Ingela said:

^ I do like Come and Chaos quite a lot. I think just as with Lotusflow4r getting bad reviews vs the praise given to garbage MPLSOUND on that same collection by critics, we had long gotten to the point where reviewing a Prince album meant it was delegated to the coffee or errand girl in the office who was a big Prince fan in the 80's to write the review instead of whomever was the top young critic. I mean MPLSOUND was lavished with critical praise while the harder to digest and far better Lotus was not. Same with Chaos and Come. Written by folks looking for a "happy funk workout" or some other dopey thing they would write. But the fans didn't care what the critics said anymore. USA Today would gush over everything. The cornier and cheesier the better. We got to the point that the same bunch of critics would be invited to meet Prince before an album review then say it was the greatest or best thing since SOTT.

We have different feelings regarding MPLSound. That aside, I wouldn't disagree with what you said, HOWEVER - you're jumping forward a good 15 years.

Back in the 90s journalists at Rolling Stone, NME, Q, Spin etc weren't handing Prince reviews to kids on work experience. The likes of Alan Light were flying out to Monte Carlo to hear his new record.

I have no doubt that Lotus, Chaos and Come will only continue to gain in status as great albums regardless what the then contemporary critics said, and a new generation of critics will correct them. It happens quite often. I love I quote from Philip Glass who I have always loved dearly, when asked why critics now praise everything he does while early in his long career he was scoffed at by critics. "Those critics are all dead now" Music and movie criticism as well as politics and everything else live in echo-chambers that those involved love to inhabit. It's the truth. A cozy little echo-chamber where the same stuff is echoed for the sole pleasure of those involved. Reality is rarely allowed in. But those bubble burst or die off eventually and sober people looking back have a better perspective when they have the distance to see something from clearer eyes. [Edited 11/29/16 7:50am]

I'm not saying critics are always right.

But obviously, if you're attempting to look at how an album was received when it was released you kind of have to look at reviews from the time. That tells you what critics thought.

Equally, while sales don't make an album great, they are a good indicator of how popular an album was when it was released. That tells you what fans thought.

Regarding the strength of the material - in pop - you sort of have to look at the singles, because those were the songs people were dancing to in nightclubs.

Like I said in my first post - I'm not some fam-boy who things everything he did was amazing. But RE: - it's time people stopped repeating what they've heard others say and actually listen to the music.

Dirty Mind/Controversy have a similar sound. The same is true of D&P/ except on the organs are replaced by filthy synths and funky horns.

There is a part in "Melt with U" where there is a "synth" line playing in the background - except it's not a synth at all, it's Prince singing. Incredible stuff.

Tokyo said:

Agree that critics were jaded in the 90s...I think each Prince release was pre prejudiced and often very rarely reviewed as a stand alone album.

I'm not sure I'd go that far. I think most critics rated the majority of his 90s output quite highly.

With regard to Come & Chaos getting poor reviews, Prince probably brought that on himself by labeling the albums contract filler. If he'd just put them out I think they (Come for sure, maybe not Chaos) would have been judged on the music rather than the circumstances of the releases. I say that because in both cases the reviews talk as much about the Warner Wars as they do about the music.

Think the journalists dragged his baggage into every review. I'd like to see The Truth re-released as an 'undiscovered gem' but would also like some kind of decent live release. Am a big fan of the BBC Radio 1 '93 broadcast, its a shame that a lot of this stuff is coming out unofficially. Personal preferences aside Prince has so many great live recordings- that this needs to be treated as a project in its own right e.g. The ultimate live artist series!!

Part of why I always hoped P would play Glastonbury is the fact the BBC are a world class organisation. I'd have loved them to have flimed one of his shows. It'd have been great to have a really pro-shot recording rather than his in-house pro-shot recordings.

I think circa 2014 Prince tweeted something along the lines of "How do I get on Jools Holland?"

There was speculation about the two of them not getting along. It's just crazy to think that in all these years with so many interviews... not one interviewer thought "It's Prince... we should probably do the interview while sitting at a piano so he can demo what he's talking about".

I think circa 2014 Prince tweeted something along the lines of "How do I get on Jools Holland?"

There was speculation about the two of them not getting along. It's just crazy to think that in all these years with so many interviews... not one interviewer thought "It's Prince... we should probably do the interview while sitting at a piano so he can demo what he's talking about".

I think circa 2014 Prince tweeted something along the lines of "How do I get on Jools Holland?"

There was speculation about the two of them not getting along. It's just crazy to think that in all these years with so many interviews... not one interviewer thought "It's Prince... we should probably do the interview while sitting at a piano so he can demo what he's talking about".

Noodled24 said:

I think circa 2014 Prince tweeted something along the lines of "How do I get on Jools Holland?"

There was speculation about the two of them not getting along. It's just crazy to think that in all these years with so many interviews... not one interviewer thought "It's Prince... we should probably do the interview while sitting at a piano so he can demo what he's talking about".

He supposedley asked Will Hodgkinson this when he interviewed him for Mojo magazine in early 2014

Noodled24 said:

I mean...

I'm not sure whether to or

I guess all I can say is nice try, and LOL.

Tokyo said: