Had U is brilliant. I hope an extended version exists somewhere in the vault.

Outside of Right the Wrong, I like every track on this album.

I agree with others here that Dig U Better Dead is one of the best tracks on the album..I've always found it to be pretty unique sounding Prince song, some very interesting instrumentals on it.

A much better listening experience than Emancipation ever was/is..

I Adore the album!!......and it's strange to me how "I Rock, Therefore I Am" and "Dig U Better Dead"..never get's much love....because everytime there played in my home...people who know nothing about Prince comment on how much they liek those song's...

stoneriver said:

lynx said:

One of my favourites and his only "rock" album, really

Lotusflower

Good point but Chaos seems like more all out rock to me, until NPG to the Maxium is said for some reason.

I like it a lot. Better than Emancipation for me. I love the title track, "Zannallee", "Into The Light/I Will" and "Dig U Better Dead" the most

bluegangsta said:

dodger said:

Nice. I've always loved it but as above it could have been even better if he added the likes of Calhoun Square, which would have fitted perfectly.

.

Regarding Empty Room - I'll always associate that with the Gold era after seeing the video pre-show on the tour so I was surprised to learn the video used 'the original 1985 music' (according to PrinceVault).. Of course it could have been originally wrote/recorded back then but that video version has that 94-95 NPG sound to me so I thought it must have been re-recorded

Definitly not re-recorded, all original. The only thing I suspect about it, is that it might be an edit.

in late 1994, when he began compiling this album, Empty Room and 18 & Over were considered
for inclusion (according to princevault).

i'm still not 100% convinced that Empty Room is not a re-recording, but many people in the know
have said it's the original version, so i'll go with that. it's just amazing how much it fits in with the

1993/1994 sound.

anyway, that's also why i've included it in my own alternate version of the album, because at one
point it was considered. but i guess it was probably removed from the album later because prince
didn't want warners to own the mastertape to it (?) anyway, all just speculation.

fact is that whenever it was recorded or whatever the reason for it not being included on Chaos,
it's a killer song. he must have felt the same way about it because he kept dusting it off and he
performed it live many times, even releasing a few versions of those performances.

purpleaslan said:

I Adore the album!!......and it's strange to me how "I Rock, Therefore I Am" and "Dig U Better Dead"..never get's much love....because everytime there played in my home...people who know nothing about Prince comment on how much they liek those song's...

i absolutely love "dig u better dead", i think it's a great track. i just don't think it fits on this album.

well, it fits, because prince put it there and he knew best

but for me, it feels out of place, just like "i rock therefore i am". without them and with a few more

guitar heavy tracks, it would be a real strong rock album. lord knows he had the goods with songs
from the undertaker album as well as bits and bobs that ended up on crystal ball.

I've loved this album from day ONE!

.

Bloomin' awesome!!!

.

Love this album. I think, along with Come, it's one of his most underrated of the 90s.

I feel a bit invincible when he says "far be it from me to say, seems like we could stop the flow of snow in the sky today." . And for conjecture sport, I'll just say that I have always felt that the lyrics from Into the Light that say "What's the hurry? To die w/o trying. If you could sell your worries, would anyone buy 'em?" were about Kurt Cobain. Granted, being both a Prince and Nirvana fan at the time, it's easy to see why I would think that, but because of the timing of both the song and his suicide, I always tied them together.

But yea, have always given this album much playing time. When this was released, it was a weird time for Prince fans. At least it was for me. I saw many fans, people whom I knew as Prince fans for years, leave him during the mid-90s. And feck, those were really good years for him, musically. Come, The Black Album, The Gold Experience, Chaos, Emancipation...that's a nice freakin run.

im gonna just put this in the tape deck now its been awhile

[img:$uid]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/jonwolslau/Mobile%20Uploads/20160601_082535_zpsvq4axnye.jpg[/img:$uid]

^ Oh look! A Maxell XL II CrO²!

Young padawans, behold the mother of all K7 tapes:




Who knows what the fuck "Epitaxial" means.

Wiki says "crystalline overlayer".

Fuck yeah it's crystalline! This is the best K7 ever produced!
Pristine, warm, lasts 4 ever, record a vinyl on this through an early eighties amp, one of those heavy-weight brushed metal beasts with needles, with actual transistors, not a dull Motorola chip) and it'll get sublimed.

Skipper is for audiophiles. That's not pedantic. That's respect for a man's work.
But this is a world that buys Beats headphones and think they're awesome.
Times.

[Edited 6/1/16 10:06am]

For me, at best it's a good rock record and that's it.

I like the first 6 songs and the last 2.

Into the Light and I Will...meh

I Rock Therefore I Am deserves special attention:

IstenSzek said:

dodger said:

IstenSzek said:

in late 1994, when he began compiling this album, Empty Room and 18 & Over were considered
for inclusion (according to princevault).

i'm still not 100% convinced that Empty Room is not a re-recording, but many people in the know
have said it's the original version, so [/b]i'll go with that. it's just amazing how much it fits in with the

1993/1994 sound.

