July 9th 1996 - Chaos And Disorder was released by Warner Bros.

I was in Chicago at the time, visiting relatives. In downtown Chicago I stopped in at a music store an hour after opening, and asked for the album. I was told it was sold out. Wow, I thought - this must be some hot stuff! This will be one of Prince's biggest selling albums! When I tracked it down at another music store, I realized it had sold out because stores were only ordering a couple of copies, and it wasn't even on display in the new releases. My first experience of what was to come for many years (all the way up until Musicology, in fact).

I loved this album from the beginning, though, and felt it got unfairly panned by critics and fans alike. Yes, there's nothing strikingly original, but there are some great rockers on here, and I'd been waiting for Same December and Zannalee to be released since seeing the videos ahead of the 1995 Ultimate Live Experience shows. Unfortunately, Zannalee had gone the way of Endorphinmachine, which was a big disappointment... Chaos And Disorder, with its Peach part II riff, and some of the other tracks more than made up for it, though. The only two tracks which didn't really work for me were Dig U Better Dead, which just seemed out of place (that could have been a 'virtual b-side') and I Rock Therefore I Am, which should (IMHO) have stayed unreleased. Not a big fan of that one.

Where were you when C&D hit? What were your initial thoughts? How have your views of the album changed over time?

Dang, eight years?

Anxiety said:

Yeah, I Know. I've even grown pubes since

IstenSzek said:

Still waiting for mine to come in.

RE C&D, I know it isn't up there with SOTT or Purple Rain, but I still think "Had U" is one of the best, most haunting offerings of all all time.

'dre

booyah said:

hI,bOOYAH,
At first it sounded like a album filled with left-overs and the package and art design
only confirmed that feeling!It also sounds diffirent..I was sooo dissapointent
when it came out,HE had such a good response and critics about Gold EXP.and it´s
still one of his best 2 date so U can imagine when Chaos came out I wasn´t
so excited.But after some time I must admit that I really like Into the light,I will,Had U
and Chaos and Disorder...but I don´t consider it as a regular Prince album.

booyah said:

1996 what a summer...I liked the album and it rocked!!!! I throw it on from time to to time...

Anxiety said:

That's the first thing I thought!
Where did the time go?

Anyway, I always took this album as a big F-U to WB and he himself has always labled it a "contractial obligation". All the songs sound like vented demos. Songs like "In the Light" and "I Will" sound like they may have been intended for other projects. Over all, the album sounded like it was just slapped together and purposely.

bds70 said:

Yeah, this album came out when my Father died. I remember listening to this one a lot then. Maybe once or twice since. Funny how music can bring up strong memories of when you first heard them (songs). The opener was the "Get OUT OF BED AND GET MOVING" for me for weeks! There was a lot of legal crap me and my brothers had to go through with some (I shall not go there, because she does not deserve the energy put into those negative emotions) woman he was married to right before he died.

That time period was deffinately "Chaos And Disorder" for me.

i think into lthe light has some of the best intro piano i ever heard
love that one

yamomma said:

sorry about your father, the summer of 96 was a happy time for me and I like to reflect back on happy days...

bds70 said:

Life has to end sometime right?
I'll have to take a fresh listen to this one again sometime. Maybe it will hang a little mo' betta in my head.