Is it just me or was Symbol one of if not the best album P ever made. The fusion of different sounds is outstanding to say the least. The Continental is a Stand-out track...pure genius. The mainstream public sarted to let go of Prince with this album and I can't understand it. To me, there has not been an album this challenging in the last 20 years. What do I mean by challenging? The messages in the songs and the music itself were both a challenge to embrace....at least to the mainstream audience who wouldn't know genius if it smacked them in the face.....

It's a helluva lot better than diamonds & pearls, it's a shame it didn't do as well commercially, as that album.

Alot of my fave Prince songs of the 90's are on here.

"Symbol" is proberly my all-time fav ALBUM ever with "Grafitti bridge"! I totally agree with the scope of styles it uses! It has first rate stompers like "The continental" "The max" and "The sacrifice of victor" plus "Sacrifice..." has good lyrics as well as a standout chorus too!

The ballads are weak though and though iam not a fan of Princes' ballads, the ones on "Symbol" ain't much good at all really! But despite that, they are not bad tracks! "The flow" is still way funky and I also like "3 chains o' gold" alot too! "7" again is pure first class as is "Love 2 the 9's" and "The morning papers"! Damn when u think about all the good tracks on it, and the way they all sound different to each other, it actually amazes me to think how good this album really is! Even "Blue light" is cool and "eye wanna melt with u" are cool!

Geez, thia album should be in one of those all time lists and at least should not be overllooked as a follow up to "Diamonds and pearls", as this is way more open-minded! That doesn't make it a good record but the fact is that this album is full of first rate funky tracks!

How the hell did he have time to pull off this album, in fact, with the varied production and styles, Prince should be getting way more props than he actually did! Knowone I know can be this quick and varied and still produce and write a whole album as good and fresh sounding as this and make it not sound al the same!

(The first 2 tracks rule too by the way!)

Its overblown, silly and histrionic.

There's maybe 3 or 4 good songs amidst the sprawling mess.

Classic ????? R U serious.
I agree that it's totally overblown !
I still think it was a terrible follow up CD 2 'Diamonds'.
7, God created woman, Damn U and the Morning papers are the best.
The rest r just average.

It is an outstanding album. Full of life.

I like some of it very much... Sexy M.F., The Continental, Damn U, 7 & And God Created Woman. The rest of it I'm not so fussed about.

I thought it was his best after Lovesexy. I personally don't rate the Gold Experience, apart from a few songs it just leaves me cold - like he was trying too hard.

The last two songs on Symbol just don't fit though. Maybe with that many songs on one disc it was too much for people to take in?

I think it's a bit overblown.

Here are the tracks I think aren't that good:

The Max - bleargh
Eye Wanna Melt With U - ditto, but not quite as bad
The Flow - do I hear a "fuck Tony M"? I hope so.

Other than those tracks, and the silly segues, this album isn't so bad.

Oh yeah, My Name Is Prince is so 90s it hurts, too. Annoying song.

There are some great moments guitar-wise throughout the album though, so it ain't all bad.

Are U kidding? Never play this one anymore

I thought this album was great - very punchy and varied. I loved the attitude of 'My Name Is Prince' and 'Sexy MF', plus some very danceable upbeat songs, and the ballads I think are some of the BEST he's done.

There's something for everyone - I'm sure people will name 2 or 3 tracks they think are great and diss the rest, but everybody picks a DIFFERENT 3 tracks, which is what a Prihce album is all about - How many pop artists today do you know where people favour album tracks over the released singles?

This album didn't do very well just because it came so close on the heels of D and P which people were still absorbing.

2freaky4church1 said:

I'm with 2freaky on this one...I'm perhaps not quite as gushing in my praise of this album as djcreep, but when Musicology was first handed out at the screening, that whole week I kept telling everyone that I hadn't been so enthusiastic about a Prince release since 0(+>, and I still feel that way.

It's always interesting to see the incredibly mixed reactions Prince's individual songs get even within his hardcore fan base. For example, I partially disagree with thesexofit's criticism that the ballads on 0(+> are among his worst. I wouldn't say that Damn U or And God Created Woman are classics, but Sweet Baby is still one of my favorite Prince songs ever. This is the song I play when I need to cheer myself up with a dose of sweet lovin'.

And I LOVE The Max and I Wanna Melt With U - probably my favorite Prince TV performance to date was during the second night of the Ryde Dyvine special when P drove his yellow BMW into the soundstage and started singing Sexy MF as he was climbing out of the sun roof, smack dab in the middle of the audience.

