TheBluePrince said:

No that aint it. I bought TRC as soon as it was available in stores in 2001. And I wanted to like it and for a while I made myself like it.

antoon said:

Fair enough. Thanks for the feedback.

Revolution said:

TRC is lyrically deep????

jtfolden said:

Sure it is.

It might skirt over them a little too frivolously for people without prior knowledge of the themes, but it brings up some pretty big subjects:

- The new world order and globalisation through capitalism
- Social control through new technologies
- Historical events and characters pertaining to slavery (even if they have a skewed, dis-jointed view of events)
- Akashic records and spiritual karma

Anytime Prince takes on a genre it has always and still always sounds like Prince's take on something. Meaning that you cannot take Prince's version of a genre and hold it up next to a pure album of the genre (jazz, hip hop, or otherwise) and fairly compare. Prince has always bent other forms of music and turned it purple (melded it to his sound).No, Prince's rapping isn't gonna sound like Biggie's or NWA. And his jazz musings aren't gonna even touch Monk, Coltrane, etc. However, his strongest gift is his ability to mold other genres into a unique sound. When he did it with rap people called it derivative(even though his hip hop flavored music sounds like no one else) but when Prince borrowed from New Wave in the 80's people loved it-even though it didn't really sound like true and pure new wave artists.

I do find this kind of thread, frankly, crap.

If u dont like The Rainbow Children erm - DONT PLAY IT.

Is anyone making you play it ?

I realise it is an opinon and you are entiltled, but you did drag on a bit.

Dont like = Dont play

Simple as far as I'm concerned.

Coolest quote ever.

I cant stand Lovesexy for example.

Have a guess if I play it ??

Well I just got TRC today via ebay and I liked it a lot. It's not my favorite, but it definitely wasn't vanilla either.

In my opinion, the music's pretty damn great on TRC. It felt like a real attempt for Prince to get away from the plastic crap on Rave and Emaciation...oops, I mean Emancipation, and get back to music. Sure, it doesn't stack up to Miles' fusion, but it's not really trying to. It's Prince first and foremost, with shades of jazz fusion thrown into the mix. The only real jazzy bit is the title track and some of the interludes. But there's plenty of great Prince moments on it: I love the way the title track swells up to the point where the key goes up, I love the lyrical rhythms of Muse, love the way Digital Garden feels like it's about to go into a weird deep-house, love the fact She Loves Me For Me is basically a classic country song.

Unforunately, lyrically it's a bloated, self-important, chauvinstic turd of a concept album.
[This message was edited Mon Apr 12 16:58:54 2004 by MendesCity]

EvilWhiteMale said:

See what did he tell you!

I like TRC for all of the reasons mentioned above. I mean from Emancipation until TRC most of us got crap. Even the good stuff like some of Crystall Ball and the Truth came with such bad art and distribution and the music certainly wasn't all that...here and there CERTIANLY...but for the most part we got Larry Grahm and Chaka kahn Boxed with NPS etc.

I think that when we got TRC, we were thrilled to bits because it was the first album he put his name back on and many previous styles of his were back along with somother sonic surprises. I also think that as fans, we had been missing the concept album that P liked to give us (lovesexy, gold, come etc)...and that was only one disc long. It's experimental, yet grooves along it's own path. Most of us like it. Isn't that enough for it's merit? Don't think he did it for the casual fan. I think this one'll be talked about years to come. It certainly has sparked controversy.

Maybe he was going for a mainstream jazz sound or something. I think to shake the jazz stick at the fans is a bit erroneous. All of us may not be well versed into jazz as the one who started this post (17-69) but we all know that Prince is and that much of his influence is said to have come from Jazz...though we're talking Miles and Joni...who may not be "contemporary". I think most of us trust his background enough for him to not give us watered down music but as best as an interpretation as he can.

Emancipation's such a great album, I have no idea why ppl badmouth it.

It's full of such genuine love and happiness. Damn, I think it's one of the most melodically and lyrically beautiful albums he's ever recorded.

I even enjoy Betcha By Golly Wow.

PurpleKnight said:

Takes all kinds! I actuallly like Betcha (and La, La, La...) better than many other tracks on there. I just find the canned beats (by Kirky, right?) unbearable in their attempts to sound like "contemporary" hip hop and R&B. White Mansion, Get Your Groove On, Jam of the Year, Mr. Happy, Face Down and at least a dozen others whose name I can't remember--they're all ruined by that sound. And the lyrics to a few of them are downright embarassing in their generic blandness. On the new CD, Illusion, Pimp, etc. and Life of the Party come dangerously close to that style, but they're redeemed by the intensity of his vocals and little touches like that amazing guitar work.

