The Rainbow Children

[Walk In My Shadow]

Was Prince doing a Dylan here?


I don't have this particular album so can't comment on it.

I'll get it someday 'cuz I like the variety Prince brings in his oeuvre.

[Goat Boy]

I don't like Prince when he goes jazz.

I do like the live version of 1+1+1 from that box set.

I found the album extremely heavy going. Musically impressive but lacking in decent melodies.

I'll try again one day. In fact I need to go over the post 90s output in general

[bobzilla77]

I went to see this tour, and it WAS different. I'd seen him last in 1997 doing a show that was like one long medley of his biggest hits. He was clearly a great performer but it was frustrating that nothing was allowed to play til the end.

For this tour he was booked in a 3000-seat theater. The band played entirely new material - some so new it wasnt even on the Rainbow Children - for the first hour or so, dropped a handful of familiar songs, and went back to new stuff. At one point he even announced something like "if you came to get your Purple Rain on tonight, you need to re-think your expectations." (Even though he did do Purple Rain in the encore.) It was explicitly challenging, and heavy on the instrumental solos.

So when they busted into "When U Were Mine" after an hour of unfamiliar songs, it was like a group orgasm - everybody on their feet at the same moment. He was almost always amazing live, and that was one of the best times I saw him. He seemed to be freeing himself from his fans' expectations.

Anyway re the album itself, I never fully comprehended the story line as well as it was explained above. Neither did I get the more esoteric plot points of Funkadelic's narratives.

But I do like it a lot and consider it one of the few "essential" releases for him post 2000. It certainly stands alone in his catalog. And "Family Name" is one of his greatest tracks ever, especially the Live version on One Night Alone. The album version has a too-long intro that probably makes people skip through it after 30 seconds.

[Moleskin]

It's one of his best albums since his eighties run. I've never followed the plot (so thanks for the summary) but the music is undeniable.