Nope.

As long as he continues his knockout combination of jazz, jazz fusion, old school soul, neo soul, neo jazz soul, dance jazz, dance soul, soul jazz, and jazz soul dance fusion soul, I'll be happy no matter what he does.

...furthermore, his influences have ALWAYS been in his music.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

PurpleKnight said:

Please stop waiting in vain. You're not gonna get "experimental" Prince anymore. You're stuck with comfortable Prince. In this day and age, Prince IS old-school so it's kinda senseless to look for him for innovation and ground-breaking material.

AsianBomb777 said:

cha-cha-cha...chut it.

AsianBomb777 said:

You took the words right out of my mouth!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Njoy what has been made n truth.
Bsides, old school don't lie.

love

its like this: if you like the way he was, listen to that. if you like the way he is, .... and so on. everybodys happy, problem solved.

dazedawhile said:

some of these cats still ain't got a hold of that concept yet--people have mentioned that before. tons of times.

word

I miss the MN sound. The staccato synths replacing traditional horn sound

sitruk7 said:

why did i read that as sarcasm?

sosgemini said:

lol

I'm serious though.I have no problem with Prince playing tribute to those before him.No matter how obvious his inspiration might be, he still leaves his mark on it so to speak.I welcome old school funk-n-soul as much as rock-n-roll and whatever he sees fit. That doesn't mean I like every song but I respect the effort and courage to attempt all genres.

psykosoul said:

I'm not waiting for anything. I'm merely mentioning what I'd prefer that isn't too unrealistic for him right now (I'm not asking that he stop being a JW and whatnot).

And Dansa, his influences have always been prevalent, but almost never derivative like now.

Stuff like the song Musicology is the kind of JB knockoff just about any Prince (or JB) wannabe could record, for example.
[Edited 4/19/05 17:31pm]

PurpleKnight said:

PurpleKnight said:

that still doesn't hold any water with me.

The man is old...get over it

Prince has become derivative of himself.

PurpleKnight said:

I honestly feel Musicology was meant to be a JB knockoff, a tribute so to speak. Songs like The Marrying Kind are like the way he has always been to me.

squirrelgrease said:

Mmmhmm, that bothers me too. That's part of what this thread is about. He borrows from his own prime years too much now too. It's all just recycled.

C'mon Prince, you're too brilliant to rest on your laurels like this.

SquarePeg said:

basically

PurpleKnight said:

I can understand that. We all have our Prince "wish-lists" but the bottom line is that as Prince fans we can't hold him to a standard that isn't applied to other artists. All artists hit a certain point in their lives when they coast through the rest of their careers. Can you honestly say there is anyone in music today who is making an impact deep enough to truly be considered influential? Let the new schoolers come up with the innovation and groundbreaking music. Prince is old-school now and I don't see the shame in representing that. James Brown has "passed the torch" to the Usher's and Timberfakes of the music world and none of them have paid homage to him musically. Believe it or not, despite the fact that Prince may be derivative of himself and his music heroes, he's still filling a void.

It is true that his influences are less hmmmm... princified.... than earlier in his career. He always did clearly borrow, but he was legendary for making these styles "his" all of a sudden. However, he is nowhere as blatant as Lenny Kravitz. There's still a Prince twist, while Kravitz tends to copy competently. I guess it's the fact that Prince goes way beyond competence. When he started, he was almost produced by Maurice White and made a conscious effort not to sound like EWF, by using synths instead of horns for instance. Now he has almost gone full circle, except he's using loads of synths AND horns.

psykosoul said:

Why not? The guy is better than most other artists. He can do better, so why shouldn't he? It's not just about making music that appeases me, it's about having that fire in him again, and the originality that comes with it. I just want him to even try. Derivative stuff like Musicology is too easy for him.



Not necessarily. Greats like Miles Davis didn't, so why should a great artist like Prince? Prince has always been about doing anything but what simply every other artist does, so this should be even more reason for him to not wanna coast.



Well no, but that's cause music sucks today. That has no bearing on Prince though.



But Prince is more talented than those new schoolers. When he wants to be, Prince can remind us of the genius that he is. He's done it before, he can do it again. Doing this casually derivative retro Prince/JB stuff is beneath his talents.

The guy can do so much more than just compose solid, "been there, done that" jams that just lift from all his influences without any innovation there.



Prince is definitely filling a void, but he's still doing less than what he's still capable of. This guy's guitar skills are as great as ever, his voice is top notch, his showmanship is down pat; but in the studio, he's not even trying to prove anything anymore. I find that sad.

All that talent, and he's just composing routine stuff that recycles ideas from himself and his heroes.
[Edited 4/19/05 19:56pm]

PurpleKnight said:

Wait minute, I have always felt Prince music has been reminiscent of past Funk and Soul.Hell, its no secret that Prince has been influnenced by JB, and Sly. My only problem with P album this time around was the overusuage of horns and mushy love songs .
[Edited 4/19/05 20:34pm]

PurpleKnight said:

Well I should say that he shouldn't be held to a standard that isn't applied to other legendary artists. You and I both know that there are legendary artists out there who are doing highly embarrassing things to maintain their status in the industry now. I mean Prince could be making albums with Mr. Biggs aka Ron Isley, Uncle Charlie and Snoop. Even Miles conformed to an extent. The last proper album we got from Miles was Doo Bop. As his last statement, did that album represent what truly made Miles great? No, but it didn't discredit him as an artist either.

I don't know about you but I don't think Prince has truly had that "fire" in him since about 1987. It seems to resurface every now and then. Personally, I heard it in the Rainbow Children, but that album wasn't nearly as accessible as Musicology.




Aside from the title track I really don't think the rest of the album was derivative of anyone else but Prince. I really think you are setting your expectations too high. David Bowie and The Rolling Stones manage to pop out albums every few years but I don't really think any their fans or critics lament over the fact that they have never re-created albums as captivating as Ziggy Stardust or Exile on Main Street.



I guess that's my point. Name one legend who has had to prove themselves after releasing 30 albums, countless tours and shows, accolades etc.

psykosoul said:[quote]

PurpleKnight said: