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Is the problem with Prince consistency? So Planet Earth is less than one week old (in the UK) and not even released elsewhere and people are already debating its' merits and we are getting the usual polarised views of either "excellent his best since X" or "what a piece of crap why am I still a Prince fan".
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People always look at older albums through rose-tinted specs. | |
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jaypotton said: So Planet Earth is less than one week old (in the UK) and not even released elsewhere and people are already debating its' merits and we are getting the usual polarised views of either "excellent his best since X" or "what a piece of crap why am I still a Prince fan".
Also a lot of people are saying that Prince's most recent releases show that he still has the ability to write one or two excellent songs but not an entire album. So is the problem consistency? When was the last completely consistently great album (ie one where you happily listen to every single song on the album without skipping)? A lot of orgers bang on about how great Prince was in the 80s and how since he released album X in the 90s it has never been quite the same. But is that really true? Has Prince always been consistent? I would argue that he hasn't. In fact I would go so far as to say that, for me, there is not an actual album Prince has ever released where I wouldn't skip at least one song! This fact only dawned on me recently. By way of an example: For You = I skip a few Prince = I skip Still Waiting Dirty Mind = I skip Party Up Controversy = I skip Ronnie Talk To Russia 1999 = I skip All The Critics Love U In New York Purple Rain = I skip I Would Die 4 U ATWIAD = I skip Tamborine Parade = I skip Venus De Milo SOTT = I skip IT Lovesexy = I skip I Wish U Heaven Batman = I skip Arms Of Orion Graffiti Bridge = I skip quite a few Diamonds & Pearls = I skip Jughead and Push  = I skip Arrogance and Flow
Come = I skip Solo and Orgasm TGE = I skip 319 and Now C&D = I skip Right The Wrong Emancipation = I skip a couple on each disk The Truth = I skip 3rd Eye and Dionne Crystal Ball = I skip a lot NPS = I skip a few Old Friends For Sale = I skip My Little Pill RUTJF = I skip Undisputed, Hot Wit U & Strange But True TRC = I skip a lot of the first half (not all) One Nite Alone (piano) = I skip a couple Xenophobia = I pretty much skip the lot NEWS = I only listen to one of the tracks (can't remember) Musicology = I skip Life O The Party 3121 = I skip Incense and Candles Planet Earth = So far I am already skipping All The Midnights In The World Sorry for the long post but basically what I am saying is that while I am a massive Prince fan there has always been at least one track that I can do without on EVERY album! So for that reason, for me, Prince has always been a bit inconsistent even on his greatest albums. What do others think? [Edited 7/18/07 10:08am] I agree, but how do you skip a track on the Lovesexy CD? The whole album is on one track  love the one who is Love! | |
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GiGi319 said: I agree, but how do you skip a track on the Lovesexy CD? The whole album is on one track Not in Europe where you can buy Lovesexy on CD tracked! | |
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jaypotton said: So Planet Earth is less than one week old (in the UK) and not even released elsewhere and people are already debating its' merits and we are getting the usual polarised views of either "excellent his best since X" or "what a piece of crap why am I still a Prince fan".
Also a lot of people are saying that Prince's most recent releases show that he still has the ability to write one or two excellent songs but not an entire album. So is the problem consistency? When was the last completely consistently great album (ie one where you happily listen to every single song on the album without skipping)? A lot of orgers bang on about how great Prince was in the 80s and how since he released album X in the 90s it has never been quite the same. But is that really true? Has Prince always been consistent? I would argue that he hasn't. In fact I would go so far as to say that, for me, there is not an actual album Prince has ever released where I wouldn't skip at least one song! This fact only dawned on me recently. By way of an example: For You = I skip a few Prince = I skip Still Waiting Dirty Mind = I skip Party Up Controversy = I skip Ronnie Talk To Russia 1999 = I skip All The Critics Love U In New York Purple Rain = I skip I Would Die 4 U ATWIAD = I skip Tamborine Parade = I skip Venus De Milo SOTT = I skip IT Lovesexy = I skip I Wish U Heaven Batman = I skip Arms Of Orion Graffiti Bridge = I skip quite a few Diamonds & Pearls = I skip Jughead and Push = I skip Arrogance and Flow
Come = I skip Solo and Orgasm TGE = I skip 319 and Now C&D = I skip Right The Wrong Emancipation = I skip a couple on each disk The Truth = I skip 3rd Eye and Dionne Crystal Ball = I skip a lot NPS = I skip a few Old Friends For Sale = I skip My Little Pill RUTJF = I skip Undisputed, Hot Wit U & Strange But True TRC = I skip a lot of the first half (not all) One Nite Alone (piano) = I skip a couple Xenophobia = I pretty much skip the lot NEWS = I only listen to one of the tracks (can't remember) Musicology = I skip Life O The Party 3121 = I skip Incense and Candles Planet Earth = So far I am already skipping All The Midnights In The World Sorry for the long post but basically what I am saying is that while I am a massive Prince fan there has always been at least one track that I can do without on EVERY album! So for that reason, for me, Prince has always been a bit inconsistent even on his greatest albums. What do others think? [Edited 7/18/07 10:08am] There's always been songs I liked, others I could have done completely without. So for me it has seem pretty consistant in that compacity Never again, not I. | |
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i think the problem is Prince is gonna do whatever he wants anyway | |
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Prince has never been that consistent. Most other artists are not consistent either. To make an album where the majority of people will like or love every song and not skip any tracks is near impossible.
