his work over the last 10 years has been patchy and i think most fans would agree that his quality control has not been there as much as it might have been so i was wondering what effect bringing in an objective ear into the recording studio would have on prince?....i know its unlikely to happen, we all know what a control freak he is but i for one would love to see it happen.....look at the good reviews paul mccartney's new album is getting and although his album is not brilliant, its definately improved for having someone else there saying 'sorry sir paul, but thats shit'.....if its good enough for someone like mccartney, its good enough for prince.

Imagine Prince giving some hooks and licks and songs to some DJs and let them remix the hell out of it.


.
[Edited 9/16/05 15:18pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Supa, 'm with you on this one. would say separtely that it would be interesting he did release a remix CD. Now, that shit would be off the chain and it would have to be some of the hottest DJ's too.

I could be interesting but I don't see how it could be a regular thing. It would be like a couple of tracks tops, because of the way he records. When you can do it all, you don't like to wait around for your collaborator to show up, especially when you are in the habit of recording in the middle of the night and can't even stop when you're on tour. That's why he's better off picking good musicians -- because they can be around, as opposed to the big shot producers that could muster an interesting record. His best de facto co-producers have been band members.

Aerogram said:

This is exactly how I see it. Even it was done any other way than, it would become to mainstream and mudane and P's admirers don't want that. I thinking something purely experimental for the clubs exclusively(one time deal).

The only way I could see Prince being produced by another is if he were performing another's songs (e.g. Wendy & Lisa, Jam & Lewis, etc). Now THAT I'd like to hear.

At this point its too late in the game to care. If he was in his prime then it would be a different story. To have a Runggren or somebody do SOTT or Lovesexy....whew boy.

Snap said:

Now Jam & Lewis would definitely be a Funky affair.

I'd like to see him work with the Dust Brothers, the guys that produced some of the best Beck albums. They would give his music and experimental electronic edge that has been lacking for a decade now in Prince's music IMO.

Or maybe Basement Jaxx, or ?uestlove if you want something more soulful.
[Edited 9/16/05 16:39pm]

The Neptunes.

DiamondGirl said:

[Edited 9/16/05 16:39pm]

MadameS said:

It's never too late...

funkaholic1972 said:

Hell To The Nah!

funkaholic1972 said:

Maybe you have a point.

funkaholic1972 said:

For me it is. I don't care who he works with now. His vintage material phase is long gone. This stuff he is doing now seems like ordianry or "traditional" style music. Anybody can be inserted into it.

hmmm, McCartney just let the produucer of Radiohead tell him yes and no, and the results are awesome. McCartney can play all instruments and produce himself and is the most prolific hitmaker of the 20th century, but he let this younger guy edit and shape his efforts... and it's a hit album in my opinion of an aged rock god.

i want him to work with green velvet..

damn it!!

ufoclub said:

Again, I have no desire to buy a McCartney album. Prince is dangerously close to that irrelevancy.

Point being is it would have more meaning of they had done these things earlier in their career, not in their twilight. zzzzz

sosgemini said:

Who is Green Velvet Sos?

MadameS said:

Cashmere...Green Velvet..same guy...he is house queen but mixes in a lot of funk and new wave..

like a modern day prince..

I like the occasional collaborations like some of the remixes from back in the days, for instance the Future remix or some Wendy and Lisa production or others from the Prince circle but I´m not to keen on Prince surrounding himself with a bunch of trendy, flavor of the month prodicers like MJ did. It worked for MJ, but he always had other producers. We´re talking about Prince here. He doesn´t need that, and it would look like making a compromise.
As I said, the occasional collabo is cool , but it has to be the right person, but all in all, this is Prince, and he doesn´t need that. I think it´s a good thing that he´s a bit closer to Wendy and Lisa and Sheila these days, and Manuela´s positive influence as a former fan ( and obviously intelligent person) is also undeniable, and that´s better than hiring some producers who probably learnt a lot from Prince himself.

KoolEaze said:

ahh..havent seen that name around here in awhile.

sosgemini said:

Ok, now I know who you are talking about. I saw this guy in Toronto one time. When you said Cashmere, it came to me.

ufoclub said:

It's much easier for McCartney to do that. He may be able to do the things Prince does, but he hasn't spent his whole career doing it, plus he certainly worked with a major producer extensively in the past.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be fun, but the thing is producing is an integral part of Prince's creative process. I think he does not compartimentalize his abilities very much -- each is fused to the other in his mind and it's not really a Prince record if he didn't produce it.

well, the way a producer works with these kind of people is to give helpful hints while they do they're thing and to say that sucks, or cut that... McCartney didn't perform songs made up by the producer, and he still played many of the intruments himself, and presented a collection of songs to choose from. Prince in a way let's the people around him influence him in much the same way. They might not have the courage to flat out tell him, but I think that many of the decisions that Prince makes on is albums are sort of like there was a ghost producer of those around him. FOr example: Femi and Jehovah produced Rainbow Children... lol. Actually Femi had a lot to do with the mixing of that album, he actually convinced Prince to mix it more conservatively and subtley (rather than all faders up to full volume)

Aerogram said:

MadameS said:

did you like?

sosgemini said:

He's pretty good.

ufoclub said:

I know about others' influence -- that's why I mentionned de-facto co-producers. But here I assume we're talking about a producer accomplished enough to make it interesting, and Prince being Prince, with his habits and his total sovereignty over his studio/kingdom... it would take some serious dedication. We saw what happened when he invited Kevin Smith. He's not known as a record producer, but in terms of being a "big name" trying to work with Prince, his experience is shall we say informative?

Prince can produce almost any kind of record in any sound so he's better off having great musicians and engineers around, people that are less intimidating and more suited to his control freak ways.
[Edited 9/16/05 19:45pm]