I'm glad it's not just me then

hmm, thinking about "empty room" again got me going down this path:

he reworked it in 1992 for the "I'll Do Anything" soundtrack, did a different version of it.

so he must have been listening to the original version at that point.

then, all of a sudden we get that really cool guitar tone on many tracks and the whole
vibe of the NPG becomes much more stripped down rock-ish for about 50% of the newly
recorded material from early 1993 to late 1994.

so how about this: prince dusting off the original Empty Room whilst listening to it for
a reworking on I'll Do Anything, liked it so much soundwise that it inspired the entire
direction of everything Come/Gold.

hence why it sounds like a 1993/1994 recording when it is in fact the 1985/86 original.

[Edited 6/1/16 11:15am]

bonatoc said:

^ Oh look! A Maxell XL II CrO²!

Young padawans, behold the mother of all K7 tapes:




Who knows what the fuck "Epitaxial" means.

Wiki says "crystalline overlayer".

Fuck yeah it's crystalline! This is the best K7 ever produced!
Pristine, warm, lasts 4 ever, record a vinyl on this through an early eighties amp, one of those heavy-weight brushed metal beasts with needles, with actual transistors, not a dull Motorola chip) and it'll get sublimed.

Skipper is for audiophiles. That's not pedantic. That's respect for a man's work.
But this is a world that buys Beats headphones and think they're awesome.
Times.

[Edited 6/1/16 10:06am]

And they're not? 'cause i'm one of them

IstenSzek said:

Dinner With Delores is cute...but i never liked this album.... i remember hearing it when it was new and thinking Prince was over the hill...he wasnt, but that lp had me worried he had run out of soul...

I like the album minus 2-3 tracks

dodger said:

IstenSzek said:

hmm, thinking about "empty room" again got me going down this path:

he reworked it in 1992 for the "I'll Do Anything" soundtrack, did a different version of it.

so he must have been listening to the original version at that point.

then, all of a sudden we get that really cool guitar tone on many tracks and the whole
vibe of the NPG becomes much more stripped down rock-ish for about 50% of the newly
recorded material from early 1993 to late 1994.

so how about this: prince dusting off the original Empty Room whilst listening to it for
a reworking on I'll Do Anything, liked it so much soundwise that it inspired the entire
direction of everything Come/Gold.

hence why it sounds like a 1993/1994 recording when it is in fact the 1985/86 original.

[Edited 6/1/16 11:15am]

Good work Lieutenant Columbo

Interesting subject.
Can't wait for imprimis to kick in.

Rebeljuice said:

A much better listening experience than Emancipation ever was/is..

You don't necessarily have to ditch Emancipation to state that Chaos and Disorder is worth the listen.

Emancipation, reduced to one album, is fantastic.
I think SKipper gave us an album, plus some b-sides and a bit of The Vault.

That's maybe what he meant by artistic freedom.

I can't comment when there's such generosity.
You may or may not like some songs, but they're all made with guts.
He was at this point in this life, he had more mature problematics,
yeah, Christophe Tracey or Spooky Electric it is not.

It's his rock-bourgeoisie album. On proper headphones,
there's nothing to throw by common standards.
But if the standard is SKipper himself, of course we're going to complain.

Us spoiled brats.

Very underrated. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels these songs were all written about Vanity.


LOL

[Edited 6/1/16 12:42pm]

Same w Emanc .. love it all minus 2-3

Hmmm, U thinking of Pretty Man fro Rave Un2?

I'm just going to admit that, not only do I love this album... I even love I Rock Therefore I Am.

Hell, I even love Scrap D's verse!

(How can a MPLS native not love a verse that shouts out Kirby Puckett?!?)

BanishedBrian said:

I'm just going to admit that, not only do I love this album... I even love I Rock Therefore I Am.

Hell, I even love Scrap D's verse!

(How can a MPLS native not love a verse that shouts out Kirby Puckett?!?)

I'm with you.

But still, I hiss every time when "NPG to da maxi-mom" resonates.
I am intolerant to Raggamuffin (me thinks it's the cretin child of Reggae — Dub is something else).

CharismaDove said:

Very underrated. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels these songs were all written about Vanity.


LOL

Wait, if you tell that orger that "Dinner With Delores" is in fact about Vanity,
s/he' s going to have a stroke!

dodger said:

IstenSzek said:

hmm, thinking about "empty room" again got me going down this path:

he reworked it in 1992 for the "I'll Do Anything" soundtrack, did a different version of it.

so he must have been listening to the original version at that point.

then, all of a sudden we get that really cool guitar tone on many tracks and the whole
vibe of the NPG becomes much more stripped down rock-ish for about 50% of the newly
recorded material from early 1993 to late 1994.

so how about this: prince dusting off the original Empty Room whilst listening to it for
a reworking on I'll Do Anything, liked it so much soundwise that it inspired the entire
direction of everything Come/Gold.

hence why it sounds like a 1993/1994 recording when it is in fact the 1985/86 original.

[Edited 6/1/16 11:15am]

Good work Lieutenant Columbo

:lightscigar: