TRC is great - I love it. It was something I'd been waiting a while for. Don't get me wrong, I love the old stuff, but for me TRC brought something new. I'm very, very happy now to have those great albums SOTT, Prince, Dirty Mind, Purple Rain etc. AND TRC in my collection. Without TRC there would be a lot missing.

This album is funky as a bow-legged monkey. Slowed down voice doesn't bother me. I can't believe some can't get past it. I think that's kinda sad, but each to his own. It's a shame some might turn away from the music because of something small like that. The lyrics I don't mind as Prince is being passionate and they represent his opinions, not necessarily mine. He can say what he wants, that's his right. So do we only like music by people whose opinions we agree with now? That would result in us missing out. Same with books or any art. Good to hear another's perspective sometimes, like it or not.

Cohesive.

That's the one word I'd say when describing TRC.

I don't think any artist can ever match their shit-hot period, we all know what that was, no need for a discussion there, no artist can ever match that period they have in their career, and Prince is a lucky/talented bastard for having such a long shit-hot period - some acts only do have one album, nay, one song.

But TRC was the first album for a long time that I consider a piece of work that has merit, without judgement against his past triumphs, it is a really great album IMO.


//
[This message was edited Sun Jun 13 10:33:30 2004 by NouveauDance]

Found a copy at Best Buy today-and I loved it. Better than I thought it'd be. Already spun it a couple times.

It's very much a concept album-and that can definitely rub people the wrong way. The dropped-pitch vocal narration I thought might make me hate it, but the music more than made up for any doubts I had. As for the religious themes-not as preachy as I thought it'd be (not big into religion)-but I was caught up in the music.

TRC is best to listen to as a whole-again, it's a concept album so it's not gonna be single heavy. I love the first 5 albums and more, but I didn't go in expecting anything other than a concept album. It's its own entity. It's different-but it still sounds like Prince. Could help for someone that might not have heard it yet.

And for people being a so-called Prince fan if you don't like TRC or *insert album/song here*-man the whole point of listening to Prince is that we all have our favorites. If you love an album-say why you do, not just that somebody else is an idiot for not loving it as much.

For those that don't like it-I hope you'll give it a second chance sometime and try to listen beyond the narration and themes-musically I was really getting into it-dancing around the apartment!

That happened more than I thought it would given how much I've read on the org, TRC is very cohesive as NouveauDance put it (and very well I might add) and definitely overlooked when it comes to Prince albums. Hopefully it'll get appreciated in time.

I can't listen to it. I liked it at first but the last couple of times that i tried to play it i couldn't listen to it. It's not the music, it's the feeling i get that i don't like. I liked the music at first but it's been over a year now that i've been able to let it play without stopping.

purpledoveuk said:

Its not that Prince is "black" that he felt he could say he was a "slave". Its because he felt himself unfairly exploited a large record company, a position shared by people everywhere and of every color. You can say that since he makes over this amount of money that he can no longer lay claim to that name. Conceptually, logically, thats not a good argument. Whether one is or isn't a "slave" is defined by the type of relation exists between the parties. You'd have to argue that his being bound by his contract to WB, while limiting his "freedom" to publish and release material as he liked isn't a sufficient condition for being a "slave" (however you'd define that). But I think as well you have to recognize that a particular legacy of "slavery" exists for black people. I think if Prince invokes that its because that legacy doesn't just stop existing because that institution has died in the way that the US knew it. Its still very much alive and well in the consciousness of many people throughout the Americas (especially insofar as it was an expression of one of the most insidious elements of capitalism. "Family Name" though seems to me to be a song about getting beyond the negativity of such a legacy. No... actually when I think about it, the whole album is pretty much about that. Its about celebrating diversity in a sense... but through God, which is of course very central to his thinking. I think its his way of expressing a positive engagement with the world. Unfortunately that sometimes comes out in a preachy and self-righteous type of manner. Other times its merely apprehended that way. I'm not a religious person, but I listen to it as I listen to other religious people that I might meet in life. I try to respect where they're comin from.

That said I think TRC is a really great album. Solid from beginning to end. But its not Prince's masterpiece. It is however a thousand times better than any conceptual album I've heard in recent years from a pop artist.

The Rainbow Children is a masterpiece, if you also consider albums like 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, Sign O The Times and Lovesexy, as masterpieces.

It's as good as the best of the 80s albums, if not better. Yes, it rivals the albums mentioned above, and in many ways, betters them. It's a much more cohesive 'album' than his so called masterpiece, Sign O The Times, which merely exists as a collection of songs spanning that era. The production on TRC is also breathtaking. The fact of the matter is, Prince has rarely come close to doing anything as daring on any of his own albums; one has to step back in time to 1982 to hear such imagination in the studio, or to 1986 to bear witness to such panache with his fellow musicians. Its an unfair comparison but Musicology doesn't even compare from a musicianship point of view (although it's still enjoyable in its own right but cleally targeted towards a different audience).

As with anything unusual, I can see how much of it is lost on even a core audience but that does not diminish what the album is. It's the sound of an artist 'truly' experimenting on record; we haven't seen such a display since, dare I say it, the album 1999, and I'll be surprised if he has in it him to ever produce anything like it again. I still find it astonishing that so many here cannot, or simply will not, allow themselves to hear just how magnificent a work of art this album is, simply due to their perception of the political/spiritual/religious themes.

