Prince has made stranger albums, but few have felt this deliberately hostile. Come is the sound of an artist smothering his own pop instincts in real time, a dark and sexually explicit record that treats melody like a rumor. It is Prince at his most experimental and his most alienating, often in the same song.
The title track opens the album with 11 minutes of slow, churning funk. It does not build so much as it simmers, with Prince’s voice buried in the mix beneath a wet, hypnotic bassline. It is a statement of intent: this is not a record for the radio.
The 11-Minute Opening Statement
“Space” follows with a sparse, eerie groove that feels like a song recorded in an empty room. “Loose!” picks up the tempo with a jagged guitar riff, but the looseness is in the performance, not the structure. “Pheromone” is the album’s most successful experiment, a five-minute track that works as pure atmosphere, all whispered vocals and tense, minimal percussion.
“Papa” is the outlier, a bitter, semi-autobiographical rant against his stepfather that lands with a thud. “Race” and “Dark” form a murky middle section. Both are competent but feel like sketches rather than finished songs, heavy on mood and light on hooks. “Solo” is a brief, lonely piano piece that offers the only real respite on the record.
“Letitgo” is the closest thing to a single here, a funky, mid-tempo track with an actual chorus. It is the most accessible moment on Come, which is to say it is still strange and claustrophobic. “Orgasm” closes the proper album with just under two minutes of explicit spoken-word moaning. It is not a song; it is a provocation.
The Remixes Are the Point
The final four tracks are remixes, and they are not filler. The two versions of “Space” stretch the original into longer, more rhythmic territory, while the two instrumental mixes of “Letitgo” strip the song down to its bones. These versions feel less like bonus material and more like the album’s true destination: pure, unfiltered groove without the burden of vocals.
The album runs 71 minutes, and it feels every one of them.
The Verdict on Orgasm and After
Come is not a failure, but it is a challenge. It is Prince refusing to entertain, and for that, it deserves respect. But respect is not the same as enjoyment. The record is often tedious, and its explicit content feels less like liberation and more like a wall.
It is an album for completists and the curious, not for casual listeners. It is the sound of a genius testing his audience’s patience, and most of them failed the test.
Key Facts
- Artist: Prince
- Album: Come
- Release: 1994
- Tracks: 14
- Total runtime: 71 minutes
- Come11:13
- Space4:28
- Loose!3:27
- Pheromone5:08
- Papa2:48
- Race4:28
- Dark6:10
- Solo3:48
- Letitgo5:33
- Orgasm1:39
- Space (Universal Love remix)6:10
- Space (Funky Stuff remix)5:42
- Letitgo (Q.D. III instrumental mix)5:00
- Letitgo (J. Swift #3 instrumental)5:43
