So if he is aware of the current music scene then his output is calculating and he is embarassing himself by chasing trends ... And if he ignores the current scene then he is out of touch and making music no one can relate to ...

I'm starting to see why Prince follows the beat of his own drummer!

I think Prince wanted to give 3rd Eye Girl their own album, but realized it had to be "Prince And..." to be sold to Warner Brothers. Back in the day, it would have been on Paisley Park and he wouldn't be singing lead on anything.

Cinny said:

I think Prince wanted to give 3rd Eye Girl their own album, but realized it had to be "Prince And..." to be sold to Warner Brothers. Back in the day, it would have been on Paisley Park and he wouldn't be singing lead on anything.

totally true

funksterr said:

MendesCity said:

He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

Nah he used to blend funk and rock in the same song.

You mean like 'Do Me Baby' or 'Adore'? Yeah, those were really genre-bending. Oh wait ...

It is only segregated in your mind. Obviously you assume the mostly Rock feel of one album is a "White" sound and the smooth R & B, Funk and Dance sound of the other is a more "Black/Urban" Sound.

.

Not to me they are not, both albums have the unique rainbow of sound that is Prince. One of the most soulful parts to me is the part on "Stopthistrain" where Prince starts to croon on in halfway through the second chorus, and yet that's on the "White album".

.

To me I have always been aware of Prince's ability to play a wide range of popular musical genres and mesh them into his own unique sound. I get tired of acts that play only one or two types of music and have always gravitated towards musical chameleons like Prince. Part of the reason I like him, he can play seamless rock and then a sexy soulful ballad.

.

Besides I am sure he wants you to buy both of the albums, I mean you can't satisfy some people, if he had just put out 1 album and put all the rockier and pop numbers on one side and the funk, dance and R and B on the otherside, would its still be segregated in your opinion?

Adorecream said:

It is only segregated in your mind. Obviously you assume the mostly Rock feel of one album is a "White" sound and the smooth R & B, Funk and Dance sound of the other is a more "Black/Urban" Sound.

.

Not to me they are not, both albums have the unique rainbow of sound that is Prince. One of the most soulful parts to me is the part on "Stopthistrain" where Prince starts to croon on in halfway through the second chorus, and yet that's on the "White album".

.

To me I have always been aware of Prince's ability to play a wide range of popular musical genres and mesh them into his own unique sound. I get tired of acts that play only one or two types of music and have always gravitated towards musical chameleons like Prince. Part of the reason I like him, he can play seamless rock and then a sexy soulful ballad.

.

Besides I am sure he wants you to buy both of the albums, I mean you can't satisfy some people, if he had just put out 1 album and put all the rockier and pop numbers on one side and the funk, dance and R and B on the otherside, would its still be segregated in your opinion?

Both albums total 93 minutes. It easily could have been one album. Just leave out a few of the songs that had been released as downloads, or better yet, just make it a best of covering all the songs he's done in the last 2 years....but nope.

I got into Prince for the diversity, and wish he would not make it so obvious.

Adorecream said:

It is only segregated in your mind. Obviously you assume the mostly Rock feel of one album is a "White" sound and the smooth R & B, Funk and Dance sound of the other is a more "Black/Urban" Sound.

.

Not to me they are not, both albums have the unique rainbow of sound that is Prince. One of the most soulful parts to me is the part on "Stopthistrain" where Prince starts to croon on in halfway through the second chorus, and yet that's on the "White album".

.

To me I have always been aware of Prince's ability to play a wide range of popular musical genres and mesh them into his own unique sound. I get tired of acts that play only one or two types of music and have always gravitated towards musical chameleons like Prince. Part of the reason I like him, he can play seamless rock and then a sexy soulful ballad.

.

Besides I am sure he wants you to buy both of the albums, I mean you can't satisfy some people, if he had just put out 1 album and put all the rockier and pop numbers on one side and the funk, dance and R and B on the otherside, would its still be segregated in your opinion?

