funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

v10letblues said:

i hear ya.

This is the era where you turned the music down on his new music if you listened for fear of judgment.

.

In the 80's if you listened to Prince, were also listening to a lot of other great music. You were into indie and avant-garde bands.

It is true that he was def less cool in the 90s But cool is a dumb way to decide if music is good His prob is he continued acting like he was cool and current when he was still doing silly things to try and lool cool which just wasnt cool

In the 90's it all changed. You didn't want to be caught listening to Prince's new music. It was a whole other beast. It was very cringey.

[Edited 1/31/21 18:46pm]

It had nothing to do with the "cool" factor. In fact, you were a Prince fan in the early days despite the fact that people looked at you funny when you mentioned you liked Prince in a lot of circles. He was never MJ "mainstream" even after the Purple Rain success. He was the antithesis of "mainstream throughout most of his career. He is the most mainstream today only today after he died.

.

No it had nothing to do with cool. In the 80's You liked Prince because you were a music snob. Because you liked great music period. Regardless of how "cool" someone was.

And in th 90's, Prince's music chased cheesy mainstream trends to the point of making his music unbearable to a lot of early Prince fans. It seemed like he wanted to get away from his "Royal Badness" image and appeal to more mainstream audiences. Especially with Diamonds and Pearls. And not coincidentally that is when Prince had hired Frank Dileo, MJ's former manager.

[Edited 2/1/21 2:44am]

SoulAlive said:

To me,Come seems like a lazy album.A few good songs but nothing outstanding.Prince even sounds bored on a few tracks.TGE,on the other hand,sounds much more powerful and energized.And it contains "Eye Hate U",his finest single of the 90s imo.

runningbear said:

Come is superior in my books, less fat, less effort put into it,

I agree with SA. TGE, like Come, has filler, like every album he made in the decade. But TGE's highlights are better than Come's.

while i enjoy 75% of this album, there's only a few songs i would consider absolute top tier 90s prince - shy (kind of a sister song to count the days), shhh, eye hate u, and billy jack bitch. that's not bad going really. so it is up there with D&P as his best 90s album.

[Edited 2/2/21 3:14am]

OperatingThetan said:

The Gold Experience hasn't changed - you have. How you feel it has aged may have more of a connection to how you have aged than the album itself. It's all necessarily subjective, but I imagine if for example, you've grown cynical and developed a taste for nihilism, 'Gold' may no longer be your go-to anthem of choice.

That might be true for many here but keep in mind that even back then, in the mid 90s, most fans were a bit disappointed when the album was finally released because they felt that the studio versions of TGE did not come close to the energy of the live versions of the songs or they felt that the album versions felt inferior to the circulating bootleg versions.

In hindsight, I´d say that the whole era, the concerts, the clothes and attitude and everything that came with it were more powerful and stronger than the actual album, which was and still is a good album, just not as good as it could have been, for various reasons that we´ve discussed on this thread.

I remember watching him perform the "Gold" medley on the AMA's. It got me a little hyped to hear the album....Then the rumors came out; "the album won't be released...it will be released....it won't be released"...(??). That kind of killed the momentum for me. I thought "TGE" was OK, but I don't listen to it anymore....I like the album after it ("C&D") much, much more.

Gold has always been a good album. I don't get the love for the "Gold" song. It's okay, but not ground breaking. TGE album was referred to in marketing as his new "Purple Rain" ; when really it was a more pop album trying to please differen't fan bases; but got lost in doing so. The segues don't help (even though 2 of them I like) the flow of music then let alone now.

Songs I love for various reasons: P control,Endorphine Machine, Dolphin, 319 (needs an extended version to flush the song out), TMBGITW, IHU, BJB, SHH.

kewlschool said:

Gold has always been a good album. I don't get the love for the "Gold" song. It's okay, but not ground breaking. TGE album was referred to in marketing as his new "Purple Rain" ; when really it was a more pop album trying to please differen't fan bases; but got lost in doing so. The segues don't help (even though 2 of them I like) the flow of music then let alone now.

