Easily.

KingSausage said:

Rainbow Children is the mad notes!!

i've said it b4 and and i will say it again...

I luv the Rainbow Kids, yay!!!!!

In the top 5?


Ooohhh, the sickness.

EvilWhiteMale said:

What's the last Prince album you liked?

Hell yes, the Rainbow Children is a classic. It's so cohesive that it's comparable to Purple Rain in terms of telling a story. And the musicianship he displays is excellent. He manages to have a hook and have good lyrics and muscianship which is something he hadn't done in years.

EvilWhiteMale said:

im starting to like this guy more and more

no doubt, trc is magnificent.....it's epic....need i say more?

When I bought TRC, I thought hmmmm this really isn't that great. I really didn't dig the message. However, now I listened to it all the time. I think this is the sign of a great album. Something that grows and challenges the listener. I could still do without the slowed downed narration. Allthe songs don't scream of jw, She Loves Me 4 Me is truly a beautiful song probably inspired by Mani. 1+1+1=3, The Work, and Everlasting Now are some of his funkiest ever. Last December reminds me of old school prince.

I still like Musicology but it is a radio friendly album filled with easily accesible songs. That doesn't make it bad , I think it just shows Prince's true genius and how the music comes so effortlessly for him.

andyman91 said:

Emancipation.


Not great all the way through, but definitely had a bunch of hot tracks.

Top 5 great Prince albums are:

Purple Rain
1999
Parade
Sign O The Times
Lovesexy



TRC doesn't even come close....in my opinion.

EvilWhiteMale said:

My top Five:

1999
Sign O the Times
Black Album
Dirty Mind
Parade

TRC is worlds, worlds away from this list. Soulless jazz. The music is largely derivative and inspired and the lyrics are impenetrable, alienating, and offensive. All this talk about the musicianship on TRC is misguided. I like jazz and this disk gives jazz a bad name. Bland. A two star record and while nowhere near P’s worst it’s about just as far from being one of his top 5.

EvilWhiteMale said:

Those are hard to dispute. But...
a friend asked me if Prince has done anything as good as Lovesexy since then, and it made me think.
Lovesexy blew my mind at the time, was long my favorite, but in my opinion it only has a few great songs on it:
Alphabet St.
Anastesia
Lovesexy
When 2 R in Love
I like positivity, but it never seemed to fit in with the rest. Also the drum track annoys me now.

TRC has
TRC
Everywhere
Mello
1+1+1=3
Family Name
Everlasting Now
All great songs

Emancipation has many great songs, as you pointed out (more than I care to list)

Lovesexy might have been more timely & groundbreaking, but what of albums like Emancipation, which may just have more great songs, and TRC which has great songs and the great flow that Lovesexy has? Are you judging the older stuff based on the impact it made on your life, or the quality of the material?

17ways69days said:

Is TRC jazz? Which tracks xcepting the title track?

TRC certainly isn't soulless. For soulless you need to visit NPS and Rave.

Musicianship on TRC is inspired because it's played [99%] by REAL musicians and mainly by one true genius.

If you like the 80s period and those particular albums listed that's fine.

I myself also think SOTT and particulary Parade are also inspired.

Like someone else on this tread has stated: the albums people most love may have something to do with when you first heard them.

Yeah, but that's not the case with ppl like me who weren't around in the 80's to have any bias towards them today.

TRC is far from a masterpiece imo, it's a very flawed album altogether.

I think it has a lot of aspects of what makes an album great, but it doesn't quite make it as a total package.

First of all, the music is very uneven all over.

The title track is overblown, has the very annoying Darth Vader voice overstaying its welcome, and really doesn't take you anywhere interesting.

Then you also have fairly dull, meandering songs like Mellow and Muse, outdated JB ripoff funk in The Work, and really overly preachy cringe-worthy "uplifting" music in Everywhere.

I also have no idea why he didn't expand on simply brilliant musical ideas in songs like Digital Garden, Sensual Everafter and She Loves Me 4 Me.

To add to that, the lyrics are incredibly old fashioned in the way they blindly embrace those silly religious laws and ideals.

Still, those gems are very inspired sounding, musically rich, and extremely well played. They really do sound like songs made by a man who felt artistically free and creatively rejuvenated in the studio.

I also think the story of TRC is fascinating, it's really interesting to see it all play out.

So, it's a really good album to me, but it's way too flawed to be in his top 5. I reserve that for the true polished masterpieces.

I hear what you're saying PurpleKnight but don't necessarily agree.

Not sure on the definition of brilliant musical idea. Digital Garden and Sensual Everafter wouldn't be my first choices but that's just personal preference.

I can't comment on the religious views/lyrics.

As for the title track - IMO it does take us somewhere and that's to the awe inspiring guitar solo ending.

Is SOTT a true polished mastrepiece? Lot's of ppl list it as a top5 choice but it does have it's flaws. Are the tracks IT, HOT THING and IT'S GONNA BE A BEUATIFUL NIGHT really gems?

I think every album has it's faults - some minor some not.

Maybe it's the style of music that leads a person to like an album or not.

Funky [usually programmed] VS guitar based [usually REAL instruments].

I'm not sure - just throwing ideas into the melting pot. [could be construed as rambling].

KAB said:

That's always cool.



Yeah, I know what you mean. Digital Garden is brilliant to me cause it sounds so unique and dreamy, so mystical. I wish dearly that he would've fleshed it out more, but as is I just keep hitting the repeat button again and again. Sensual Everafter is gorgeous to me cause he made the music so beautifully sensuous. You truly feel an aura of two ppl making love when you hear it, and even the climax of this song resembles an orgasm.



I don't mind them as much as most, but it's still extremely hard to connect with the lyrics.



Too little, too late for me. I can't stand the shrill sounding vocals, I can't stand the meandering jazz sounds that seem to last forever, and I can't stand Darth Vader rambling on and on with religious nonsense.



No album can be perfect, but yeah, I consider SOTT to be a polished masterpiece. Its theme is coherent, it sounds inspired, it's romantic, insightful, intriguing, and it has utter masterpieces like I Could Never... and Adore, which just show a musical genius at his songwriting best. The songs It and Hot Thing round out its overall experence, cause they're really, really fun, easily accessible songs to me. Classic Princely sexy fun. Beautiful Night definitely sucks though, the only true lowlight of the album imo.



But some albums have faults that truly degrade the overall listening experience, while some are so minor they're easily forgiveable. TRC's flaws happen to be more apparent and problematic for me than an album like SOTT or TGE's flaws.



Maybe, but in my case, I was totally open minded to Prince making an organic sounding album with authentic, real instrumentation all across it. I loved that sound. TRC's flaws for me had nothing to do with the musicianship.



That's all I ever do.

Look like we'll have to agree to disagree. That's cool.

an incredible album...in my top three favorites

i think all the tracks on TRC are briliant
Except family name

HEEELLLLL MUUUFUGGGGIN' NOOOOO!!!!!

TRC is probably in the top 20 or something.

Here's my top 5

5) Lovesexy
4) 1999
3) Dirty Mind
2) Sign O' The Times
1) Purple Rain

I'll pick these 5 over TRC any day.

I will admit though that the music is great. Prince sounded excellent with this NPG crew. It's the message and content I have a problem with though.

NWF said:

My sentiments exactly regarding TRC.

Raine said:

My only problem with this song is how he says "bridge" then goes into the chorus.
The bridge would be "people people what's your name, maybe we should start over"
I'm sure he know the parts of a song, why did he say this?
Other than that, it's totally funky and rocks, too.
The subject matter must make some uncomfortable.

Raine said:

And a certain line in muse 2 the pharaoh

I do apologise that i run further off topic....


but

what surprises me about trc is the jazz thing that people come up with.....to me it's only the first song that really has more fusion leanings than say you'll find on an average prince album...

why is this his jazz album and not something like
the Vault?

servantsofpuas said:

True, The Vault is much more jazz inspired than TRC. I also don't understand a lot of people calling TRC a jazz album.

To me the 5 best Prince albums are :
SOTT
Purple Rain
Parade
ATWIAD
1999

I don't think TRC ranks as one of Prince'smasterpiece but i would put it in the top 10.

I wouldn't have still been around here if TRC wasn't released.

All his albums up from "Lovesexy" where in some way disappointing to me, although almost every album has some magnificent tracks. He really lost me with "Emancipation": I was shocked to hear what drivel came from his newly gained "freedom", it was the first album that I didn't buy immediately. I bought it in 1999 or something for 8 euro just to complete my collection, but I still can't name one track that I love on that album.

NPS was another horror that I didn't buy immediately, although later I learned to appreciate some tracks. I was pleased with The Vault though, because of it's funky/ jazzy organic sound, but then he came up with Rave, which was another major disappointment to me. Again I was ready to give up on Prince.

But then came TRC, and that album sucked me into Prince immediately again. The musicianship displayed on that album is excellent, and so are most of the songs. Even the "weaker brothers" on this album (like Muse) are still very enjoyable and I love the flow on this album. It's just classic Prince to me and easily makes my top 5:

Dirty Mind
Parade
TRC
SOTT
Black Album

I also like Musicology a lot, but TRC is better to me...

I agree. If not for TRC, I might have walked away...