JediMaster said:

Co-sign!! His comment is actually an insult to us black fans! LOL!

POOK said:

your sense of grammar makes me laugh a lot

BinaryJustin said:

Well, where to begin? The Gold Experience has the killer, tight drumming of Mike B, while NPS has tepid, weak programing (or the completely crappy drumming of Kirk Johnson, whose skills are so sub-par its truly sad). The horns are MUCH tighter on TGE, especially on "Billy Jack Bitch". There isn't a single song on NPS that even touches that one as far as horns go. TGE has the funk workouts of BJB, "Pussy Control" and "Now", NPS has "Come On". All the other so-called "funk" tracks on NPS are so pathetic its sad. "Push It Up"? Corny as hell. "Mad Sex"? Would have been great about ten years earlier. " Like Funky Music"? Really? Then how come this song has the weakest drum track I've ever heard? The funk is completely neutered. "Until Your In My Arms Again" sounds like a track that wasn't good enough for "Emancipation", "When U Love Somebody" is just so awful I can hardly stand it. Sachrinne-sweet, and utterly sickening! So sad that the best track on the whole damned thing is a hidden track: "Wasted Kisses" is really the only track that shows us a taste of Prince's genius. It is a dark, brooding masterpiece that just accentuates how bad the rest of the songs are.

The Gold Experience is a tight, focused album that combines all the things that make Prince the musical tour-de-force that he is. The blistering rock of "Endorphinmachine", the sensuality of "Shhh" (with that killer drum intro), The sheer groove of "319" and the storytelling of "Shy". This album would be flawless if it weren't for the inclusion of the lame "We March", (which is still more soulful than most of NPS). Prince's guitar solo on " Hate U" is so powerful, full of passion. Nothing on NPS sounds even remotely this strong.

All in all, the musicianship is far superior on TGE. In fact, I'd say the musicianship is better on almost everyone of Prince's albums than it is on NPS. I'm sorry, but it sounds like lame-ass filler tracks that weren't good enough to be on a real album. The production has a plastic, fake feel. It lacks warmth, depth and passion of any kind. Its easily Prince's worst album, because it sounds like he wasn't even trying. Most of the tracks he could have done in his sleep. A totally craptacular, funkless, boring butt-nugget of an album. Maybe, if he'd devoted his time to this disc instead of dividing his attentions between it and the Chaka & Larry albums (both better than NPS), then maybe it could have been listenable. As it is, its crap. That's about the nicest thing I can say about it.

alexnvrmnd said:

Shoot, its pretty much insulting to everyone! Its insulting to black people to say they have such bad taste, and its insulting to everyone else to think they can't discern real soul when they hear it!

Oh come on people..NPS not a Prince album? Give me a break. Anyone who has truly followed his career knows that this is basically a Prince album. Look at the first 2 Time cds...Apollonia and Vanity 6, Sheila E and so forth. Those albums were written by Prince and all instruments played by prince. the people in those groups supplied the voices in the studio with his guidance.

makavelli187 said:

Call me naive, but I actually believe all the credits on the sleeve of the Apollonia 6 album. Sheila E. playing here, W&L playing there. I got the sense that it was a huge collaborative effort by everyone in the Prince circle at the time. DON'T BURST MY BUBBLE!

JediMaster said:

Okay... If you're going to shorten the title of the album in question to an acronym, shouldn't it be "N.S." rather than "N.P.S."? Its two words - not one.

Sorry to be picky, but if people can criticise Alex Hahn for a few typographical errors and lazy editing, I don't see why we shouldn't all be subject to the same strict rules...

As for comparing The Gold Experience to Newpower Soul, I suppose it all comes down to whether or not you are a fan of:

a) Unnecessary guitar solos, endless drum rolls, pretentious Spanish babble, dolphin sound effects, and banal lyrics;
b) None of the above.

There are three good songs on The Gold Experience: 'P. Control', 'Now' and 'Billy Jack Bitch'. The rest are shit. Highly polished, technically proficient shit - but shit all the same.

'Endorphinemachine'... If I wanted to listen to something that sounds like an Aerosmith song, I would buy an Aerosmith record.

'Shhh'... Boring. Tuneless... and just when you're falling asleep, the drums start to rumble on aimlessly. Then the histrionic guitar solo (which is the precise moment when all the skinny white college kids who don't want their friends to think they are fags for liking Prince), can hold their lighters in the air, look at each other and think "See, he's a guitar god - not an adrogynous alien from planet Penis".

'We March'... Not a great song - but not one of the worst. Oddly, most fans of this album hate this song.

'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World'... The single version is great. The album version is terrible. What's that I hear in the background? Oh... its a kitchen sink.

'Dolphin'... Prince wants to come back as a dolphin. I want to come back as a Japanese dredge net. I'm sorry, but is he taking the piss? Sounds like the incidental music to a particularly fraught scene in an episode of Dawson's Creek.

'319'... Can somebody say 'Kiss'? Can anybody say "repeating himself"? Can anybody say "pointless"?

'Shy'... I don't think its any coincidence that two of the songs on the album start with the letters S and H. This sounds like a demo. I'll admit that I like the arrangement but it sounds like the song is being made up as it goes along.

'Eye Hate U'... Oh, is this a reprise of 'Shhh'? No, its a different song. Monotonous white bread "soul" for people whom drive a Lexus and play golf at the weekends.

'Gold'... Again, I don't really dislike the music. Its the lyrics and the fact that it goes on and on and on without any sense of purpose. More unmemorable guitar wanking. Rhyming "gold" with "cold" "told" and "mold". Lazy, lazy, lazy.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 29 13:44:08 2004 by BinaryJustin]

makavelli187 said:

I think this is where the confusion is coming from.
We know it's a Prince album... it's just not a 'Prince' album

NPS is not a 'Prince' album in the same way that The Time, Vanity 6 & Madhouse are not
'Prince' albums.

It's the same way that a Tin Machine album is not a David Bowie album
or a Funkadelic album is not a George Clinton album
or Y Cant Tori Read is not a Tori Amos album...

BorisFishpaw said:

Exactly! What galls me though is that all the people who hate this album, justify their derision by stating "well, it isn't a proper Prince album anyway". Its not a good enough reason.

exactly! well said chap.

BinaryJustin said:

Okay. You've stated the reasons why you feel The Gold Experience is a subpar album (which by the way, I totally disagree with. For example: A Prince guitar solo is never unnecessary--in fact, I feel he doesn't play the guitar enough. Also, I really like Spanish, etc, etc.), but you still haven't said why Newpower Soul is so much better.

sextonseven said:

A Prince guitar solo is unnecessary when it comprises nearly a third of a song. I'm not talking about instrumentals, I'm talking about songs.

I like Spanish too, but I hate meaningless babble in any language.

I like the Newpower Soul album because its everything that The Gold Experience isn't.

Nice avatar, by the way.

BinaryJustin said:

That doesn't bother me. A solo could be half a song if it's inventive and not repetitive.



I didn't think it was meaningless. I felt it served a purpose as novel segues.



The Gold Experience is indeed everything Newpower Soul isn't. We agree on something!