Then that yellow Phoenix outfit he wears during I Wanna Melt With U is soooo smokin'...he complements it with that gold half-mask, looking like some dead Egyptian pharoah or something. Just such a hot performance.

And then he tops it all off with a wonderful rendition of The Sacrifice of Victor, which again is still one of my favorite Prince songs of all time. The lyrics in this one are outstanding:

"i was born on a blood-stained table, cord wrapped around my neck - epileptic til the age of 7, i was sure heaven marked my deck."

"education's important, so important to Victor...more important than ripple and weed...bernadette's a lady! (what'd she say?) whatever you do, son...a little discipline is what you need, what you need you need a sacrifice!"

"joy, round the corner. but i'm just gonna keep on walkin' down this road...keep on walkin' down this road...when i reach my destination, yeah....my name will be VIC-TOR." (i can't think of any way to represent those beautiful harmonies on the second syllable in Victor, but they make me sublimely happy.)

"amen." (best ending to a Prince album....EVAH!!)

i gotta bust that bitch out now!!!

I must admit that I overlook this album. There are some great songs on it, but My Name Is Prince is outdated and the substandard rapping and the segues make it a more difficult listen. I still like it but I have to be in the mood-- moreso than with other albums.

As for why it wasn't a hit. It could be that 6 million people found out they had been hoodwinked with that Diamonds and Pearls album. (I know it wasn't that bad but it is my least favorite Prince album after NPS).

Well, if u define the word 'classic' as pertaining to something which is 'almost entirely mediocre, instantly dated and deservedly overlooked by music listeners' then yes, it is a classic!

Someone once said that they made themselves a version of 0(+> that edited out all of Tony M's raps...I would LOOOVE to have a copy of that...because I even like My Name Is Prince, silly as it is...until Tony M starts screaming about being forlorn...

my favorite album... absolutely a classic

fauxnewbie said:

Ouch!

BinaryJustin said:

1 good song (My name is Prince) and 1 brilliant song (Sexy MF) ... the other songs are completely shit ...

But I thank Prince he starts the album with those two songs

ThataintFunky said:

Gosh!

Cloudbuster said:

okay .... more subtle .... are completely shit for Prince-standards.
But I never play these other songs ....
than again, to be honest:
every album released after LoveSexy have been played a lot for about a year .... to be played never again after that year!!
Boy, am I glad with the first 11 albums!!!

ThataintFunky said:

I hear ya!

7 and The Morning Papers are GREAT songs. Then there are a couple/e few ok songs...Others...well, not actually my taste.

A totally IMMATURE album.

After the strides of "Parade" & "Lovesexy", what a BIG step backwards.

Don't confuse it's ENERGY for GREATNESS.

An ADOLESCENT album.

Exactly, it's totally overblown.

There's a few absolutely amazing songs (7, Blue Light, Sweet Baby) amidst a collection of really average-good ones.

The hip hop influence on it is fucking annoying though.

7 is superb, as for the rest

I love . In fact I brought it again for a 3rd time yesterday while I was at Best Buy. With the exception of The Flow and Arrogance I either love or really like most of the songs on the CD.

sermwanderer said:

Agreed. I have to say the rest is crap really. It's been awhile since Prince performed anything off that album. I don't think even he likes much on it.

fauxnewbie said:

I wholeheartedly agree with you there.

A few good songs drowning in a sea of dated, overblown pap.

And I still cringe when I hear 'Sweet Baby'

And if you're a member of the NPGMC, go to the Knowledge room and take a look at the Freedom pt 1 commentary. Clearly, even Prince thinks that the album is poor.

'More generally, during the 90's, Prince tried 2 xperiment within the system. He had 2 give the industry a chance 2 follow him. Instead, they tried, at every turn, 2 stifle him. And his output suffered because his mind was in2 the future, and theirs was firmly in the past... Try listening 2 the O}> album and The Rainbow Children back 2 back, and tell us on which u can hear the sound of freedom...'

Interesting.

I'll be standing naked with nothing but a smile on....

it got 4 outstanding tracks:
- 2 the 9s
- God created woman
- 7
- Damn U

It got a special vibe which is hardly found in any record...it is the spiritual vibe in the second half of the album...starting at 7....i love it...(7/god created woman/3 chains of gold/sacrifice)..

2 bad it has 2 very weak singles: Sexy MF and my name is prince...i allways skeep these 2 while listening the album (just as i skip musicology on musicology). If it would have been stripped down...without sexy mf...and no rapping at my name is prince...i guess it would have been classic....