I hate it.

I love it!

It's all fantasy dialogue mashed up with GREAT music!!!

I like it. Just not that darth vader voice.

I love it and consider it one of my all time favorite Prince albums.

What you're going to find is that many of the people who hate it (not all of them, but a good number) agree that the music is fantastic. It's the lyrics that turn them off.

I'm not remotely religous myself, so you might assume I'd be turned off by the proselytizing, but I'm not. I don't really listen to the lyrics -- and when I do I can't make heads or tails of what he's talking about -- so they don't bother me.

TrivialPursuit said:

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I hate it.

You're serious? I would not expect that from you! It's the antithesis of plastic/acrylic production, I'd think you would have loved it.

I. Fucking. Hate. It.

I have tried and tried and tried to listen to it, get a new perspective on it. Something about it truly makes me upset and pissed that he did it. I don't care about the narrator's voice.

(Plot twist: it's not Darth Vader, like y'all are sayin'. Darth spoke through a machine that helped him breath. Prince slowed down his voice. The differences are clear.)

Moreover, it's the fucking dogma. OMG just shut up already about the accurate understanding of law and all that shit. It's nothing more than a Jehovah's Witness promo. I don't care how he frames it, that's what it is. It's dogma.

And while he touched on religious things in the past, it was always more nuanced. Sure, there were more pointed things like "God" or the Lord's Prayer in "Controversy," but it was still almost treated like a pastiche. It was religious tinged, like "Anna Stesia," "The Ladder," "Purple Rain, "Free" (a favorite), "Still Would Stand All Time," or even "Moonbeam Levels."

He mixed God and sexuality, and I get that. I trully understood what his thinking was on it. To have sex, and have those open, uninhibited feelings of love and bliss and pleasure are the highest form of feeling we can have on earth to that of being in God's presence. And even then, it pales when/if we ever are eventually in the presence of God.

But The Rainbow Children isn't nuanced. It's preachy, uncompassionate, it's "my way or the highway." Because anyone in the storyline that isn't a rainbow child or a follower or whatever is rubbish. Like Prince said, "you can cut that how you want, but it's the truth." No, Prince, it's your truth.

I think about Wendy & Lisa, and how they had to deal with Trevor Horn's homophobic ass, then circled back around to Prince with his bullshit post-Rainbow Children.

And yeah, I can appreciate the production. It's not acrylic, which is odd since he started that with Emancipation five years before. The organic, trippy, LSD-inspired trip on it; I really can. But man, I can't get past his words and lyrics. For a man who used to promote things like a utopic Uptown full of of acceptance, positivity, live and let live, he certainly made a 180º on The Rainbow Children.

It's a Karen record - you do what I say, cuz this is how it should be, periodt! He channeled his inner-slightly-inconvenienced-white-women vibe on it.

TrivialPursuit said:

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said: You're serious? I would not expect that from you! It's the antithesis of plastic/acrylic production, I'd think you would have loved it.

I. Fucking. Hate. It.

I have tried and tried and tried to listen to it, get a new perspective on it. Something about it truly makes me upset and pissed that he did it. I don't care about the narrator's voice.

(Plot twist: it's not Darth Vader, like y'all are sayin'. Darth spoke through a machine that helped him breath. Prince slowed down his voice. The differences are clear.)

Moreover, it's the fucking dogma. OMG just shut up already about the accurate understanding of law and all that shit. It's nothing more than a Jehovah's Witness promo. I don't care how he frames it, that's what it is. It's dogma.

And while he touched on religious things in the past, it was always more nuanced. Sure, there were more pointed things like "God" or the Lord's Prayer in "Controversy," but it was still almost treated like a pastiche. It was religious tinged, like "Anna Stesia," "The Ladder," "Purple Rain, "Free" (a favorite), "Still Would Stand All Time," or even "Moonbeam Levels."

He mixed God and sexuality, and I get that. I trully understood what his thinking was on it. To have sex, and have those open, uninhibited feelings of love and bliss and pleasure are the highest form of feeling we can have on earth to that of being in God's presence. And even then, it pales when/if we ever are eventually in the presence of God.

But The Rainbow Children isn't nuanced. It's preachy, uncompassionate, it's "my way or the highway." Because anyone in the storyline that isn't a rainbow child or a follower or whatever is rubbish. Like Prince said, "you can cut that how you want, but it's the truth." No, Prince, it's your truth.

I think about Wendy & Lisa, and how they had to deal with Trevor Horn's homophobic ass, then circled back around to Prince with his bullshit post-Rainbow Children.

