The Gold Experience
| The Gold Experience | |||||||
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| Prince's studio album | |||||||
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Publication |
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admission |
January 2, 1993 - March 1994 |
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| Label (s) | NPG Records / Warner Bros. Records | ||||||
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Format (s) |
Compact Disc , Double LP , MC |
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Title (number) |
18th |
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running time |
65:20 |
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| occupation | All songs were produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince. The following people completed the recordings:
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Studio (s) |
Paisley Park Studio ( Chanhassen ) |
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The Gold Experience ( English for The Gold Experience ) is the 17th studio album by the American musician Prince . It was released on September 25, 1995 on the Warner Bros. Records / NPG Records label and is the first album that Prince released under his unpronounceable symbol as a pseudonym . In the mass media , he emphasized at the time that "Prince" was dead. Due to a dispute between him and Warner Bros. Records, the album was only released a year and a half after Prince had recorded it.
Guest musicians on The Gold Experience include Nona Gaye and Lenny Kravitz , who are not mentioned in the liner notes . The music on the album belongs to the genres of funk , pop , R&B and rock music . Some music critics rated The Gold Experience very positively and were mostly of the opinion that it was Prince's best album since Sign "☮" the Times in 1987. From a commercial point of view, The Gold Experience achieved gold status in the United Kingdom and the USA to reach.
The album tour turned out to be a low point in Prince's music career; he completed the tour six months before the release of The Gold Experience and played almost all the songs on the album, which hardly anyone knew at the time. Various concerts were not sold out and the majority of music journalists were of the opinion that from an artistic point of view the tour was the worst of his career.
Emergence
Prince recorded the piece Shhh shortly before the start of the Diamonds and Pearls tour , which started on April 3, 1992. He passed it on to Tevin Campbell , who released it on his album I'm Ready on October 26, 1993. Campbell's version is slightly different from the Prince version on The Gold Experience . On January 2, 1993, Prince recorded the songs Endorphin Machine and Dolphin in his Paisley Park Studio in Chanhassen , Minnesota, where he originally placed Endorphin Machine on his album Come . In early June 1993 he played Interactive at Paisley Park Studio.
Eight of the twelve songs on The Gold Experience recorded Prince between September 1993 and March 1994 at the Paisley Park Studio; on September 20, 1993 he played The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and on October 10 the three songs Now , Shy and Ripopgodazippa , the track 319 on October 25. At the end of October 1993 he recorded the three songs Billy Jack Bitch , Gold and Acknowledge Me . Lenny Kravitz sang the backing vocals on the song Billy Jack Bitch , but his collaboration is not mentioned in the liner notes because he was under contract to Virgin Records at the time.
Some songs from The Gold Experience are featured on the album by Rain Ivana in the role of "NPG Operator". Her voice was recorded in late 1993 or early 1994 at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, where she was then a receptionist . Up until 1994, Prince regularly recorded songs in the Record Plant Studio.
On January 18, 1994, Prince revised the songs The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and Shhh , and he also played the track Days of Wild . He recorded Eye Hate U in early 1994 . In May 1994 Prince presented the album The Gold Experience to Warner Bros. Records with the following tracklist:
| No. | The Gold Experience : May 1994 | annotation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interactive | Released on Crystal Ball in 1998 |
| 2 | Days of Wild | Released on Crystal Ball in 1998 |
| 3 | The Most Beautiful Girl in the World | |
| 4th | Now | |
| 5 | Acknowledge Me | Released on Crystal Ball in 1998 |
| 6th | Ripopgodazippa | Released on Crystal Ball in 1998 |
| 7th | 319 | |
| 8th | Shy | |
| 9 | Billy Jack Bitch | |
| 10 | Eye Hate U | |
| 11 | gold |
In the early summer of 1994, Prince revised the tracklist he had previously presented and recorded the song We March , although the recording location is not known. On July 25, 1994, he recorded P Control at Paisley Park Studio. In August 1994, Prince Warner again presented a version of The Gold Experience ; the songs Interactive and Ripopgodazippa were no longer there, but he had placed P Control , We March , Endorphinmachine and Dolphin on the album. For the five songs P Control , We March , The Most Beautiful Girl in the World , Now and Shy , Prince played almost all of the instruments himself, while his backing band The New Power Generation played the remaining seven songs on The Gold Experience .
On October 13, 1994, Prince completed The Gold Experience with its final tracklist; Although the song Days of Wild was still on the album at that time, it was - for reasons unknown to the public - deleted without replacement shortly before its release in September 1995.
The dispute in 1994
After Prince changed his name to an ineffable symbol as a pseudonym in June 1993 , a dispute arose between him and the record company Warner Bros. Records. A major part of the differences was the release of the album The Gold Experience . The dispute was partly carried out in public via mass media . Prince felt restricted in his artistic freedom and insinuated that for Warner “only marketing is important” and the label is “only interested in money”. However, the music itself does not play a role. Warner Bros. Records distanced itself increasingly from Prince, who still had an ongoing contract until December 31, 1999 with the label. Due to the argument between Prince and Warner, The Gold Experience was n't released until a year and a half after Prince recorded it.
Initially, Prince Warner Bros. Records suggested that the album Come , which he completed parallel to the album The Gold Experience , be released as the artist “Prince” and the album The Gold Experience as the artist “Symbol”. Both albums were due to be released on June 7, 1994, Prince's 36th birthday - exactly one year to the day after his name change. He also called for both albums to be among the six albums he owed Warner since signing the deal in 1992. But this suggestion did not convince Warner; Although the label is happy about the release of The Gold Experience , but at the right opportunity, Warner said in a statement.
