I've been reminding myself why.

The Indigo Chronicles Boot.
Prince, Josh & Cora O2 Boot.
ONA Copenhagen aftershow boot.
SAB's Monaco Boot.
SAB's Paris Boot
The Leno Files. another Boot.

Can you see a purple elephant in the room?

i wouldn't just call him a great artist simply based on bootlegs
but there have been a lot of amazing concerts, yes.

yet his album and occasional song releases have also included very
strong material up to now.

ok, i still don't like "cause and effect" at all but Lotusflow3r,
i still consider to be a very good album, even a classic.

mplsound, altho not a good album imo, has still some top notch
songs on it. just as the bria album contains a few strong and
cool sounding tracks.

further back, planet earth had a track or two, three that are all
on my fav prince songs list.

3121 had a lot of solid tracks etc etc.

mostly i've liked all of his stuff to date. there are always a
few dubious songs on his albums recently and "cause and effect"
happens to be one that got released on it's own and people just
don't seem to like it. well, not many people anyway.

does that mean prince 'lost it' or is 'crap' now? no it doesn't.
at least not in my eyes. prince has proved himself already as
being one of the best artists of his generation.

sure, his output has become patchy since his break from warners
but he's also released a lot more. i'd rather have a few so-so
songs on the albums than have them in crappy sound on a boot.

i think it will be a long time before the day comes that i don't
want to check out the latest prince tunes. even if there are
more songs these days that i don't care for that much or at all.

The greatest.

IstenSzek said:

Nice post.

I'm trying to rediscover him again. I got a bit weary of it all in recent months but i've been listening to stuff i'd filed under 'never listen to again' including unloved things like 'NEWS' & Xpectation among others AND found high points in them all.

He is a brave artist really, consistantly challenging his audience with his output, this is something he has always done as far back as post Purple Rain. I can't say i ever loved a Prince album out of the gate, back in the day i'd give his albums at least four listens before casting judgement on them, these days, i think we're all less patient than 20years ago, but i think that's a symptom of societal change.

He still has the power to amaze me, Just been watching the Hall of Fame vid again on an old crappy VCD i made back then, i was immensely proud of him that night. Alicia might have had a few too many or something, but damn if her words combined with those visuals don't bring a tear to my eye.

Yes Prince is still fab, but he needs to cut the flab out of his work, get some focus, cause things like 'Cause and Effect' are all over the shop trying to be too many things in one song.

There are a few too many weak songs creeping into his work. but while mediocre songs like 'Future Baby Mama' can land him a grammy these days (It did right?), will he even care?

Should he?

Do you think he's proud of everything he puts out there?
[Edited 3/5/10 13:07pm]

I listened to Feel Better thru the headphones for a few nights in a row. Prince may not write as many classic tunes as he used to, and he may churn out a few that actually kinda suck, but when he's on he's still working at a level of musicality that most artists can only dream of achieving.

NDRU said:

I agree, That song at first sounds very basic in its construction, but the more you listen the more it reveals its subtle complexities. It's an amazing one band band (or at least minimal players) effort akin to Tamborine or Irresistible Bitch.

Cool song

2 solid opinions in this thread, REALLY nice to see that here!

Way to much negativity on this board, some people just have to much spare time and post for the sake of being seen.

His studio stuff now is perhaps a bit glossy which is why I think a lot of it sounds better live.
.
.
.
[Edited 3/5/10 13:55pm]

HobbesLeCute said:

Somebody already mentioned 'Feel Better' as an example, i've always thought he was at his best when he was minimalist with the production. That's what makes songs like 'Kiss', 'Sign O The Times', 'Alphabet Street' so memorable. There you go, three straight years of minimalist lead singles, all hits.

He does that now too. 'Musicology' and 'Black Sweat'. I'd not noticed that before til i got typing.

He's still a great artist, he's just busy being more "grown-up". We all have to grow up sometimes, especially those of us who don't have the artistic talent Prince has. Prince is still funky.

NDRU said:

I think there's a few keepers on Lotusflower but I'm left at a loss when people single out that song as one of them (forgive me if it's on MPLSound, I've not listened to either in months) as I find it too derivative; I'd just as soon listen to a jack-hammer bust up a city sidewalk. How many times does he repeat the title? Like 15 times in opening 2 minutes? You've heard the first twenty second of the song, you've heard it all.

Edit-typo
[Edited 3/5/10 14:28pm]

Wall said:

I agree with Wall?

I dislike Feel Better...


.
[Edited 3/5/10 15:03pm]

Wall said:

this is where you are wrong, though I should stress that I am not complementing that song based on songwriting. It's ok as a song, very simple, nothing groundbreaking. But listening to the arrangement, the first 20 seconds of the song are nothing like the last part, unless you are not listening closely.

Because of the tasteful nature of the arrangement, you might not notice it, but this song, in the tradition of great prince songs, is full of more musical ideas than many artists put on an entire album. And it's not gimmicky, because like I said, you might not even notice it unless you listen closely.
[Edited 3/5/10 15:27pm]

xlr8r said:

I dislike it too. Derivative is the right word, imo.

'Recent Prince IS still a great artist.'?

He's average now, used to be brilliant.

Live Prince is still brilliant, not in the studio...

Where are the beats and the great Prince sound?????

IstenSzek said:

Pretty much my sentiments as well.

I don't think anyone can reasonably debate his live skills. My sense is that live shows depend more on musicality--instrumentation, arrangements, performance--and in those areas I think Prince excels considerably.

A studio song, however, (at least a successful one) in my opinion doesn't have the artist in front of you performing... it needs an extra something to connect, and often times for me with Prince what connects has been the lyrics, the twists of phrase, and even the studio tricks/production quality. In those areas, Prince has not been as universally compelling in all his releases.

That being said, intellectually I hear a lot of great artistic moments in Lotusflow3r, MPLSound, and even in the music/songwriting of Elixir. Intellectually. Emotionally the connect is not always there for me.

IMO the last 10 years were better than the previous ten years.

No decade will be able to top the 1980's but I still wonder if he released the quality of music that we have seen in recent years in the 1990's would we be getting the type of negativity that we have seen from Prince followers.

garganta said:

derivative of who, Prince?

muleFunk said:

Totally. He just needs a few more bigger live events than these 2009 appearances.

rmartin70 said:

its that simple - and has been for the last 30 years. point blank.

thedance said:

agreed.