And yeah, I can appreciate the production. It's not acrylic, which is odd since he started that with Emancipation five years before. The organic, trippy, LSD-inspired trip on it; I really can. But man, I can't get past his words and lyrics. For a man who used to promote things like a utopic Uptown full of of acceptance, positivity, live and let live, he certainly made a 180º on The Rainbow Children.

It's a Karen record - you do what I say, cuz this is how it should be, periodt! He channeled his inner-slightly-inconvenienced-white-women vibe on it.

You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth... I think I love u

DotsofU said:

You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth... I think I love u

Wanna hang out and talk shit about "Digital Garden?"

I think it’s an important album as was Purple Rain and The Gold Experience in Prince’s mind. It was a turning point for him.

And the 3 albums end with an anthem song (Purple Rain, Gold, Last December), and I think it means something.

I loved the Rainbow Children since day one and I was exciting by this new direction, as if he had put aside his stardom and focus again on the music. Great period!

[Edited 1/7/22 6:40am]

highcalonic said:

And the 3 albums end with an anthem song (Purple Rain, Gold, The Same December)

I think you mean Last December

TrivialPursuit said:

I hate it.

.

Great elaboration!

I see your reasons are quite weak though.

Listen again!

I used to, but once I got past the door-knocker stuff it grew on me musically. Retrospect helps though - I now just consume it as a goofy, fun ride considering how bad everything got afterwards. It's like The Crow: City of Angels of albums for me. I often believe that Prince writing the lyrics for this was like that scene with Thomas Jane's character in a private booth at the Peep-O-Rama where he runs out of quarters and can't find his pants.

I totally agree with TrivialPursuit. The dogmatic lyrics are a massive turn off.

But on top of that, I also find it hard to be engaged by the music on Rainbow Children. I applaud the ambition of creating a new sound, but I guess it's actually not jazzy enough for me to find it interesting as a jazz album, and at the same time not melodically strong enough to be a good soul/pop album (as a whole - there are indeed musical highlights). It's hard for me to pinpoint it, but there's something too controlled and sterile about the sound for it to be an exciting jazz album.

[Edited 1/7/22 4:24am]

spacedolphin said:

jorge said:

highcalonic said:

And the 3 albums end with an anthem song (Purple Rain, Gold, The Same December)

I think you mean Last December

Exactly! thanks

This question has been asked multiple times over the years, so I will say what I've always said. Musically, the album is by far one of his best. The jazzy sound and guitar work are incredible. The lyrics are quite another. This was right at Prince's peak of JWism. You can tell that many of the lyrics are forced to conform to this dogma. Having said this, there are some very good songs on the album, but I can do with without the "my way or the highway" lyrics.

luv4u said:

I like it. Just not that darth vader voice.

This.

I remember waiting up to download it from the NPG Music Club. It was the early hours of the morning in the UK when it released and back then downloads weren't always the speediest things.

Eventually it downloaded, I put the headphones on and gave it a listen. So much anticipation in the waiting. And then it started. And I loved it! Loved it then, love it now.

I'm not religious but the lyrics don't bother me one little bit. I don't really care what Prince is singing about, or what he believes, so long as the feel of the song hits me. I've never tried convince a lesbian that it's better with a man, never had any desire to go uptown, I definitely never related to a song about banging his Sister and I've certainly never felt the urge to do the Housequake, Jughead or Horny Pony.

It put a big damper on my enthusiasm for Prince that took years to get over but still leaves bad feelings to this day. I've mostly put it the memory hole but still am reminded of the rigidity, the fundamentalism, misongyny, anti-semintism and the almost 180 from what I thought was an openminded Prince to this inflexible old man.

He either got it out of system later or learned to hide it well but dont think Prince of TRC was someone I'd like to hang out with.

I love it.

At the time, I hated a lot of what was coming out of the NPGMC (the "High" or "Slaughterhouse/Chocolate Invasion" stuff. Most of those songs sounded basic, simple, thin-sounding and lifeless from someone of Prince's caliber.

Then comes The Rainbow Children. The instrumention is lush and beautiful, and even the lyrics (love them or hate them) are smart and well done. That album has the energy and "spark" that I expect and love from Prince.

some seriously bad vibes went into making this record .. sounds like a guy trying to impress larry graham with his jehovah knowledge .. what the duck indeed ...

TrivialPursuit said:

Yep. Don't even have it in my collection. I was a JW when it was released...and still hated it.