On February 1, 1994, Warner Bros. Records ended the collaboration with Prince's music label Paisley Park Records, which he had founded in 1985 with Warner's financial participation. Both labels announced the termination of the contract on the same day. Bob Merlis, then Vice President of Warner, stressed that everything was done “by mutual agreement”. Personally, he believes Prince “wants to go his own way.” As a partner of Paisley Park Records, Warner invested approximately $ 5 million annually in the label. But apart from Prince's own albums and The Time's album Pandemonium (1990) , no musician from Paisley Park Records could achieve top ten placements. Merlis said Paisley Park artists like George Clinton and Mavis Staples had sold a maximum of 175,000, but mostly "less than 100,000" albums. Prince, on the other hand, said: “As artists, we just want to make music. I didn't think I'd have to market the records or take them to the radio station. ”In early February 1994, he founded his new music label, NPG Records , which still exists today and is a subsidiary of Paisley Park Enterprises. Since Prince's death in April 2016, the label of The Prince Estate (dt .: The Princeton will discount ) officially continued.
On February 14, 1994, the independent label Bellmark Records released the single The Most Beautiful Girl in the World with NPG Records , which happened in agreement with Warner Bros. Records. "Symbol" is given as the artist and Prince himself was responsible for sales and music promotion. Warner had no control over the marketing and does not own any copyrights on the song . The Most Beautiful Girl in the World became one of the most commercially successful hits of Prince's career.
In May 1994 Prince told the US magazine Vibe that he had finished a new album with The Gold Experience , which Warner Bros. Records did not know about. He also announced in the interview that he wanted to play new songs at live concerts. In his opinion, "music should in any case be absolutely free."
In September 1994, Prince and Warner made the following oral agreement : The Gold Experience was to be released a week before Christmas 1994 and distributed in the US through Tommy Boy Records . In other countries, East West Records should be responsible for sales - both music labels belong to the Warner group. The agreement also stipulated that Prince would be responsible for the marketing strategy and music promotion of the album, regardless of Warner's decisions. Ultimately, Prince did not stick to the oral agreement because The Gold Experience should not be one of the five outstanding albums - Come was released by Warner in August 1994 - that he owed Warner from the 1992 contract.
On October 13, 1994, the Prince Agency issued a press release . It read that Prince had reached a "point of no return" with Warner and that because of the conflict, the audience would never hear The Gold Experience . Prince wanted to send the outstanding albums to Warner because the situation caused him stress. Shortly after the press release was announced, NPG Records began posting news on the Internet about The Gold Experience with the release date "never". In addition, Prince fans were asked if they could continue the petition against Warner in order to "free" the album.
On October 25, 1994, Warner Bros. Records Prince presented a contract in which the release of The Gold Experience was scheduled for early 1995. In the end, however, the negotiations failed again because Prince asked for a higher sum than that proposed by Warner for the publication. Because his manager at the time disagreed with him and advised him to sign, Prince dismissed him and hired L. Londell McMillan, then 28, Prince's sixth attorney since signing Warner Bros. Records in 1977. Another The reason for the failure of the negotiations was a change at the top of Warner's leadership; the contracts of Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker - both were already since 1977 at Warner - ran out at the end and was not renewed. Negotiations for The Gold Experience were finally postponed to May 12, 1995 so that they could take place under the new Warner leadership. Prince was still skeptical: "I still believe that The Gold Experience will never be published," he said in interviews. Meanwhile, the US magazine Billboard made fun of the negotiations and wrote: "Perhaps Warner managers do not currently know how to ask for his name if they want to reach him by phone." Art director Michael van Huffel confirmed after Prince's death In 2016, the funny assumption made by Billboard : “He took the thing with the changed name really very seriously. If you asked who was on [phone], he immediately hung up. That happened a few times until we bit back the question. "
When Prince played the then unreleased song Dolphin on the US talk show Late Show with David Letterman on December 13, 1994 , presenter David Letterman said the track was from The Gold Experience “and I was told this CD would never be released . “After his performance, Prince faked his own death and let himself be carried off the stage.
At the end of 1994, Prince Warner Bros. Records proposed that the label publish the single Purple Medley - a compilation of its most commercially successful single hits - under his name "Prince", and in return he would send Warner the master tapes of The Gold Experience . Warner agreed and brought out Purple Medley as a single in March 1995 , which did not play a significant role in the international charts and cannot be found on any album.
The dispute in 1995
The dispute between Prince and Warner Bros. Records continued in 1995. On January 30th, Prince received the American Music Award of Merit at the 22nd American Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles . He played the song Purple Medley and then a medley from the then unreleased songs Billy Jack Bitch , Eye Hate U and 319 in the playback . At the end, dancer Mayte Garcia said “Prince esta muerte” (English: “Prince is dead”) in Spanish. When Prince received the Best International Male award at the BRIT Awards in London on February 20, 1995 , he gave a very short and whispered speech: “Prince? The best? Gold Experience [sic] is better. At live concerts - completely free. On records - slave. Peace, thank you. "
On May 12, 1995 took place meeting between Prince and the new leadership of Warner Bros. Records instead. The new Warner boss was Danny Goldberg, who previously worked as the manager of Nirvana . Prince said he wouldn’t understand him or his music. Still, Prince and Warner came to a preliminary settlement; Prince should no longer talk derogatory about Warner in public, instead the label will release The Gold Experience on September 12, 1995 . Warner will also release the album Exodus - a side project of Prince and The New Power Generation at the time .
