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Prince - The Rainbow Children
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AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Billed as Prince's most controversial album -- at least by his press agency and
label -- upon its release in the fall of 2001, The Rainbow Children was
arguably his most curious album to date, which isn't necessarily the same thing
as controversial. It could have been controversial, that's for sure, given that
it follows his conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses and that it trumpets his
faith, over the most elastic, jazziest backing music he's made. If Prince hadn't
marginalized himself through his record company battles, multi-disc sets, and
botched superstar comebacks, this could have been genuinely controversial,
since people would be paying attention to what he's doing. As of 2001,
nobody outside of the diehards -- those who sign up for the Paisley Park
subscription service and those that will seek out an album like The Rainbow
Children, which was initially only available through the Internet -- was really
paying enough attention to listen to this record, since they were the only
ones to sit through the cascade of arcania he turned out after his liberation
from Warner. Since they're so deeply immersed in this work, they would
realize that musically The Rainbow Children is his most cohesive set since The
Gold Experience, and the only one to really push past his traditional limits
since then (which, admittedly, is still much more imaginative). And, you know,
that's really too bad, because as a musical experience, this is pretty rich,
demonstrating not just that Prince knows no borders, but that his music
effortlessly mutates within the course of one song, perhaps drawing from his
standard book of tricks -- jazz fusion, smooth soul, lite psychedelia, hard rock,
and funk general weirdness -- but always sounding unpredictable and
rewarding. It's too bad, then, that the very thing that inspired the album for
its creator is what will turn off even those diehards that stuck with him this
long, seeking out this album -- namely, its religious views. It's not that Prince
has become a Jehovah's Witness -- any objective listener really wouldn't care
-- but it's that his message doesn't support the music and doesn't fit with the
sounds or the approach; it's hard to shut it out, not just because the words
are so prominent, but because they're delivered in so many different voices
(most distracting of all, the electronically altered basso profundo voice last
heard on the decidedly secular "Bob George"), often in short, two-minute
songs. This becomes a little overwhelming about halfway through, when the
opera comes in on "Wedding Feast," reminding us that this is indeed a concept
album, then delving into three eight-minute jams to conclude the record. It all
winds up as a bit much, but it doesn't erase the musical facts: this is Prince at
his most focused and rewarding in a long time, since Emancipation really. Too
bad nobody outside of the diehards cares at this point.
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Artist...............: Prince
Album................: The Rainbow Children
Genre................:
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 2001
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: LAME 3.82
Version..............: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality..............: Insane, (avg. bitrate: 320kbps)
Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Information..........: http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-rainbow-children-mw0000016525
Ripped by............: Grad58 on 9/20/2016
Posted by............: Grad58 on 9/21/2016
Included.............: NFO
Covers...............: Front Back
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Tracklisting
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1. Prince - 1+1+1 is 3 [04:50]
2. Prince - Deconstruction [05:32]
3. Prince - Digital Garden [02:06]
4. Prince - Everywhere [03:38]
5. Prince - Family Name [08:09]
6. Prince - Last December [09:03]
7. Prince - Mellow [04:06]
8. Prince - Muse 2 the Pharoah [04:16]
9. Prince - Rainbow Children [07:13]
10. Prince - She Loves Me 4 Me [02:48]
11. Prince - The Everlasting Now [08:23]
12. Prince - The Sensual Everafter [02:53]
13. Prince - The Work Pt.1 [05:50]
14. Prince - Wedding Feast [02:52]
Playing Time.........: 01:11:46
Total Size...........: 165.65 MB
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