ThePunisher said:

Yeah, musicology was such a serious album.

If I saw him play that bad azz guitar solo during his
performance at the RockNRoll Hall of Fame,I would be like
daaaaannng this cat can play, I gotsta check out his zhit!!

listen to almost any "legendary" artist's work past the age of 40 and you'll almost always choose NOT to become a fan. Would you become a Beatles fan if you only listened to music any of the former Beatles recorded after ago 45 or even 35 for that matter? Now how about the Rolling Stones. How about Dave Matthews' last two albums? Earth, Wind and Fire? Doubtful, yet there are new Beatles fans born every day. Luckily, Prince recorded several albums in his early years for new fans to enjoy for decades and maybe centuries to come.

I still follow him as I did in the early years, because I'm thankful he's still with us and performing at such a high level. I like Te Amo Corazon and play it almost daily. I'm looking forward to 3121 nearly as much as I did Sign O The Times, albeit with lower expectations.

MarcelJ said:

I think you are bang on in your comments because I first heard James Brown doing "Living in America", and there's no way I would have been a fan if all his music sounded like "Universal James", or "I'm Real". Only by taking a chance on buying a greatest hits casette after I read reviews of SOTT comparing "Housequake" to JB's stuff, did I discover " Soul Power", and " Hot Pants", etc.

Wow! How could a guy who was so ON FIRE be one day be relying on C+C Music Factory to get him through an album? What the hell happened to his talent!

Same with hearing "I Just Called To Say I Love You", and "Ebony and Ivory" in my youth, to years later discovering "Songs in the Key of Life". Again: what the hell HAPPENED?!

And you experience it again and again with "The Promise " by EWF, and enivitably Prince-"Rave",or "Chaos and Disorder".

You still play the stuff you love, and hope that one day they can suprise you with a solid work- look at Paul McCartney with "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard".

herb4 said:

I think this is a very good comment!

I think that knowing Prince was holding back tracks exactly like the excellent examples you mentioned, plus at the time, ones like "Dance Electric", "All My Dreams", "Can I Play With U?" "Cookie Jar", that this guy had a load of riches he was holding back on. If all those wonderful bootlegs didn't exist, and something like "Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic", or " Chaos and Disorder" was the best he could do and was the sum total of his time in the studio, then I would think Prince was washed up. The prospect of those bootlegs one day getting officially released keeps me sticking around in the meantime.

I think the poor quality of some bootlegs actually add to the mistique of those tracks you mentioned, like a dirty secret unearthed by archeologists. I think of the track "Crystal Ball", which actually "lost something" for me in its clear, mastered release in 1998.

That's a good question. Do you mean if I were a new fan of Prince's music (but still someone who has loved music for years) or a new fan of music in general? There is definately a difference.

If I were a new fan to music in general, I wouldn't have the good taste to look for someone's music like Prince's. I would be too busy listening to boring midtempo hip hop because that would be all I knew thanks to the sorry ass state of radio for years.

If I were a longtime music lover and were discovering Prince for the first time, it would take more than the Prince songs that have gotten radio airplay to get me into him. I would change the radio station immediately when I heard the new one, "Tora Amazon" or whatever the hell it's called. "Call My Name" definately would not have caught my ear. I would have been yawning for days. The song "Musicology" would catch my ear but not enough to buy the album.

Someone would have to let me listen to some of the tracks that were never played on the radio (at least in my area) such as "1+1+1 is 3", "Cinnamon Girl", "A Million Days", "She Loves Me 4 Me", "On The Couch", etc. Then, I might buy the albums. The only reason I "might buy the albums" is because the rest of today's music in general is so boring that I would be desperate for anything "decent". If the world in general was still throwing down like we were back in the 1970s and early 1980s, I would have dropped Prince a long time ago....probably around 1985. Prince can thank Shitney Houston for killing funk and slowing things down in the late 1980s and the hip hoppers of the 1990s for burying it because if the funk had lived on and Prince had not shaped up, he wouldn't have gotten another dime of my money. As it turned out, Prince's weakest work is much stronger than all the other artists strongest work. I've been "settling" for years because, as a music lover, I have to have my fix even if it means settling for "decent". All I can do is settle because there's nothing else out there.
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[Edited 2/1/06 0:17am]

ThePunisher said:

I concur . . .

warning2all said:
[/quote] I think you are bang on in your comments[/quote]

Thanks warning! I concur with your examples, as well.

But, it does happen from time to time. There are scores of artists who write and produce great music in their 40's, 50's and beyond. I think we all know that Prince is capable of shocking everyone, but the clock is ticking. There really has never been a better time or situation, considering his hit tour, two year lapse between albums and Universal's stewardship thusfar. This may be a taste, at least, of some of that magic.. I'm hoping, but not holding me breath.

No. Prince´s melodies are not catchy and hard to get into. You have to hear them more than once, sometimes even 5 - 10 times and Prince´s new music does not get that much airplay nowadays to hook you to it. Plus I have never been into his singing, really. The album that got me was Diamonds and Pearls - that´s funky and melodic. Prince has tought me a lot. He tought me to listen to what´s the band playing and I appreciate it very much. Before that I listened only to Mariah, Whitney, MJ and others whose melodies are beautiful enough on its own so I never bothered to listen to the background. With Prince, the real beauty is the background and he tought me to appreciate the music I listened to before even more, cause I have started to get into it deeper..

I'm 33 years old, been a fan since the early 80's, and I would have to say no, as well. If I wasn't a fan and had just heard some of his singles on the radio the last few years, I may have thought, "hmmm...that sounds nice," and forgot about it. There's been no radio releases that would have made me buy the CD. I only bought the last few CDs because I have been a fan for a long time and feel obligated. Probably like most fans in my age bracket, I listen to the older stuff much more than than the new stuff.

I have to YES,I know that prince change over the year,
I like change Prince isn't like other artest He like to keep everbody
guessing. It doesn't hurt that he cute a hell, the way he moves you know what I mean.

Nah...

He still makes quite decent stuff though, but he hasn't released any masterpiece since the early 90's or if you push it further since the late 80's.

His 80's records belong to the music history, and as per the rest.. Well, I have listened to better music...

MarcelJ said:

ThePunisher said:

-----
Do really think "Black Sweat is a serious song.

after the performance on SNL, absolutely.

Hmm... In terms of "new stuff", how "new" are we talking? I gave the copy of Musicology I received at the concret to a friend who is "new" to Prince and he thought it was the best thing he'd heard in a mighty long time. He still goes ON and ON about it and plays it front to back every week.

I'd have to say "yes". The minute I heard "Call My Name" I would have fallen in love. And though I love many a Prince song more than these, "SST" and "Glass Cutter" were nice, too.