Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

1994-96 I think most hardcore fans did not like his hairstyle and clothes during these years. Just to add i was still on board during this era, love the gold album and Chaos album. Some cool concerts too.

[Edited 12/1/16 10:36am]

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

With a statement like that, you are either trolling or not to be taken seriously, in general.

And The Vault is not a compilation - nor is Crystal Ball, since nothing on them was on a prior album. The Hits is a compilation. 4Ever is a compilation.

Genesia said:

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

With a statement like that, you are either trolling or not to be taken seriously, in general.

And The Vault is not a compilation - nor is Crystal Ball, since nothing on them was on a prior album. The Hits is a compilation. 4Ever is a compilation.

I have to agree with Genesia too. Sign Of the Times is a masterpiece and i don't throw that label around too much. As for Rave

Guitarhero said:

1994-96 I think most hardcore fans did not like his hairstyle and clothes during these years. Just to add i was still on board during this era, love the gold album and Chaos album. Some cool concerts too.

[Edited 12/1/16 10:36am]

agree with this. they were his wilderness yrs a some way. these were my undergaduate yrs so maybe i enjoyed them for different reasons, but they don't get much love from the fans.

=//

personally, i fell off the p wagon from after Rave. i missed all that celebration stuff and the one nite alone cds.(when i did hear them they sounded bloated and inconsistent to me). i didn't get back into him until Musicology, even tho i don't care for the album. i started seeing his shows again.

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

Probably the post 2000 stuff is his most under appreciated. But it's not without reason. There is a lot of great stuff in there, but there is a lot that feels like he was just treading water.

RAVE is what it sounds like when Prince gives in and tries to please everyone. Everything about it was calculated and contrived. However, it was perhaps that failed attempt to please everyone that led to his next release trying to please nobody, and that worked. (In a good way).

[Edited 12/1/16 11:13am]

Guitarhero said:

1994-96 I think most hardcore fans did not like his hairstyle and clothes during these years. Just to add i was still on board during this era, love the gold album and Chaos album. Some cool concerts too.

I don't think that's necessarily true. For me, the mid-90s mirror the mid-80s, with the amount of material, side projects, diversity of albums, and quality of material was amazing. From the time came into being, until he was done w/ the WB contract in 1996, there was an amazing amount of material in that short time period. The Gold Experience, Exodus, Chaos & Disorder, The Beautiful Experience, Girl 6, Come, Interactive CD-Rom, various specials (The Beautiful Experience, Love4OneAnother, etc), and then The Black Album comes out... that's incredible and just covers 1993-1996. If you look back to 1983-1986, it almost seems like he did more in that span in the 90s than the 80s. But it's not a contest, it's part of the journey. He was struggling and fighting, and some of his best stuff ever was in that period.

I loved the clothes, the hair, the angst. It was just fucking amazing. He was past being cocky like the 80s. He was on a mission.

TrivialPursuit said:

Guitarhero said:

1994-96 I think most hardcore fans did not like his hairstyle and clothes during these years. Just to add i was still on board during this era, love the gold album and Chaos album. Some cool concerts too.

I don't think that's necessarily true. For me, the mid-90s mirror the mid-80s, with the amount of material, side projects, diversity of albums, and quality of material was amazing. From the time came into being, until he was done w/ the WB contract in 1996, there was an amazing amount of material in that short time period. The Gold Experience, Exodus, Chaos & Disorder, The Beautiful Experience, Girl 6, Come, Interactive CD-Rom, various specials (The Beautiful Experience, Love4OneAnother, etc), and then The Black Album comes out... that's incredible and just covers 1993-1996. If you look back to 1983-1986, it almost seems like he did more in that span in the 90s than the 80s. But it's not a contest, it's part of the journey. He was struggling and fighting, and some of his best stuff ever was in that period.

I loved the clothes, the hair, the angst. It was just fucking amazing. He was past being cocky like the 80s. He was on a mission.

Love it

i have to admit i did not give much of post 3121 much of a chance...

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

96-00 was a new era. wasn't Prince again yet, but he was free from WB. So it was all new ground, new ideas, and new ways of doings things. I think he finally found a better ground by The Rainbow Children. I still can't deal with TRC very much. I just despise its overt religious tone. It's totally different than his quasi-spirituality on Lovesexy.

There's no way Rave holds up to SOTT. There were happy mistakes on SOTT that made it unique and rare. Rave was glossy and lacked some depth. While there are good songs on Rave, there is nothing on there that holds up to "The Ballad of Doroty Parker", "Housequake", "Strange Relationship", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Forever In My Life", and especially "Adore". I would dare anyone to compare "Adore" to something substandard and lesser like "Man O War" or "I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore". Rave isn't even in the top 10 of all time best Prince records.

