If Prince had waited a while, brought out 3121 and Musicology as a double album with a bonus CD containing stuff like Glasscutter, SST etc would it have been as well recieved?

To me the albums seem linked, almost as if Prince created most of the stuff at the same time.

You need to get them ears checked.

Don't get me wrong, they do have a different sound, mostly, although I can definitely see why people call Satisfied "On The Couch part 2".

It may just be me, but I can't help get the feeling that Prince has had these songs in storage for a while, especially as he played Black Sweat on the last tour at one point.

The thread was really about whether another double/treble album would have went down well at this point of his career. Obviously we'd have loved it, but would his tour have sold as well? Would the critics have raved as much?

I agree they are a bit linked... but that's just a typical pattern for a lot of Prince releases, imo.

For You & Prince

Controversy & 1999

ATWIAD & Parade

D&P &

jtfolden said:

Excuuuuuse me ?

bonatoc said:

Excuse What?

1999 has nothing to do with Controversy.

Nor does Parade with ATWIAD.

We are talking about stylical and conceptual differences so huge they can't be compared. 1999 is a concept album and has very strong self-imposed restrictions on the sound design and production.
I would agree that Controversy is Dirty Mind on steroids (which is in fact its flaw).
The same goes for Parade, you can't compare Chanel scented Clare Fischer strings arrangements with fingercymbals and sitar...

bonatoc said:

.

why do people always refer to 1999 as a concept album. I dont see it? TRC is and so is O+> but I dont see a common storyline in 1999.

bonatoc said:

Amazingly enough, I don't agree with a single thing you've said.

Once you stop focusing on the overt sexuality of the record, Controversy bears a lot more resemblance to 1999 than Dirty Mind. The way he mixes funk grooves with pop and rock makes it almost a rough template for the direction he would follow on 1999. The album features synths in a prominent role, pronounced electronic drums, some of the first use of the Linn LM-1 drum machine, etc... Stylistically, there is a lot in common. Aside from the aforementioned mix of dance funk with pop/rock (Controversy/1999), both albums feature rockabilly (Jack U Off/Delerious) and epic sex ballads (Do Me, Baby/International Lover), experimental synth (Annie Christian/Automatic) numbers, etc.

If 1999 is a concept album, it is such by accident and in only the simplest of terms.


Likewise, Parade can be seen as a continuation of Prince's "psychedelic" noodlings on ATWIAD, artfully expressing his ever expanding command of a variety of musical types, sounds, arrangements and performers. They, also, both share a sizable amount of Melvoin/Coleman family influence.

emesem said:

1999 really has no story-line at all. The only commonality is the shared manifesto of all the tracks - "Dance, Music, Sex, Romance". It's a party record shaped more by Prince's own frame of mind at the time than any concerted effort to make a 'concept album', imo.