I wonder where you all stand. There seems tobe this constant whining in my ears about the music club [come on did you REALLY expect it to run well!], about Prince generally being a big old Bastard who treats people like shit [of course the ex associates forgot that by putting their legs in front of each other it leads to forward motion and gets you out of the door], the crap quality of his music now, awful marketing, he is a pain to deal with etc. Bart recently and rightly pointed out on that other [and far more upto date] site that in the Warner years we had an album every year, he was indulged in putting out new music via Paisley Park [which if it wasn't for his ego and his cock could have been the new Motown], we got those magnificent tours, we got regular videos and a whole lot besides. Above all our man was HOT. What do we have now?, a mad genius still at work who is putting more emphasis on his own development and getting his message out. The club when added up has still released a fair amount of music etc and though far from perfect the site seems tobe moving the right direction. I also happen to love his new musical direction [does that qualify me as an ass kisser?]
Personally i'm here for the ride, i know that the music club is annoying, just like us he has his faults, but i'm here for the music and if that means i have to wait for ages to download or pay over the odds for shipping etc then so be it [call me a fool] . I would be a liar if i said i miss the structure that Warners gave him and would love to see him back with a label that would give him a bit of freedom in return for him being more flexible. If it got to the point where all i could see was bad in Prince both musically and personally then i would move on. Others for some reason have got to that point and still want to stick around. In a couple of years he'll probably be a Buddhist and be wearing yellow robes anyway!.

hate to say it but the WB years.
altho, i do love a lot of the post-1996 material.

Choice?

Warner Years.

Like u said, an album per year (towards the end it was more than that, split between a Warner release and a NPG records release).

Warners handled all the promotion, marketing, etc. Now this is an extra task for Prince along with making the music.

Lots of things add up, some don't.

Before Emancipation, Prince said that after he leaves Warners, he'll release more than one album a year, which didn't really pan out like that, shame.

Warner Years.

The suits at Warners acted as a filter, making him put out only high high quality stuff, sending him back to the drawing board on stuff that didn't cut it.

On the freedom years, he was like Steven King, cranking out diarrhea and selling it without even giving it a second listen to hear what he'd spewed out.

just my pinion.

true we have been really lucky since he left WB. there has been a lot of music coming out of PP since then and some of it good and some bad. the highlight for me, personally, was TRC. i love that album even tho i could do without the preaching. plus i got to see him on tour last year and that, to me, was also a highlight becuz it seems he appeared to be very comfortable and had no pretense in the performances, even tho he was a bit preachy again. but hey, he always was preachy - remember Purple Rain and Lovesexy? there was loads of preaching there.
anyway, i'm resolving to the fact that his new albums will be of a different sort these days. i may not like it much but i'll have to if i'm gonna call myself a fan. maybe one day he will make another C&D or another SOTT, but right now he has to do this other stuff. fine.

when does the downloading begin?

W A R N E R Y E A R S

Think about it:


More enjoyable songs (none of this industry whining from a millionaire)
The Revolution
Wendy & Lisa as co-songwriters
Solid, well-themed albums
Promotional videos on Mtv, BET and other shows
Radio airplay (the joy of hearing a new Prince song unexpectedly)
Much better quality control
Live performances at events and awards shows.
Side projects (the Family, Jill Jones, etc.)
The list goes on and on.

And, sure, he's had some nice songs since then, but the consistency has gone to the wrong end of the quality spectrum.

As cool as the post WB years could have been, the WB years had the best albums.

Since then, he has had enough cool songs to fill 2-3 cds. Mostly this stuff is an astericks next to his WB output.

THE WARNER BROTHERS WITHOUT DOUBT!!>>1980 To 1988 ARE HIS BEST YEARS!!


Althougt TRC & ONA Live ARe Great RECORDS!!

tho' they fucked him over, the wb years were the shit.

otan said:

EXACTLY.

too much to compare and not equal amounts of time. how can i compare 7 years of material to 17 years?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

interesting. can you expand..? i'm a bit confused... did they actually fuck him..? that sounds horrid. as far as the whole normal thinking world see's it Warner Bros made him into a FUCKING superstar. let him be IN CONRTOL since the first record - HE WAS 17 YEARS OLD, an industry FIRST. let him basically have access to the Warners Cheque book to sign WHATEVER he chose to PP, releases AN ALBUM A YEAR, was even sitting waiting to ship The Black Album, let him make 3 films. errr, who else got to make films... remember Prince was NOT a superstar when he decided to make Purple Rain. far from it. yet Warners gave it the OK and financed it. oh and there's tour support. when prince went out on tour in the early days (pre PR) it was far from self financing. Warners picked up the tab. "hey, prince, you know you're really big and loads of people around the world would really like to do some interviews with you... it would be great for the record...oh, you don't like to talk to people...oh, ok... well just let us know when the next records ready. we've got all out top empoyee's assigned to it..."

i'm obviousy unaware of Prince: The Hard Times. fill me in..?

