I just ordered this CD from Amazon. Paid bout 18.00 (including shipping) for it. What should I expect? I like Immanicipation, Chaos was ok, Come was good, the Love Symbol was great, D&P was alright, Graffitti Bridge is ok....so what sould I expect from The Gold Experience?

its like come but has more production
i only dislike one track on tge
overall, easily the best p lp of the 90's
enjoy!

Personally I think it's his best album of the 90's. Damn, now you're sure to be disappointed! If you like Prince's poppier side you should love the Gold Experience.

Out of the Cd's you've mentioned, I guess it's closest cousin would be the '' album.
Maybe with a bit of C&D thrown in.

It definitely has a live-band-in-the-studio sort of vibe to it, and there's a good cross section of
musical styles, but it mainly leans towards Rock and a hard-funk-rap kinda thing.
[This message was edited Thu Mar 4 12:53:20 2004 by BorisFishpaw]

the guitar style is the same as C&D
the last 4 songs are absolute heaven, some of his best songs

Ya can't go wrong with Gold. Easily amongst my top three favorites. It's more passionate than Emancipation, but with much stronger hooks and songs than Chaos and Disorder. Think Purple Rain (passionate) meets Sign o the Times (great hooks) meets Diamonds and Pearls (pop funk)...I really envy you, what I'd give to hear that album again for the first time!!! No other album since has kicked my ass the way that one did.

Great cd. I can't see why you wouldn't love it! There's one great kick-ass song after another. Enjoy!

I am looking for this album like crazy, but no record shop in my town seems to have it. Plus I can't seem to find it neither on the web. I wanna hear that album!!

How did ya ordered it from Amazon, it says they don't have it...or did you buy a used one?

it's a good cd, i like it lots!

brill cd U WILL ENJOI !!!

DaIllest said:

The album is out of print right now, you can't buy a new copy.
I don't have one myself, I'm going to have to find it used. I've downloaded all the songs except for Dolphin, which no one seems to have on Kazaa. If I could buy it I would though, because I'm too lazy to put the tracks in the correct order!

DaIllest said:

I just went to Amazon.com and did a search and there it was.....used for around 15.00. Man I'm really getting excited, it seems to be a pouplar CD in P circles. damn I wished I had never stop listening to Prince after Around The World....but now I'm gonna have everything from For You 1978-Immancipation 1996

But I can't understand why this particular CD is so hard to find. Why is it out of print? He's got a lot of albums out by Warner and they're all available...why "The Gold Experience" is the exception? Plus it seems that the majority agrees that is a good record, and it features "The most beautiful girl in the world", which was more or less a hit.

Any particular reason?

LouieLaFunk said:

My guess is if you liked "Symbol" you'll like this too--it has the same energy,moments of immaturity,length,voice segues: basically ther same plotting. It's a slightly sunnier "Symbol".

@ the same time, I think you'll find this cd a little overrated.


I think Prince didn't release a truly great album in the 90's, and some fans are desperate to find a redemptive cd in the bunch-this gets the nod apparently-I think you may find this album has no truly original songs-everything sounds slightly familiar-like he has done it all before, and usually better. I think you should expect a very glossy,produced album with poor packaging artwork and layout. If you don't care about packaging, find comfort in familiarity,and are more into the simple enjoyment over music to dissect-then enjoy!

DaIllest said:

Yeah, I'd like to know too, it doesn't make any sense. Maybe someone can explain.

calioasis said:

If I remember correctly, Prince said something to the tune of WB not owning TGE. From that I assume that it is solely down to P that it is OOP same as GoldNigga and 1 800 New Funk.
It is a good album, however, if all the albums from around this time were released in their original configurations, it wouldn't stand out so much. TGE, Come and C&D (along with some of the unreleased tracks from this period) could be mixed together and edited into a truly kickass triple album that would piss all over Emancipation. (and I quite like 2/3 of Emancipation.)

calioasis said:

"The Gold Experience" is out of print because Prince worked a deal with Warner Brothers so he could retain more ownership of the material...and the deal came back to bite him when the album tanked. Yeah, we all know about the bad stuff record companies do, but they also come in pretty handy with things like keeping stock on the shelves, manufacturing repeat copies, and using automatic replenishment systems to keep the material IN PRINT as the years roll on.

