I was thinking about the fact that a lot of us, when choosing the 3 songs we dislike the most by Prince, have referred back to the albums released by Warner Brothers when Prince had recreated himself as .

I'm curious to know if you feel that any of those albums belong among your favorites by Prince (as opposed to just being okay) or if you hate them all or even most of them.

I suppose we're not talking about too many albums here...because we can't count or "The Gold Experience," because those were new material by "the Artist" at the time. So we're really only talking about:

COME
CHAOS AND DISORDER
THE VAULT: OLD FRIENDS 4 SALE

Any other ones to include? I think "Emancipation" would be excluded, as it was Prince's "relaunching of himself," but I'm thinking off the top of my head and could be missing something.

At any rate, just going with these three, I like Chaos the best, followed by The Vault and then Come. I don't like too many things at all on Come, and only a few more on Vault. But I actually like most of Chaos.

What do you think?

Keith/Kacey

Come, at the time of release was newer material than the Gold Experience was at the time of it's release.

At the time of release I was disappointed with Come, this was simply because I was very familiar with most of the material through bootlegs by the time of it's release.

The same goes for the Gold Experience, although that is a more accessible, well-rounded album - although they really go hand-in-hand.

C&D was tarnished, at the time, by the whole 'contractual obligatory release' stigma, so it got a bad rap.

As it is, it's not much different to Come, the material is the same kind of era as Come/TGE and it's an satisfying package made up of filler and several very good tracks.

The same can be said about The Vault, although it is my least favourite of the 3 albums you refer to.

Maybe it's because I was really going off Prince at the time of release, but I don't hold any affinity with that album at all.

One thing I find humorous is several fans still blame Warner Bros. for the tracklisting and artwork of these albums (I saw a thread on the subject just the other week).

And as has been stated countless times, C&D and The Vault were delivered, by Prince, as complete albums, tracklists and art work in full, with no option of discussion.

So any gripes with the tracklist selection or lacklustre artwork of said releases falls squarely with Mr. Nelson.

I like most of Come and at least half of C&D. But The Vault is just about indefensible. I always thought it was someting WB cobbled together out of whatever odds and ends lying around they owned rights to, and the shoddy quality was their jab back at him. If he sent it out himself as is, that's a real shame. I know he didn't want to deliver quality material so Warner could make more money off him, but damn, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! Stamping "contractual obligation" across it on his web discography does not absolve him either. It was the fans who spend their money on this execrable mess who got screwed.

Out of 5 stars (5 being the best, and considering past works):

Come -

Chaos And Disorder -

The Vault -

squirrelgrease said:

Take those ratings and reverse 'em! Come is a really solid piece of work IMHO. I mean the title track alone is like an album unto itself -- totally top tier song, production, performance... C&D is quick and easy but sort of loses freshness halfway through.

2 cents, that's all it's worth : )

Come -

Chaos And Disorder -

The Vault -

There are some weird people on this thread. Come is a masterpiece (okay, minus Loose, solo and orgasm). The titletrack has the warmest sound to it, Prince has ever had. Papa is breathtaking, etc.

The vault, I thought every Princefan would like this one. "An ass like a finecut diamond", brilliant horns on that track. Excellent pop-tracks throughout.

Chaos&Disorder, which is has an okay start and a funny ending, leaving nothing but input for the toilet (as featured in the booklet) in between. The titletrack was a nice live-ending to Peach, needlessly reworked into a song. And that's the musical highpoint of the album! Come on, remember that horrible hiphop exercise? The bland single? Prince being so nice, even includes "Had U" at the end of the album as a perfect explanation (or excuse) for the album.

NouveauDance said:

I agree completely that there was a stigma attached to these releases, that "true fans" weren't supposed to like these albums (much like "true fans" didn't buy that "Very Best of Prince" collection).

