funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

of all the prince songs around, i doubt nirvana would have done gett off lol.

they did not do sexual content like that.

"Rape Me"?

herb4 said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

of all the prince songs around, i doubt nirvana would have done gett off lol.

they did not do sexual content like that.

"Rape Me"?

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''Rape Me'' is absolutely not about sex !

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It is an anti rape-song, written from the point of view of the victim.

The song's lyrics meaning part submissive invitation,

part defiant taunt, a mix that confused and disturbed many listeners.

Cobain frequently having to explain the song's meaning.

-

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Am I the only one ?

I never was into the overall non-Princely commecial sound of this album.

(I re-listened the whole album again yesterday, to give it another spin and try.)

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My personal opinion and experience ;

the overall songwriting is mediocre to low, and the sound bother's me.

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Some tracks are... OK+

I keep feeling the album still sounds more outdated than any of his previous work.

It lacks that overall Prince-funky-inventive-typical-recognisable-dry-fun-&-new-sounds.

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Tracks that I believe are best :

'Gett Off' - has a wonderful Princy beat, but the chorus still sound lazy.

Other 'better' songs i only give a 'good+' ;

'Willing And Able' -but never was into Rosie's shouts.

'Money Don't Matter 2 Night' - a decent song.

'Insatiable' - at his sexiest, still I feel something's missing

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Those three songs even could've been more adventurous in sound.

The drumming sounds un-Prince, too polished, too flat w too much easy and cheap added echo and other recognizable simple studio techniques.

It's not a a mixture of various styles, nor a funk- or rock album.

It's just an attemp to fit in the then ruling pop charts, and that came off well.

Still, I believe It's Prince's lesser pop effort.

Although, as counterpart for 'Grafitti Bridge', Prince succeded to proof that in the sales.

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Somehow I can now understand why most of the radio listeners - the average usic lovers at the time -

were satisfied with the accessible, easy to digest Prince album.

My opinion did not really change since 1991.

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RJOrion said:

RJOrion said:

LoveGalore said:

Please point to me the "white" songs on D&P.

Cream is a very "white" song

Off-white.

RJOrion said:

"Thunder" hasnt aged well...i think i kinda liked it when i first heard it...now i cringe...i cant even let it finish

I've been saying this. "Thunder" sticks out like a sore thumb. It's tinny, metallic, thin, there's no middle to it. It's either this high pitched, ear-piercing mess, or some boomy blurred bass and undertone. That cloud guitar, which was so fond of during that time, had a really thin sound compared to anything else. If that's what he used on "Thunder," it shows.

Too bad, because that high end toned down a bit, and some middle synths could've rounded it out quite nicely. Plus, it needs to be a band cut, not a one-man show.

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't know, I've always liked THUNDER. I like how both Lovesexy and Graffity Bridge end with the sound of water and Diamond & Pearls starts with the sound of Thunder and Rain.

The feel of it and the narration (the proverbial sunshine after rain coupled with the appearance of jesus at dawn in the morning sunlight) all point to a beginning, a new beginning and then the second half of it takes us literally through the storm, into the eye of the storm up and up and up, like we've been picked up -house and all- and are being transported somewhere else.

Yes, it could be a LITTLE bit more concise and edited perhaps. Although the length of the passage does convey the distance of the journey.

And then we drop from the sky and end up in a weird new place. we're no longer flying solo but there are new players here, new sights and sounds. there's rosie and tony singing along and michael b and sonny t laying down brick by yellow rhythmic brick, pounding out a new path.

I see this album as a journey to Oz and the Chocolate Factory all in one, everything is farmiliar and yet it's new and slightly off centre. Everything is glittering and shiny and glam and a bit too much, yet also totally irresistible and delicious. However, there comes a point where it becomes sickly and all of a sudden the main characters mood shifts from straight up stoopid to deadly serious and back to just ludicrous. You feel like maybe despite all of the facade you're being taken for a ride and it's not the one you thought it was going to be. You aren't swelling up to become some huge purple berry, but someone did give you a freakin backhand out of nowhere just when you thought you could laugh along with all this silly fizz.

Just when you want to leave he pulls you back in and serenades the socks off you. Hey he might have toyed with your emotions a bit and become a bit physical, but listen, you're the only one he wants.

Until it's over and he's off again, the pilot of Prince International. Except this time he's an even more larger than life character. No longer the seductive pilot of a 747 but a fighter pilot. His jet was parked right outside, all along and we didn't even see it. He was too sensitive to boast. -Although he never blinked an eye when he mentioned there would be 23 positions to get through before the dawn.

Going up and up and up into the air again with LIVE 4 LOVE, through the storm, figuratively (the emotional journey of the character in the song) and literally from the sound of it, accompanied by another burst of great guitar.

And then once it's all over, we're left scratching our (jug) heads, wondering where we might end up next. Or where on earth we are heading.

Turns out we're en route back to MPLS, by way of Egypt. Should have known, hints of it were already there in THUNDER.

I guess I just meant to say: I like Thunder

[Edited 3/8/21 14:56pm]

EnDoRpHn said:

Serious question: Have we ever seen The Jughead or Horny Pony (the dances) performed? I have mental images from the lyrics, but was never much into those albums so have never made it a point to track down the live performances vids.

