Ocean of Violets: Prince song by song

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, Jul 21, 2020.

  1. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Looking at the contemporary Top 40 singles actually prompted me to look at what Prince was doing this period, in particular the possible motivation behind much of this material. Which helped me to make sense of some of it, even if I don't particularly appreciate it.
     
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  2. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Much better than most of his other retro-soul ballads from this period, mostly because it has a better melody and stronger hooks. Accessible yet sophisticated. And a really pleasant listen with all that vocal layering and whatnot.

    4/5

    Yeah, there is more than a touch of sophistipop here as well. And curiously the surviving sophistipop acts like Prefab Sprout and Swing Out Sister began to incorporate a lot more R&B into their mix as well during this period, in a sort of convergence. Lennox's Diva also melded sophistipop with R&B.
     
  3. Michael Macrone

    Michael Macrone Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    "And God Created Woman": I'd completely forgotten this song existed until today, and it was a pleasant rediscovery. Very well done, if a touch yachty (I can almost hear Michael McDonald dueting with Prince). Anyway, the melody is undeniable.

    4/5
     
  4. alugjk

    alugjk Senior Member

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    And God Created Woman

    3/5
     
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  5. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Today's song is "3 Chains o' Gold"written and produced by Prince, both credits attributed to Prince & the New Power Generation. String arrangements and direction by Clare Fisher.

    Prince and the New Power Generation – 3 Chains O' Gold Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

    "3 Chains o' Gold" was recorded at Paisley Park in January 1991; Clare Fischer's orchestral arrangements were recorded at Ocean Way in Hollywood in February 1992.

    Prince: all vocals and instruments
    Levi Seacer, Jr: rhythm guitar
    Tommy Barbarella: keyboards
    Sonny T: bass guitar
    Michael B: drums
    Dave Jensen and Steve Strand: trumpets
    Mike Nelson: trombone
    Kathy J and Brian Gallagher: saxophones
     
  6. groovelocked

    groovelocked Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus OH (USA)
    And God Created Woman
    5/5

    3 Chains
    3/5
     
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  7. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    (I'm kinda surprised "And God Created Woman" wasn't released as a single...it's better than several of his singles from this period. If nothing else, A/C radio might have been open to playing it.)
     
  8. hotstuffmama

    hotstuffmama El Supremo

    Location:
    new york, ny
    And God created woman 4/5

    3 Chains o Gold 3/5
     
  9. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Clare's arrangements are always welcome. Like a lot of Prince's material from this period though I find "3 Chains" a bit rambling and incoherent. I get that it's going for that "epic suite" thing. I just don't find the components very solid. There's some tasty guitar work at the climax. I can't help but wonder how this would have turned out with The Revolution, which always seemed to handle epic and ominous much better than this, although the tail end of his work with them was running low on gas - and coherence - as well. So maybe the band isn't the party to blame for the shortcomings...

    3/5
     
  10. luvtotha9s

    luvtotha9s Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    3 Chains O' Gold...A little too Rock Operaish for my tastes. But I still enjoy some parts of the song. There is some Beatles in there too, through the different sections. "This is the best day of my life!" Like that line and the delivery. I never saw the Video, and I guess Prince had an artistic vision and story involving Mayte, but who knows, at the end of the day...a for effort.
    3/5
     
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  11. Lluvia Morada

    Lluvia Morada Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    And God Created Woman:
    Basically I agree with all of this. Perfect in every way. A perfect Prince pop jazzy 70s soul song. It really should have been released as a single.

    5/5
     
  12. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    A track that seems to try very hard to be epic (in a Bohemian Rhapsody or Jim Steinman kind of way), but there's something that holds it back from succeeding. All the elements are decent, but they don't go together that well. 3.5/5
     
  13. Lluvia Morada

    Lluvia Morada Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    3 Chains O Gold:
    This is Prince again channeling elements of Queen, which he did occasionally going all the way back to his first released cut, the acapella For You. Here he does the different movements a la Bohemian Rhapsody, but too closely following it and too compressed. The culmination of the shifting tones heard on a couple of other songs on the album, Love 2 the Nines and The Continental. Here he does several. A for effort though, and could’ve made for an offbeat single.

    4.5/5
     
  14. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    A masterpiece in my opinion. Another stellar song; I love how the gorgeous orchestra is integrated into the rocky elements and I love the dramatic massed vocals and guitars. A real piece of art rock/soul/gospel/opera that seems totally unexpected on this album. Gorgeous stuff.

    5/5

    Boy, I can't remember the last time I gave out to 5's in a row to Prince.
     
