Chaos and Disorder

{{Infobox album

| name = Chaos and Disorder

| type = studio

| artist = Prince

| cover = Princechaos.jpg

| alt =

| released = July 9, 1996

| recorded = {{flatlist|

May 1993
October 1993
late 1994
late 1995 – early 1996
February–April 1996

}}

| genre =

| length = 39:13

| label = Warner Bros.

| producer = Prince

| prev_title = Girl 6

| prev_year = 1996

| next_title = Emancipation

| next_year = 1996

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Chaos and Disorder

| type = studio

| single1 = Dinner with Delores

| single1date = June 12, 1996

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r237964|tab=review|label="Prince: Chaos and Disorder Review" |first=Stephen Thomas |last=Erlewine |accessdate=16 September 2011}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Consumer Guide

| rev2score = A−{{cite web |url=http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=prince |title=Prince |first=Robert |last=Christgau |author-link=Robert Christgau |publisher=robertchristgau.com |access-date=2011-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304110259/http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=prince |archive-date=2014-03-04 |url-status=live}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = C+{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/1996/07/26/chaos-and-disorder/ |title=Chaos and Disorder (1996): Prince |first=David |last=Browne |date=Jul 26, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019022102/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,293442,00.html |archive-date=2012-10-19 |url-status=live |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |issue=#337 |publisher=Time |issn=1049-0434 |access-date=2011-09-16}}

| rev4 = The Guardian

| rev4score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite web |title=Prince: every album rated – and ranked |date=2016-04-22 |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202021415/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/22/prince-every-album-rated-and-ranked |archive-date=2022-12-02 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/22/prince-every-album-rated-and-ranked}}

| rev5 = NME

| rev5score = 2/10{{cite web |last=Perry |first=John |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000434reviews.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817152527/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000434reviews.html |archive-date=17 August 2000 |title=TAFKAP - Chaos and Disorder |work=NME |access-date=2011-09-16 |date=6 July 1996}}

| rev6 = Q

| rev6score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web |url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1101729&style=music |title=Prince - Chaos and Disorder CD Album |publisher=CDUniverse.com |access-date=2011-09-16}}

| rev7 = Rolling Stone

| rev7score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/chaos-and-disorder-19960822 |title=Prince: Chaos And Disorder |issue=RS 741 |first=Ernes |last=Hardy |date=Aug 22, 1996 |magazine=Rolling Stone |publisher=Wenner Media |issn=0035-791X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002044412/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/prince/albums/album/231104/review/5946259/chaos_and_disorder |archive-date=October 2, 2007 |url-status=live |df=mdy}}

| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev8score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |first1=Nathan |last1=Brackett |first2=Christian |last2=Hoard |edition=Revised 4th |year=2004 |publisher=Firefly |isbn=978-0-7432-0169-8 |url-access=registration }}

| rev9 = Select

| rev9score = 1/5{{cite journal |url=http://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2011/10/barry.jpg |title=The Artist Formerly Known As Prince - Chaos & Disorder |first=Ryan |last=Gilbey |date=September 1996 |journal=Select |page=99}}

| rev10 = Tom Hull

| rev10score = B+{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/nm/rock-70s.html|title=Rock (1970s)|website=tomhull.com|access-date=July 1, 2020}}

| noprose = yes

}}

Chaos and Disorder is the eighteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on July 9, 1996, by Warner Bros. Records. The album reached number 26 in the United States—his poorest performance with an album of new material since his debut album For You—and number 14 in the United Kingdom.{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r237964|tab=charts-awards|label="Chaos and Disorder > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums" |accessdate=16 September 2011}} Prince refused to promote the album, still engaged in his fight against his Warner Bros. contract, and it was released simply to fulfill his contractual obligations.{{cite web|title=Chaos and Disorder|url=http://www.goldiesparade.co.uk/albums/chaosdisorder.htm|website=www.goldiesparade.co.uk|publisher=Goldies Parade|access-date=26 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402095309/http://www.goldiesparade.co.uk/albums/chaosdisorder.htm|archive-date=April 2, 2015|url-status=dead}} The inlay sleeve carries the message: "Originally intended 4 private use only, this compilation serves as the last original material recorded by (love symbol) 4 warner brothers records - may you live 2 see the dawn".Prince, "Chaos and Disorder" (1996)(2019 reissue), CD inlay sleeve

