it was released because I either had them as bootlegs or knew them from the live shows, but on the other hand I felt very disappointed when I finally bought the album and the songs sounded so overproduced and clean and tamed.

This was especially evident when I heard the album version of Shhh... It´s such a great live song (with questionable lyrics for a grown man) and there had been so many amazing live renditions, and each performance sounded different, too. But the album version did very little for me.

The same goes for Now and Gold. I understand why he didn´t release the studio version of Days of Wild because like he himself said it , the studio version pales in comparison to the live versions he would play during the spring of 1995.

And don´t get me started about those cheesy sounding synthesizer melodies on Gold. Very unnecessary.

This song needs to be revisited and brought back with a new, rawer arrangement.

The record itself was truly a statement and a good indicator of where he was and what he was going through at the time.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It seemed like he was on a bit of a creative high in that 1993-1995 period, and was making a lot of great material, but the albums that were released never quite did justice to that. I enjoyed both Come and Gold (and Exodus) when they came out, but I didn't think of them as the masterpieces they're sometimes hailed as amongst fans today. I did like how his musical style was evolving overall in that period, and how he was having more success connecting with more contemporary styles, etc, although that wasn't universally popular at the time. He was chasing trends, no question, but he seemed to be getting somewhere with that, and he was connecting with music I was into.

As you say, though, it all came across best in the live stuff. There was a closeness and a feeling of being a band with that line-up of the NPG that he didn't always manage to get so successfully after that, in addition to them being incredibly tight, soulful and funky. TGE is at least some kind of document of that to listen back to today, I guess. Plus, it all has an added nostalgic value for me now, as a document of the time, which was a period in my own life that I enjoyed a lot, even if it's all a bit stodgy. Makes me wonder how it sounds to people just getting acquainted with his music who didn't encounter it at the time.