Prince Album by Album Thread

The Gold Experience is maybe a top-five album for me, so there you go, different strokes for different folks... I don't think most fans would say it's a "spot" in the catalogue, and I don't think most fans could agree what any of the possible spots are anyway. For example I think Musicology and Planet Earth are solid, if unexciting, albums, definitely not low points. Everyone has to make up their own mind. For me the point from where things start to get uneven is '96, Emancipation and onward.

 

Yep, The Gold Experience is a great album. True that it could have been even better with the initial version of Endorphinmachine or replace Shy and We March with Interactive and Acknowledge Me for example. But it's great and I'm not a big fan of what-if's. TGE is his best 90s album for me

And, yes, The Dawn fanmade triple album is a must for the 1993-1995 era fans.

 

Question: Is Prince - America 33 1/3 LP single rare due to the cover or anything (naked black baby with the American flag)? Found a copy in the wild today! Couldn't pass on that 20+ minute remix of America! But copies on eBay are sparse and going for a fortune. Though none have sold. Am I missing something or is this just the "death craziness" continuing?

 

Plenty of copies on Discogs for fairly normal prices - most of them are "over here" though.

 

I don't have any hard information, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's scarcer and more in demand than any of his other post-fame 1980s 12"s, for the following reasons:
1) Unique mixes on both sides, never available anywhere else, with the added novelty value of the sheer twenty-plus minute length of 'America'. This presumably makes it more desirable than singles with only one non-album side or where the 12" single versions have been released on CD. In fact, it looks to me like this is the only Prince 12" of the 1980s where neither side has ever been released on CD.
2) Not a big hit (number 46). Possibly the 12" that sold the least in this period, as the two singles that fared worse on the Hot 100 ('Anotherloverholenyohead' (No. 63) and 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' (No. 67)) did a lot better than it on the R&B charts (18 and 12 respectively, where 'America' only reached No. 35).
3) Not released in as many territories, so globally there are fewer copies rattling around. Again, comparing with 'Anotherloverholenyohead' and 'If I Was Your Girlfriend', those two singles were released, and were hits, in the UK, whereas 'America' wasn't released there, as far as I know.
4) It's really great and every Prince fan should own a copy!

 

You are correct that both versions are not available anywhere else, but a slight correction. "America" only had one mix that was ever released, to my knowledge. The LP and 7" versions (which are the same) are merely an early fade of the 21:40 mix (and yes, it runs exactly that long). The one anomaly of the early faded version, though, is that it inexplicably switches to mono just before the fade begins. My guess is that it's a mastering error, because it's not unique audio--just the left and right channels summed together. The 12" mix stays in stereo for the entire track. If memory serves me, "Girl" was also just faded early for the 7" release, while the 12" version continues on.

 

^ this

 

if Prince would've released TGExperience in the spring of '94, on the heel of 'TMBGITWorld' single success, then i have no doubt it would've been a Big hit..at least on par with D&P.
1993 was the 1st year Prince didn't release a studio album in 10 years (1983) and there clearly was a demand/market for him as evident by the success of 'Beautiful Girl' single.

instead, he released lackluster Come album (1st mediocre Prince album ever, i'd thought~) under his old name and further confuse the market by releasing then 7-year old Black album just few months later. it would take almost another year before TGE was finally released... which by that time was already dated & more importantly, both Prince & WB had long moved on from the project.

i believe in the earlier TGE configuration, both 'Days of Wild' & 'Acknowledge Me' were included which would've made the album stronger...i also think 'Lovesign' was wasted as novelty single when it should've replaced much inferior 'We March' (not much of fan of 'Now' either, should've been a B-side).

in any case, TGE is one of his most (if not the Best) focused set of material post-SOTT period. deliberately melodic & rock fused by design in order to re-capture the old 'PRain' fan base he gradually lost over the years. if you think about it, there's the motif of color (Purple = Gold) & the year (1884 = 1994) which i'm sure wasn't just a coincidence. personally, i would rank it No. 5 overall behind all the usual suspects.

 

I didn't even know prince was alive in 1884

 

I knew what I was doing when I called "The Gold Experience" boring

I like "I Hate You" and "Gold" and that's it.