Prince was initially cooperative and told reporters after the meeting that he was the label “not evil” and “not a slave to Warner”. But in June 1995 he gave an interview to the men's magazine Esquire , in which he told about his next album Emancipation . Prince said this album would be his first when he was free. In addition, emancipation is “a big surprise for the Warner people. Nobody seems to know anything about it. ”Warner was offended by the statements and interpreted them in such a way that Prince delivers high-quality songs on other labels and Warner intentionally sends poorer material. In addition, Warner took the view that Prince had violated the contractual agreement with the interview to present the label in a negative way. The interview appeared as the cover story in the fall issue of Esquire , whereupon Warner decided not to release the album Exodus in the USA.
From July 8th to July 10th 1995 the Fashion Week took place in Paris , at which Gianni Versace presented his fashion collection. During this fashion week, some songs from The Gold Experience as well as unreleased remixes from P Control were played. The compiled specifically for the Fashion Week music called Prince The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) ( English ) for the Versace experience (prelude to gold) and was on compact cassette available, which was distributed to attendees of the Fashion Week.
Prince continued to do music promotion for The Gold Experience and played the entire album on CD on August 22, 1995 in front of 20 employees from MTV and VH1 . After the last song, he said, “Thank you so much for taking the madness.” A day later, Prince presented the album to Black Entertainment Television executives .
Ultimately, Warner Bros. Records kept its promise of May 12, 1995 and released the album The Gold Experience in September 1995.
"Slave"
In the years 1994-1996 Prince entered in both the public (also in meetings with leaders of Warner Bros. Records with the word "slave" as English for slave ) on his cheek on which there with eyeliner was written. In addition, he continued to emphasize at public appearances that the artist "Prince" was dead. He felt "shaken and restricted" by Warner, he said in an interview in 1994. Alan Leeds, former Prince's tour manager, said Prince had “good points on his arguments, and he has tremendous affection from other artists, young and not so young, but ... he seems to have more energy in promoting his views and marketing concepts than for creating the music itself. "Prince told Rolling Stone ," A lot of people say I'm a crazy nut because I write 'slave' on my face. But if I can't do what I want, what am I? ”Regarding Warner, he said,“ If you don't own your Masters , you belong to the Master. ”
Some of the mass media responded with incomprehension to Prince's comparisons with slaves; it is outrageous that someone who signed a $ 100 million contract a few years earlier should compare their current plight to that of African Americans , who were actually forced to work as slaves in the past. When Prince was confronted with these allegations, he emphasized that he had never wanted comparisons with slaves from the past or with future slaves. He wrote “Slave” on his cheek so that Warner Bros. Records would be reminded “what hour has come”. Bob Merlis, then Vice President of Warner Bros. Records, said of Prince, "If he's a slave, he's one of the highest-paid slaves in the world." Drummer Michael Bland of Prince's backing band The New Power Generation commented on the situation: " The story got a little more colorful every day, but we [The New Power Generation] had nothing to do with it. I just rolled my eyes most of the time. He was right about some things, but for me business was business and it is important to honor commitments once made. "
The last time Prince appeared in public with the word "slave" was on July 9, 1996. At that time his album Chaos and Disorder was released and he was invited as a guest on the US television program Today Show , which was broadcast live in front of NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center at 8:45 a.m. A week after that appearance, Prince said in the US national daily Los Angeles Times , “I was bitter before, but now I've washed my face. I can just go on now. I'm free. ”Bob Merlis simply said,“ Honestly? We are happy to have our rest from him. "
Marylou Badeaux, former vice president of Warner Bros. Records, said of Prince, "I was really concerned that he didn't seem to understand what he was doing to his career in this petty war with Warner."
Financial problems
From 1994 to 1995, various mass media reported unanimously that Prince had financial problems. Forbes business magazine analyzed his situation at the time; Prince is in a dispute with Warner Bros. Records and accuses its executives of "enslaving" his music even though they only wanted to meet the terms of the contract. When Warner ended his collaboration with Prince's Paisley Park Records label, he “retired to his Paisley Park [studio]” and “nearly destroyed himself” spending “$ 6 million a year” to “keep the studio running In addition, in 1994 Prince spent "about 4 million US dollars on band rehearsals and building concert stages for touring," which he never completed. He also invested two million US dollars in completing the EP for The Beautiful Experience . Then Prince produces about 30 music videos a year, one of which costs "up to $ 500,000". But he did not publish the majority of the music videos [as of 1995]. Only after Prince's death, The Prince Estate published in 2016 these videos on the account of YouTube .
The Forbes -Journalist Robert Lafranco, who was responsible for the Top 40 list of "wage earners Entertainer", pointed out that Prince on this list since 1993: not to be found [of September 1995], more. According to LaFranco, Prince got a loan from Warner Bros. Records to stave off financial bankruptcy . “Two years ago he was in debt between $ 10 million and $ 15 million. His records weren't selling and he was in the red. Warner probably gets money from his royalties , which bring him about 5 million US dollars annually. ”In addition, the loan will be paid off from the proceeds of previous Prince albums, which have been selling continuously for years.