I'd agree with Noodled24 in that Rave is calculated. Doesn't mean it's not viable as a good Prince record, but it's not that high up in the history books (but is still more listenable to me than TRC). It really was a pointed effort to be commercial, and make something big again. Clive Davis was in on that, and the duets with big names like Sheryl Crow, Ani Defranco, Gwen Stefani, and Chuck D. were no accidental happening, nor was covering a pop song like "Everyday Is A Winding Road". It wasn't as organic as something like SOTT, which came about just because he was doing new things. Rave is purposeful, whereas SOTT is an album full of mistakes, and pieces of other projects (like Camille, and a tour w/ The Revolution).

TrivialPursuit said:

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

96-00 was a new era. wasn't Prince again yet, but he was free from WB. So it was all new ground, new ideas, and new ways of doings things. I think he finally found a better ground by The Rainbow Children. I still can't deal with TRC very much. I just despise its overt religious tone. It's totally different than his quasi-spirituality on Lovesexy.

There's no way Rave holds up to SOTT. There were happy mistakes on SOTT that made it unique and rare. Rave was glossy and lacked some depth. While there are good songs on Rave, there is nothing on there that holds up to "The Ballad of Doroty Parker", "Housequake", "Strange Relationship", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Forever In My Life", and especially "Adore". I would dare anyone to compare "Adore" to something substandard and lesser like "Man O War" or "I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore". Rave isn't even in the top 10 of all time best Prince records.

I'd agree with Noodled24 in that Rave is calculated. Doesn't mean it's not viable as a good Prince record, but it's not that high up in the history books (but is still more listenable to me than TRC). It really was a pointed effort to be commercial, and make something big again. Clive Davis was in on that, and the duets with big names like Sheryl Crow, Ani Defranco, Gwen Stefani, and Chuck D. were no accidental happening, nor was covering a pop song like "Everyday Is A Winding Road". It wasn't as organic as something like SOTT, which came about just because he was doing new things. Rave is purposeful, whereas SOTT is an album full of mistakes, and pieces of other projects (like Camille, and a tour w/ The Revolution).

I understand that the vast majority of people who are Prince fans view what I'm saying with a serious amount of skepticism and I want to point out that I make no claim that Rave is more classic than SOTT or historically more relevant to his discography - nothing like that - I'm simply saying that my ears love both albums equally and I wish more fans gave it time to really form their opinion as opposed to a quick listen/then discard scenario. Although I don't view either of the two songs you mentioned as substandard. The songs I don't really care for much on that LP are "Baby Knows" and the Sheryl Crow cover. Ultimately when she is involved I want it to stop haha

.

Also, to Genesia, it seems you are of the opinion that a compilation can only consist of material that has been released officially in some form? You're misunderstanding me - compilation isn't a bad word - and in fact it's shorthand for 'compilation album'. My point is that these releases were compilations of tracks that had been bootlegged previously (not officially released in many cases - although Crystal ball has a good number of remixes of songs that *were* released obviously).

.

Additionally the tracks were all from a large number of sessions over a large span of time, so there is a bit less continuity than many of his other releases. IE when Prince recorded "She Spoke to Me" he didn't likely figure that the track would be released on The Vault a few years later (granted the songs all sound quite good and jazzy on that). Plus, Crystal Ball as we know it wasn't originally intended to be released the way it was - if the 80s release had happened it wouldn't really have been a compilation album since all the tracks were intended to be released together around the time they were recorded as opposed to the decade+ span of time we got.

.

Also, I'd like to point out that although 4Ever includes tracks that have been released previously there is one extra track which has been never released officially - which further complicates what seems to be your definition of a compilation album when we consider these two compliation albums.

.

With that said I think we have both gotten into a sticky situation of semantics - and I've probably thought too much on your comment and my response. Sorry for the novel. My head is a bit strange today it seems (although my opinion of this era is unaffected by that haha).

I agree that Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic is given a lot of grief. I really like it - I think it's a better record than Musicology, for instance, when both are clear attempts to make Prince hip with the mainsteam again. And yeah, I like "I Love U, But I Don't Trust U Anymore" a LOT more than "Adore", a song whose appeal I haven't really grasped.

TrivialPursuit said:

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

96-00 was a new era. wasn't Prince again yet, but he was free from WB. So it was all new ground, new ideas, and new ways of doings things. I think he finally found a better ground by The Rainbow Children. I still can't deal with TRC very much. I just despise its overt religious tone. It's totally different than his quasi-spirituality on Lovesexy.