Tracks like "Now", "Shy", "We March" are really fillers to me. And I really dislike "Dolphin".

Talking about 90's albums I prefer "Come" and "Chaos And Disorder".

 

That's exactly my problem with it.

Prince generally released his worst/ least creative albums when he wasn't trying to challenge people.

 

The tracks on TGE that I don't like are Dolphin, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, I Hate U
The rest is ace.

 

Somehow is suspect you wanted to state the opposite of what you typed…

 

Weirdly this is one 12" I don't own, and I have both Raspberry and Pop Life. I do have both tracks digitally. (The mythical T burned me discs full of vinyl transfers back in the day...)
America just doesn't do much with those 21 minutes. It's more an endurance test. (Mountains, by contrast, does the same thing, but that extended jam is a totally different song and doesn't drag.) Pop Life, on the other hand, is a much better song stretched out with the extra verse.
And Girl is fine, but not super memorable. (Wasn't it leftover from 1999?) Never quite understood why Prince would release that and Hello, but left Wonderful Ass or Xtraloveable (a much better 1999 outtake) in the vault.

 

What?

 

This was a problem that started in 1993, with The Hits coming out instead of a new album, and which continued for a long time, albums came out about a year too late, when Prince had already lost interest and moved on to the next project (and even finished the "next" and started a third one). I disagree that Come is lackluster, and for me it goes along with The Gold Experience as a pair, the dark and the light, and that one also came out too late.

Well isn't it great with the diversity among Prince fans! You can love Prince and totally disagree on what albums are good (myself I like Come, The Gold Experience and Chaos And Disorder and don't want to loose any of them) and even when when you like the same albums you can disagree on what tracks are good (some of my favourite tracks on The Gold Experience are "Dolphin", "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" and "I Hate U").

 

I bought my 12" of America last year in May at a record show for $20. It originally was marked for $30, but I came back at the end of the show and they knocked some $10 off. Also got the U Got The Look 12" for $5 at the same show. They had the Let's Go Crazy/Erotic City 12" for $25 or so, but I passed. I was unemployed at the time, so I was trying to be good.

At one of my local shops last year around the same time I got the 12"s for If I Was Your Girlfriend, Anotherloverholenyohead, and Mountains for $9 each. Later in the year I picked up the I Would Die 4 U 12" for $15 at a Half Price Books.

 

Prince is the only artist I ever really "collected" on vinyl and only his 12" singles for the superb extended mixes. I'm so glad I bought most of them in the late-'90s and early '00s when they were both cheap and easy to find in NM- condition. The only ones that were rather expensive were "Let's Work," "Just As Long As We're Together/Soft And Wet" (promo), "Sexy Dancer" (UK), and "Gett Off" (10 min promo). The rest were all between $3 and $10 when I picked them up.

 

I'm not really bothered about the 12" remixed/extended versions. Unless there really is something going on, like a long hot guitar solo or something, it won't get played.

 

A mistake concerning Prince 80's 12 inches!
Some versions are even new recordings, some the original longer mixes that were edited down for album tracks/B-sides.

Must haves:
I Wish U Heaven (Parts 1,2 & 3): Contains the excellent "Take this beat, I don't mind. I got plenty others and they so fine" ... Heaven Yeah!
Pop Life (Extended Version): Extra verse - "What's the matter with your sex? Is 15 minutes your best?" ... priceless.
Paisley Park (Remix): Psychedelic with great guitar work ... better than the original.
Alphabet St. (This Is Not Music, This Is A Trip): pretty self explanatory.
Let's Work (Dance Remix): with additional recording and Prince sampling clips of his own songs ... in 1981. And funky as hell btw.

 

- Mine was $5.99 so I guess I got a great deal! Perfect condition!

 

Yeah, I get all that but it's the length of the tracks which can bug me. Anyway, I'll check out your recommendations (it might inspire me to burn a mix CD, which is always fun).

 

You won't believe how much goes on in those grooves. Expect Prince at his best.

 

What's the best way of obtaining the two B-sides from Parade that were, for whatever reason, left off the Hits/B-Sides disc?

 

The 12" single for "Kiss" is the best source for "Love Or Money." The UK Let It Go CD single has "Alexa De Paris."