The single "Dinner with Delores" was released in the United Kingdom only, and despite the low-key promotion, became a Top 40 hit, albeit a minor one by his previous standards. Despite having been out of print for years, the album was released digitally on Tidal in 2016, and on iTunes in 2018.{{cite web|title=T.A.F.K.A.P Full Official Chart History|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/5914/t-a-f-k-a-p/|website=Official Charts Company|publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=19 January 2016}} It was reissued on CD and vinyl in September 2019. The inlay sleeve shows a bloody hypodermic needle with a dollar bill inside it, and a human heart sitting in a toilet bowl.Prince, "Chaos and Disorder" (1996)(2019 reissue), CD inlay sleeve

Production, release and re-appraisal

While Prince insisted that the album "was done very quickly", and that they were "seeing how fast and hard we could thrash it out", more than a third of it dates back to sessions for The Gold Experience and Come.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-prince-archive-19960714-story.html|title=From the archives:: Prince: 'If I knew the things I know now before, I wouldn't be in the music industry'|website=Los Angeles Times|date=April 21, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://ultimateprince.com/prince-chaos-and-disorder/|title = Why Prince's 'Chaos and Disorder' Isn't a Throwaway}} It also marked the return of Rosie Gaines, who sang on five songs, and Michael B. and Sonny T., in what were to be their last sessions as regular New Power Generation members. A re-appraisal of the album after Prince's death lauded it as "a rocker with moments of some of Prince's finest guitar playing."{{Cite web|date=May 2, 2016|title=On Second Thought… Prince, "Chaos and Disorder"|url=https://popdose.com/on-second-thought-prince-chaos-and-disorder/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614150556/http://popdose.com:80/on-second-thought-prince-chaos-and-disorder/ |archive-date=June 14, 2018 }} Another described it as a "tightly-focused, grunge-oriented rock-funk collection" where "the grit and punch of the musicianship is what gives the album its overall raw edge".{{Cite web|url=https://www.albumism.com/features/tribute-celebrating-20-years-of-prince-chaos-and-disorder|title = Prince's 'Chaos and Disorder' Turns 25 | Anniversary Retrospective}} The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote in his review that, "anybody expecting a kissoff or a throwaway radically underestimates his irrepressible musicality. Apropos of nothing, here's a guitar album for your earhole, enhanced by a fresh if not shocking array of voices and trick sounds and cluttered now and then by horns."

At the time of its release, Prince told the Los Angeles Times: "I was bitter before, but now I've washed my face. I can just move on. I'm free."

Warner Bros. contract

{{Blockquote|text="We've come to a point where we feel that if he's happier somewhere else, we don't have any beef with him."

|author=Bob Merlis, senior vice president of publicity at Warner Bros.}}

After Chaos and Disorder it was 18 years before Prince released another album on Warner Bros., 2014's Plectrumelectrum, under a deal which gave back Prince control of his masters, the absence of which on his original contract had been a source of considerable acrimony.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/cover-story/7348551/prince-battle-to-control-career-artist-rights|title=Inside Prince's Career-Long Battle to Master His Artistic Destiny|magazine=Billboard}}

Track listing

All songs written by Prince.

{{Track listing

|headline = Chaos and Disorder track listing

|title1 = Chaos and Disorder

|length1 = 4:19

|title2 = I Like It There

|length2 = 3:15

|title3 = Dinner with Delores

|length3 = 2:46

|title4 = The Same December

|length4 = 3:24

|title5 = Right the Wrong

|length5 = 4:39

|title6 = Zannalee

|length6 = 2:43

|title7 = I Rock, Therefore I Am

|length7 = 6:15

|title8 = Into the Light

|length8 = 2:46

|title9 = I Will

|length9 = 3:37

|title10 = Dig U Better Dead

|length10 = 3:59

|title11 = Had U

|length11 = 1:26

}}

Singles

"Dinner with Delores" (#36 UK)

Charts

scope="row"\| Australian Albums (ARIA){{cite Ryan\|page=225}} \| 54
class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" \|+ Chart performance for Chaos and Disorder ! scope="col"\| Chart (1996) ! scope="col"\| Peak position
{{album chart\|Austria\|17\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|Flanders\|24\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|Wallonia\|47\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
scope="row"\| Danish Albums (Hitlisten){{cite news \|title=Listen – Danmarks Officielle Hitliste – Udarbejdet af AIM Nielsen for IFPI Danmark – Uge 29 \|work=Ekstra Bladet \|location=Copenhagen \|language=Danish \|date=July 21, 1996 }} \| 39
{{album chart\|Netherlands\|8\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|Finland\|31\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|France\|25\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|Germany4\|42\|id=2348\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|Norway\|15\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|Sweden\|32\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|Switzerland\|21\|artist=The Symbol\|album=Chaos and Disorder\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}
{{album chart\|UK2\|14\|date=19960714\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=February 20, 2019}}
{{album chart\|Billboard200\|26\|artist=Prince\|rowheader=true\|accessdate=May 1, 2016}}