There's no way Rave holds up to SOTT. There were happy mistakes on SOTT that made it unique and rare. Rave was glossy and lacked some depth. While there are good songs on Rave, there is nothing on there that holds up to "The Ballad of Doroty Parker", "Housequake", "Strange Relationship", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Forever In My Life", and especially "Adore". I would dare anyone to compare "Adore" to something substandard and lesser like "Man O War" or "I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore". Rave isn't even in the top 10 of all time best Prince records.

I'd agree with Noodled24 in that Rave is calculated. Doesn't mean it's not viable as a good Prince record, but it's not that high up in the history books (but is still more listenable to me than TRC). It really was a pointed effort to be commercial, and make something big again. Clive Davis was in on that, and the duets with big names like Sheryl Crow, Ani Defranco, Gwen Stefani, and Chuck D. were no accidental happening, nor was covering a pop song like "Everyday Is A Winding Road". It wasn't as organic as something like SOTT, which came about just because he was doing new things. Rave is purposeful, whereas SOTT is an album full of mistakes, and pieces of other projects (like Camille, and a tour w/ The Revolution).

You did not say thatm did you?

26ten said:

I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

Emancipation, The Truth and Crystal Ball are fantastic albums from that era, and deserve a lot more love than they got when released.

Lack of (or problems relating to) promotion are probably to blame.

Noodled24 said:

RAVE is what it sounds like when Prince gives in and tries to please everyone. Everything about it was calculated and contrived. .

[Edited 12/1/16 11:13am]

that's interesting. i felt that way about diamonds and pearls. i don't like the guests on rave as much as i like rosie and tony on diamonds and pearls but i tend to listen to rave more over the yrs. i find myself listening to the maxi single remixes of the dp era stuff.

I love Whatever U Go

I've been a fan for the whole journey, but if there was a time that was testing, it was the 2001-2004 era. The one I think is underestemated is the 2010-14 period. I loved the randomness of it.

wavesofbliss said:

Noodled24 said:

[Edited 12/1/16 11:13am]

that's interesting. i felt that way about diamonds and pearls. i don't like the guests on rave as much as i like rosie and tony on diamonds and pearls but i tend to listen to rave more over the yrs. i find myself listening to the maxi single remixes of the dp era stuff.

I don't think it's anywhere near as obvious on D&P. I wouldn't dispute it's the case.

D&P is what it sounds like when Prince is told "No. this isn't good enough. Give us a hit". Which he did. Someone told him he wasn't good enough and Prince had something to prove.

Rave promised "the return of Prince" ( was referring to Prince in the 3rd person)... He was using a "legendary" song from the vault to interest fans who'd lost interest during the Warner Wars. The album was following the Santana formula.

With D&P he was told by his boss "You're not good enough". With RAVE it was like he was doubting himself, his boss was blowing smoke up his arse & they were relying on marketing rather than music. It's also worth mentioning I think the Septimo performance is a career highlight. So it's not like I was a former fan by this point.

I also feel like it's a very melancholy album overall. Considering the albums title. Am I alone in feeling like there is very little joy on the album?

[Edited 12/1/16 18:23pm]

Noodled24 said:

wavesofbliss said:

that's interesting. i felt that way about diamonds and pearls. i don't like the guests on rave as much as i like rosie and tony on diamonds and pearls but i tend to listen to rave more over the yrs. i find myself listening to the maxi single remixes of the dp era stuff.

I don't think it's anywhere near as obvious on D&P. I wouldn't dispute it's the case.

D&P is what it sounds like when Prince is told "No. this isn't good enough. Give us a hit". Which he did. Someone told him he wasn't good enough and Prince had something to prove.

Rave promised "the return of Prince" ( was referring to Prince in the 3rd person)... He was using a "legendary" song from the vault to interest fans who'd lost interest during the Warner Wars. The album was following the Santana formula.

With D&P he was told by his boss "You're not good enough". With RAVE it was like he was doubting himself, his boss was blowing smoke up his arse & they were relying on marketing rather than music. It's also worth mentioning I think the Septimo performance is a career highlight. So it's not like I was a former fan by this point.

I also feel like it's a very melancholy album overall. Considering the albums title. Am I alone in feeling like there is very little joy on the album?

[Edited 12/1/16 18:23pm]

no. you are not alone. it's like someone smiling thru the worst of it. putting on the brave face but not selling it. i remember people saying that it was a break-up/kiss off album but i think that's a bit extreme. several of the songs are the cheeky,flirty thing prince is known for. 'hot wit u' and 'the sun, the moon, the stars' is prince on the prowl,imo.