Prince regularly recorded songs for his studio albums at the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles , California, for which he paid $ 500,000 annually. But in the summer of 1995, a bill of $ 150,000 remained unpaid for five months. When Prince asked about a master tape that he had accidentally left in the Record Plant studio, the owners of the music studio asked for the bill to be paid - afterwards he could pick up the master tape. The invoice was then paid immediately. Prince's stage designer Roy Bennett explained the financial situation as follows: “He made the worst possible choices for the crucial positions and selected people who had no idea. These were people who appeared out of nowhere, and none of them dared to say anything against him - they just did what he wanted. "
Design of the cover
The album cover is mostly in shades of gold and shows Prince's face on the front, which can be made out dimly. The unpronounceable symbol is placed in a yellow color in the center right, underneath the title The Gold Experience can be read in black letters. Prince's face is blurred on the back cover, but his eyes are prominently shown. The track list is also printed. A black and white photo of Prince is shown on both the front and the back of the inner sleeve of the first LP . The lyrics of the songs from The Gold Experience are printed on the front of the inner sleeve of the second LP , but the lyrics from P Control are not available. On the back you can read the liner notes written by music journalist Jim Walsh of the US newspaper St. Paul Pioneer Press.
In the booklet of the CD there are additional photos showing Prince and the band members of The New Power Generation at the time . There is also a photo of the concert stage “The Endorphinmachine”. The P Control lyrics cannot be found in the booklet either.
Art director Steve Parke was responsible for the album design . Originally he planned a different cover design and ultimately accused Warner Bros. Records of deliberately preventing his project. Parke said, “ The Gold Experience was supposed to have a gold leaf cover , but that was too expensive for Warner Brothers. I even had a jewel case that had gold colored granules inside the plastic. But suddenly Warner Brothers objected. I am convinced that Warner did not want to put any additional energy into the project. "
music
The music of The Gold Experience belongs to the genres of funk , contemporary R&B , pop music and rock music . The lyrics sings mostly melodic Prince set to music , of P Control and Now are by him in the chant recited. Rain Ivana's voice as NPG operator guides the listener through the songs on the album. Sometimes she presents these as "Experiences" and explains at one point that there are "more than 500 experiences to choose from".
The song P Control was originally called Pussy Control , but Prince shortened the word "Pussy" with the letter P because it was feared that retailers would not sell an album with the word "Pussy" on the record cover. P Control comes from the genre funk and contemporary R&B, paired with elements from dance-pop . The song has a dominant synthesizer structure and Mayte Garcia opens the piece with the sentence spoken in Spanish: “Nuestra presentacion especial comenzara en breve. Pero antes un mensaje de nuestros auspiciadores. "(German:" Our special presentation will begin soon. But first a message from our sponsors. ") The song text performed by Prince is to be interpreted with a wink and is about a woman, which is called "pussy" and has all perspectives of her life under control; for example, she exercises power over men with her sexuality. The chorus “Aaah, Pussy Control, oh” consists of a scream uttered by Prince.
Endorphinmachine is a song from the rock genre and is influenced by Prince's guitar playing. In the lyrics he describes himself as the "endorphin machine", which will produce the sexual drive of his girlfriend's endorphins . The lyrics are ambiguous and can also be interpreted to mean that you should go to the gym to train. Prince mentioned the happiness hormones endorphins for the first time in the song Eye Wanna Melt with U from the album Love Symbol in 1992. At the end of Endorphinemachine Garcia says in Spanish: “Prince esta muerto. Que viva para siempre el Poder de la Nueva Generacion. "(German:" Prince is dead. Long live the The New Power Generation . ")
In the R&B ballad Shhh , Prince deals with the sexual seduction of a woman. We March comes from the funk music genre. The lyrics are one of the most socially critical that Prince has written in his career; he describes how unfair a racist society is. As an introduction to the song Mayte Garcia says: "Uno para todos, y todos para uno" (German: "One for all, all for one")
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World is a pop song, and the version on The Gold Experience is slightly different from the single version; the album version is 20 seconds longer and the version is mixed slightly differently. Prince sings the lyrics in his typical falsetto singing and deals with the importance of "inner beauty".
Dolphin is like the endorphin machine from the rock genre, with Prince's guitar playing again in the foreground. In the lyrics he deals with the subject of reincarnation and uses a dolphin as a metaphor for his own reincarnation . Lenny Kravitz sang the backing vocals , which is not mentioned in the liner notes .
The song Now comes from the field of funk and electric bass and drums dominate the piece. Similar to P Control , Prince performs the lyrics in spoken chant, but Now sings the chorus . In the lyrics he deals with artistic integrity.
The blues-rock structure of song 319 is sometimes reminiscent of the Prince songs U Got the Look (1987), Partyman (1989), Cream (1991) and Peach (1993). In the lyrics of the song, Prince describes a woman who in a hotel with the room number "319" is masturbating and taking photos of herself. The male protagonist admits in the song that he likes to watch her meanwhile. Prince later said that while writing the lyrics , he was inspired by Elizabeth Berkley , the lead actress in Showgirls . The piece 319 was already heard in the mentioned movie, which premiered four days before the release of The Gold Experience in the USA, but is not on the soundtrack of the film.
Shy can be attributed to the genre funk, paired with elements from folk rock ; Acoustic guitar and drums are supported by brass instruments . The lyrics tell the story of a man wandering the Los Angeles area . He meets a young woman who is a member of a gang . She reveals that she killed the man who killed her friend. But the woman is shy about Prince.
