Back in September 1995, I was 25 years old and Prince was going through the drama with WB, we heard so much about TGE, it was his best album, the reviews were fantastic. So when I purchased my copy 9/26/95 I played it in my 95 Jeep Wrangler (which had a boomin' system) and the 1st bars of P-control came through. I was floored. It was a sound that he had never released before, and the whole album had this "sound". To this day TGE is my fave, I know alot of you don't like it, but look past the lyrics, focus in to the sound.

What was your 1st impression when you listen to this album??

Tommy, Sonny, Mr.Hayes, and Michael B you are and forever will be the "orginal" NPG, many have come and many have gone, but none of them can hold a candle to you guys!!

I was 22 and attending my first few months of seminary. On the day of the release after class I raced out to get the CD. Went home [this was before I had a CD player in the car!] and listened to it as loud as I could [considering I was in the dorm]. My first impression was how good it was to hear all these songs crystal clear. I had heard most of them before on boots. Love that album.

My first impression.....

God DAMN!!!!

Where's the volume - turn it up. Repeat! Repeat! Again! Again!!

I pissed my pants.

umm, i think my first impression was



yooooo....dirty rat...

bds70 said:

I bought this CD at a used record store for a friend who really wanted it and was looking for it. I put it in my car stereo on the drive home and listened to it through "Shy" and was immediately jolted by all the funk! I've got my own copy now and love it.

my first impression was CLASSIC..PURE GOLD! lol
and then i thought damn...this reallly sux that my speakers only go soooo loud!

It was the best experience with a new Prince Album I ever had. I couldn´t wait for this album to be released and when I finally had it I was totally overwhelmed and moved to tears by "Shhh..".I really like the production of this Album and it is still one of my favorites.

Exactly the opposite happened when I bought "Emancipation". I had very high expectations because it was advertised as "the record he was born to make" and because of the duet with Kate Bush . When I heard it, I was terribly disappointed. Too many mediocre songs, plastic production and Kate was buried so deep in the mix on My computer that i couldn´t hear her at all.

It was an awesome album.
Every track was good and the album was tight and fierce.

My only problem with it is that Prince still doesn't rap that well, and the TItle track "Gold" was a little weak. It was designed to be an anthem, but didn't have quite the same umph as Purple Rain, The Ladder, or Free--Prince's better anthems.

Still, for an overall Album I belive it to be one of his best.

I remember buying it before going to work and putting it on in the car on the way.

Huge mistake. The longest 8 hours of my life.

Great album. One of his absolute best.

I was just happy to have the cd in my hands. All of the tracks had been floating around in some fashion for about a year and a half. At the time, I think I was excited because I'd, in essence, heard the whole album before it was released.

George
Clinton

bananacologne said:

Without a doubt.

I still liked it, tho'. Much more than I do now.

I looooved it, and still do.
I was listening in bed on my discman with a face something like :

Spookymuffin said:

I liked TGE upon first listen...actually..when I walked into the store to buy that album back in 95, "Endorphinemachine" was blasting outta the speakers in the cd shop..I was like Yea..Prince wrecking on this album...once I reviewed the whole CD..I liked it..it was good

THE SOUND WAS AND IT STILL IS FRESH!!!!!

this was the first prince album i bought. I bought it at impulse, saw it in the store and thought...what the heck, might pick this one up cause I can't think of anything else to buy right now. Been a prince-fan eversince

btw: I think this is one of Prince's best albums. The guitar rifs are awesome and the album has an incredible energy. Love it

greetz
Kev1n

love the album. maybe his best album of the 90's.

For the most part, I liked it. But like Come and C&D, I had to stay close to the skip button.

I have to agree with many - it was one of teh best new album experiences I have had with Prince...for a number of reasons.

The whole album relived that feeling you get when you go to a gig and he plays a new song and then you hear it on the new album and it brings it all back.

But mainly because it is a big album (none of this 45 min crap that he seems to have gone back to) and it has a number of great tracks, some good tracks but none bad - now rare in the Prince album continuing story....the last of the good albums

This may be strange but I had two impressions. My very 1st impression was actually disappointment but that's what happens when you listen to 2-3 minutes of a song and try to form an opinion. I didn't get to hear it again for a while but when I did and I heard the whole thing, I was in love. I had to listen to it twice. By far, his best CD in the 90's and one of my favorites. It still erks me that it wasn't the hit it was supposed to be. Hopefully with the success of Musicology, it'll bring the new fans to look to the past and somehow find this CD, despite it being out of print.

I recall purchasing the album, and being rather disappointed with it -- particularly considering how much I love Come, which was released the prior year.

I purchased Crystal Ball a few years later (a project I really like). There were a number of tracks on the 3-CD set which were on various early incarnations of The Gold Experience: "Interactive" (better than "Endorphinmachine" IMO), "Days Of Wild", "Ripopgodazippa". All of these tracks are better than everything that made The Gold Experience with the exception of "Shy" and "P Control" (and maybe "319").

The album didn't live up to the hype IMO. I recall speaking to a friend of mine at the time, who also had the album. He felt the same way.

TGE is pretty good, but too much of that overproduced 90's keyboard if you ask me, especially on the title track and TMBGITW.

I was blown away when I first heard the album - It's got an incredibly unique sound to it, and the everything about the album, from the actual music to the artwork, seemed to just radiate energy.

It's definitely overproduced, and many songs suffer from that.. but there's a lot of exciting stuff on the record. My biggest complaint is with the album's title track, "Gold," which is incredibly underwhelming despite the killer guitar at the end.

"P Control," "Endorphinemachine" and "We March" rock though, and continue to be constantly spun in my CD player.

I heard it and was like "Wow, Prince is STILL God".

With the hype, you knew this was gonna either be amazing or a complete disappointment.

It was the former.

This was truly Prince showing you what an inspired musical genius he still was at the time.

To this day, I still just say "wow" to myself when I hear these songs playing.
[This message was edited Mon Jun 21 0:23:59 2004 by PurpleKnight]