Diamonds and Pearls

You can never go wrong with Prince. This CD has some great songs on it.

After disappointing sales of Graffiti Bridge, Warner Bros. (his label) was planning to release a "best of" or retrospective. To head off this disaster, Prince made sure he produced a highly commercially viable album, which he did, in order to head off Warner's plans. Of course Prince could be his own worst enemy on occasion, wielding the power to tell Warners what single to release first. Prince wanted "Gett Off." Warners wanted either "Diamonds & Pearls" or "Cream." Prince got his way, but Warner Bros. had the right idea. Nonetheless, "Cream" still went to #1 and "Diamonds & Pearls" is a stone cold pop classic that did well, too. This is one of Prince's finest hours of his so-called "classic" era. He would never again enjoy the kind of commercial success that he did with this album. It was his last truly huge full length record. Even its successor, Love Symbol, which is a really cool album and spawned a really great hit, "7," didn't do as well as Diamonds & Pearls did. Aside from the hit in '94, "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World," which was his last #1 single, Diamonds & Pearls (from '91) is kind of a high water mark for Prince, commercially speaking, beyond the Purple Rain era of '84.

I am a major fan, so have many Prince CD's. This is definitely one of my favorites. Nice mix of funky and smooth. Top of my playlist.

As described…

Now, this CD case came damaged 2 times when I ordered it, so I ended up returning it, but I do like the album. Many of the songs whose music videos are available publicly showcase Prince's dance side with songs such as Cream and Willing & Able, but they also include songs that of course, exhibit his vocal range such as Insatiable. Overall, it's a great album!

A somewhat uneven album, but contains many gems.

I have to admit that when it was released, i did not pay much attention to this album since it took me time to assimilate the fact that Prince had to evolve and do things differently form what he had done previously in the 80's where every release was a jewel. but boy, what a mistake. This is an incredible album! It is probably his best album in the 90's. We all learn from our mistakes, and I can tell hard core Prince fans that they will not be disappointed if they give the album a try like a finally did.

if i stop being a Prince snob for just a second ,this isn't as bad as i thought. but it's hard,man,after his major run. the thing is that even when not fully focused Prince is the best. this is a pain. i would get this for the songs,the songs like Money don't matter tonite which is great. Cream too. and Thunder even. I'm working with looking beyond lovesexy and "the beef"and Prince certainly did tons of great things post 88,but it's scattered. it's here,a bit more on the love symbol,fully realized on come,but i just feel a bit disrespected with this album. like,come on…….. but again,some classic songs. and they are truly wonderful. take the title track. Diamonds and pearls in full version for next tour,please. or just play the whole album in sequence. i know many,many people love this album. some like it even more than the obvious ones. peace,.