Purple Rain is always gonna be #1 commercially, no disputing, or getting round that (nor would I want to, it deserves it).

But as far as I know Diamonds & Pearls was the 2nd biggest album commercially.

Looking at Diamonds & Pearls, half of it sounds very dated - that was an odd era of pop music in general the very late 80s to early 90s, a lot of stuff from that era (despite my liking of it) has dated quite badly.

D&P sounded dated 5/6 years ago even, but I don't think the Gold Experience has hardly dated at all, maybe some of the more "rap" based tracks like Now and P.Control.

I think TGE is one of Prince's most solid albums, and I think it had a lot of commercial potential.

The feud with WB saw that the album was left to rot commercially, and that was a real darn shame because I think it could have been a bigger success than D&P had the marketing machines and Prince really been behind it.

Prince was behind it before it was out, but only whilst he had something to prove by getting it released, once WB released, he tired of it very quickly.

So many great single-worthy cuts on there, in several genres that could have tore up the charts.

My pick of the singles, say a 5 single album (like PR & D&P):

1. P. Control - Great hook and I believe it did well in clubs in areas of the USA? It has that shock value of Gett Off / Sexy M.F.
2.Endorphinmachine - Tear shit up with single two! Hit 'em with the 1,2 (Gett Off/Cream, When Doves Cry/Let's Go Crazy)
3.Eye Hate U - Now this is where you want a ballad single, not as first single!! Prince is crazy when it comes to first singles every album of the 90s has been ruined by bad lead single choices.
4.319 - Is this one slice of perfect pop or what! Got that Interactive / Kiss vibe about it.
5.Gold / Shhh - Nice anthemic send off to the album, I know it kinda bombed in the USA, but it did well in the UK - Maybe double A-side it with Shhh to the 'urban' radio stations.

Dolphin came and went with the video well before release, and then there's the global smash of MBGITW - That's one big incentive for the public to pick up that album!

Even after all that there's Shy and Billy Jack Bitch on the album proving that it was full of A-grade stuff and not just a few singles with filler.

The band was one of his best, and the Gold Tour was a fantastic show, all that new music, if they did that show after the album's success it would have torn the roof off, as it was it rocked our world and left the casual listeners wondering why he wasn't playing the music they knew.

Oh, well, we can but dream

Too right. The lack of timed promotion, and bad singles (yet again) killed it.

I know we all have a different view on the singles. to me, it should have been:

1. TMBGINW
2. Dolphin
3. Gold
4. 319

Throw in a club 12" of P Control/Now/Billy Jack Bitch, and we are there!

I hate U killed the album before it started.

Yes, I too think it could have been big, had it been released in '94 along with The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.
The idea of heavily promoting an album that isnt released - as O)+> did - really IS kinda stupid and, I think, one of the reasons why the public in general thought he had lost it.
I think Dolphin could have been a hit had there been a single to accompany the video. But there wasn't...

By the time the album got released, the public had already tired of all this O)+> / Gold stuff.

Also, I know some of my friends were disappointed when they bought the album and the version of TMBGITW that was on it was not the one that they liked/had heard and that was what made them interested to begin with. So they felt cheated.
So did I - with Endorphinemachine. O)+> totally killed that track. The released version is awful.

I don't think P. Control had much hit potential, really. Sexy M.F. didn't fare too well on the charts and I think P. Control would have followed suit. It would have suffered the same from lack of airplay and night time-only video play like Sexy M.F. because of the sexual content.

All in all, I prefer the unreleased '94 configuration of the Gold Experience album. I think Acknowledge Me could have done well as a single. Certainly Days Of Wild was missed on the released version.
Like Letitgo was an inferior late addition to Come, I also find We March an inferior addition to Gold. And Endorphinemachine and Dolphin will always be Come tracks to me.

The best thing that COULD have happened - but didn't - was if Come and Gold had been released as accompanying albums in '94 as proposed by Prince. Then we would have gotten two strong albums rather than the two lacklustre albums we ended up getting.

Everyone would have been better off - the fans, Prince, even Warners, because I'm sure there would have been charting on the heels of TMBGITW from both albums.

So... In hindsight, Warners made a really, really, horribly, bad decision when they said no.
[This message was edited Thu Oct 23 19:01:17 PDT 2003 by scififilmnerd]

Let's get the story straight.

Warner Brothers killed the Gold Experence album & Prince buried it.

Major mistakes on both parties involved.

I played Pussy Control last weekend and people was asking... "Is that the new song by Prince ?"

SquirrelMeat said:

Yes. But they probably figured it would do as well as TMBGITW - simply because it was a ballad.
Just like O)+> hoped Betcha By Golly Wow! would do for Emancipation and The Greatest Romance Ever Sold Would Do For Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic. Those were all REALLY bad first single-choices, though.

Still one of my favorite albums...in addition to the symbol album

I actually think Now would have made a great single as well. But I Hate U got a lot of airplay here in Denver but it was very poorly promoted. 319 should have been the lead single for the album.

I totaly agree, I play this album all the time for people who dont know much about what he does. A good friend of mine was all about Ozzy, when I first me him I was on break reading some P related book or mag and he pretty much said he was a frak or gay or something. But later on that month we had to work together late and we were taking turns playing CD's so I put in the Gold Experience. He payed attention to most of and made some somewhat positve comments until Gold came on. He stoped working after the track ended and said " That has to be the best thing I ever heard him record". It was all over then, he bought almost every album. That album has helped me get many people into his music, and to this day, I still see people rush to the floor when P-Control comes on.

TGE rocks and it's the last album by P that truly excited me...
Everything by P since then (to me) has been iffy at best.

This album could have been huge, you are right.

All 12 tracks are winners and most are quite commercial!

Heck, I hear "P Control" more than I hear just about any Prince song, and that wasn't even a single!

it's the last album he released that i'd listen to on purpose. and i like the album version of most beautiful girl...

I agree,'The Gold Experience' could have been a HUGE commercial success,but unfortunately,the war with Warners prevented this from happening.The album is filled with top-notch songs that were just begging to be released as singles."I Hate U" is an amazing song,and it made sense to release it as the first single.But where was the video? Prince filmed a video,but refused to hand it over,thus preventing the song from becoming a big hit.It's almost as if he wanted the album to fail,so he could blame them and say "See? You guys don't know how to promote my music".

A great album that deserved MUCH better promotion than it got. Someone here said they've turned a lot of people on to Prince's music with this album. The same with me...whenever I play that album with my friends in the room, its the one, besides PR & 1999 that EVERYONE likes.

Okay, Dolphin and Gold were painful to listen to. Gold sounded like nothing short of a half-assed run at Purple Rain.

But the rest of the record was great. I agree, it's #3 in my list... SOTT, PR, TGE. Billy Jack Bitch is still just KICKASSINGEST, right up there with DMSR as a butt-shaking stomp.

But then again, so was Sacrifice of Victor... and others on the dumbo-name album.

I think both records are close... the idiot-glyph album just came out while he was still hot and hip. That's all, in my pinion. Which counts the most, if you ask me.

otan said:

Dolphin painful? Dude...no.