Billy Jack Bitch contains a sample from Lyin 'Ass Bitch (1985), written by Lisa Grant, Kendall Jones and Angelo Moore. It also contains a sample from the song New Dell Inn , which was written by trombonist Michael B. Nelson but is not mentioned as a co-author of Billy Jack Bitch . Billy Jack Bitch is from soul and pop; Electronic organs and synthesizers dominate the song. As with Dolphin , Lenny Kravitz sang the backing vocals, which is also not mentioned in the liner notes. The lyrics are about the music journalist and Prince observer Cheryl Johnson, who works for the Star Tribune based in Minneapolis. Prince addresses them in the lyrics with their initials "CJ". In the past, Johnson had written negative reports about Prince on several occasions, including titling him "Symbolina" when he changed his name to a pronounceable symbol in 1993. According to Johnson, Prince denied having written the lyrics about her, which his girlfriend at the time, Mayte Garcia, confirmed. According to Johnson, she and Prince had a chance encounter in June 1997 near the Paisley Park building in Chanhassen, in which he called her "his worst enemy". When he asked why she didn't like him, she replied that she didn't like the way he behaved. Johnson wonders why Prince couldn't be more “normal” as a person, like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for example .
The song Eye Hate U is the second ballad on The Gold Experience after Shhh . The lyrics are about the love-hate relationship between Prince and his girlfriend who betrayed him. He brings his unfaithful girlfriend to a fictional "court of love" and sues her. In the end, Prince wants to have sex with her in the courtroom so that he can win her back. Carmen Electra inspired him to write the lyrics with which Prince had an affair in 1992.
The last song on the album is called Gold and is a melodic pop-rock ballad. Prince's singing is sometimes reminiscent of that of a hymn and at the end you can hear his multi-track recorded singing with a descending melody over the chords instead of following them. In the lyrics, Prince subliminally deals with the topic of "control", regarding his decision to leave his music behind under the name "Prince" and start a new beginning as a "symbol". The color gold generally stands for divine wisdom. The song is also reminiscent of Purple Rain from 1984.
List of titles and publications
| No. | song | author | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P Control | Prince | 5:59 |
| 2 | NPG operator | Prince | 0:11 |
| 3 | Endorphin machine | Prince | 4:06 |
| 4th | Shhh | Prince | 7:17 |
| 5 | We March | Prince, Nona Gaye | 4:49 |
| 6th | NPG operator | Prince | 0:17 |
| 7th | The Most Beautiful Girl in the World | Prince | 4:25 |
| 8th | Dolphin | Prince | 4:58 |
| 9 | NPG operator | Prince | 0:19 |
| 10 | Now | Prince | 4:30 |
| 11 | NPG operator | Prince | 0:31 |
| 12 | 319 | Prince | 3:05 |
| 13 | NPG operator | Prince | 0:09 |
| 14th | Shy | Prince | 5:03 |
| 15th | Billy Jack Bitch | Prince, Michael B. Nelson | 5:31 |
| 16 | Eye Hate U | Prince | 5:53 |
| 17th | NPG operator | Prince | 0:44 |
| 18th | gold | Prince | 7:22 |
On July 8, 1995 Prince released the sampler The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) , which was initially only available on compact cassette . Posthumously the sampler came out on CD in the year of 2019.
The Gold Experience was released on September 25, 1995 in the UK and one day later in the US. The album is available on compact disc , as a double LP on vinyl record and on compact cassette. Furthermore appeared The Gold Experience as a special edition in the yellow vinyl as a double LP, together with the maxi-single of Eye Hate U .
Single releases
Three singles were released from the album: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World was released on February 14, 1994, one and a half years before The Gold Experience was released. The song is 4:07 minutes long and differs slightly from the album version. The B-side is the piece Beautiful , a 3:55 minute remix - dance version of the single.
Two weeks before the release of The Gold Experience , Eye Hate U was released as the second single on September 12, 1995. The single version is shortened to 4:27 minutes. The song can be heard as the B-side in the Quiet Night Mix , also a remix version of the single. On November 30, 1995, the third and last single was released with Gold , which is 4:43 minutes long in the edit version . The B-side is Rock 'N' Roll Is Alive! (And it Lives in Minneapolis) , which Prince wrote in response to Lenny Kravitz 's single, Rock and Roll Is Dead, from the 1995 album Circus .
In addition, three promo singles have been released from The Gold Experience . P Control originally appeared as a CD single with B-side 319 a few months before the album, but on December 3, 1995, P Control was released in various remixes on compact cassette - the cassette was offered during the VH-1 Fashion Awards. Shortly before the album was released, the song Endorphinmachine was released as a 1-track CD single in Japan . In the late summer of 1995, the songs Dolphin , NPG Operator and We March were released on compact cassette, the songs are available in a shortened version.
Music videos
Prince produced music videos for eight songs from The Gold Experience , all of which were funded by him, but only half of which have been officially released. On January 29, 1994, he made a music video for The Most Beautiful Girl in the World in his hometown of Minneapolis . The music video was recorded in a film studio and shows him standing on a kind of pedestal and singing the song with his backing band The New Power Generation . The video was directed by Prince and Antoine Fuqua .
The music videos for Shhh and Now are from a concert Prince gave on February 13, 1994 at his Paisley Park studio. Prince also shot the video for Endorphin Machine in February 1994 at Paisley Park Studio. It shows a live performance as he performs the song with The New Power Generation and dancer Mayte Garcia. Prince plays a gold-colored guitar in the shape of his ineffable symbol. Excerpts from the music video can be seen on the Interactive CD-ROM , which was released on June 7, 1994. In the music video for Dolphin , Prince can be seen again with The New Power Generation singing the song in a studio. Prince wears dark sunglasses and the word "slave" is written on his cheek. Mayte Garcia is dancing in the background and wearing a white dress.
On February 3, 1995, Prince made a music video for P Control in the glam slam club in Los Angeles. He took additional film material on June 8, 1995 in the Glam Slam Club in Miami , Florida. Further information is not known to the public and the music video was not officially released.