I think it's a joke, but wouldn't it just be The Freak from behind? Maybe with legs hooked? It's a Go Go dance from the music.

lavendardrummachine said:

jaawwnn said:

It became a de facto "black" album because it came out about two weeks after Nevermind by Nirvana

The other thing is Nirvana and the grunge "punk" groups of the time did connect with some Black fans. The cultural segregation was starting to come down around then and it became a marketing novelty, to combine rap and rock, mostly for white audiences benefit (I don't mean Limp Bizkit crap, I mean booking tours like Lollapalooza, etc.).

Yeah that's not really sounding right. You had a lot of crossover and then there were r&b artists that white people just never heard of, and still haven't to this day. Prince was in his own category, and that record kinda didn't fully appeal to any one audience. They were fun songs then but the draw was that it was Prince. Where Prince was the bridge between rock and funk, and r&B, he'd changed the culture already so he seemed glossy and almost adult contemporary with this record.

All true, but Diamonds & Pearls is not an album made by someone who had been following the careers of SST bands or Sonic Youth or Pixies or whoever and saw this whole grunge thing taking off. I mean, not that it was his job to do that, personally I just wish he had given it a shot. He clearly started listening to punk in the late 70s and merged it with what he was already doing and came out with Dirty Mind, I wish he had taken a similar leaf out of the grunge guys' books and done his own thing with it. Instead he mostly stuck to the highly produced R'N'B/ rap / quiet storm etc. mould throughout the 90s (with some big exceptions of course).

Well if D&P is released, I hope they add the Thunder Ballet on there. The additions to that track were just stunning.

leadline said:

Well if D&P is released, I hope they add the Thunder Ballet on there. The additions to that track were just stunning.

THAT would be a good thing.

jaawwnn said:

I wish he had taken a similar leaf out of the grunge guys' books and done his own thing with it. Instead he mostly stuck to the highly produced R'N'B/ rap / quiet storm etc. mould throughout the 90s (with some big exceptions of course).

Okay but Prince is universally loved by the punk, and indie crowds. There were periods when it might have been secreted (the Diamond and Pearls period definintely), but Prince had that audience. Nirvana's second record had more in common with Prince than their own first record, but again Prince went off in another direction from what audences were craving.

I think 3rdEye was his garage rock grunge band. Nothing mind blowing.

lavendardrummachine said:

jaawwnn said:

I wish he had taken a similar leaf out of the grunge guys' books and done his own thing with it. Instead he mostly stuck to the highly produced R'N'B/ rap / quiet storm etc. mould throughout the 90s (with some big exceptions of course).

Okay but Prince is universally loved by the punk, and indie crowds. There were periods when it might have been secreted (the Diamond and Pearls period definintely), but Prince had that audience. Nirvana's second record had more in common with Prince than their own first record, but again Prince went off in another direction from what audences were craving.

I think 3rdEye was his garage rock grunge band. Nothing mind blowing.

-

Indeed.

Were al the three girls jehova witness ?

I believe Hannah & Josh Welton are...

Was it that what he wanted ?

A light controversial sounding JW band ?

I have no idea.

But to me, the whole 3rdEyeGirl idea was extremely light.

Same with the band's name.

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When D&P first came out, a few of us were discussing it and a fellow fan described it as "Prince trying on several different hats and just sort of showing off all the different styles he works in" -- or something like that. Something like "there's some good stuff on it but it's kind of safe and pretty mainstream".

I thought it was a pretty apt description. But "Gett Off" blew me away as a single and I remember thinking "god damn. If the whole record is like this I can't freaking wait."

The previous album, Graffitti Bridge, had higher high points (We Can Funk, Joy in Repitition) lower lows, way more filler and had the stink of the movie all over it dragging it down but I thought it was more challenging overall. I don't reall need a SDE of either to be honest.

My hope is for a live collection that includes aftershows and/or just a straight bunch of unreleased material.

theblueangel said:

Thunder is an *amazing* song.

Amzing? no. Overproduced? hell yes

"Thunder" is good. I'd keep it, even if I could live without the Jesus stuff.

lavendardrummachine said:

jaawwnn said:

I wish he had taken a similar leaf out of the grunge guys' books and done his own thing with it. Instead he mostly stuck to the highly produced R'N'B/ rap / quiet storm etc. mould throughout the 90s (with some big exceptions of course).

Okay but Prince is universally loved by the punk, and indie crowds. There were periods when it might have been secreted (the Diamond and Pearls period definintely), but Prince had that audience. Nirvana's second record had more in common with Prince than their own first record, but again Prince went off in another direction from what audences were craving.

No doubt if you wanted him to do a thing that was a sure sign he wasn't going to do it.

I think 3rdEye was his garage rock grunge band. Nothing mind blowing.

It was pretty bad alright, but i'll put the blame on Prince not on their chops or on the genre. Why a guy who merged punk with rnb to create Dirty Mind decided he'd split his influences apart again and do some basic sub third-wave punk like Marz or literally rip off Iron Man is beyond me.

[Edited 3/11/21 10:43am]