But now I'm waaaay off-topic. Bad me.
[This message was edited Mon Apr 12 18:06:39 2004 by MendesCity]

EvilWhiteMale said:

Exactly. The fact that you're not into jazz definitely will affect your view on this album. Its not gonna be everyone's cuppa tea, and I definitely see why you don't care for it.

As for MA, I totally feel ya. I was a fairly new Manson fan when that album came out as well (the whole juggernaut of publicity that he had gotten over his antics had kind of kept me away from him at first. It wasn't until I read some interviews with him that I started to see what a smart guy he was, and decided to give his albums a chance). It totally took me off guard, because it was so different from "Antichrist Superstar", but I very quickly came to love it. The Ziggy Stardust-esque nature of the Omega character really pulled me in. In retrospect, its actually one of my favorite of his albums (although, its not one I listen to when I'm in the mood for Manson. Usually, I get in the mood to listen to that disc on its own)

I tend to be a card-carrying naysayer around this place....hated NEWS...Xpectation was like finding a boil on my sack...Emancipation is tripe...love the Truth...Crystal Ball is mostly poop...NPS is beyond terrible, I'm talking BAD....Rave Un2 licks my left one....Rave In2 sucks the right....Most of the material from the NPGMC is total horsecum....but TRC is amazing! I've always loved it. Yes, I think most of the lyrics should justify Prince being locked away for a few years and heavily sedated, but the album just nails me over the head with its creativity and musicianship...there's a passion to it that Prince hadn't revealed for the previous 6+ years!

I know people disagree, and that's fine. That's what a fan discussion board is for...Some people love Emancipation; I would rather shave my sack with a cheesegrater than listen to it again...


But where I think this initial post is wrong is in calling TRC "weak." It may not be one's cup of tea, but I don't think it's weak. For example, I don't care for Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" one bit, but it's certainly not weak. For something to be weak, I think there should be an audible lack of effort...a staleness to it...like NPS. TRC is Prince using more effort than anything since TGE.

theblueangel said:

I think you just proved EWM's point...

KingSausage said:

This point is often missed around here. Whether people like something or not, there is little or no appreciation for the effort. They're just pissed because he didn't play what they wanted to hear. A true artist really puts their heart and soul into a record, so there should be more appreciation for that.

OdysseyMiles said:

Why isn’t it possible to appreciate Prince’s effort and also think that TRC is just not very

good? Re: my use of “weak” – there is no doubt that TRC is more original, interesting, and

vital than NPS but that’s not to say that it’s a strong record. The music on TRC is stale, that’s

part of my initial commentary. To all the people who think that not liking a particular Prince

record you like means that you are deserving of ridicule, two words: grow up. The

purpose of this thread was not to trash Prince. I’m a big Prince fan, although by no means do

I listen to only Prince, and I appreciate most of his music but I’m not feeling TRC and I just

wanted to a chance to hear other people to articulate their appreciation for this record. Peace.

skywalker said:

exactly. I tend to agree alot with what u say. I think when people compare what prince does to a particular genre then they miss the point of Prince completely. Prince is beyond genre. Usually u can find parts of many genres in any song. The title track to TRC is also ambient, gospel, and rock/funk along with jazz. It is not bound by the rules of any type of music that is what makes it Prince. Prince uses rap, rap doesn't use prince. He takes from it what he wants. I haven't heard a rap song that sounds like P control. Who here has?

tricky99 said:[quote]

skywalker said:

This is a good point and I agree completely with it. Skywalker's analysis ("prince molds other genres into a unique sound") is dead on when Prince is on point. But sometimes he's not quite there and, while it's unfair to make direct comparisons, it's familiarity with the music and genres that Prince is trying to "mold" that, I think, can help enable the listener to gauge Prince's success at molding them. Ultimately, it comes down to whether you like the music for whatever reason. I am by no means trying to objectify my opinions. This thread lists several reasons for why I’m not feeling TRC. Like I have said, it sounds to me like Prince is reaching on TRC. The molding process is not complete and the results are stale.

17ways69days said:

Thanks for the clarification...is it the songwriting in particular that makes TRC stale to you? Or is it the "jazz influenced" musicianship? I'm just trying to get a better idea of your application of "weak." Not trying to argue or anything....Do you differentiate between "weak" and "bad?" Is one worse than the other? I'd say that NPS was weak and bad...Diamonds and Pearls is just sort of weak...not much effort, but it wouldn't necessarily be a "bad" album. Granted, I'm splitting hairs here....

17ways69days said:[quote]

tricky99 said:

I see.....to me, I think that NEWS falls under these criteria....TRC doesn't so much....is it the jazz touches in particular?

ThreadBare said:

Exactly