Prince recorded the music video for Gold on October 10, 1995 at Paisley Park Studio. He sings the song with The New Power Generation on a mainly gold-colored concert stage in front of a crowd. Sometimes it rains gold-colored glitter during the performance . For gold , there are two different music videos; in one only the performance of Prince and his band is shown, in the other a female protagonist can be seen in the auditorium, as she longingly watches Prince as he performs the song. Prince also produced a music video for Rock 'N' Roll Is Alive! (And it Lives in Minneapolis) , which was recorded on the same day as Gold and filmed in front of an audience on the same concert stage at Paisley Park Studio.
Although it was Eye Hate U released in September 1995 as a single, but it was only on October 22 began Prince, film scenes for music video in Paisley Park Studio to turn. At the beginning of the video, Mayte Garcia is hypnotized by a pendulum . In the hypnotized state, she sees The New Power Generation play the song in a courtroom, with the band members wearing blindfolds. Garcia meets Prince in the middle of the courtroom and they dance together. In another scene, Garcia is shown flirting with a man in a restaurant, which Prince watches from a distance. The film scene changes back to the courtroom, where Prince makes his plea to the judge - played by drummer Michael Bland. He cross-examines Garcia while dancing with her. In the final scene of the music video, Prince says "I Love You" into the camera, after which Garcia's face can be seen in close-up. When the music video was finished, Prince refused to release Warner Bros. Records because he was still under contract with the label at the time.
Cover versions
Occasionally musicians recorded cover versions of songs from the album The Gold Experience ; In 1994, Prince's girlfriend and later wife Mayte Garcia covered the piece The Most Beautiful Girl in the World as The Most Beautiful Boy in the World and describes the lyrics from a female perspective. She also sings with ¿Quieres ser el mas bello de este mundo? a Spanish version of their interpretation. Saxophonist Eric Leeds, who played repeatedly with Prince in the band from 1983, also recorded an instrumental version of the song in 1994 with Beautiful Girl . In 2013 Richard Cheese interpreted a new version of P Control .
tour
| Typical setlist from The Ultimate Live Experience Tour from March 3, 1995 - March 30, 1995 |
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| All songs are authored by Prince , unless otherwise stated |
Six months before The Gold Experience was released , Prince toured Europe with his backing band The New Power Generation in England, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium . He called it The Ultimate Live Experience Tour and began on March 3, 1995 in London at Wembley Arena and ended on March 30, 1995 in Dublin at the Point Theater . Prince gave 20 concerts that were attended by around 150,000 spectators and grossed approximately 6 million US dollars. The length of the concert varied from 100 to 120 minutes. Prince appeared with the word "slave" on his cheek during the tour. Apart from the live concerts, a serious relationship developed between him and Mayte Garcia .
The New Power Generation consisted of the following five members during the tour:
- Mayte Garcia - dancer
- Michael Bland - drums
- Morris Hayes - keyboard
- Sonny Thompson - electric bass
- Tommy Barbarella - keyboard
In the run-up to the Ultimate Live Experience Tour, Prince's British publicist Chris Poole said, “This tour is very important to him. He's got a little money problem. He's not bankrupt , but he spent his money on his music. ”But the tour crystallized at a low point in Prince's career; many concerts were nowhere near sold out and many visitors were disappointed with the setlist, as Prince played a number of then unreleased songs that hardly anyone knew. He did not play any of his albums from the 1980s, in which he was very successful commercially. Some concert-goers felt cheated and asked for their money back, others left the concerts early. Very few concert goers were thrilled that Prince was performing new material. Occasionally, Prince asked fans to bring a recorder to record live concerts - it was the only way to hear the music from The Gold Experience as he was still fighting with Warner Bros. Records. Music journalists were sometimes very disappointed by the concerts and rated The Ultimate Live Experience Tour as Prince's worst European tour of his career.
The concert stage called Prince "The Endorphin Machine" and consisted of three different sets ; the one on the left resembled the female genital organ , the middle one was shaped like a uterus , and the one on the right resembled the male genital organ. The design was conceived by Prince and the total cost of the stage production was $ 250,000, which ended up being the most expensive concert stage of his career. "The Endorphin Machine" made the money spend even higher; A convoy of trucks was needed to transport the backdrop elements and not - as is usual on tours - one or two trucks. Due to the costs involved, Prince decided to leave the left and right parts of the concert stage in London after he had completed the first five concerts there. Keyboardist Tommy Barbarella described “The Endorphin Machine” at the other concerts as follows: “It was just a flat stage, no background, no more props.” In addition, the concerts suffered from sound problems, which is why Prince repeatedly replaced the sound engineer. In addition, props such as a treadmill that Prince was supposed to carry onto the stage often did not work.
From January 8, 1996 to January 20, 1996 Prince went on tour with The New Power Generation in Japan and gave a total of 7 concerts in Tokyo , Osaka , Fukuoka and Yokohama . The album The Gold Experience had meanwhile been released and the concert halls were 80–90 percent sold out, with a capacity of 7,000 to 18,000 spectators. The setlist was similar to that of the European tour, but the Japanese concert promoters had Prince contractually assure them that he would have to play some of his well-known songs in order to avoid problems similar to those on the European tour. Aside from the songs from The Gold Experience , Prince played among others in 1999 , as well as Starfish and Coffee , If I Was Your Girlfriend and The Cross (all from Sign "☮" the Times ). He also played Sexy MF from Love Symbol . Only the middle part of "The Endorphinmachine" served as a concert stage. After the Japan tour ended, Michael Bland, Sonny Thompson and Tommy Barbarella left Prince's backing band The New Power Generation.
