ehm, nobody is saying Come or 3121 are up there with Dirty Mind, but Dirty Mind is a classic and one of his best efforts. You said he hadn't released anything "decent" in 20 years.
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 9 July 2011 16:37 (twelve years ago) link
Well I guess "decent" is subjective but for me Prince and decent should'nt even be in the same room. As far as his recorded output goes and im only talking bout his recorded output... sure they're are a few gems but the vast majority of it is'nt mediocre...its just plain bad...
― The Pastiche Liberation Front (sonnyboy), Saturday, 9 July 2011 18:30 (twelve years ago) link
As far as his recorded output goes and im only talking bout his recorded output... sure they're are a few gems but the vast majority of it is'nt mediocre...its just plain bad...
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 July 2011 18:33 (twelve years ago) link
I suppose if you include Around the World in a Day, Lovesexy and the enervated late nineties records the percentages informing the phrase "vast majority" would make sense.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 July 2011 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
I was only talking about the last 20 years...but I guess you could now say the majority...
― The Pastiche Liberation Front (sonnyboy), Saturday, 9 July 2011 18:47 (twelve years ago) link
what the fuck ever
alsohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6yANUgWfSM
― brooklyn's complicated relationship with bacon (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 10 July 2011 07:01 (twelve years ago) link
Everyone loves his guy...how many of them own 'TGE', 'Come' or anything after the Love Symbol album? There's a shitload of people who don't have anything past Diamonds and it's basically the Kid's fault.
― Master of Treacle, Friday, July 8, 2011 10:26 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark
Parts of Chaos and Disorder I liked (the title track) and parts of it I LOVED ("Dinner With Dolores"). But Emancipation was underwhelming. It wasn't that he was phoning it in necessarily, but most of what was on that record was What We Know Prince Can Do, rather than Prince Taking Chances.
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 10 July 2011 22:34 (twelve years ago) link
today I was visiting with an old friend who got me into Prince years and years ago, and he went "which Prince albums do you not have?" -- he's been ripping and selling/giving away a lot of his CDs, so he gave me a whole stack of Prince: For You, Around The World In A Day, Lovesexy, Grafitti Bridge, Diamonds & Pearls, Come, The Gold Experience, and Emancipation. gonna enjoy poring over these while i work on my ballot for the Prince tracks poll.
― bro, die (some dude), Monday, 11 July 2011 00:14 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, if you haven't really listened to those albums you are due for a fucking revelation my friend
― brooklyn's complicated relationship with bacon (forksclovetofu), Monday, 11 July 2011 02:46 (twelve years ago) link
i've heard some of them once or twice and have heard songs from others via said friend, but yeah i know there's a wealth of good shit i'm about to exposed to
― some dude, Monday, 11 July 2011 02:59 (twelve years ago) link
the problem with Prince Taking Chances is that (apart from the rainbow children, or the truth) when hes tried to do that over the last 20-odd years, weve been ending up with some pretty awful music. basically, prince shouldnt touch new technology or try and work with new styles/sounds anymore cos it comes out badly. his best stuff of recent is more modest in its ambition.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 14:39 (twelve years ago) link
it is kind of funny to end a rant about how Prince has lost it by announcing that you're going to watch GRAFFITI BRIDGE
― DJP, Monday, 11 July 2011 14:46 (twelve years ago) link
unexpectedly i was listening to SOTT at the weekend and thinking its maybe a bit overrated compared to say an album like 1999. maybe ive just developed a thing about rejecting 'classic' career peak albums but it seems a bit too 'careful'/muted. and im not sure the title track lyrically is much more than a social ills laundry list or that the cross isnt a bit cliche with its almost bono-ish imagery of pregnant mothers singing and flowers and ghettos on opposite sides etc. i should make a SOTT thread.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:09 (twelve years ago) link
there's one floating around where we ranked the tracks on SOTT
my opinion was that the singles are among the weakest tracks on the album aside from "If I Was Your Girlfriend", which is amazing
― DJP, Monday, 11 July 2011 15:13 (twelve years ago) link
U Got the Crazy
― ephendophile (Eric H.), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:15 (twelve years ago) link
SOTT feels like the start of 'modern' prince to me, but it's the best possible version where almost all the ideas work and the songs are really strong
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:16 (twelve years ago) link
But Emancipation was underwhelming. It wasn't that he was phoning it in necessarily, but most of what was on that record was What We Know Prince Can Do, rather than Prince Taking Chances.
Agreed. The problem is, What We Know Prince Can Do tends to be more listenable (ie, less appalling) these days than Prince Taking Chances.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 11 July 2011 15:18 (twelve years ago) link
i think sott is the end of classic prince, rather than the start of modern prince. graffiti bridge was basically the real end of that though, seeing as it had a lot of old 86-era songs from the sott/dream factory sessions on it.
