I was listening to the "hits 1" today and i really appreciated how almost every song still holds up today in production value, and how each album really had it's own sound. Lately on recent records i havent been that impressed with prince's production, and there is a lack of innovation or originality.

prince used to use stereo to it's fullest.. when doves cry moving left to right, or "Pop Life' with the vocals on one side, the other tracks on another. Those type of things keep me listening all thse years later..

HA?????/

SO!!! Your point is what exactly? Hmmmm?

I agree.

He used to play around a lot in mixing room, and just try different things. Lately he became somehow too safe with his production. And on early albums i really like his minimalism, in the 90's he started to pack the songs too full, theres just too many tracks being used and it many times sound just messy.

I agree with DMSR and prinssi . IMO his production has become quite uninspired and repetitive in the last years...

like i said HAAAAA?????PRINCE IZ AN ORIGINAL AND DOESNT HAVE A CLONE SO APPRECIATE ALL THE REAL MUSIC U CAN GET PEOPLE

Whilst his production skills deteriorated greatly from 1996--2000 they greatly improved in 2001 with TRC. That has some of his best ever production. It was a real return to form.

I admit he played it safe with Musicology but the production is good. He purposely tried not to make a weird album.

bkw said:

But if I am satisfied with listening to a "safe" album I can as well listen to, let's say, Lenny Kravitz, he is a master of that "art".

his 2 biggest talents,

1-produce
2-instruments

I was thinking of posting a similar topic but froma different pov:

P is a BAD producer. The only album's he produces well r his own (plus, The Time, the only project where an identical sound works because they evolved together). In all other projects he lacks the imagination, the ear, and the openness to produce AROUND and FOR the other artist. I think that's why most projects he produced for others bombed.

bkw said:

I agree, although i feel that musicology was definitley not his best album, it is better than what most artists who were once legends (hint: mj) try to put out albums that sound overproduced and mechanical.

Serious said:

BS detected hint hint

"Prince is a bad producer"

DMSR said:

He's still very analog-minded... has not really plunged into the world of digital and Protools

i sometimes think the same thing but then it puts you as a listener in an awkward position. cuz Prince will tell you things have to evolve but even he himself admitted there is a point where you don't keep pushing it. somehow i feel sometime in the 80's he perfected his sound and then he just kept on pushing it. his sound is still miles away and no one can successfully duplicate it to this day. However when I listen to some later stuff I'm like is this really more innovative? Well it still kicks butt and in a way it still challenges you to listen because it's always going to be different.

ABeautifulOne said:

It's not a crime to criticize the man, he's not a god. He's flawed just like everyone else.

Serious said:

Co-sign.

i woul;d have thought the reason prince has become boring is due to the following:


in the late 70's his sparse cold production of for you and prince was quite differnt from the sound of the times - i.e. unique.


in the 80's - his use of the linn drum was revolutionary (spawned many copycats)

in the 90's - he did what nile rogers did and every other 'top producer' and just used hundreds of tracks of rubbish 90's sounding drum loops (at the time everyone was trying to do a 'teddy riley' with the swing beat - even resulted in mike jackson actually hiring teddy to produce and write his stuff

however, the trend from the late 90's kind of became more breaky and sparse (in popular black music), something prince became ditatched with , partially (i think) due to his foray into jazz, and partly due to the critisism and poor attempts to get into the 'rap thing' (this era i'm talking about is when jodeci, blackstreet and bad boy were running things)


now in the 2000's and onwards, theres no way prince could replicate the stuff hiphop and r&b guys are doing - partly because its souless as hell and partly because although i dont like to admit it - the guy just couldn't do it i.e. timberland and the neptunes (when i say this i mean, although musically, the guy could write a great deal better - i.e he's capable of writing more than typical neptune 2 bar hooks with nice middle 8 section, the actual sound of production is the equivilent of prince freaking the lindrumm in the 80's - soemthign pop producers have caught onto and copied.

think how many pop tracks by full on pop artist borrow similar things from timbaland tracks and neptunes tracks.


it pains me to say this, but if prince really is trying to make a popular soul slbum, i think he should get in questlove and the soulquarians (the guys behind the whole 'nu philly soul' movement).

he's too good for the commercial pop r&b of today, and clearly hasnt come up with any new 'sound', so prehaphs he should just stick to making more traditional funk stuff (again though, i think he should hook up with maurice white of earth wind and fire or one of kool and the gangs/maze/lakesides producers to get a more traditional funk sound (his atempts on musicology of funk always seemed a little too 'empty' sounding for me.

by the way, i like the neptunes stuff - theyre great writers.

babbled a bit, but you'll get the point.
[Edited 9/23/04 16:53pm]

With regard to his production skills, I think what we are witnessing at the moment is a turning point in Princes Career. After the sparse, stripped and exciting production work of his 80's albums, many became disillusioned with his 90's production. It was often criticised as being too plastic, too polished and cluttered. For many, it saw a time in which prince's production began to follow trends rather than lead.

With the release of Musicology and his emphasis on real music by real musicians, i believe that prince's production for future releases are going to become more naturalistic. Concentrating moreso on real live instruments, such as, Acoustic piano, hammond organ less processed guitar in the place of synthesised beats etc. Also, i think that more time will be given to recording 'live' in the studio with a band as opposed to multitracking prince of yesteryear