Aftershows
From 1986 onwards, Prince occasionally played an aftershow after the main concert, i.e. another concert after midnight. His aftershows took place in smaller music clubs in front of mostly 300 to 1,500 spectators and Prince did without the lavish stage shows, choreographies and light shows of his main concerts. In addition, he designed the song selection differently and often did without his top ten hits. Some of the aftershows' highlights were guest appearances by well-known musicians.
In 1995 Prince played an aftershow at 8 of the 20 concerts from the European tour. Chaka Khan and George Benson appeared as guest musicians on March 9, 1995 at the Astoria in London . After the final concert of the Ultimate Live Experience Tour, Prince completed an aftershow on March 31st in Dublin at The Pod music club. It started at 3:00 a.m. and Prince played the first verse of his 1987 song The Cross on guitar. Without warning, Bono came on stage from backstage and sang the song. Then he left the stage without comment. Before Prince presented the last song of his aftershow around 4:30 am, he addressed Bono's appearance and asked the audience: “Wasn't that cool when Bono came on stage and sang for you? I tell you, you [Ireland] are extremely lucky to have him. "
reception
Press
The Gold Experience has been praised by many music critics , describing it as Prince's best album since Sign "☮" the Times in 1987. It is also his most thoughtful and commercial album since Diamonds and Pearls (1991). The songs on The Gold Experience are very "melodic", which was mostly not the case on the previous Prince albums.
The British music magazine New Musical Express described all the songs on the album, including Days of Wild , which was ultimately not placed on the album , as early as the beginning of August 1995 - just under two months before The Gold Experience was released. The songs were largely acclaimed and Shy was named the best track on the album. The magazine did not give an overall rating for The Gold Experience at the time.
Cheo H. Coker from the national US daily Los Angeles Times was enthusiastic about the album The Gold Experience and distributed the maximum number of four stars. Prince stopped "copying other trends". The result is the "most efficient and most important album since Graffiti Bridge from 1990".
Carol Cooper of the US music magazine Rolling Stone praised: "With this record, our former Prince shows its versatile side since the 1987 published Sign o 'the Times [sic]." In addition, long-time Prince fans would handwriting of his albums Controversy ( 1981), 1999 (1982) and Purple Rain (1984). In conclusion, Cooper drew: "What you actually hear on the album is the heart, soul and mind of our former and future Prince." It gave four stars out of five.
Mike Flaherty of the US magazine Entertainment Weekly was on a scale of A + to F the grade A- and wrote that it was "an energetic, wild plant, full of spark, passion and playfulness." Vickie Gilmer of the US newspaper St Paul Pioneer Press gave three and a half stars out of four, saying The Gold Experience shows that Prince is "guaranteed to take steps forward with the album."
The US magazine Vibe played some puns regarding Prince's name change and wrote that The Gold Experience was a Prince experience "par excellence". In addition, “his best performance” in the 1990s “came about almost without him [Prince].” Music journalist Robert Christgau gave the grade A , with only A + being better. Compared to other Prince albums, The Gold Experience is also "sex-obsessed, just with more juice". In addition, Prince hadn't sounded so “ black ” in years and hadn't been so “rocky” as a guitarist in years. Christgau was only disappointed with the ballads on the album.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave four out of five stars. Although he found the interruptions from the NPG operator annoying, The Gold Experience was "Prince's most satisfactory job since Sign o 'the Times ". Danny Kelly from the British magazine Q gave it three out of five stars and drew the conclusion: "Overall a good record, but somehow you get the feeling that Prince, for whatever reason, is not doing his best."
After Prince's death in April 2016, the music journalists Albert Koch and Thomas Weiland from the German music magazine Musikexpress reviewed the album The Gold Experience and gave it four out of six stars. They wrote: “In Pussy Control and Endorphinmachine you can see the techno and grunge climate, while gold sounds like Purple Rain . Such influences may not contribute to self-renewal, but at least to creative consolidation ”.
Charts and awards
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
24 (8 weeks) | 8th |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
28 (6 weeks) | 6th |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
7th (7 weeks) | 7th |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
4th (12 weeks) | 12 |
 United States (Billboard)
|
6th (8 weeks) | 8th |
The Gold Experience has sold approximately one million copies worldwide since 1995, of which about 530,000 were sold in the United States.
- UK: 1 × gold for 100,000 copies sold on October 1, 1995
- US: 1 × gold for 500,000 copies sold on December 7, 1995
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1994 | The Most Beautiful Girl in the World |
DE9 (23 weeks) DE |
AT5 (12 weeks) AT |
CH1 (2) (22 weeks) CH |
UK1 (2)  (14 weeks)UK |
US3  (26 weeks)US |
• UK: April 1, 1994: Silver (200,000+)
• US: May 26, 1994: Gold (500,000+) |
| 1995 | Eye Hate U |
DE62 (9 weeks) DE |
- |
CH31 (5 weeks) CH |
UK20 (3 weeks) UK |
US12 (10 weeks) US |
|
| gold |
DE58 (13 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK10 (9 weeks) UK |
US88 (2 weeks) US |
||
literature
- Mobeen Azhar: Prince 1958–2016: His life in pictures and text. Edition Olms, Oetwil am See / Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-283-01265-6 , OCLC 951825985 .
- Jake Brown: Prince in the Studio (1975-1995). Colossus Books, Phoenix 2010, ISBN 978-0-9790976-6-9 , OCLC 276814904 .
- Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 .
