Publication: College Music Journal (CMJ) [US]
Date: October 1995
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Title: "O{+> - The Gold Experience"
Reviewed By: Glen Sansone

Since 1990, most of the talk about the artist formerly known as Prince was more often about his troubles with record labels, or of his personal politics -- which caused him to turn himself into a little icon for the computer generation -- rather than his actual records. Lost somewhere in all the talk was an artist whose musical output wasn't making the headlines like it once did (1994's Come was painfully mediocre), and his popularity as the purple highness of funk was evaporating faster than water on a steam pipe. As previous album's [sic] like Purple Rain and Sign O' The Times validated Prince's genius, the Gold Experience will be the one to make that little symbol shine as brightly as a thousand stars. This is the record that does what his last four records didn't: get down and dirty in the funk, not tip-toe through it. On the Gold Experience, the electric guitar is no longer a glossy prop; he plays it sexy, blistering, sweetly ("Shhh" and a remade mix of "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World"), and accompanies it with the best songs he's written in years.

"Endorphinemachine" (also found on his CD-ROM) is probably as good as he's been this decade, its monstrous, high-energy rock/funk raining over a piercing hook, while the playful, layered melodies of "Dolphin" highlight one of at least five radio-ready cuts. If you find the first single "Eye Hate You" a little too drab, there are cuts like the subversive "P Control," the electro-funk of "Billy Jack Bitch" and the warm, beautifully-penned "Shy" that are absolute treasures. Prince the name may be dead, but it's a pleasure to see that the artist formerly known as Prince isn't ready for a death certificate just yet: He's finally waking up.