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I think that in time when you've listned to any album long enough, everyone skips a few songs.
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Once again, this is entirely subjective. | |
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NouveauDance said: Once again, this is entirely subjective.
I agree. 
In fact, this whole forum is subjective. 
Why are we still on it?  | |
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funny thing is that no one skips the same tracks which actually makes it consistent. Get 10 reviews and they'll diss 10 different tracks and love 10 different tracks and that actually makes it consistent in a perverse kind of way, as well as proving as nouveau dance said that it's all subjective and hence impossible to create the perfect album to please everyone.
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The only 2 albums where I wouldn't skip a single track are ATWIAD and Parade. | |
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Haystack said: People always look at older albums through rose-tinted specs.
True to a certain degree, but almost ten years after its release NPS is still horrible. On his best work I skip maybe 2-3 tracks. On his recent work I don't mind listening to 2-3 tracks. That's the difference to me. i really dont talk to many people on there regularly and
even fewer outside the org....you will always be #1...you have always been my favorite crush...besides those orgers that are there now have NOTHING on you  | |
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It seems most fans on here can't acknowledge how good the first 2 albums actually were! Apart from the cheesy keyboard. The music and production is pretty amazing for such a young guy who did it all himself.
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I think its true that if you took the best from his last three albums (Musicology, 3121 and Planet Earth) you would get a real stunning album. Or maybe some songs are just like sketches, nice, but unfinished Now come on everybody, let's make cocaine cool
We need a few more half naked women up in the pool And hold this MAC-10 that's all covered in jewels And can you please put your titties closer to the 22s? And where's the champagne? We need champagne! | |
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its not about the songs you skip...its about he songs you dont skip. while most of his "good" songs lately are "good" or even "great" they just dont rise to same level of "amazing" as those from back in the day. | |
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My guess is some tracks are from the vault. His agenda seems to be elsewhwere, but in the best interest for music as a whole. | |
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emesem said: its not about the songs you skip...its about he songs you dont skip. while most of his "good" songs lately are "good" or even "great" they just dont rise to same level of "amazing" as those from back in the day.
Well as people have said above, this is totally subjective. I bet that if a song like Planet Earth had appeared on an album in the 80s it would be held up today as an example of how great Prince was! Similarly if he released Dorothy Parker on the PE album people would no doubt criticise it! The fact is that we are all influenced by a multitude of things when we consider the history of Prince's output. These include (but are not limited to): 1. The era in which the music was released 2. Where you were at with your life [Edited 7/19/07 3:50am] | |
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Jochem said: NouveauDance said: Once again, this is entirely subjective.
I agree.
In fact, this whole forum is subjective.
Why are we still on it? The problem only occurs when people try to take a completely subjective thread and draw a factual conclusion. Just form ur opinion and keep it moving.. | |
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jaypotton said: emesem said: its not about the songs you skip...its about he songs you dont skip. while most of his "good" songs lately are "good" or even "great" they just dont rise to same level of "amazing" as those from back in the day.
Well as people have said above, this is totally subjective. I bet that if a song like Planet Earth had appeared on an album in the 80s it would be held up today as an example of how great Prince was! Similarly if he released Dorothy Parker on the PE album people would no doubt criticise it! The fact is that we are all influenced by a multitude of things when we consider the history of Prince's output. These include (but are not limited to): 1. The era in which the music was released 2. Where you were at with your life [Edited 7/19/07 3:50am] Agreed. "I'VE GOT A MIND FULL OF GOOD INTENTIONS
AND A MOUTH FULL OF RAISINETS..." ---------------Mr. Goodnight | |
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adorable2 said: Jochem said: I agree.
In fact, this whole forum is subjective.
Why are we still on it? The problem only occurs when people try to take a completely subjective thread and draw a factual conclusion. Just form ur opinion and keep it moving..