- Alex Hahn: Obsessed - Prince's turbulent life . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2016, ISBN 978-3-85445-610-0
- Liz Jones: Slave to the Rhythm - The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. Warner Books, Little Brown and Company 1997, ISBN 0-7515-2393-3 , OCLC 41314165 .
- Steve Parke: Picturing Prince. Cassell Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London 2017, ISBN 978-1-84403-959-3 .
- Ronin Ro: Prince - Inside the Music and the Masks. St. Martin's Press, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-312-38300-8 , OCLC 428027211 .
- Matt Thorne: Prince. Faber and Faber, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-571-27349-2 , OCLC 794814748 .
- Uptown: The Vault - The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince. Nilsen Publishing, Linköping 2004, ISBN 91-631-5482-X , OCLC 186521364 .
Web links
- Princevault.com , information about the album The Gold Experience
Individual evidence
- ↑ Booklet of the CD The Gold Experience by O (+>, Warner Bros. Records / NPG Records, 1995
- ↑ a b c Uptown (2004), p. 398.
- ↑ Endorphin Machine. In: Princevault.com. March 24, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Shhh. In: Princevault.com. March 24, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Dolphin. In: Princevault.com. November 5, 2017, accessed November 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Now. In: Princevault.com. December 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ 319. In: Princevault.com. December 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Billy Jack Bitch. In: Princevault.com. December 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Eye Hate U. In: Princevault.com. December 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Gold. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 154.
- ^ Acknowledge Me. In: Princevault.com. December 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ NPG operator segues. In: Princevault.com. May 5, 2015, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 156.
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 162.
- ↑ We March. In: Princevault.com. December 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 167.
- ↑ Jones (1997), p. 185.
- ↑ Draper (2011), p. 130.
- ↑ Hahn (2006), p. 256.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 252.
- ↑ Ro (2011), pp. 251-252.
- ↑ a b Hahn (2006), p. 254.
- ^ Jones (1997), p. 178.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 168.
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 169.
- ↑ Jones (1997), p. 185.
- ↑ Jones (1997), p. 212.
- ↑ Azhar (2016), p. 73
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 264.
- ↑ a b Hahn (2006), p. 259.
- ↑ Ro (2011), pp. 264-265.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 173.
- ↑ Ro (2011), pp. 265-266.
- ↑ a b c Draper (2011), p. 140.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 181.
- ↑ a b Ro (2011), p. 268.
- ↑ a b c Ro (2011), p. 269.
- ↑ Hahn (2006), p. 263.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 183.
- ^ The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold). In: Princevault.com. January 3, 2018, accessed January 3, 2018 .
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 185.
- ↑ Photo of the writing Slave on the cheek. (No longer available online.) 2017, archived from the original on November 7, 2017 ; Retrieved April 8, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Hahn (2006), p. 257.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 258.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 195.
- ↑ Draper (2011), p. 143.
- ^ Jones (1997), p. 184.
- ↑ Hahn (2006), p. 260.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 262.
- ^ Jones (1997), p. 214.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 261.
- ↑ Thorne (2012), p. 483.
- ↑ Booklet of the CD The Gold Experience by O (+>, Warner Bros. Records / NPG Records, 1995
- ↑ Azhar (2016), p. 98
- ↑ a b c d Thorne (2012), p. 313.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), pp. 398-399.
- ↑ a b c Prince Lyrics - The Gold Experience. In: Princelyrics.co.uk. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Uptown (2004), p. 399.
- ↑ a b Hahn (2006), p. 270.
- ↑ Thorne (2012), p. 312.
- ↑ Draper (2011), p. 129.
- ↑ Jones (1997), pp. 136-137.
- ↑ Parke (2017), p. 214.
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 158.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 187.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 190.
- ^ Pussy Control / P. Control. In: Princevault.com. February 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Endorphin Machine. In: Princevault.com. May 15, 2015, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Dolphin. In: Princevault.com. February 28, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Uptown (2004), pp. 628-629.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 628.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 157.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 629.
- ↑ a b c Uptown (2004), p. 174.
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 182.
- ↑ a b c Uptown (2004), p. 630.
- ↑ a b Uptown (2004), p. 188.
- ^ The Gold Experience (1995). In: Whosampled.com. 2017, accessed on September 19, 2017 .
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 175.
- ↑ Jones (1997), p. 185.
- ↑ Draper (2011), p. 141.
- ^ Uptown (2004), pp. 162-163.
- ^ Ro (2011), p. 266.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), pp. 174-175.
- ↑ Hahn (2006), pp. 264-265.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 191.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), p. 179.
- ↑ Uptown (2004), pp. 399-400.
- ^ The Gold Experience. In: Princetext.tripod.com. August 3, 1995, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Cheo H. Coker: Fall Album Roundup: With 'Gold', Prince Regains His Midas Touch. In: Losangelestimes.com. September 24, 1995, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Brown (2010), p. 214.
- ↑ a b Hahn (2006), p. 269.
- ^ Carol Cooper: The Gold Experience. In: Princetext.tripod.com. September 24, 1995, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Draper (2011), p. 142.
- ^ Robert Christgau: Prince - The Gold Experience. In: RobertChristgau.com. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Prince - Gold Experience. In: Allmusic.com. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Danny Kelly: The Gold Experience. In: Princetext.tripod.com. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ ME editors: From the big Prince special - an overview of all albums. In: Musikexpress.de. May 22, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Prince. officialcharts.de, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Prince. austriancharts.at, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Prince. hitparade.ch, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Prince. officialcharts.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .
- ^ Prince - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ a b BPI - Certified Awards Search. In: bpi.co.uk. 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
- ^ Uptown (2004), p. 188.
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
