I just purchased seven Prince videos and I had a Prince weekend. I watched them in chronological order like someone had suggested and these were my thoughts on them..get the popcorn and soda ready for the Estelle review (5 stars is tops, yadda, yadda, yadda...ya'll know the drill):

1) Purple Rain: It's Purple Rain....same story, never was too big on it and still don't feel any differently. Love the soundtrack, but can't stand the film.....but I loved "Graffiti Bridge" and hated the soundtrack, so it's okay. UTCM is in the middle for me...ok movie; ok soundtrack. 1/2

2) Prince and The Revolution Live: I loved the lacy pants and was amazed to see him jumping and running all over the stage...and dry humping everything. My friend was amazed that he could do all the running, jumping, and splits in those heels. Great video!

3) Sign O' The Times: I hated this one! The music was great, but seeing Prince with that stupid haircut and those dumb Dwayne Wayne glasses distracted me as did Cat. Plus, he didn't play "Adore", so that's probably the main reason I hate this video. 1/2

4) Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection: I love the "Insatiable" video and the songs are good. Didn't have problem with this one.

5) The Hits Collection: Man, does Prince make some cheap videos. Sign O' The Times was like watching an episode of "Schoolhouse Rocks". It was what it was.

6) Rave Un2 The Year 2000: His version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" was awesome and I loved watching the crowd lift him to and from the piano. I also loved watching him do the 12 splits. I don't know what was more interesting....watching Prince do the 12 splits in a row or watching the expressions on my boyfriend and friend's faces as he was doing them....classic. Plus, those shiny blue pants were tight, if you know what I mean 1/2

7) 3 Chains O' Gold: This is what I was referring to in the topic heading. I was told by soo many people to just watch this video and not try to understand it. After watching it twice, I actually got it. I may be crucified for this, but I don't care. I actually loved this video waaay more than the "Sign O' The Times" film It was funny, romantic, and weird as all hell, which is probably why I liked it (Estelle--proud member of the Oddball society since 1991). Seeing Prince trying to be "gangsta" was pretty comical and I couldn't stop laughing when I saw him rockin' rollerskates in the big party/orgy scene wearing his silk boxers with the matching robe... This film was great!

So, what's ya'lls thoughts.

It's great that you got all of the videos. It's a real shame you didn't "get" SOTT. It's his greatest live concert ever recorded. He looks fabulous and the band kicks ass! SOTT (the cd and the video) are my favourite. I can't wait for the dvd.

kisscamille said:

I was just soo anticipating "Adore" that I was disappointed that it wasn't on there. Maybe it'll be on the DVD. I love the two-disc album though. I rank it right behind "Purple Rain" as my second favorite Prince album. Maybe I need to watch it again...second times a charm.

When you said you didn't like the film Purple Rain but you loved Grafitti Bridge, I stopped reading

The Rave 2000 video came AFTER the Three Chains 'O' Gold video, by the way!!!

^^I know it's weird. I've watched Purple Rain soo many times and tried to like it, but I still don't see what the big deal was. It was entertaining and the music was beyond excellent, but it just didn't strike my fancy.
[This message was edited Tue Jun 29 10:59:31 2004 by estelle1981]

Gold319 said:

I know, but I had read soo many reviews for 3 Chains 'O' Gold saying that it was weird and mind-boogling, so I got a little excited and jumped completely out of sequence. Glad I did, because I had to take an aspirin and lie down for a bit after I watched

estelle1981 said:

A crowd ...of bodyguards lift him to the piano. This part looks so fake to me! not withstanding the fact that he barely plays the piano. Also the parts when the crowd cheers LG is awful: his face makes me want to throw up...

But all in all, I rather liked this video. I'd give it 3,5 out of 5.

David.
--

estelle1981 said:

no offense but i hope you'll forgive me for never taking your reviews seriously. you think the rave video was better than the sott video? you love the 3 chains o' gold video but don't like purple rain? why? was the, er, storyline in 3 chains better, LOL!

i'm not knocking your tastes (well, maybe a little but not really), i'm just terribly surprised by what you find excellent and what you consider bad. at last we agree on p and the rev live .

i think you and i have had debates about madonna and britney, right? now i know why. we clearly have different tastes. mine are good.

SassyBritches said:



Welcome to my world! I've always felt this way about music, film, and even celebrities. If they or it gets a lot of hype or praise, 9 times out of 10 means I probably won't like it. Don't know why really. I'll even watch it more than once to see if I just missed something, but I always end up with the same feeling. My boyfriend tells me everyday that my views and opinions are completely different from 90% of the human population (maybe because I'm a lefty and we only may up 10% of the population...but that's another story) Plus, I was hoping to get everyone's opinions of these films and possibly any other Prince films that I don't have listed. Opinions make the world go round.

You forgot to get Live at the Alaadin (sp).

ConsciousContact said:

yeah. i really love GB, but if someone puts it over purple rain? wowza...but hey...go with what flows...

but seriously -- not diggin SOTT...that's the tough one. Forever in My Life makes that concert the greatest thing since the printing press.....

Give Sign O' The Times another try. It sure deserves it.

I swear many years back, I was showing that concert vid to definite Prine haters and getting them to change their opinion of the guy because of that performance.

The performance of The Cross and Play in The Sunshine remain to this day two of my fave Prince moments...

Go watch it again

SteamForest said:

I liked "Live at the Aladdin" alot, but I had bought it last year so I didn't include it...I'll give it . I love his remake of "Gotta Broken Heart Again"; and "Strange Relationship" was awesome. I actually started listening to the "Under The Cherry Moon" soundtrack after I had heard "Sometimes It Snows In April"....great ballad. I really liked the part where he was doing the "Ozzy Osbourne" dance...classic.

ninarockets said:

I think the reason I didn't like SOTT was because I was expecting all of the songs from the album, which I love to pieces, to be on there. He left off my favorite tunes...."Strange Relationship", "Starfish and Coffee", and of course "Adore". After I didn't hear these three, I lost all interest in the video. But, I'm going to watch it again this weekend to see if I like it better a second time around.