Customer Reviews

Diamonds and Pearls

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Following the misfire of Graffiti Bridge, Prince pulled his career from the coals of doom, avoiding being labelled a legacy of the 80's, and reemerged the following year with a new band and new sound, more stripped down, lively, and natural, as if trying to get the feel of a live band rather than studio trickery, and adding hip-hop and rapper Tony B to his repertoire. Diamonds And Pearls may have yielded some radio-friendly singles, but the rest of the album's another matter altogether.

"Thunder" shows Prince as still a religious man, and at times reminds me of a stripped down "When Doves Cry," while "Daddy Pop" has identical instrumentations to "Cream," but with a more rapid beat than the single, and vocals from Prince and Elisa matching the beat. One of the better songs here.

Add the romantic title track to another prime Prince ballad, with special vocal help from Rosie Gaines, whom Prince respected so much that he vowed never to play this song live with anyone else but her. Heraldic horns and guitars in the bridge add to the magic. While stripped down and simple, it's a far cry from sensually lush lovescapes such as "Do Me, Baby," "International Lover," and "The Beautiful Ones." That honour belongs to "Insatiable," which has a slow-dancing/bedroom tempo keyboards and percussion and Prince's crooning falsetto.

"Cream, sh-boogie bop!" Measured and paced percussive beats, guitar and organ riffs, and a sound that turns dark coffee into latte, "Cream" stands as a fair single.

"Strollin'" is a frisky musical leisure promenade sung in Prince's falsetto, with a simple message of relaxing by playing one-day hookey from responsibilities and gain that sense of feeling swell.

The Steeles, whom Prince used on Graffiti Bridge, do a gospel-like power harmonies on the equally frisky "Willing And Able" a song on being confident enough to take risks, with a cards motif equating face cards with what it takes to follow one's dream

Prince still had his overt and aggressive entendres with "Gett Off," which was probably his most suggestive song since "Darling Nikki," and experimenting with grinding hip-hop motifs. "23 positions in a one-night stand?" and "something about a little box with a mirror and a tongue inside"? A song showing that if a girl's a star, he's the big dipper, and a preview to the simpler but just as explicit single from his next album.

The party atmosphere of "Jughead" takes rap a step further than "House Quake" did in Sign O The Times, with Tony M taking a more prominent role than Prince. On first glance, it seems to be about a dance, but it ends with a slick, Anglo manager delivering some "wheelers and dealers" royalties sales talk to Tony, who after delivering a rant on how managers are parasites who cheat artists out of their deserved royalties, settles the score with a slug. And it continued with one of the Cavallo-Ruffalo-Fargnoli team suing Prince for defamation.

"Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is one of the better songs, a lush and leisure number that weaves losing at a blackjack table, an attempt to find partners for an investment, and killing children to control the oil supply. The key thing is that one's soul is more important than money. The musical motifs of this would be revisited in "Sweet Baby" on his Symbol album.

"Push" is a song out of LoveSexy that has been given hip-hop arms and legs, rap scratches, and runs the 400 in quality time, with "Glam Slam"-like string synths, and a rap written on the sleeve verso mentioning the first seven songs in a verse.

Prince's political consciousness is alive and kicking in "Live 4 Love," a story of a bomber pilot who after being hit in enemy territory, wonders just what he's fighting for, and makes his decision after coached by his guardian angel, who tells him "live 4 love, without love u don't live."

Whereas the Revolution was an ethnic mix harkening to Sly and the Family Stone, most of the musicians here are black, showing Prince leaning towards a 70's style cultural nationalism stage in his career, and that would be taken to more on his Symbol album.

The review title pretty sums this record up. On the plus side, this album features four strong to excellent cuts: "Cream" (a rocking little boogie but one that borrows a little too obviously from T Rex's "Bang a Gong"), "Daddy Pop" (an unfairly neglected jam), "Gett Off" (an even hotter jam), and best of all, "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" (a homage to 70s Philly Soul and ranks as one of Prince's best singles). Three tracks are above average to solid: "Walk, Don't Walk" (cute and catchy, but a little obvious in its message) "Insatiable" (a solid Prince slow jam, but far from among his best) and "Diamonds and Pearls" (a huge hit, but it never did that much for me). The remaining tracks have little to recommend them. If you find this album cheap (say for less than five dollars), it is not a bad investment (being that it has four strong tracks and three solid ones). But unless you are a major Prince fan, I would not recommend paying full price.

