Things seem pretty slow around here so thought I would post some random thoughts I have been having and why I feel a little disappointed with the results of Prince's hard earned freedom.

I guess everyone remembers the fight with Warners about not releasing his albums when he wanted, trying not to staturate the market etc etc. I remember reading articles where Prince thought an album was like a newspaper, i.e. current and therefore should be released ASAP (maybe that was Mr Leeds, anyway...) he used to talk about the amount of stuff James Brown released and never thought it was a problem.

Do you remember on the old NPGOnline site when there was numerous surveys about how much would we pay for music etc etc? all the references to being free to do want you want when you want? too much business in the music biz?

A couple of points:

1) Prince has become the ultimate business man, now that he is paying and organising his releases we are not actually get that much more because it DIRECTLY affects his pocket,

2) With all new albums he is looking for some commercial angle, with TRC we could download it sure, but he also sorted out a distribution deal as well, with ONA Live it came in some fancy box which he then could sell in the shops, with NEWS we had the download option (can't remember if this a temporary option) and then it was released, now with Musicology I guess (and only IMHO) he had this album in the can for some time (remember the samples on NPGMC) and he waited until the perfect time to release the CD, along with all the promo and tours etc.

I'm not sure of the timescales of his releases but during Warner period I would hope for one album a year, I guess we are getting that with the 'freedom' year also, why is that?

In conslusion I feel that Prince moaned and moaned about the contraints of a recording contract like some spoilt kid but now that he had to sort out his out releases and now actually understands what it takes to be commercially successful he is no better than them (notwithstanding the fact he gets more $$$ for each release). I don't blame him for being more commercially aware but maybe the big bad record companies have a little sympathy from Prince these days.

Any thought?

g3ajg said:

I don't think you're giving the man enough credit. His output during the course of the 3 1/2 years of the club has been enormous. Let's look at what's been released thru the club:

Musicology Album
2 b sides: United States of Division, Magnificant
ONA
ONA Live
It Ain't Over
Xpectation
NEWS
The Rainbow Children
The Chocolate Invasion
The Slaughterhouse
12 Ahdio Shows
Roughly 12 videos

I could go into the individual songs that were downloaded the first year. But, I think his output has ben incredible.

[/qoute]
I don't think you're giving the man enough credit. His output during the course of the 3 1/2 years of the club has been enormous. Let's look at what's been released thru the club:

Musicology Album
2 b sides: United States of Division, Magnificant
ONA
ONA Live
It Ain't Over
Xpectation
NEWS
The Rainbow Children
The Chocolate Invasion
The Slaughterhouse
12 Ahdio Shows
Roughly 12 videos

I could go into the individual songs that were downloaded the first year. But, I think his output has ben incredible.[/quote]

Interesting list, how easy we forget....

I think the recent output has been better but not sure I would include the Ahdio shows as some of that was old stuff. I did like the idea of them, would be great to see them back since you never knew what was coming next (I guess they were a lot of work to put together).

I can't remember all the 12 videos, I've got some live footage from various shows and Hit & run stuff.

wyld1 said:

And also during the same period:

RaveIn2 The Joy Fantastic
Mad
The Funky Design
Splash
Breathe
Madrid 2 Chicago
Rebirth Of The Flesh (rehearsal)
C-Note
Le Bataclan and Hawaii live downloads
Aladdin DVD
Days Of Wild Live CD
When Will We B Paid?
The Question Of U live download
Reflection on Tavis Smiley download.
'Purple House' on a compilation album.
.
[This message was edited Tue Jul 6 10:52:09 2004 by langebleu]

I couldn't agree with the responses more. He has put out A LOT. He seems to be putting out a download every 3 weeks. That's pretty cool. And rumors of...hmmm a jazz album (could be Xpectation) an album with Wendy and Lisa and now the Auto Acoustic. Don't know if any of these will come about, but it seems as though he's working on the next thing already.