rdhull said:

Oui.Hellacute.

Lovesexy is seeing God in the sunlight filtered through the trees, lighting up your heart and making you cry with joy.

Rainbow Children is seeing God in a dusty Bible sitting in a cold, hard pew and crying with relief that the pain of this life will end.

There's much beauty in both, but RC is a more tragic sort, IMHO.

I don't care too much anymore about Prince's messages, for me it's all about the music. I have to say I find TRC musically more interesting than Lovesexy. I seldom play the latter, I have to admit, it's too busy IMO...

LoveSexy is much more exciting than TRC, the whole concept of good & bad is not that slick. Yes, perhaps a little darker.

Different children have different talents and temperaments. That is part of the beauty and diversity of the rainbow. But all children are equal, surely?

namepeace said:

I agree 100%... well said. Thank you.

Allow me to clarify a bit further. TRC is a fantastic album in the sense that the recorded performances of Prince and John Blackwell are often superb. However, the songwriting is often mediocre, with the exception of the titlesong, Everywhere, Family Name and Last December.
The thing that has made me listen less and less to TRC is not so much the lyrics, which are nevertheless often questionable, but the overall feeling I get from this record.

It is not a happy record. Prince often sounds bitter and the overall sound and feel of it is dark. There is no bright and light positive feel to it as with Lovesexy, which simply celebrates LOVE. TRC talks a lot of division among people along the lines of race and religion and the negativity that brings this forth is present in the soul of this recording.

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[This message was edited Wed May 21 7:24:21 PDT 2003 by Abrazo]

andyf said:

Yes... we are ALL people of all colors and all God's children.

Altho' the song Family Name does end with Martin Luther King's dream that we we will all one day join hands together, the other thing with this song and TRC is that the rest of the lyrics are often written so ambiguously and put out there to serve as bait, that many people come up with interpretations that are questionable ... to say the least...

The amount of endless and pointless discussions on race and religion which this album brought is typical of the message it carries. One can say that the recording ends with "we all need to come together as one"... but it is coming together under EXCLUSIVE Prince terms; which is "the Lord" and the Bible as in "the father and the son" according to JW-ism, and has nothing to do with the "Holy Ghost, Allah, Krishna", LOVE or anything else less specific. In its ultimate form TRC is therefore an exclusive record, much like the policies of NPGMC are excluding people as well, while Lovesexy is inclusive and leaves room for everybody to enjoy...without being judged for your color or religion.


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[This message was edited Wed May 21 7:22:42 PDT 2003 by Abrazo]

no anji, it's not. lovesexy was created back when prince still had self-confidence and hope.

to underscore what Abrazo and XxAxX gave said, here is a review I posted on Amazon.com of TRC . . .


Musically rich, thematically muddled, mainly unsatisfying

January 2, 2002

I have been a steadfast Prince/Artist listener for nearly 20 years, and admittedly, I am biased in favor of the LPs he created during his "Golden Age" (1999 to Lovesexy), and various outings since. With that in mind, I do not think Prince's latest effort compares to his other work. "Rainbow Children" is like many of his post-"Gold Experience" albums: satisfying at points, musically masterful, but thematically confusing and lyrically muddled.

The musical arrangements on this album are the best
since "The Gold Experience." Prince's new, "organic" sound -- jazzy, soulful, devoid of post-New Jack Swing R & B or rap pretensions - gives me hope for greater things down the line. The title track, "Muse 2 the Pharaoh," and "1+1+1=3" are great grooves, along with "Mellow Mellow." His new band, still apparently sans rhythm guitarist, is very good. Musically, the album rivals anything I've heard this year.

Lyrically, I hate to say it, but Prince has lost me. This album announces Prince's 3rd spiritual post-Black Album transformation (the first two transformations are announced on "Lovesexy" and "Emancipation"). In his interviews, appearances, website messages, and his music, he has trumpeted his newly found Jehovah's Witness beliefs (thank Larry Graham for that). This has marginalized him from his audience, which had been attracted to his spritual messages of independence, faith and hope, and were fascinated by the spiritual struggles conveyed in his previous work. "RC" continues this unfortunate trend with ramblings about God, kings, evil ones, muses, wise ones and pharaohs. Sometimes, it's hard to tell which of these ramblings are tenets of faith or figments of Prince's imagination.

Prince also tries to cram a lot of social statements into the wrong cut at the wrong time. Predictably, a lot of what he says is out of context, and the listener is confused by the actual meaning (on "Muse," is he really minimizing the Holocaust or deeming all human suffering evil?). The positive messages songs such as "Last December" are therefore lost in the haze. Prince has always been challenging, but some of the views expressed on this album alienate the listeners. That's a first for a Prince LP.

Ultimately, "RC" is a deeply flawed "almost-masterpiece." Prince's great "statement" songs are not only funky, but they have terse, spiritually profound lyrics: "Pop Life," "Money Don't Matter 2Night," "Purple Rain," etc. The message of faith Prince delivers on the first track of "Lovesexy," "Eye No," is clearer, more profound, and more powerful than all of "RC" combined. You want a spiritual manifesto from Prince? Check that out.

Prince is the greatest single rock n' roll artist since Hendrix, and can still make a great LP. Sadly, "RC" is not in that class. While I'm glad I have this album, I cautiously await Prince's next transformation. Hopefully it will produce a truly great LP. Otherwise, we'll have to appreciate the great music he's already given us.

Abrazo said:

[This message was edited Wed May 21 8:16:25 PDT 2003 by butterfli25]

rdhull said:

Yes! Did you read my post?

namepeace said:

Great piece of analyses, namepeace.

Part of the response from the author of the excerpt (in the original post)...

Anji said:

Beliefs are often biased. it shows when the "defendants" of TRC always pull out this remark of "it must be because of JW connection"... that is sooo telling. There is nothing to defend, but that is what you get when the creator of the lyrics plays this or that with your mind.

Abrazo said:

Prince asks his fans to meet on a higher plane in Family Name, the very song where he introduces the 'this or that' concept.

TRON said:

that sums up my 2 page response in a nut shell. right on.

Anji said:[quote]Part of the response from the author of the excerpt (in the original post)...


All I know is that I knew an athiest, and a hard core one at that, that loved Lovesexy. I know she wouldn't feel the same about TRC. She respected the message and the music from Lovesexy but doesn't like to be preached at and this is what TRC feels like in comparison to Lovesexy. With Lovesexy, Prince let you in on his trip and didn't make any bones about whether or not you'd agree with it. With TRC it feels like Prince don't want you on the trip unless you agree with what he's saying.

I'm sorry but you just cannot compare these albums. Lovesexy is so superior. I agree that sonically TRC has some killer music but the message fails miserably compared to Lovesexy. And that my folks is my not so humble opinion

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

yeah and my edit still stands

They are yes, alltogether different.

naturegirl said:

Just like you.

FunkMistress said:

t
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[This message was edited Thu May 22 11:42:50 PDT 2003 by naturegirl]

Abrazo said:

Just every so often, the words of another seem to work out fine.

rdhull said:

I cant lie..actually no I didnt read that post..I just saw that part "I say salvation!" and lol
lemme go back and read it