FunkJam said:

GustavoRibas said:.

Diamonds and Pearls is actually a great album when it comes to songwriting and a superb band. Many fans hate it because of the rappers, but if you think it has songs like Cream, Gett Off, Diamonds and Pearls, Money dont matter 2 night, Strollin, Willing and Able, Live 4 love, it´s real cool. That album isnt about ´Jughead´.

[Edited 3/31/23 17:29pm]

Yeah, classic songs; great performances. And I don't get the hate for the rap. I guess some of the lyrics are quite cheesy, but they fit the context, and the performances are matched very well with the songs. Tony M's voice is pretty smooth too.

Bashing the raps is basically a meme now. It's like half the people do it just for the hell of it!

People are legitimately out here putting AOA above D&P...

It is not that people are putting AOA above D&P, it is that they are playing it more on Spotify - What we don't know is how many specifically selected it vs had it selected for them by the system and this has resulted in fewer skips etc.

I agree, rap bashing is meme but I think this is only between certain Prince fans and dedicated rap aficionados. Perhaps it is the cheesiness - Widely known songs but many without the Prince edginess?

NoSwan said:

lurker316 said:

People have been bashing the rap on D&P since the day it was released. It's not a new trend people are jumping on.

Also, AOA is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times better than D&P.

Yeah, it is, totally.

I adore AOA. It's one of Prince's most cohesive work.

I adore AOA as well.

D&P isn't really my cup of tea, but I do appreciate that with it, Prince had freshened up his sound. One of the things I'd loved about ATWIAD, Parade, Sign and Lovesexy was that with each one, Prince had reinvented himself. I didn't feel that way about Batman or Graffiti Bridge. To me, those were paint-by-the-numbers Prince. But then came D&P. It wasn't really to my taste, but I recognized and respected that he'd once again reinvented himself.

lurker316 said:

NoSwan said:

Yeah, it is, totally.

I adore AOA. It's one of Prince's most cohesive work.

I adore AOA as well.

D&P isn't really my cup of tea, but I do appreciate that with it, Prince had freshened up his sound. One of the things I'd loved about ATWIAD, Parade, Sign and Lovesexy was that with each one, Prince had reinvented himself. I didn't feel that way about Batman or Graffiti Bridge. To me, those were paint-by-the-numbers Prince. But then came D&P. It wasn't really to my taste, but I recognized and respected that he'd once again reinvented himself.

.

- Yes. I dont like Batman album and Graffiti Bridge, despite having some of his best songs like ´Question of U´ and ´Thieves in the Temple´ felt kind of tired. With Diamonds and Pearls everything seemed fresh. Prince was the band leader of a big and great band and some great songs. Too bad it was the beginning of his ´trend follower´ era, and most fans hate it because of Tony M.

sexton said:

sexton said:

Also wanted to add that Prince's "Purple House" has the most streams from any artist from this project.

JustJustin said:

FunkJam said:

ShellyMcG said:

FunkJam said:

Yeah, classic songs; great performances. And I don't get the hate for the rap. I guess some of the lyrics are quite cheesy, but they fit the context, and the performances are matched very well with the songs. Tony M's voice is pretty smooth too.

Bashing the raps is basically a meme now. It's like half the people do it just for the hell of it!

People are legitimately out here putting AOA above D&P...

Art Official Age is legit in my top 5 Prince albums. I think it's absolutely fantastic. I don't hate D&P. In fact, it contains one of my all time favourite songs by any artist (Insatiable) but, meme or not, that rap is not for me. Maybe it's "before my time" or whatever but D&P as a whole feels a lot more dated to me than pretty much any of his previous work and I think it's because of that early 90s/late 80s hip hop sound.

I understand what you say about how this album feels more dated that other work.

I think part of the reason is Prince wanted GB to be the sequel to PR, not just as a movie/album but in commercial scale and success and this did not eventuate. This meant that he promoted D&P like he had not promoted any since DM. Part of that is was in all the work that "Diamond" (Lori Werner) and "Pearl" (Robia LaMorte) did to create excitement, part was in the adoption of popular hip hop sound of the day. But I think the part that most meant the album aged is the songs that were written to radio and TV ready singles. Gett Off and Insatiable being the exception because they were to get your attention. To me the early 90's pop-ness of Cream, D&P and MDM2N age the album more than the rap.

This list is useless without being in accurate order, rather than a wily-nilly listing of albums.

bwaaatch said:

This list sounds wrong. What are the chances that it runs in chronological order like that, And excludes Purple Rain. Or am I missing something?

You are issing nothing. Typical lazy post.

laytonian said:

bwaaatch said:

This list sounds wrong. What are the chances that it runs in chronological order like that, And excludes Purple Rain. Or am I missing something?

You are issing nothing. Typical lazy post.

Nobody wanted you in this thread.

sexton said:

nosajd said:

erik319 said:

I've used YouTube Music for years. You can stream all the albums you want. And upload any that aren't on there. Think you can upload 50,000 tracks personally. I've got all the protege stuff, missing albums, vault tracks, live tracks... The lot. Works a treat & I have my entire collection wherever I go.

YouTube seems like an obvious answer, yet people still complain here fairly regularly about albums not being available on Spotify. It happened again this week in the Janet Jackson thread in Music: Non-Prince forum.

Anyway, listening to my own digital files outside of streaming services still works best for me because I often find myself in places with no internet/phone service--which sounds odd in 2023, but it does happen.