Diamonds and Pearls is the most listenable Prince album of the nineties so far. This album contains some of Princes best songs on any album. You'll know the great singles 'Cream', 'Diamonds and Pearls', 'Money Don't Matter 2Night' and the highlight of the album, 'Gett Off', but there are alot of lesser known gems on this album as well. 'Thunder' is an amazing start to the album and should have been a huge hit. 'Willing and Able', 'Strollin', 'Walk Don't Walk', and 'Insatiable' are all great songs. I love 'Live 4 Love', the guitar work on it is amazing. Amazon.com recognizes this disc as an essential recording and rightly so. Enjoy.

I wasn't too old when this album was released, so I don't know how well it was received or what singles got played alot and whatnot. I'm judging this cd based purely on the music only.
The musical styles on this album vary alot. You get power-pop, hip-hop/R&B, love ballads, and rock n' roll. Maybe Prince was experimenting or maybe he was trying to please all of his fans. Whatever the case, this album is pretty decent. I'll rate the songs as follows:
1. Thunder- 5/5: This song is like a rock opera with a gospel tinge to it. You can also hear a slight hip-hop influence with the backing beat. This tune is pretty catchy.
2. Daddy Pop- 4/5: This song is heavily based in hip-hop and even features some rapping. But the music is great and the refrain is pretty catchy too. It doesn't sound like classic Prince though if thats what you like.
3. Diamonds and Pearls- 5/5: This is a pretty little love ballad that makes you really pine for romance in your life.
It kind of reminds me of all those couples sitting down for champagne and making love afterwards near a fireplace.
4. Cream- 5/5: Pure R&B that coincidentally goes through my ears like a fine lotion. Its got that slight little hip-hop influence to it because you can dance to it.
5. Strollin- 4/5: This isnt a bad song; it just didnt really stand out to me. Has kind of a basic feel to it.
6. Willing and Able- 5/5: Shows some rock influence and kind of makes me bob my head.
7. Gett Off- 5/5: A major hip-hop influence here that benefits the song greatly. It's incredibly catchy and danceable.
8. Walk Dont Walk- 3/5: This song kind of bores me and I also think it's a bit corny.
9. Jughead- 3/5: The music is pretty good to this song but the rapping just totally messes it up. Prince could've at least got a cooler rapper for this song or something.
10. Money Don't Matter 2Nite- 4/5: Another R&B romantic ballad, but the title track was better than this one. That said, this really isn't a bad song; Prince has just done better.
11. Push- 3/5: An example of how rap hurt one of Prince's songs. And it's not even rap in general; it's the rapper he used. This song had great music and some good vocals but the rappers made it sound corny.
12. Insatiable- 5/5: This song is really cool. It's like a love ballad with the R&B feel, but as the song goes on it fades into a rockish vibe. The lyrics are great too.
13. Live 4 Love- 5/5: This might be my favorite song on the album. It's got the hip-hop feel to it but it incorporates funk really heavily. The chorus is infectious and there is some awesome guitar. Versatility is something I admire about Prince.

I hope that review helped. I basically say: this has a mostly R&B/hip hop vibe to it. If you like that side of Prince, then you'll probably love this. Even if you dont like that side of him, there are still some great songs on here worth having.

In the early 90's, before the "alternative" music explosion, new jack swing and rap ruled the airwaves. And it's clear that, perhaps for the first time in his career, with "Diamonds and Pearls" Prince was catering at least somewhat to a mainstream audience. It's still a Prince album, to be sure, filled with the usual sexual bravado (on the slinky "Cream" and the throbbing, intoxicating "Gett Off") and mellow political criticism (on the somber "Money Don't Matter 2 Night", and the closer "Live 4 Love"). But the musical influences on the album never stray far from fairly conventional R&B. The album does take a slight detour with the jazzy "Strollin'", but it's a far cry from the sonic adventurousness of "Around the World in a Day", or even the preceeding "Graffiti Bridge". Just call it "Prince Lite".

Prince enters the nineties on a promising note with this CD. The hits are there with "Cream", "Gett Off" & "Diamonds and Pearls". But for me the highlights are "Money Don't Matter 2Night" and "Live 4 Love". The latter being one of Prince's best funk jams.

