The Gold Experience

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The Gold Experience
File:Prince Gold.jpg
Studio album by Prince
Released September 26, 1995
Genre Funk rock[1]
Length 65:04
Label Warner Bros., NPG
Producer Prince
Prince chronology
The Black Album
(1994)The Black Album1994		 The Gold Experience
(1995)		 Girl 6
(1996)Girl 61996
Singles from The Gold Experience
  1. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"
    Released: February 24, 1994
  2. "P Control"
    Released: 1995
  3. "Dolphin"
    Released: 1995
  4. "Endorphinmachine"
    Released: 1995
  5. "I Hate U"
    Released: September 12, 1995
  6. "Gold"
    Released: November 30, 1995

The Gold Experience is the seventeenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was produced entirely by Prince and released on September 26, 1995 on NPG Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album charted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 and number 2 on the Top R&B Albums.[2] The singles "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", "I Hate U", and "Gold" charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at numbers 3, 12, and 88 respectively.[2]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars[3]
Blender 4/5 stars[4]
Chicago Tribune 3/4 stars[5]
Entertainment Weekly A−[6]
The Guardian 4/5 stars[7]
Los Angeles Times 4/4 stars[8]
NME 7/10[9]
Q 3/5 stars[10]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars[11]
The Village Voice A[12]

The Gold Experience was released on September 26, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records and NPG Records.[13] It sold 500,000 copies in the United States and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, failing to meet commercial expectations. According to biographer Jason Draper, it may have undersold because Prince was losing touch with younger listeners and how his contractual dispute with Warner Bros. Records overshadowed the album's promotion, which he had done well before it was released.[14]

Nonetheless, The Gold Experience was a success with critics.[14] Melody Maker called it Prince's best record in years,[15] while Vibe said it was his best since Sign o' the Times in 1987.[16] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote that it showcased not only the unbridled artistry displayed on his other records but also "a renewal. It's as sex-obsessed as ever, only with more juice—'Shhh' and '319' especially pack the kind of porno jolt sexy music rarely gets near and hard music never does."[12] He believed its best songs, specifically "Endorphinmachine" and "P Control", "funk and rock as outrageously and originally as anything he's ever recorded".[17] Jon Pareles was less enthusiastic in The New York Times, finding most of the songs to be minor successes and calling it "a proficient album, not a startling one; most of its songs are variations and retreads of previous Prince efforts."[18]

The Gold Experience was voted the 30th best album of 1995 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by The Village Voice.[19] Christgau, the poll's supervisor, ranked it 10th best in his own year-end list.[20] In a retrospective review, Keith Harris from Blender cited The Gold Experience as the best album Prince recorded in the 1990s, "a mix of newly stripped-down funk and delicate balladry that reasserts his dynamic range".[4]

Several people speculated that the song "Billy Jack Bitch" was written about a Minneapolis Star Tribune gossip columnist known as "CJ".[21][22][23] Prince denied the song was about the columnist when CJ herself interviewed him.[24]

The album is currently out of print.

Track listing

All songs written by Prince, except where indicated.

  1. "Pussy Control" (censored as "P Control") – 5:59
  2. "NPG Operator" - 0:10
  3. "Endorphinmachine" – 4:07
  4. "Shhh" – 7:18
  5. "We March" (Prince, Nona Gaye) – 4:49
  6. "NPG Operator" - 0:16
  7. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" – 4:25
  8. "Dolphin" – 4:59
  9. "NPG Operator" - 0:18
  10. "Now" – 4:30
  11. "NPG Operator" - 0:31
  12. "319" – 3:05
  13. "NPG Operator" - 0:10
  14. "Shy" – 5:04
  15. "Billy Jack Bitch" (Prince, Michael B. Nelson) – 5:32
  16. "Eye Hate U" – 5:54
  17. "NPG Operator" - 0:44
  18. "Gold" – 7:23

Special edition vinyl bonus tracks:

  1. "I Hate U" (Extended Remix) – 6:17
  2. "I Hate U" (LP Version) – 6:08
  3. "I Hate U" (Quiet Night Mix) – 3:56
  4. "I Hate U" (Single Version With Guitar Solo) – 4:25
  5. "I Hate U" (Edit - No Guitar Ending) – 3:48

Credits and personnel

  • Prince - lead vocals and various instruments
  • Tommy Barbarella, Mr. Hayes - keyboards (3, 4, 8, 12, 15, 16, 18)
  • Sonny T. - bass (3, 4, 8, 12, 15, 16, 18), backing vocals (5)
  • Michael Bland - drums (3, 4, 8, 12, 15, 16, 18)
  • Ricky Peterson - additional keyboards (5, 7, 12, 16, 18)
  • Kirk Johnson - drum programming (5)
  • James Behringer - additional guitar (7)
  • Brian Gallagher - tenor saxophone (10, 12, 15)
  • Kathy Jensen - baritone saxophone (10, 12, 15)
  • Dave Jensen, Steve Strand - trumpet (10, 12, 15)
  • Michael B. Nelson - trombone (10, 12, 15), horn arrangement (15)
  • Nona Gaye - co-lead vocals (5)
  • Lenny Kravitz - backing vocals (15)
  • Mayte - spoken vocals (1, 5)
  • Rain Ivana (as NPG Operator) - voice (2, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15-18)

Produced by Prince, except: 7, 12, 16, 18, co-produced by Ricky Peterson, and 5, co-produced with Ricky Peterson and Kirk Johnson.[25]

Singles

Another track, "Shhh", charted from The Gold Experience in July 1994; it was not the album version, but rather a live version performed on The Beautiful Experience TV special, which aired in 1994. It received some R&B airplay, causing it to chart and peak at #62 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[26] 13
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[27] 28
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] 5
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[29] 3
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[30] 24
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[31] 24
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[32] 12
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[33] 11
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[34] 7
UK Albums (OCC)[35] 4
US Billboard 200[36] 6

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[37] Gold 100,000
United States (RIAA)[38] Gold 500,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (subscription required)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Prince: Gold Experience > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ blackvoices.com Archived July 17, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ http://princevault.com/index.php/Album:_The_Gold_Experience
  26. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – The Symbol – The Gold Experience". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  27. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – The Symbol – The Gold Experience" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Symbol – The Gold Experience" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Symbol – The Gold Experience" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  30. ↑ "The Symbol: The Gold Experience" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  31. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Symbol – The Gold Experience" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – The Symbol – The Gold Experience". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – The Symbol – The Gold Experience". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – The Symbol – The Gold Experience". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  35. ↑ "Prince | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  36. ↑ "Prince – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Prince. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter The Gold Experience in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

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