1999 is just bolder though (im using this to compare as its his first big double album) - it feels like no one had done anything like that before. sott meanwhile seems more measured with some not exactly obvious (he makes them prince-ian) influences showing up but still clear here and there (the ending of play in the sunshine i still love but it now just makes me think of strawberry fields) whereas before prince seemed to have few obvious influences. could never take the place is still amazing and weirdly the guitar section now makes me think of weather report or return to forever but not nearly as flashy/bloated. very odd hearing an album youre so familiar with after leaving it alone for so long.
emancipation is good if you trim it to one cd. more than that and its weaknesses start to show. plus a lot of the songs on there were just too long.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:19 (twelve years ago) link
There is a lot more worth saving on Emancipation than just one CD's worth. Chunks of it are self-indulgent but most of it works.
― DJP, Monday, 11 July 2011 15:20 (twelve years ago) link
I think Emancipation apologists take things a bit too far, really. Especially when there's the perfectly serviceable Gold Experience right next to it in the discography.
― ephendophile (Eric H.), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
Here's where I admit I never got "I Hate U."
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:29 (twelve years ago) link
It's perfectly possible to like both Emancipation and The Gold Experience! In fact, I prefer The Gold Experience; that doesn't make me dislike Emancipation.
― DJP, Monday, 11 July 2011 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
those stabs at nineties R&B on Love Symbol and TGE are mostly tinkly and treacly. Emacipation is where he gets it.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
Don't think we ever polled TGE.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
Here's where I admit I could really care less about anything on Emancipation outside of "Sleep Around" and "The Human Body."
― ephendophile (Eric H.), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
"Let's Have a Baby" has quietly become one of my favorite Prince ballads: the bass, piano, his falsetto.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
ha Eric, well at least I agree that both of those tracks bang
― DJP, Monday, 11 July 2011 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
sleep around i always thought george michael should have covered
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:35 (twelve years ago) link
"Sleep Around" with "Star People" production would be pretty great.
― ephendophile (Eric H.), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
or 'outside' type production
it really is the best GM song GM never recorded
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:43 (twelve years ago) link
could never take the place is still amazing and weirdly the guitar section now makes me think of weather report or return to forever but not nearly as flashy/bloated. very odd hearing an album youre so familiar with after leaving it alone for so long.
this might be my least favorite part of the whole record. the drum programming drives me crazy, that relentless fake open hi-hat over what should be a simmering breakdown
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Monday, 11 July 2011 15:50 (twelve years ago) link
aargh the drums on ICNTTPYM drive me insane, if there was ever a Prince single for proper rock drumming
drums on the Cross are also terrible, as opposed to Sheila rocking out on SOTT live
― Master of Treacle, Monday, 11 July 2011 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
maybe the Mo Tucker effect on the album was intentional, I dunno
― Master of Treacle, Monday, 11 July 2011 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
cmon, you think prince really was listening hard to the velvets? thats just something critics assigned to the song in retrospect, no?
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 16:46 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah - I also seriously doubt he was listening to the VU. Wishful Critic Thinking.
The beauty of SOTT - and very much spoken about at the time it was released - is the very obvious demo-y quality of many of the tracks. Especially when Prince was always so good at passing off stuff he'd recorded mainly by himself as full band collabs (i.e. "1999", much of Purple Rain)
― Vendo Caramelos A Veces Sin Dinero (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 11 July 2011 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
Love the drums on "The Cross"! They actually sound live.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 July 2011 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
I also like the sorta crappy drum machine sound.
― Vendo Caramelos A Veces Sin Dinero (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 11 July 2011 17:05 (twelve years ago) link
the drums on the cross are live. its not a drum machine. ICNTTPOYM is a drum machine tho, obv.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
prince would not be a VU fan imo... i think he would see them as deficient/too inept in some way.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 17:10 (twelve years ago) link
there's more than one AMAZING cd on emancipation but not much morestill necessarycrystal ball is not as good, but again there's at least one great disc
― brooklyn's complicated relationship with bacon (forksclovetofu), Monday, 11 July 2011 17:15 (twelve years ago) link
I really don't think it's that big of a stretch that Prince would be familiar with VU.
― bed bath and beyoncé (The Reverend), Monday, 11 July 2011 17:23 (twelve years ago) link
In 1987? I do.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 11 July 2011 18:00 (twelve years ago) link
there's more to life than Prince you know but not much more
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 July 2011 18:05 (twelve years ago) link
xpost
The VU albums were reissued in 1985 so it's more than feasible that he heard them then if not well before.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 11 July 2011 18:06 (twelve years ago) link
well i could believe that wendy and lisa might have played him some
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 11 July 2011 18:16 (twelve years ago) link
honestly can't see Prince having even the slightest interest in a band that doesn't have "chops" in the conventional sense. and VU did not.
― a man is only a guy (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 11 July 2011 18:19 (twelve years ago) link
across the board, all his obvious influences - Kraftwerk, P-Funk, Sly, Joni Mitchell - were very slick musos
also just because a song has only two chords /= Velvets
― a man is only a guy (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 11 July 2011 18:20 (twelve years ago) link
Well, he also loved Cocteau Twins c. the Parade era so maybe chops weren't everything...
― Vendo Caramelos A Veces Sin Dinero (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 11 July 2011 18:37 (twelve years ago) link
uh Elizabeth Fraser definitely has vocal chops
― a man is only a guy (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 11 July 2011 18:38 (twelve years ago) link