Songs I love for various reasons: P control,Endorphine Machine, Dolphin, 319 (needs an extended version to flush the song out), TMBGITW, IHU, BJB, SHH.

There's a lot of truth to this. Like most of his 90s albums, TGE tried to be all things to all audiences, but there was enough quality material to hold it together. I think its highlights are "endorphinmachine," " Hate U," "Shy," and "Shhh." I enjoy "319," "Now" and "Billy Jack B---h" as well.

I hope to see the out takes released for this album...I don't know if it's just that he tinkered too long with the songs (Endophin machine) or that the album is so so badly compressed...but I think if they fix all that (like SOTT!), i'm going to LOVE THIS ALBUM again and more then ever before.

He was at the peak LOUDNESS at this time.

SoulAlive said:

"Shy" is one the best songs Prince has ever done.

There's so many good songs on this album...

Wondering if this Thread has aged well? Very popular, been lingering around, receiving mixed responsed for a long time now

Not for me. These days I only am interested in TMBITW, Endoprhinmachine, Dolphin, Eye Hate U, SHH, and Gold. Well, P Control is a guilty pleasure...a cringey one. Everything post Symbol album is hit or miss to me. I don't even own the albums any longer. Just made some "Best Ofs". Ain't 'gon lie. I'm interested in Prince 1978-1993.

runningbear said:

Wondering if this Thread has aged well? Very popular, been lingering around, receiving mixed responsed for a long time now

Bravo.

i love the album!

but, then, i didn't age well, either

nayroo2002 said:

i love the album!

but, then, i didn't age well, either

homesquid said:

Not for me. These days I only am interested in TMBITW, Endoprhinmachine, Dolphin, Eye Hate U, SHH, and Gold. Well, P Control is a guilty pleasure...a cringey one. Everything post Symbol album is hit or miss to me. I don't even own the albums any longer. Just made some "Best Ofs". Ain't 'gon lie. I'm interested in Prince 1978-1993.

Do you like the song "When eye lay my hands on u? (Live version). I feel that this song is on par with 80's worthy.

kewlschool said:

homesquid said:

Not for me. These days I only am interested in TMBITW, Endoprhinmachine, Dolphin, Eye Hate U, SHH, and Gold. Well, P Control is a guilty pleasure...a cringey one. Everything post Symbol album is hit or miss to me. I don't even own the albums any longer. Just made some "Best Ofs". Ain't 'gon lie. I'm interested in Prince 1978-1993.

Do you like the song "When eye lay my hands on u? (Live version). I feel that this song is on par with 80's worthy.

Absolutely!

I was never a fan of the album version, live version is simply AMAZING. Yes, at the very top of his best. 80's or otherwise.

v10letblues said:

kewlschool said:

Do you like the song "When eye lay my hands on u? (Live version). I feel that this song is on par with 80's worthy.

Absolutely!

I was never a fan of the album version, live version is simply AMAZING. Yes, at the very top of his best. 80's or otherwise.

LOVE the live version!

KoolEaze said:

As others have said, maybe it's a little too "flashy" in parts for its own good, but I'd still probably rank it as his best all-round effort of the '90s TBH. With D&P, Love Symbol and Come competing for the "podium places", and Graffiti Bridge a bit behind that.

It's sharp, energetic and could've generated a few more nailed-on hit singles if the circumstances around its release and promotion had been different.

I think it holds up great and is one of his better albums. I'd get rid of the segues but on this one they're not nearly as instrusive.

In retrospect, I think a lot of people are right about P-Control. I like it but the more I think about it, I feel it works better as a b-side. If you need a rap style track on it put Days of Wild on there instead.

Hell, swap Days of Wild with a few different songs and you'd get a better album.

RODSERLING said:

Have YOU aged well ?

touche

Artistically, it's just stale, pedestrian, glossy and saccharine. That's why Come and The Truth are the 90's albums that stand out for me. Those are ones where there is something new and daring there. Not perfect albums, but artistically they are the ones that reminded me of why I loved Prince.

