This is a busy month for Princely album anniversaries!
is 11 years old today!

For me, it was the last Prince album I bought on cassette.

strangely enough, this was the prince album that got me really interested again. after lovesexy i kind of OD'd on him. plus i didn't like the batman stuff at all back then. i stopped paying attention but by the time came out i was gaining interest again. i actually bought it the day it came out. so, here's to the symbol album!

I bought this CD at midnight when it first came out and I was lucky enough 2 get 2 there in time 2 get the gold limited edition. This is a true Prince treasure as far as I'm concerned.

His last album that really created a mainstream hype. I guess with the singles Sexy MF and My Name Is Prince he really got a lot of mainstream attention for this release. Prince was all over MTV in those days. Except for Blue Light, I really love that record.

This album for me was a return to form for P. I know that many people say that the album's very similar soundwise to D&P but for me "squiggle" beats D&P on all fronts. Plus I actually quite like Tony M's contributions on this one (as opposed to D&P)

MartyMcFly said:

I agree with you on that. When I first heard D&P it sounded so average. I was use to getting something unique and completely different from anything else that was out there from Prince. D&P sounded so ordinary. was a breath of fresh Princely air.

It has it's moments but most of it is horrible!

The ballads are better than the funk on this album.

It's one of my favourite Prince's albums.

This is one of my favorite Prince albums. When it came out I was completely immersed in my crackhead-raver days. This was one of 3 non-techno CDs I listened to that year. Thank God it was out, or I may have never snapped out of my raverways...

Truly inventive in places, and VERY cohesive. This album is up there with Disintegration by the Cure for the best total ablum concept...I love this cd...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

ah the o(+> this is probably in my top five fav p albums

Happy birthday symbol album

This was the first new album to come out after I became a fan, so the first time I was checking the record stores every day!

I listened to this recently for the first time in ages, and it struck me how extreme Prince is on this record; From one song to another his lyrics change from some of his dirtiest to his sweetest. I actually find it a bit hard to stomach the changes!

One of his very best for me. I adore this album!

Wow!!! already...

I love 'the morning papers' on this one.

and of course -"You sexy motherFucker!"

My fave album!

sabaisabai said:

I really like this about the album. Good variety of fast / slow songs.

It was the faster / noisier songs on this album that got me hooked on Prince in the first place + resulted in me buying his back catalogue. And it was through listening to the album that I started to appreciate that slow songs could be good too (before this I'd thought slow songs were all a bit cack).

So it expanded my musical horizons...

I think this album would have been great if it weren't for those distracting interludes. It has some great songs. I'm going to have to dig it out of my collection tonight.

This is my favorite Prince album of the 90s,and the last Prince album that I really went crazy over.The music is fun,inspired and funky.I know that most of y'all don't like Tony and his rapping,but the highlights on this CD are stunning..."Love 2 The 9s","The Continental","Sexy MF","And God Created Woman","Damn U" and "7".Just for those songs alone,this album is a masterpiece.

I remember buying this CD in the fall of 1992,around the same time as Madonna's equally impressive 'Erotica' CD.Needless to say,I had ALOT of great music to listen to that winter...lol

DavidEye said:

I agree with you totally as I remeber doing on other occaisions on this forum when this album is raised.

I love this album!

Loved it!!!

One of my top favorites. I just recently acquired the limited edition gold set.

CherryMoon said:

I have that limited edition gold box set too.It was marked down to eleven dollars,a few years after it came out.

I played this one a lot in the car a few weeks ago and even
after 11 years I'm still not quite sure what to think about
it.

It's borderline. It hinges somewhere between very good and
very very awful. No doubt, there are some brilliant songs
on this disc, but the overall product is something I have
never been able to view as a "Prince" album.

Out of all his releases, o(+> sounds least like a proper
well rounded album to me.

And that's weird, since it's a bit of a concept album and
Prince does seem to have put in some hard work to melt the
whole thing into one cohesive package.

He even shot that "3 Chains Of Gold" video for it, but even
that made it feel like a grab-bag of outtakes and stuff he
had lying around complemented with a handful of gems.

Or maybe it's just P on rollerskates in a silk bathrobe that
still manages to haunt my thoughts whenever I play the disc.

it is a totally amazing album, one of my faves

Some songs/melodies are good but the arrangement & performing is partly horrible and that rapping shit - i hate it - spoke words - annie chistian - are ok but rap - can´t stand it.

IMO this album has some good tunes - "7" of course + the mid-tempo ones - but the rest is so bad - after this one i thought, he lost it, he´s only doing what he thinks will be a seller - no musical inspiration and genius.

Fortunately he found it at least with TRC again.

This was a great album, but it has some horrible moments. There are some great funky tunes, some beautiful melodies, and some excellent arrangements, and then there is I Wanna Melt With U, The Continental and Damn U.

I know there are a lot of fans of Damn U out there, but Ive always wanted to throw up when I hear it. Extraordinary would have made a much better replacement, and why he couldnt find room for the likes of Rest Of My Life and I Wonder?

I thought as a band the NPG sounded a lot tighter on this record than they did on Diomands & Pearls.

what IS..sacrafice?

Church if you will, please turn to the Book of Victor...

CrozzaUK said:

"Damn U" is gorgeous.It's dreamy,hypnotic and features a killer vocal.One of his ballads of all-time,imo.

Great thread, LittlePill!

I SO this album! It was the first one that got me 'into' Prince. One of my friends preferred an album of mine that I wasn't really listening to and offered to swap instead. I did so with trepidation... never looked back since.

Even 11 years on, it kicks serious @ss!

If the (rumoured) forthcoming album is anything like I'll be a very happy man.

I actually just got this three weeks ago. It has plenty of cheesy bits but overall it's a decent little album... I really like 3 Chains 'O Gold.