I don't however, find the sounds of "Come" and "Chaos and Disorder" to be similar in too many ways at all. I do believe that the tracks were well chosen for each set, with "Come" focusing on electronic, atmospheric sounds and "Chaos..." being, I think, a collection that returned the focus of Prince's music to his guitar playing (which is why I like it). While "Chaos" has a few duds, "Come has tracks like "Orgasm," which are, to be kind, rather indulgent. You can make love to "Adore," but it's kind of sick to be making love to the sound of Prince making love...a bit creepy! Haha! Must be a masturbation-only track...

Keith/Kacey

Sander said:

Co-sign. I picked up these albums around 1998 (except for The Vault, which I purchased when it came out) . I enjoyed all three, because it was all stuff I hadn't heard before.

Come -

Chaos & Disorder -

The Vault -

In my opinion, the main problem with all three of these album is that they aren't very cohesive as albums. All three contain some great gems, but they just don't flow as albums.

I find Come has some of the best songs, but they don't belong with one another. The earlier version of this album, with the segues and Orgasm as one track (titled "poem"), the earlier version of "Come" (longer version of the video mix), "Strays Of The World" and the earlier version of "Endorphinmachine", is a much better album. The finished disc goes from track to track without ever really seeming to gel. The title track is great, but it bogs down the proceedings from the get-go (I've always thought this version should have been a cool, maxi-single release, while the long cut of the video mix should have been on the album. It fits in better with cuts like "Loose" and "Pheremone"). Taken indIvidually, the songs are great. They just don't work as an album.

The same problem, to a lesser extent, plagues Chaos & Disorder. The album jumps from place to place with no real regard to sequencing (which certainly isn't surprising, considering that it was cobbled together as contractual obligation filler.

The album that flows the best out of all of these is also the one that has the weakest tracks: The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale. A nifty little collection, and many of the tracks do flow nicely, but even this disc is a victim of being cobbled together. "My Little Pill" sits in the middle of the album, seeming like the only duck at the chicken party. In this case, many of these songs would have been terrific b-sides, but they just aren't album material (with the exception of "Old Friends 4 Sale", and even that one would have been better if he had released the original version from 1986. The original lyrics are more heartfelt, and there is much more emotion in his playing.

All in all, I like all three of these discs. Are they among my favorites? No, but they still rank up much higher than NPS or Rave.

Kacey725 said:

I don't consider either Chaos and Disorder or Come to be "Vault albums." Even though Prince dismisses both as "contractual obligations," and C&D's packaging contains Vault references, they were both collections of recently-recorded tracks. I suppose that Come was credited to Prince because of his stated intentions to satisfy his Warner Bros. contract with only "Prince" recordings, but after he abandoned that idea with the release of the Gold Experience, he properly credited C&D to .

Also, the album was credited to Prince and the New Power Generation... the symbol was only the title of the album. I don't see it as part of the same era as the other albums you mention... rather, it closed out the previous era.

Matt,

I think we're saying the same thing about the album but I probably didn't word it clearly. I don't consider that album as a part of that era, either.

I do think it's true, though, that this period is the time when the casual fan fell off the wagon with Prince. We, of course, are exceptions. There are a few albums during that period that have a stigma attached to them that they were either "thrown together" or "not real, official Prince records" and so on. They were not released with the same kind of fanfare, even by Prince / himself, as were his earlier works and everything he did from "Emancipation" on...

Hope that clarifies a bit...

Keith/Kacey

r1ghteousone said:

I like them all, too. They aren't PR or 1999 or SOTT but they were good. I only COME is really cohesive but IMO that's only ONE way to make a cool album. C&D has great energy (and my favorite three song Prince cycle- I ROCK THEREFORE I AM/INTO THE LIGHT/I WILL) and the Vault has some fun songs as well. I pretty much dig everything from TGE up through NPS. He didn't loose me until RAVE, although I have liked stuff since (TCI, TRC, MUSICOLOGY).

I think people who haven't given them a chance should. If you already have and don't like them- fine! No skin off my nose.