[Edited 2/6/21 9:07am]

lurker316 said:

I'm one of those people who became a fan in the '80s and generally hated Prince's output in the '90s. But I'm also one of those fans who always thought The Gold Experience was a great album and an exception. It eschewed most of the hip-hop sound that I thought had ruined Diamonds and Pearls and the Symbol Album. And it wasn't bland like some of this stuff from later in the decade (Emancipation). I thought it did a great job of updating Prince's '80s sound by having Michael B on the drums and the Hornheadz. I always ranked it as not only the best album of the '90s, but one of Prince's best albums period.

However, I rarely listen to it now. I don't think it's aged well. My track-by-track thoughts (segues excluded... from my review that is; I wish they'd been excluded from the ablum):

• P Control: Fairly catchy, but lyrics are embarassing.
• Endorphin Machine: Great song.
• Shhh: Great drum intro, but not much else to the song.
• We March: Catchy bubblegum pop. I don't mind it when I hear it, but won't go out of my way to listen to it.
• TMBGITW: Sappy song to being with, ruined by sound effects.
• Dolphin: Good song.
• Now: I absolutely love the music (especially the horns), but I'm not a fan of the shouty chorus.
• 319: I really like this song, but it's a bit of gimmick.
• Shy: I like this song, but it's a bit of a gimmick as well.
• Billy Jack Bitch: I never got the appeal of this song. It's kind of catchy, but it doesn't go anywhere. Too monotonous for me.
• I Hate U: Reminds me of International Lover, and I didn't like that song either.
• Gold: Derivative. A blatant attempt to make commericial song to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And the lyrics are just as awful as P Control, albeit in a different way. "All that glitters ain't gold," is so trite and cliched.

So there are some things I still appreciate about it, but it doesn't hold up overall for me. Looking back, I may have just been thrilled that Prince ditched the hip-hop. The only songs I listen to now are Endorphin Machine, Dolphin, Now and 319.

[Edited 1/29/21 9:04am]

I'm not a believer in the 'x' music has not aged well school of thought. When people use it as an analytical response to whether they like a track or not, I sort of get a bit grumpy.

Either say one likes it or one doesn't - don't give me that "it sounds dated" bull. Because by that analysis Songs In the Key of Life sounds dated and that's just a step too far.

Different sound structures, instruments and especially keyboards become popular over periods of time. And as various music studies have repeatedly found, as we get older nostalgia becomes a key ingredient in the way we process musical as (getting older) adults. So "it sounds dated" can go jump in a river. It all sounds dated. Etcetcetc.

Anyway.

There are some really great songs on the Gold Experience: 319, Shy, Gold, Dolphin and Billy Jack Bitch are all great. But, and I felt this at the time, some of the tracks had been remixed (ad infinitum) and rearranged so much that the essence had been diluted.

In one early configuration that I heard back in the day, before it was finally released, Endorphin Machine sounded closer to the version, TMBGITW was the original full version, Interactive and Days of Wild were present and We March sounded like a totally different song.

I also prefer the extended remix of I Hate U to the album version but I can't remember anything about that from the time.

The extended remix is smoother and just seems that the music provides a softer counter-point to the subject matter. Something that he would experiment a lot over the years, perhaps the best example being So Dark vs Dark. (Dark wins for me by far).

I'm not sure if that version of the album I heard at the time was authentic or fan-made (in terms of track placements and roster) but it made for a much better album than the released version.

Some of the tracks, including Gold and Endorphinmachine had far less (for want of a more technical description) plinky plonky and loud keyboards in them. Dolphin certainly sounded more soulful and warmer too, from what I remember.

TMBGITW on the album is certainly ruined in comparison to the original version.

It might have been that these final / further mixes were done in an attempt to make the album more musically relevant to the time. But that would be conjecture and I don't want to make presumptions about Prince's state of mind.