If "The Gold Experience" had been a commercial success, Warner would have worked out a deal to keep it in print. But in terms of sales, especially U.S. sales, the album failed. Yes, it seems puzzling because the record did include "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (TMBGITW), and that song was a BIG hit. It charted all the way to #1 and stayed there for three weeks. But here's the rub: TMBGITW peaked a full 17 months before "The Gold Experience" was released!

Prince released TMBGITW as a maxi-single, independently through Bell in early 1994. It received a ton of radio play and hit the top of the charts in April '94. "The Gold Experience" wasn't released until September 1995. Therefore its inclusion didn't drive sales of the album. TMBGITW was over - way over - before "The Gold Experience" ever saw the light of day.

In the interim, Warner Brothers released "Come" in August '94. "Come" didn't contain TMBGITW, or any other hit. When Warner's saw "Come" barely scrape the gold sales plateau, after the previous "Symbol" album had sold double-platinum, the stage was set. It was a textbook example of a record company shifting an artist to low-priority status, then using the resulting failure to justify keeping the artist down.

Sure enough, "The Gold Experience" tanked in late '95 and early '96. "I Hate U" was released as the first single, a horrible choice. Radio stayed away from Prince like the plague, as Tupac's "All Eyez On Me" conquered the charts. Prince's song "Gold" was released as the next single, to the sound of no hands clapping. "Pussy Control" and "Billy Jack B*tch" received play in a few urban clubs, but urban clubs are a loooong way from the heartland of America.

Prince's increasingly strange behavior pushed the buying public away. Americans thought Prince's name change was pretentious, silly and borderline insane. Painting "Slave" on his face didn't help, and alienated many of his core African American fans. This could be diplomatically described as a SERIOUS period of remission. Can anyone say, "nadir?"

Prince's fans tried to reverse the tide, but to no avail. His friends in the VH-1 management office made their best efforts: They put Prince specials on frequent rotation, played his videos and event annointed Prince "Artist of the Month" in the winter of '95>'96. But the general American public didn't want to see him, or buy his BS, no matter what VH-1 or anyone else did. The Gold Tour didn't even play the States. It was a painful time to be a Prince fan.

And that's why the Gold Experience is out of print.

Then one day the rain stopped and those that survived slowly emerged from their safe-havens...

>Prince's fans tried to reverse the tide, but to no avail. His friends in the VH-1 management office made their best efforts: They put Prince specials on frequent rotation, played his videos and event annointed Prince "Artist of the Month" in the winter of '95>'96. But the general American public didn't want to see him, or buy his BS, no matter what VH-1 or anyone else did. The Gold Tour didn't even play the States. It was a painful time to be a Prince fan.

And that's why the Gold Experience is out of print.<

Wow, that was dramatic! Strangely enough, this was the height of my fandom of Prince. At the time, people thought he was definitely strange and turned away from him, and some fans may have been slightly embarrassed by some of his words and actions. But looking back now, his attitude was kick-ass, and the music was definitely on point- some of his best ever came from this era.

Temptation said:

The Gold tour was in full swing long before the album was even released, while Prince was still fighting with WB over getting it released. As to the tour not hitting the states, Prince's popularity in America was at it's lowest during this time. Why tour to half empty arenas when he knew he could still pack them in overseas?
[This message was edited Fri Mar 5 3:02:32 2004 by gsh]

First time we in America got to hear some music was when Prince was on David Letterman. Letterman held up the Cd and we Screamed. Prince did Dolphin my Favorite song and we were outside Letterman Freezing. Can I tell ya this album is Freaking Amazing? It is One of his BEST! Trust Me you will Love this album Beyond Compare... I was in Love with All That Glitters Is NOT GOLD.....We were Worried as Prince past out on the Floor and someone commented on how Mayte was Running down the Street after Letterman.

LouieLaFunk said:

You found this shit on Amazon?!

thought this was out of print..