Still, this is easily obtainable as a used CD at a bargain price.

When are they going to re-master those 80's classics?

While not as total a success as his very best work, Prince shows great maturity and a dazzling sense of beauty in this, his strongest `90's album. From the opening "Thunder" to the sci-fi tinged "Live 4 Love", Prince's guitar-and-synth attack lends power and grace to a variety of beats and styles. The exception is the overripe ballad "Insatiable" which attempts to be romantic and soulful but succeeds at neither, but the rest of this album stands up well, even after hundreds of listenings. Some standouts include "Daddy Pop" (with its tight, bouncing dance beat), the bluesier pop hit "Cream", and the exquisite "Diamonds and Pearls" which is one of the most purely beautiful songs The Purple One has ever done. On the harder side, "Gett Off" gets down and dirty while "Jughead" uses funk in a sardonically humorous context. The more serious numbers don't play quite as well, possibly because the Artist is no longer driven by the demons that made "Purple Rain" so overpowering. "Walk Don't Walk" is too light and fluffy for its moralizing lyrics, and "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is powerful enough, but more depressing than uplifting, showing us problems, but not even hinting at solutions. Prince's new band, the New Power Generation, performs with flawless precision throughout, although some may say they lack the passion that drove his previous ensembles. They do provide a welcome variety of vocal performances, including some smooth raps (that remind us that rap doesn't have to be about beating women or murdering one's contemporaries), but one can't help but remember the days when Prince's own extraordinary voice generated enough surprises. Perhaps anxious to break in his new band with a successful pop album, Prince's voice, guitar, and yes, even songwriting, seem to take a back seat to the irrepressible rhythm section, so that while this is an eminently listenable and entertaining album, it doesn't show much of the soul-searing intensity that we associate with his very best work. Call it a victory of style over substance, but it's still a fine album, particularly for those of us who've mellowed enough to not miss the fireworks.

Ardent Prince listeners would argue that this LP is no Sign O' The Times, or Purple Rain, or 1999. But Diamonds and Pearls is a nice collection of pop, rock and R & B that has aged well. Prince, for the most part, reins in his muse to produce music that may not appease his core audience but rocks for everyone.

The standout tracks on this LP are the title track, "Cream," the incredibly funky "Gett Off" (the child of the wicked Black Album cut "Rock Hard in A Funky Place"), the Steely Dan-esque "Money Don't Matter 2Night" and the slow jam "Insatiable." These tracks are most indicative of the musical range that marks Prince's greatness. The tracks that fall short are due mostly to the unfortunate involvement of the wack Tony M., who single-handedly ruins "Daddy Pop" and "Jughead," although he deserves credit for his nice turn on "Willing and Able."

Diamonds and Pearls is a solid, if not essential, album and showcases Prince at his most accessible. Fans and non-fans will enjoy it.

Prince came with a credibly commercial sound and consistently featured a rapper (Tony M) for first time here. He wanted to reclaim the chart position his stature deserved after relative years in the wilderness. "Batman" and Prince's fourth #1 "Batdance" were mainly successful on the back of the mainstream audience of the movie let us not forget.

The organ led pop-perfect "Cream" would give Prince his fifth US #1. Other hits included the dramatic multi-layered opener "Thunder", the funk-dance classic "Gett Off" and the supreme, Stevie Wonder style ballad "Money Don't Matter tonite" with it's social commentary format and a "Do Me Baby/Scandalous" type ballad in "Instatiable". "Jughead" and "Push" conversely gave Tony M. a chance to spotlight as frontman much to many fans chagrin.

My favourite song on this album however would have to be the title track with its pretty swaying melody and catchy hook.

Overall this album performed it's function and hooked me into becoming a Prince fan ten years ago so i can testify for it's catchiness personally! While perhaps not one of his deepest album concepts he sold albums while staying credible which was the aim. Can't argue with that right? :)

There are many albums by Prince that I've enjoyed over the years since I was a toddler and "Diamonds and Pearls" ranks as among my favorite albums of his as of writing this review. Released in late 1991, the album spawned his famous his single "Cream" which is one of my favorite chart-topping songs of his. Other favorites are the stadium-sized anthem "Thunder", the forward looking title track, the laid-back latte anthem "Strollin" and "Get Off". I enjoy this entire album the whole way through actually but the songs I mentioned are my favorites.