26ten said:

TrivialPursuit said:

96-00 was a new era. wasn't Prince again yet, but he was free from WB. So it was all new ground, new ideas, and new ways of doings things. I think he finally found a better ground by The Rainbow Children. I still can't deal with TRC very much. I just despise its overt religious tone. It's totally different than his quasi-spirituality on Lovesexy.

There's no way Rave holds up to SOTT. There were happy mistakes on SOTT that made it unique and rare. Rave was glossy and lacked some depth. While there are good songs on Rave, there is nothing on there that holds up to "The Ballad of Doroty Parker", "Housequake", "Strange Relationship", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Forever In My Life", and especially "Adore". I would dare anyone to compare "Adore" to something substandard and lesser like "Man O War" or "I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore". Rave isn't even in the top 10 of all time best Prince records.

I'd agree with Noodled24 in that Rave is calculated. Doesn't mean it's not viable as a good Prince record, but it's not that high up in the history books (but is still more listenable to me than TRC). It really was a pointed effort to be commercial, and make something big again. Clive Davis was in on that, and the duets with big names like Sheryl Crow, Ani Defranco, Gwen Stefani, and Chuck D. were no accidental happening, nor was covering a pop song like "Everyday Is A Winding Road". It wasn't as organic as something like SOTT, which came about just because he was doing new things. Rave is purposeful, whereas SOTT is an album full of mistakes, and pieces of other projects (like Camille, and a tour w/ The Revolution).

I understand that the vast majority of people who are Prince fans view what I'm saying with a serious amount of skepticism and I want to point out that I make no claim that Rave is more classic than SOTT or historically more relevant to his discography - nothing like that - I'm simply saying that my ears love both albums equally and I wish more fans gave it time to really form their opinion as opposed to a quick listen/then discard scenario. Although I don't view either of the two songs you mentioned as substandard. The songs I don't really care for much on that LP are "Baby Knows" and the Sheryl Crow cover. Ultimately when she is involved I want it to stop haha

.

Also, to Genesia, it seems you are of the opinion that a compilation can only consist of material that has been released officially in some form? You're misunderstanding me - compilation isn't a bad word - and in fact it's shorthand for 'compilation album'. My point is that these releases were compilations of tracks that had been bootlegged previously (not officially released in many cases - although Crystal ball has a good number of remixes of songs that *were* released obviously).

.

Additionally the tracks were all from a large number of sessions over a large span of time, so there is a bit less continuity than many of his other releases. IE when Prince recorded "She Spoke to Me" he didn't likely figure that the track would be released on The Vault a few years later (granted the songs all sound quite good and jazzy on that). Plus, Crystal Ball as we know it wasn't originally intended to be released the way it was - if the 80s release had happened it wouldn't really have been a compilation album since all the tracks were intended to be released together around the time they were recorded as opposed to the decade+ span of time we got.

.

Also, I'd like to point out that although 4Ever includes tracks that have been released previously there is one extra track which has been never released officially - which further complicates what seems to be your definition of a compilation album when we consider these two compliation albums.

.

With that said I think we have both gotten into a sticky situation of semantics - and I've probably thought too much on your comment and my response. Sorry for the novel. My head is a bit strange today it seems (although my opinion of this era is unaffected by that haha).

cool how your response has such a positive vibe and energy attached to your opinions and reasoning. thanks for taking the time to respond in that way

26ten said:

Genesia said:

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

With a statement like that, you are either trolling or not to be taken seriously, in general.

And The Vault is not a compilation - nor is Crystal Ball, since nothing on them was on a prior album. The Hits is a compilation. 4Ever is a compilation.

Crystal Ball is a compilation of "previoulsy bootlegged material". It contains no material current to the time it was released, none of the songs were reworked for the release. It's a compilation from the vault and was marketed as such.

[Edited 12/4/16 5:10am]

TrivialPursuit said:

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

96-00 was a new era. wasn't Prince again yet, but he was free from WB. So it was all new ground, new ideas, and new ways of doings things. I think he finally found a better ground by The Rainbow Children. I still can't deal with TRC very much. I just despise its overt religious tone. It's totally different than his quasi-spirituality on Lovesexy.

There's no way Rave holds up to SOTT. There were happy mistakes on SOTT that made it unique and rare. Rave was glossy and lacked some depth. While there are good songs on Rave, there is nothing on there that holds up to "The Ballad of Doroty Parker", "Housequake", "Strange Relationship", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Forever In My Life", and especially "Adore". I would dare anyone to compare "Adore" to something substandard and lesser like "Man O War" or "I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore". Rave isn't even in the top 10 of all time best Prince records.