By the way, you are beautiful.  | |
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Jochem said: adorable2 said: The problem only occurs when people try to take a completely subjective thread and draw a factual conclusion. Just form ur opinion and keep it moving..
By the way, you are beautiful. thank u | |
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jaypotton said: emesem said: its not about the songs you skip...its about he songs you dont skip. while most of his "good" songs lately are "good" or even "great" they just dont rise to same level of "amazing" as those from back in the day.
Well as people have said above, this is totally subjective. I bet that if a song like Planet Earth had appeared on an album in the 80s it would be held up today as an example of how great Prince was! Similarly if he released Dorothy Parker on the PE album people would no doubt criticise it! The fact is that we are all influenced by a multitude of things when we consider the history of Prince's output. These include (but are not limited to): 1. The era in which the music was released 2. Where you were at with your life [Edited 7/19/07 3:50am] I completely agree with this. For a lot of artists, the early catalog is evered much more than later output. In some cases maybe the music is "better" but that is totally subjective. Early music is raw, novel, fresh, and if you first heard it when you were young or at some other important stage in your life, you will always think of it more fondly than the later stuff. I am defintely in the camp who likes Prince's 80s to early 90s output much more than his later stuff (though I love finding gems among the later albums), but that's just my opinion. Prince has released a TON of music. He has litimations, even though they are much broader than anyone else's limitatons. What he can do to "amaze" us is less than it used to be because we've heard it before. Every song he releases now may be good or even great, but almost everyone can be compared to a similar song released earlier. IT happens to all artists. | |
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coltrane3 said: jaypotton said: Well as people have said above, this is totally subjective. I bet that if a song like Planet Earth had appeared on an album in the 80s it would be held up today as an example of how great Prince was! Similarly if he released Dorothy Parker on the PE album people would no doubt criticise it! The fact is that we are all influenced by a multitude of things when we consider the history of Prince's output. These include (but are not limited to): 1. The era in which the music was released 2. Where you were at with your life [Edited 7/19/07 3:50am] I completely agree with this. For a lot of artists, the early catalog is evered much more than later output. In some cases maybe the music is "better" but that is totally subjective. Early music is raw, novel, fresh, and if you first heard it when you were young or at some other important stage in your life, you will always think of it more fondly than the later stuff. I am defintely in the camp who likes Prince's 80s to early 90s output much more than his later stuff (though I love finding gems among the later albums), but that's just my opinion. Prince has released a TON of music. He has litimations, even though they are much broader than anyone else's limitatons. What he can do to "amaze" us is less than it used to be because we've heard it before. Every song he releases now may be good or even great, but almost everyone can be compared to a similar song released earlier. IT happens to all artists. I also completely agree with this. For instance, I love the Batman cd. It's not one of my favorites, but it was THE soundtrack to that time in my life. Pop music was not good at that time. We were coming down off the high of the mid-80s and not yet into the grunge and the last gasps of 80s pop carryover greatness that was the first few years of the 90s. I remember getting my Batman cassette the day it came out and all of the good feelings that came with driving along in my '69 LaBaron jamming to that thing. So it will always be a better album for me than maybe it should be if I could be more objective. Music, though, IS subjective. That said, mad love to jaypotten for telling it like it is. "Geniuses"...artists who have moments of greatness...they don't hit the highs without experimentation and some lows. On another post, I talked about how I devised a number game whereby you rank each track on each album 1-5, with a 1 being songs you skip and a 5 being among your favorite Prince tracks ever. Just by doing that for this past decade, I learned (as objectively as it's going to get by using numbers), that I found, on average, 2 songs from each release of the 2000s to be up there in the pantheon of my favorites, and typically, there were 2 songs on each release that I tended to skip. That shouldn't be an indication of Prince "slipping" or anything. What it IS is an indication of your own tastes. All things considered, I identified two "classics" (5s) on average from the first few albums of the decade and am up to picking four songs with that highest rating on the last two releases. So for me, there has been improvement! Try it and see what you come up with! Keith/Kacey | |
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Nope,
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Kacey725 said: That said, mad love to jaypotten for telling it like it is.
Thank you. I think that the ORG allows people to forget to be objective. Prince's career spans such a long period, through so many stages of his own and our lives, during which time the musical landscape has changed dramatically. He also covers so many genres of music that there is probably little or no chance of ever pleasing everyone. For that reason there will always be criticism of whatever Prince releases. As to your point about good and classic Prince tracks on his more recent albums. Well for me if you cut down the last three to just two it is really easy to produce two classic Prince albums that are easily as good as the majority of his 80s output. However, I would rather have the three albums to allow ME to make the choice of which tracks! [Edited 7/20/07 7:35am] | |
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