It begs the question: does one's enjoyment of a work of art derive from agreeing with the sentiment of its ideologies? Perhaps, that's the most significant reason why The Rainbow Children stands on its own as a true masterpeice, in comparison to Prince's other great albums. He's saying something entirely challenging, and making no apology for it. That's simply not welcoming enough for those who once felt a kindred spirit with his genius.

i definetely think u could call it a masterpeice, it may not b to everybodys taste but it just shows how diverse princes music is. personally i think it is like nothing done b4 which is what makes it a masterpiece compared to albums like musicology. how 1 artist can go from something like TRC to NEWS to musicology amazes me, his talent is unbelievable

IT's a great album but if U listen it after Musicology.... Definately a masterpiece
[This message was edited Mon Jun 14 7:14:10 2004 by Kickit94]

Anji said:

I'm in full agreement with that.

I regard it his only album since Lovesexy which can hold it's own against the albums 78-88, although both and The Gold Experience are definately biting at it's heels.

I'd say it's a masterpiece. It's like a more mature form of the Lovesexy album. I'd definitely take it over Purple Rain.

Not only is it not a masterpiece but it is in his bottom 3 albums
ever.

Anji said:

Perfectly said, and it's how I feel about it, too.

I think the album is pure trash. Playing instruments well don't make for good songs. I tried to give this album a shot, but I couldn't get into a single track on it. I really feel it's his worst album so far.

At last. Someone who thinks Rainbow Children is NOT a masterpiece? Could be the thread...
[This message was edited Wed Jun 16 12:25:38 2004 by infinitetrio]

i like the album but i take issue with the preaching, i don't know, i guess that's just me. it's not overt, but having studied with the witnesses when i was younger, the j-dub shoutouts are all over it.

it's a little difficult for me because they were so against prince when i was studying, and i was such a prince fan.

but this will delve into a religious debate, so i'll stop here by saying the music is great.

EvilWhiteMale said:

HE made a few major mistakes with The Rainbow Children

1) It was a concept album with a VERY strange theme.
2) To compensate for that, he used NARRATION--the cheap and easy way to do it.
3) THe Narration was done in a stupid sounding voice. It would have been more tolerable
if the Graffiti Bridge "Mavis Staples" vocal used in Melody Cool where used--just a little more
tolerable.
4) He started the album off much too slow and much too mellow. So you HAD to be a fan
to even sit through it.
5) He was pointing out specific religous point-of-view thereby alienating certain of us who just don't believe in that stuff. Moreover, his racial equality songs sounded more one-sided than uniting. His older material always made you feel like everyone should jump on board some big 'ol piece train. His new ones sound like "Why haven't you let ME on board that train??". His points are ligitemate and his points of view as valid as anybody's, but they're still going to alienate--not educate--those who come from other walks of life.
6) He has absolutely no obvious singles on the album.

I thought TRC had momments of brilliance, but it's definatley not an album I can sit through from beggining to end.

Mostly positive posts on the org. Interesting.

Really quite a popular album by and by.

It's not a masterpiece. I think it's one of those albums where you have to listen to more than once to like. If you do not like it after listening to it serval times then you never will.

i thought it was a good album. i just didn't really like the deep voice that narrated all the songs. it was really annoying for me at least.

There's just nothing like it out there. It's flawed by ponderous narration and some borderline bigotry, but it's a masterpiece nonetheless.

It needs to be heard by a wide audience, so Prince should re-issue it now that he's out of purgatory.

it's horrible....listened to it 2 times...that was ENOUGH for me....

I think the test of time will prove it a masterpiece, indeed.

It's amazing how much I agree with most of y'all on the Org...except for the TRC lovers who somehow find this sloppy, boring and almost completely non-funky record as one that goes in the elite class of P's work. It's right up there with that Lou Reed album that just had noises and clicks and buzzes but no actual songs on it. It's a vanity project (pardon the pun); a work from an artist who has reached the level where he can pretty much release anything he wants. And he did. He released a preachy, hypocritical, completely out of left field soulless blob. 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 100 years from now it will still be crap.

All of the above just my opinion of course. I just really really don't like the album but I respect all those that do. It's just not my cup of soy milk...

GottaLetitgo said:

I agree entirely with what you say, and also with EWM. Thank you both for putting it so succinctly.

GottaLetitgo said:

Heiress said:

no offense, but there is no more egotistical argument one can make than the I get and you don't, but one day you will and will see it is a masterpiece like I do now. such arguments are made not out of applaud for the source material of the argument but as an example of how much more the arguer gets the material than you. it's a veiled insult. either it is a masterpiece or it isn't. what about tomorrow will make it a masterpiece if it isn't today. the record isn't changing. either it is or it isn't, simply put.

It's a horrible album. The only thing I can get into is 1+1+1 is 3.

purplecam said:

i agree the musician ship is excelent but the lyrical content in some of the songs i find upsetting

Muse
holocaust aside many lived and died but when all truth is told would you rather be dead or be sold


and the darth vader voice scares me

Again,,,the darth vader voice is just damm annoying!

I think im gonna have to give it another listen~~