  15. thekid87

    thekid87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Our votes for "And God Created Woman" (24 votes):
    1 - 0x
    2 - 0x
    3 - 3x
    4 - 11x
    5 - 10x

    Average: 4,2917
     
  16. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Yeah, good observation. I was thinking more Beatles Abbey Road than Queen or Jim Steinman, but that sorta works as well (and Prince seemed to maybe have some affinity for Queen). The individual elements are sorta there, but how they're assembled doesn't really work for me.
     
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  17. thekid87

    thekid87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    3 Chains O’ Gold

    What was Prince thinking?! Why did he feel the need to make a symphonic rock suite? Why? Maybe it was an homage to Freddy Mercury (who died a couple weeks before the recording), inspired by Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody? To me, it seems like Prince was trying to sound as broad as possible again with as much types of music he could think of. Symphonic rock made a return around this time (The Netherlands: Robby Valentine), so that might have been on his mind. Whatever the reason, this song sounds nothing like Prince, nothing like the stuff he would/should do on record and nothing anybody expected him to do…
    That being said, maybe he shouldn’t do it, but when he does it’s an absolute tour de force! It is amazing! It’s bombastic, totally over the top and totally a masterpiece, it’s epic! A real love it or hate it song…

    It starts with a piano and vocal intro for 14 seconds before the symphonic rock guitars, synths and drums kick in with one of many great guitar solos. After that, some vocal harmony and more symphonic guitar. A flute plays, the guitar swells and Prince starts singing this sweet ballad with Clare’s orchestra, guitar and some lovely piano in the back:

    You say you'll call me and then and then you don't.
    I'll want to kiss you and then I won't.
    We both do nothing and call it love.
    Is this love?


    After that it’s the most symphonic part with angelic chants with some dark lyrics about his disappointment in a relationship. Another amazing guitar solo follows, before Prince sings the main theme about the three chains. Mayte has some, kinda lame, spoken story lines about the chains, but that’s easy to ignore. Then there’s some more heavy guitar and big vocals. It ends with Prince screaming and building towards a great ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ type guitar solo and the song explodes with harmonies and some heavy (wait for it) breathing… and the crowd goes nuts!
    3 Chains O’ Gold is a great album closer…. but it wasn’t, because Prince really wanted this album to end with a message (“who don’t you tell me the truth?”)

    This is a 5 out of 5!
     
  18. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Oh, interesting factiod.

    :eek:
     
  19. Piiijiii

    Piiijiii Hundalasiliah

    Location:
    Ruhr Area, Germany
    3 Chains O' Gold

    I really forgot about that song because it's one of the view Prince albums I seldom listen to. (Basically this one, D&P and The Gold Experience. But give me Come or Chaos&Disorder any day of the week :))

    This is one of the best tracks from that era. Rock Opera? Nah, I call it a suite. Very creative and masterly performed and built.
    I agree that this should have closed the album and I don't need Mayte on a Prince song.
    There is a good single album in that songs but the soap-opera double album didn't work out.
    But 3 Chains O' Gold does!

    4.5/5
     
  20. Gavaxeman

    Gavaxeman Take me back to dear old Blighty...

    Location:
    West Midlands U.K.
    3 chains o’Gold

    Excellent, some mad Prince , this is far better than the generic attempts at modern radio r & b with rap that hampers this era

    A 4/5 for the attempt
     
  21. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    3 Chains O' Gold
    Prince in rock opera mode again with many shifts of tone and tempo. It's brilliantly done and I especially like the last half with the gospel chanting and doomy operatic choir, the fantastic guitar solos. It sounds like the album closer but there is a treat to follow.
    5/5
     
  22. Tricky By Name

    Tricky By Name Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    3 Chains O' Gold - there's a strong case for this being Prince's most musically diverse album isn't there? I used to skip this one as I came more from the funk background. Nowadays I can appreciate and admire it, even if I don't really like it. Definitely a stroke of genius to add Clare Fischer in to this one as it really lifts it. But also a shout out for Michael B on the drums - I can't imagine any of Prince's other drummers playing this one.

    3/5
     
  23. Andrecrabtree

    Andrecrabtree Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leicester
    3 Chains.

    4/5
     
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  24. footprintsinthesand

    footprintsinthesand Reasons to be cheerful part 1

    Location:
    Dutch mountains
    3 Chains O' Gold
    It seems that sometimes artists forget that listeners have to enjoy the music instead of experiencing their utter brilliance.
    This one is an over the top epic operatic wannabe. It has that Lukather guitar sound in the first part and even sing-along with fast drum beats. Sure some nice guitar solo work in the second part too, but inevitably the artist then decides to take the whole vocal and guitar sonic experience into the stratosphere and beyond and back and once more, leaving us desperately in need of oxygen. It's a 2.25/5 for trying too hard.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2021
  25. Freek999

    Freek999 Forum Resident

    3 Chains

    4/5
     
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