NME said:

well, ol' boy got outta wb's hair without ownership of his own material. we've all heard 'im bitchin and moanin about that 4 the past--damn, since he split up with 'em.

thing of it is, i'm pretty sure there wuz a clause in that contract he signed back in 1977 that said sumfin 2 the point of "ya sign this, and all your shit belongs ta us" that he overlooked. all that aside, the wb years were cool, compared 2 the dwibbling about p's doin now as a free-agent of sorts.


mine!




1st clause, 2nd paragraph edit
[This message was edited Wed Jun 18 13:25:17 PDT 2003 by Handclapsfingasnapz]

Freedom Years

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um, like there's no fucking contest

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[This message was edited Wed Jun 18 13:49:57 PDT 2003 by suomynona]

suomynona said:

my logo wuz cooler than yours, m.

Freedom Years

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

suckit...

I dug the Warner stuff

and a few things "freedom"

suomynona said:

yes!!!

suomynona said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

it's a shame how many people are gonna miss this... LOL

NME said:

'Fraid not dude - thats part of the PRINCE LEGEND. WB shaved a few years off Prince's age. Part of the whole young genius publicity rollercoaster.

There's no contest.

It's not a Industry vs Non-Industry battle, just a simple fact that the records 1978-1992 collectively shit all over the records 1993-2003.

thedoorkeeper said:

really. i hadn't realised that. i still stand by my point.

NME said:

anyone else want to do the wooden leg? CHOP...

Romance1600 said:

That'd be correct

Excepting Rainbow Children, I have to say the Warner years were the pulse! I still like everything I've heard from the "freedom" years, but that hungry vibe is not there. Most people lose that edge though, it's not just limited to Prince. When artists are starving or desperate or hungry for success, their work is always better. Now, he's just doing what he wants and that is pretty interesting too!

Warner.

I thinks its a shame. Prince tried to paint a picture about being a slave, but the fact is, he had just renewed his contract.

Its not like he was tied into a crap deal since 77.

In 93, His sales were declining, but Warner were still willing to give him a "mega star" contact.

Prince, believing in his own genius, was happy to lap it up.

In 93, he had the power to negotiate a new deal, which included gaining the old masters, much like REM did around the same time with Warner.

Instead, Prince took the big bucks, and them cried like a baby a year later.

As always, the problem was not slavery (which has began his whole train of throught for the last 5 years), but the fact that Prince wanted his cake, and eat it.

He wanted all song writing credits, the single choices, bad marketing campains done his way, then he expects people to pay millions for it.

RAVE would have worked, if he'd worked with Arista, like Santana, rather than expecting them to bend over backwards for him.

One point of interest. If prince is number one at the bank (his words), and its not about charts or "commercial success". Why does he bother to sign single album deals?

If its about spreading the message, he could release them at half the price or give alot away for free.

He wants maximum money, and exposure, and success, but he wants everyone else to pay for it, as a thank you to his "greatness".

Obviously it never going to happen, so he sinks deeper and deeper into obscurity.

Warner days gave us a quality controlled album every year, plus all the trimmings.

Its that fact that made him a millionaire, so why should it be wrong to want more of the same?

If he don't wanna do that no more, thats fine, but why does he keep advertising like the "old days"?

Example. He made a big point of advertising RAVE as similar to SOTT. Why, to cash in on what people want.

ONA live was advertised as a greatest hits. Remember all the song title in bold on the flash advert?

Well, most of those songs ended us a 30 second snippets in a piano medley.

Its fine that he wants to move on, but if he does, why does he keep trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes, pretending his new stuff is like his old warner days?

He knows Warner was better...he just didn't want to pay for the service he was recieving.
[This message was edited Wed Jun 18 16:39:37 PDT 2003 by SquirrelMeat]

Warner Brothers