QUESTION: y would prince depend on Clive Davis 2 tell him what songs On "rave" were hits?... obviosly, Clive picked "greatest Romance" as a hit song and explained 2 him that when it got as big as "TMBGITW" that he would give him a certain amount of $$$$$, but it was never hit.... any1 w/ ears knows that song should have been made 2 compliment the album BUT not released as a single.

believe Clive misguided Prince on purpose so his album would fail.


Think about it..... Did y'all see the "goodbye" show on TV they gave Clive Davis when he retired????? Every freakin STAR was there "THANKING HIM" for their careers..... mean c'mon, shouldn't Clive be the one thanking them??? their the ones with the talent.


Personally, think Clive said 2 himself "this Prince guy is trouble. If I help his albums succeed people like me (corporate ties) will never survive in this business. He has a big mouth always complaining bout the music business corporate side. ain't gonna help with shit, 'm gonna pic the worst song of the album and let the album sink on it's own"

Y'all don't think he said that 2 himself about Prince????

(BTW, in my opinion Prince tried 2 hard 2 make a commercial album with Prince and make that $$$$, but it still should not have done as bad as it did... he did have hits in there like "whereever u go, Whatever u do")

nope..

I blame Prince.. he has been picking R & B cuts to promote albums since he took over his career in 1996.

for some reason he is catering to his youth or just his late 30's - to mid 40's crowd???

If that's so, then why the hell would Clive Davis had signed Prince in the first place?

That album sunk for several reasons...

1.TGRES was a bad choice for first single no matter who
decided it.

2.TGRES wouldn't have a chance anyway because the video for
it came like four months too late, and was lousy too.

3.When it came time to release a new single, Clive was
already on the outs with Arista leaving the album to
disappear completely from the public's conscience. This
is simply bad luck for Prince, he couldn't have predicted
it.

And there you have it. Had it been released with a commercially viable first single with a good video before the single actually hit store shelves, the album could have done much better.

I don't think Clive intentionally sabotaged it. The album flopped because Clive struck the deal without anyone else at Arista getting to hear the songs. Once the rest of everyone at Arista heard those crappy songs, they said "oh shit, this album is NOT going to be a hit." So I guess the problem was the fact that a lot of the mid-level people at Arista never really got behind the project.

Sure, there are things that could have helped the album, like a video corresponding to its release, a better single choice, or Clive not getting pushed out the door, but Rave was destined to flop on its own merits.

Can anyone tell me that Rave had more "hit" potential than Emancipation or NPS? I'd bet Sex in the Summer or Wasted Kisses would have had better chances to make impact on radio than any song on Rave.

Prince would have been better off had he just not listened to Clive at all and stuck with his original plan for the album. Clive's influence just caused more Kirky J crap to get added, which pretty much ruins the few decent songs they surround. Remember before Clive's meeting, when Prince had claimed this album was going to be like SOTT? That didn't last long did it?

Even though the 'Rave' CD is no masterpiece,I still believe it could have done better if...


***The first single was "So Far,So Pleased",with a cool video featuring Gwen Stefani.It should have premiered on MTV and VH-1 at least a month before the album came out.

***The second single was "Baby Knows",with a sexy video co-starring Sheryl Crow.It should have been released just before the CD came out.

***A perfect third single would have been "Wherever U Go...",with a great video.

Notice that all three songs I picked are uptempo *POP* songs,as opposed to the more R&B-ish tracks that make up the album.Releasing R&B ballads as singles is a weak strategy that just doesn't work for Prince anymore.

locoarts said:[quote]nope..

"I blame Prince.. he has been picking R & B cuts to promote albums since he took over his career in 1996."



I agree.I think it's a mistake to blame Clive.It's obvious that Prince made alot of the decisions regarding the 'Rave' album.And even if Clive did pick "TGRES" as the first single,Prince could have picked the remaining singles himself,filmed some cool videos,and did more promotion.

Nail on the HEAD!!!!

I believe "So Far So Pleased" would have been a GREAT way to start off the RAVE project....Gwen seems to be a good luck charm (see Moby, Eve) and this would have worked in helping to make Prince more familiar with the "kids"...

"Baby Knows" would have been a great Adult Alternative/AAA single with "Wherever U Go..." serviced to Pop radio at the same time....."Baby Knows" is not a Top 40 record and "Wherever" would have fit in with coporate rock acts like Train and Matchbox 20....

"Greatest Romance" is not the greatest song but after the above-mentioned songs being released...this would have been a nice 3rd single serviced to Pop/AAA/and Urban radio....it would have done a little better this way...at least I think so....

"Man O War" or "Silly Game" could have been serviced to keep the Urban maket interested around here while Pop/Top 40 could have eatin up either a pumped up remix of "Man O War" or a better remake of "Everyday is A Winding Road" (acoustic???)

UGH....

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:[quote]Nail on the HEAD!!!!

I believe "So Far So Pleased" would have been a GREAT way to start off the RAVE project....Gwen seems to be a good luck charm (see Moby, Eve) and this would have worked in helping to make Prince more familiar with the "kids"...



/"Exactly!! I mean,it's a no-brainer.You got Gwen,who's extremely "hot" right now with the MTV crowd.You got the song "So Far,So Pleased",a catchy,rocking pop track that had "Top 10" written all over it.Not releasing this as the first single was a huge blunder."/



"Baby Knows" would have been a great Adult Alternative/AAA single with "Wherever U Go..." serviced to Pop radio at the same time....."Baby Knows" is not a Top 40 record and "Wherever" would have fit in with coporate rock acts like Train and Matchbox 20....



/"Again,I agree."Baby Knows" is alot of fun,and I believe it would have really caught on."Wherever U Go" is another obvious choice for a single.By NOT releasing it,Prince allowed Lenny Kravitz to basically re-make the song,title it "Again",and score his own hit with it...lol..."/



"Greatest Romance" is not the greatest song but after the above-mentioned songs being released...this would have been a nice 3rd single serviced to Pop/AAA/and Urban radio....it would have done a little better this way...at least I think so....

"Man O War" or "Silly Game" could have been serviced to keep the Urban maket interested around here while Pop/Top 40 could have eatin up either a pumped up remix of "Man O War" or a better remake of "Everyday is A Winding Road" (acoustic???)



/"I agree again! "Silly Game" could have been released to R&B radio at least.It's a nice song,and probably would have done well with the urban markets."/
[This message was edited Fri Apr 5 2:36:40 PST 2002 by DavidEye]

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

I somewhat agree, but I think it was not in No Doubt's interests for Prince to release it. It wouldn't have been nearly the hit that the Moby collaboration was, and they were already pretty saturated on radio. It would have been a good move for Prince, but a bad move for No Doubt. And actually, that is in fact the reason that the song wasn't released if I recall.

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

Even by urban R&B radio standards, Silly Game is just dull. Man O War also. Those aren't the types of songs that urban radio get into--they lack the trendy "Timberland"-type beats and the catchy hooks. (Believe me, Kirky J will NEVER be the next Timberland, Swiss Beats, Dr. Dre, etc.) Everyday is a Winding Road... no remake could save that song.

I just think Prince was not following his gut instinct with that album.What was his advice for TTD 'forget what people say, forget about what record companies say- do what that voice inside tells you to do'.

I think Prince forgot that himself. The album i think was too much catered for one type of market and designed to get him back on top.

Thank god Prince has followed his instinct with TRC. Who cares about the mainstream, the charts are so shit nowadays anyway.

DavidEye said:[quote]

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

agree w/ u....