I hope when / if we get The Gold Experience SDE that somewhere in the vault is version of Gold replete with strings and such, perhaps done by Clare Fischer and that will appear on said TGE SDE. And a hopefully a version of Shy where the SQ doesn't go all shitty and compressed part way through the song too. Both are longshots, I know.

Now and Days of Wild were much better at the concerts than they are on the album.

I have a regular Prince playlist, which I try to keep to three hours max and 319, Shy, Gold and Billy Jack Bitch all have maintained their status on that playlist. Dolphin moves on and off.

So The Gold Experience gets a thumbs up from me still. Although I really cringe any time I hear Pussy Control.

TGE scores highly on my album score calculator.

Rate each (proper) track out of ten. Then add them all up, divide by number of tracks and that gives the album score.

herb4 said:

ThePersian said:

lurker316 said:

I'm one of those people who became a fan in the '80s and generally hated Prince's output in the '90s. But I'm also one of those fans who always thought The Gold Experience was a great album and an exception. It eschewed most of the hip-hop sound that I thought had ruined Diamonds and Pearls and the Symbol Album. And it wasn't bland like some of this stuff from later in the decade (Emancipation). I thought it did a great job of updating Prince's '80s sound by having Michael B on the drums and the Hornheadz. I always ranked it as not only the best album of the '90s, but one of Prince's best albums period.

However, I rarely listen to it now. I don't think it's aged well. My track-by-track thoughts (segues excluded... from my review that is; I wish they'd been excluded from the ablum):

• P Control: Fairly catchy, but lyrics are embarassing.
• Endorphin Machine: Great song.
• Shhh: Great drum intro, but not much else to the song.
• We March: Catchy bubblegum pop. I don't mind it when I hear it, but won't go out of my way to listen to it.
• TMBGITW: Sappy song to being with, ruined by sound effects.
• Dolphin: Good song.
• Now: I absolutely love the music (especially the horns), but I'm not a fan of the shouty chorus.
• 319: I really like this song, but it's a bit of gimmick.
• Shy: I like this song, but it's a bit of a gimmick as well.
• Billy Jack Bitch: I never got the appeal of this song. It's kind of catchy, but it doesn't go anywhere. Too monotonous for me.
• I Hate U: Reminds me of International Lover, and I didn't like that song either.
• Gold: Derivative. A blatant attempt to make commericial song to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And the lyrics are just as awful as P Control, albeit in a different way. "All that glitters ain't gold," is so trite and cliched.

So there are some things I still appreciate about it, but it doesn't hold up overall for me. Looking back, I may have just been thrilled that Prince ditched the hip-hop. The only songs I listen to now are Endorphin Machine, Dolphin, Now and 319.

[Edited 1/29/21 9:04am]

I'm not a believer in the 'x' music has not aged well school of thought.

Why not? A TON of stuff doesn't hold up in retrospect; movies, music, books, TV shows, fashion, social attitudes, laws... We look back on things with the benefit of maturity and hindsight as we grow and look, listen and read them with new eyes. I think it would be ignorant and stupid not to.

For instance, I think about a lot of comedians and the acts I used to like that have not "aged well" at all. Thinking of Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison, George Carlin, Red Fox and a lot of shit that kind of seemed "cool at the time" but just didn't stand the test even though I like all those guys.

I think music is fair game to look at through this lens, including Prince's stuff. I don't think the Purple Rain film really aged all that well even though I adored it at the time as a 16 year old. Some of the movies I used to like 20 years ago make me cringe now.

I'd honestly be more worried if my opinions never evolved and my tastes never changed than if they were set in stone and viewed as timeless.

There's a shit ton of songs, books, movies and bands I used to like before my mind matured and my idea of what good art was evolved as I grew up more. It doesn't mean the old shit SUCKED. Also, my favorite music is, in fact, the stuff that DOES stand the test of time so the disucssion is relevant to me.

I personally, like just about all of them. Like any other art, you must view it within the context of the time it was created. But yeah, I always like Shhhh....