Good point. Prince's pop/rock couldnt help but be "black". Prince in a sense was the only high profile black artist of his time reclaiming rock and roll and he was never trying to sound "white" at all. Its just what he grew up on. I only wish he would have felt the same that whole time he was desparately chasing rap and 90s new jack sounds that he was at least 15 years too old for. It sounded so fake and cynical comming from him.

emesem said:

Adorecream said:

It is only segregated in your mind. Obviously you assume the mostly Rock feel of one album is a "White" sound and the smooth R & B, Funk and Dance sound of the other is a more "Black/Urban" Sound.

.

Not to me they are not, both albums have the unique rainbow of sound that is Prince. One of the most soulful parts to me is the part on "Stopthistrain" where Prince starts to croon on in halfway through the second chorus, and yet that's on the "White album".

.

To me I have always been aware of Prince's ability to play a wide range of popular musical genres and mesh them into his own unique sound. I get tired of acts that play only one or two types of music and have always gravitated towards musical chameleons like Prince. Part of the reason I like him, he can play seamless rock and then a sexy soulful ballad.

.

Besides I am sure he wants you to buy both of the albums, I mean you can't satisfy some people, if he had just put out 1 album and put all the rockier and pop numbers on one side and the funk, dance and R and B on the otherside, would its still be segregated in your opinion?

Good point. Prince's pop/rock couldnt help but be "black". Prince in a sense was the only high profile black artist of his time reclaiming rock and roll and he was never trying to sound "white" at all. Its just what he grew up on. I only wish he would have felt the same that whole time he was desparately chasing rap and 90s new jack sounds that he was at least 15 years too old for. It sounded so fake and cynical comming from him.

But it's not 'black' it's Prince

the thing I believe that set Prince us for the success of the 1980s was he sorta segregated himself from what others were doing in the music industry. He didn't 'compete' with MJ or anyone else, because he had the Time, Vanity 6 the Family Sheila E Mazarati Madhouse. So there was the circling of Prince vision and sound throught his camp. When the 'camp' was pretty much disolved by 1990 all those outter influence crept in.

I agree it did sound fake and cynical

jhon00 said:

kewlschool said:

It's called marketing.

In some ways music is more segregated than it was in the 80s.

Sure it is - and Prince recognizes that. He pioneered the fusion of gneres in the 80s and became one of the first to be called a crossover artist. Remember when MTV would not play black artists, he and Michael Jackson were the first major artists to get on because they had hit rock (spelled "white" back in the 80s) with Beat It and Little Red Corvette.

Adorecream said:

It is only segregated in your mind. Obviously you assume the mostly Rock feel of one album is a "White" sound and the smooth R & B, Funk and Dance sound of the other is a more "Black/Urban" Sound.

.

Not to me they are not, both albums have the unique rainbow of sound that is Prince. One of the most soulful parts to me is the part on "Stopthistrain" where Prince starts to croon on in halfway through the second chorus, and yet that's on the "White album".

.

To me I have always been aware of Prince's ability to play a wide range of popular musical genres and mesh them into his own unique sound. I get tired of acts that play only one or two types of music and have always gravitated towards musical chameleons like Prince. Part of the reason I like him, he can play seamless rock and then a sexy soulful ballad.

.

Besides I am sure he wants you to buy both of the albums, I mean you can't satisfy some people, if he had just put out 1 album and put all the rockier and pop numbers on one side and the funk, dance and R and B on the otherside, would its still be segregated in your opinion?

Yeah, it would, IMO.

I see what you're sayinga about Stop This Train, and I can hear bits of rock in Clouds, Time, etc., but the reason so many of the earlier albums are masterpieces is because they flowed between various genres the whole way through.

I will say this: AOA definitely mixes R&B, funk and some kind of crappy techno, but I do think leaving rock totally out of the mix left if feeling a little cold overall.