I never liked D&P
Back in the late 1980s/early 1990s (and probably earlier as well as later, but I'm sure it happened during that period), prominent releases often got an advance premiere on the radio, a week or so before release.
IIRC D&P was premiered about two weeks before its release, on both Dutch and Belgian radio. I tried to catch as much as possible of these previews, taping the songs when they were played, but in the end I only managed to catch about half of the album.
I repeatedly listened to this tape over the next days/weeks, and I was surprised to find myself bored. Initially I thought "these will grow on me", but instead I disliked them more and more, and I stopped listening to the tape before the album was released.
On the Friday the album was released, I immediately bought it, and eagerly went home to listen to it, thinking "perhaps I missed the good songs when they previewed the album". Got home, put on the CD, and... whoa boy, this was bad. On my initial listen the best tracks merely registered as mediocre, and the rest way below that.
This was a blatant attempt at a hit record. It was overproduced, with overstuffed tracks that seemed intent to fill every one of the 48 channels on the mixing board. The title track was a hideous turkey.
I'll never understand the infatuation with Rosie Gaines. Her voice veers between Prince-imitation and dollar-store Aretha, and overpowers everything. And she isn't even the worst "guest vocalist" on this album.
But the worst crime of this album is that it doesn't feel genuine. It is calculated, designed for chart success. Instead of emotions it blares on about bland statements like "live for love", or excruciatingly whines about a former manager.
In retrospect it shows the problems that would plague so much of Prince's post-1995 recordings: at best mediocre and often instantly forgettable songs, overstuffed arrangements, songs that go on waaay too long, whiny songs about the music business, ill-chosen collaborators, boasts about how great Prince is, desperation for chart success,...
It wasn't until early 1994 that I heard an inspired Prince again. And that lasted until the end of 1995 or so.
Then came Emancipation, an album that immediately raced past D&P to the bottom of my Prince albums ranking, and from then on it never got better -- and often worse.
D&P is the point where I stopped being an "everything is fantastic" Prince fan. Not that I really thought that, but in most cases there were understandable reasons for the disappointments, plus still plenty of highlights. But D&P is the first time where I went "yikes" and Prince became fallible.
