So Rolling Stone just listed "Chaos and Disorder" as one of the worst albums by brilliant artists

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Reply #60 posted 02/23/23 9:08am

RJOrion	C & D is the most funkless and soulless lp Prince ever made by far
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Reply #61 posted 02/23/23 10:18am

dodger07

LoveGalore said:

dodger07 said:

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said:

If it were released in 2008, it'd have been a blessing compared to other stuff in that period.

But seriously folks - I think a lot of Prince fans back then took Prince's mood on as their own. He shit on the album (despite making 2 or 3 videos for it) as a "contractual obligation" and fans took on that "fuck Warner Bros" notion and pretended not to like it. It's ridiculous, but it happens.

I always thought that maybe if it were shaved down by a couple of songs or something, it could've been a bonus disk for Come or The Gold Experience. The way Upper was tacked onto Older by George Michael.

I think that's part of it - that people take on the attitude toward the material as presented to them. But I also think it's just not what people were looking for at that time. Most of the material on Come, Gold, and Chaos were all done together and all out there in the atmosphere in different configurations. It was a shock to see how it all shook out - I can't be the only person who was stunned that Gold didn't have three of the most ever present songs of the era: Days of Wild, Ripop, and Acknowledge Me. And then I think people were a little let down with Chaos because it was characterized as a rock record but it was missing yet more of the rockier stuff people were familiar with but hadn't been put on Come or Gold - namely, Calhoun and What's My Name (and we later discovered Da Bang was originally on the Chaos tracklist too). What it did have were a few familiar songs, some really cringey reggae instead of the reggae we wanted, more rapping that we had thought we escaped with the exit of Tony M, and yet more ultra pasteurization on music we already knew (similar to what happened to Endorphinmachine). Taken out of context and decades later, yeah Chaos can be seen in its own light and much of the missing material saw the light of day eventually. But you're sitting down listening to a record that's still missing the new classics he hyped and instead you get "Dig U Better Dead" and some (lovely, but) mellow Rosie crooning on "I Will." You wanted to hear the crunch and grind of The Undertaker on a rock record produced during the same sessions (more or less) but you're hearing a (lovely but) minimal solo on "Into the Light" (which we saw yet more of "The Holy River"). Those of us who were there and were disappointed by what we got prob do still have some lingering disappointment to some degree because we know what it coulda been.

Back then at the time I loved it cos as you say Come, Gold, C&D and even Exodus were from the same great batch.

Thinking about it there were 4 videos made (that we know of) from C&D which goes towards dispelling the 'throwaway album' notion.

And yes I was totally stunned and gutted at the time to not get Days Of Wild and Acknowledge Me on TGE. I watched those 2 on repeat on my VHS copy of TBE movie.

Honing in on the videos - bear in mind, he was doing videos for damn near everything at the time. And C&D was put together much later once the previous two had been released and the dust on that era had settled. I think that is why you see so much new stuff on there. Prince was funny because I don't think he hated any of that material and I think the album artwork and blurb were just really conceptual art. If he didn't care about the record and how it fit into the grand scheme of things, he wouldn't have bothered putting material on it that bled into the next era thematically.

Into the Light and I Will, and perhaps even that whole side of the album, is clearly bridging the gap between Gold and Emancipation. I think Prince had a habit of doing that even with other hodge podge albums like The Black Album. He couldn't help but put the latest song he recorded on there to give a little nod to the future.

I know what you mean about him giving ‘a little nod to the future’ but personally I wouldn’t say Into The Light and I Will are an example of that.
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They’ve got that NPG live band sound whereas Emancipation does not, with the new plastic production sound. Barring the few songs they’re on.

SPYZFAN1	Sorry...but I love "Chaos And Disorder". I always thought it was a cool, trashy, throwaway "middle finger" album to WB. Even though it's not punk rock, I always thought it had an "underground/for the diehard fans only" vibe to it.
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LoveGalore	While the bulk of the album was recorded between mid-February and the end of March 1989, Electric Chair was recorded in June 1988, and Scandalous in October 1988. In addition, Vicki Waiting was a revamped version of Anna Waiting, initially recorded in December 1988. - Princevault
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