I'd agree with Noodled24 in that Rave is calculated. Doesn't mean it's not viable as a good Prince record, but it's not that high up in the history books (but is still more listenable to me than TRC). It really was a pointed effort to be commercial, and make something big again. Clive Davis was in on that, and the duets with big names like Sheryl Crow, Ani Defranco, Gwen Stefani, and Chuck D. were no accidental happening, nor was covering a pop song like "Everyday Is A Winding Road". It wasn't as organic as something like SOTT, which came about just because he was doing new things. Rave is purposeful, whereas SOTT is an album full of mistakes, and pieces of other projects (like Camille, and a tour w/ The Revolution).

I don't agree that Rave lacked depth. It contrains some of his most candid, autobiographical and heartbreaking songs. There is nothing substandard about Man O War, and I would probably rank I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore in my all time top 5 Prince songs.

Rave is his best album of the 90s imo.

Prince 79-80

Fantastic high energy concerts, a band really finding it feet, ripping on the guitars, Dez was fantastic, Prince super high energy.

Prince the album sometimes dismissed as he wanted to do something commercial to get himself out of a financial For You debt. But I Wanna Be Your Lover is a deserved hit, and despite the disco era touching some of these songs, they are all incredible, especially Why You Wanna Treat Me So Band , and Its Gonna Be Lonely, a song that could have been a great mainstay in his live act, but wasnt.

Guess people were still finding out about Prince in these early days, and hard core fans now likely truly appreciate this record, but feel this album and era deserve every bit of love and more they get.

26ten said:

Question:

.
What range of years do you feel is most underappreciated by the hardcore fans?

.

I feel 1996-2000 is terribly underloved. Haven't been able to stop listening to the studio albums from this period for some time now (CB and the vault I don't really count since they're comps - although I really like them).

.

Some people may accuse me of trolling by saying this, which is ridiculous - I'm being totally serious. To me Rave is just as good as SOTT. No joke.

I agree that that period 1996 - 2000 is his most underappreciated. Rave, Emancipation, and New Power Soul combined have many good to great songs on them, but this is rarely recognized except for some fans of Emancipation. Most other eras have many adherants, but rarely is this era shown any love. I appreciate your honesty about your feelings about Rave. It took some guts as people are so fast around here to get personal if they don't like your opinion. While I prefer SOTT over Rave, I do agree that Rave is a vastly under-rated album. I didn't like it much when it came out, but it is the CD that I have changed my opinion the most since Prince died. I agree that it was probably an attempt to be commercially successful. However, I think that this countered by the genuine emotional vulnerability revealed in some of the love songs such as "I Love U, But I Don't Trust U Anymore" and Man O' War. It never seemed crass to me the way much of Diamands and Pearls did. Not my favorite period, but it still had lots to offer!

[Edited 12/4/16 6:39am]

SquirrelMeat said:

I've been a fan for the whole journey, but if there was a time that was testing, it was the 2001-2004 era. The one I think is underestemated is the 2010-14 period. I loved the randomness of it.

Are you talking about the period when no albums were released?

Guitarhero said:

1994-96 I think most hardcore fans did not like his hairstyle and clothes during these years. Just to add i was still on board during this era, love the gold album and Chaos album. Some cool concerts too.

[Edited 12/1/16 10:36am]

GH, I wonder if some of P's hardcore female fans who were in love with him may have been turned off by this era, due to jealousy, because of his relationship/marriage to Mayte. I don't know the answer, I'm just putting this thought out there.

--

There are some great songs on Emancipation. "The Love We Make" is a masterpiece, one of my top 5 Prince songs of all time. He did some great live performances of this song, namely this one: https://www.youtube.com/w...RRSdRhfRA.

N.E.W.S and The Rainbow Children.

MattyJam said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Rave was glossy and lacked some depth.

I don't agree that Rave lacked depth. It contrains some of his most candid, autobiographical and heartbreaking songs. There is nothing substandard about Man O War, and I would probably rank I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore in my all time top 5 Prince songs.

Rave is his best album of the 90s imo.

It lacked some depth. I think the personal songs are sometimes forgotten around stuff like "Hot With U", "Undisputed", or "The Sun, The Moon & Stars", TGRES, . I suppose there is some balance to it overall, but I'd have liked to see a few more personal notes on there. ILUBIDTUA, Tangerine, Man O War - all great, don't get me wrong. In fact, I think "Man O War" supersedes something like "Insatiable". Honestly, I think a lot of Rave's problem with the public was just bad promotion - a story we've heard all too often w/ Prince albums.

If I had to rate Rave in the 90s...hmmmmm..

The Gold Experience

Come

Exodus

Chaos and Disorder

Rave

Emancipation

D&P

And I love the first 5 listed, so Rave following close behind that is good.