Gold Experience

Personnel: Prince (vocals, various instruments); Nona Gaye (vocals); Rain Ivana (spoken vocals); James Behringer (guitar); Ricky Peterson (keyboards); Statik, Kirky J. (programming).
The New Power Generation: Sonny T.; Michael B., Tommy Barbarella, Mr. Hayes, Mayte.
NPG Hornz: Michael B. Nelson, Kathy Jensen, Dave Jensen, Brian Gallagher, Steve Strand.
Engineers include: Tom Tucker, Chronic Freeze, Ray Hahnfeldt.
Recorded at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, Minnesota; Guillaume Tell, Paris, France; The Record Plant, Los Angeles, California. Includes liner notes by Jim Walsh.
THE GOLD EXPERIENCE was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, and "Eye Hate You" was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
This is all about music--adventurously funky ensemble music with a tighter-than-ever New Power Generation, psychedelically poppy studio music from within the man's ever-scheming head. Hip-hop-styled beats boom ("Now" has a grandstand-chant beat that Naughty By Nature would love), space-age keyboards squiggle (through big-beat numbers like "P Control"), and fuzz guitars grind out super-funky rhythms (like "Shy," which pays a debt to Sly Stone). Meanwhile, the man himself stretches his supple voice like an elastic band around falsetto soul, psychedelic rock and enough playful raps to convince you he finally actually believes in the stuff, making THE GOLD EXPERIENCE the most musically realized album Prince has made in the NPG era.