So, you know, okay...we fans get our panties all tied in a knot over all the unreleased stuff he has in The Vault and we want to see all his old albums remastered and reissued with pretty packaging and bonus tracks and the works, and whenever he is approached with this, or whenever people bellyache about it at NPGMC, the response is always the same kind of thing:

"Prince B-leaves in MOOving 4ward - Y dwell on D past???"

And, well, okay. Okay, Prince. I'm with ya there. The guy's an artist and a prolific one at that, and even if I'm not 100% as on track with what he's doing these days as I used to be, I'd rather he keep following his muse. Fine. Great. Love it.

But WAIT A NOSE-PICKIN' MINUTE!!!!

Dude's been paying homage to James Brown and Carlos Santana and Sly & the Family Stone and all the stuff from his past since when...at least since the Emancipation album??? (and of course, there have been nods all through his career...I'm talking about literal homages here...cover versions...working with veteran soul musicians...stuff like that...not just dancing like JB and shouting "goodgod!" )

Tell me the Musicology tour wasn't one big wish fulfillment fantasy come true for Prince, in that he finally got to have his James Brown soul revue with himself as the Godfather of Soul (which of course the Purple Rain tour could arguably have been as well). And the entire tour and album concept was about looking back!

And, well, okay, Prince. That's cool too. But just as the glory days of James and Sly and classic R&B are the things that matter to Prince as a music fan, there are MANY of us who look to Prince's classic music as what matters to US as music fans.

Sooo....that brings us back to wanting to see that classic Prince material being brushed off and remastered, and wanting all the Vault treasures brought into the world of legitimacy. If he wants us to move forward as people who follow him, shouldn't he be setting an example instead of constantly referring to his own retro fixations?

Anyway. It's no huge thing. God bless him and all. Just a little mental bugbear.
[Edited 1/24/06 7:16am]

You raise some very good points Anx

i agree VERY much ! --- ESPECIALLY THE TOUR STUFF (james brown revue)

(oops cap lock ) .... to me - and this has been said before - Prince was soooo original back in the day .... now ... as you so elequently focused on - he seems so derivative.... even though ... with so many albums/singles i guess it is hard to stay original ....

Good point!

Do you think he believes that his vault may not be as impressive as people have built up to be in their minds? Like that's the last bit of mystery he still has hidden, and he doesn't want to let that go just yet.

But don't you think there's a difference between releasing old songs now and playing old songs in a (mostly) new way?

8up said:

well, he has to remember that there's a whole big world out there beyond his fans. there are people who grew up with JUST the purple rain album and got to know that music really well, but didn't necessarily end up becoming long-time prince fans. like my mom, she's a perfect example - she loved dirty mind and controversy and she was as big a fan as i was until lovesexy came out, and then she was like, "what the hell is THIS?!" and dropped him like a hot potato. but she still loves the stuff that, for her, were the "good" prince albums. these people would flip out over some of the early '80s outtakes, even if we hardcore fans have had them on bootlegs for years.

plus, sheesh, the intrigue over the vault is so tired. it's so symbol-era. outside of the die-hards, most people STILL don't even know he released a record after purple rain or SOTT. even after the musicology tour! and these people don't realize he put out albums before 1999! to these people, hearing the "for you" album for the first time IS 'MOO-ving 4ward'!

calldapplwondery83 said:

if he were playing the old songs in a new way, sure. if there were something novel or exciting about how he was presenting his blasts from the pasts, sure. i mean, it's like prince says himself about people covering HIS songs - if they're not bringing something new to the table musically, what's the point?

Sometimes I think he just likes playing with us...like he is dangling a carrot on a string.

"a nose-pickin' minute"?

JediMaster said:

it's anx-bonics.

Maybe he's waiting util he's much older to release an "Anthology" type of release. When we're all 64 we can enjoy it then. Who knows, maybe it is the best approach. But like little kids on Christmas Eve, we just can't wait. And I agree with you Anx, everything you said.

As you note Prince seems to be perpetually working on the next 2 or 3 projects. To such an extent that throughout his career he's demonstrated a pretty short attention span when it comes to promoting his current release, much less past releases.

Of course remasters are needed.

However, given Prince's very short attention span (and the fact that WB would benefit greatly), it seems to me that dusting off albums from 20 years ago to remaster them is probably somewhere around item #500 on his things to-do list.

Artistically, he is probably more interested in what he's doing now than what he then.

Financially, he'll probably make more money off a new album (with a good contract) that sells ok vs. remasters that sells (mostly) to the fans (where WB would probably get the lionshare).

So yeah, as a fan it should happen. But I'm not holding my breath.


.
[Edited 1/24/06 8:29am]

Universaluv said:

really good points, but i can't tell ya how much a good remasters series has brought me into the fold with other artists. bowie's 'sound+vision' series by ryko was HUGELY influential in making me a bowie fan. the recent eurythmics remasters have helped me appreciate their music in a whole new way. remasters revitalize an artist's back catalog and bring in a whole new audience for the stuff that artist is doing in the here and now. i already know that the 'for you' album exists...it should be repackaged for a whole new wave of folks who didn't even know he made music before 1982. i'm sure the results won't be HUGE, but i bet it would sell more than N.E.W.S.

you had me at we fans get our panties all tied in a knot

Anx said:

New fans? Just a bunch of ogg vorbis audiophile snobs more likely

Actually, you're probably right, but absent a serious renegotiation between him and WB, I just don't see practically how you convince him to go back to workin with them. On old stuff no less!

.
[Edited 1/24/06 8:37am]

Universaluv said:

ok, well, let's focus on the other side of the issue, then. if it's not about dwelling on the past, how about keeping an ear tuned to sounds yet to be made, instead of languishing in the 'old skool' and reminding people of old classic soul music of which we're already quite well aware?

1000% agreed.

And now's he's trying to block that damn Best Of with all of the 12" versions finally on CD.

TRON said:

he is?

Anx said:

That's what I heard from Moonie. He at least wants to push it back 'til after 3121 comes out. S'ignorant.

TRON said:

He shouldn't want to compete with himself. Having 2 albums come out in the same month is a bit much, even for Prince.

Universaluv said:

These are very good points.

With regard to remasters of old albums I would say that it is unlikely to happen without WB giving back ownership of the masters to Prince [which I assume is unlikely]. In addition, the point you make above is pertinent, that being Prince is focused on what the futures holds and rather than the past.

Don't forget the recent Musiclogy tour saw the 'retiring' of his 'hits' which suggests moving forward rather than looking back. I do believe that is why so many 80s tracks were performed as against the 90s and 00s. In other words rather than Prince believing himself that these were the 'hits' they were the songs that he wished to 'retire'.

Besides old vault tracks are just that for a reason: they weren't considered [by Prince] good enough to release at the time so why would they be now? Now I'm sure there would be a few hidden jems but whole albums's worth - I'm less sure. And I'm even less sure that Prince would wish to be judged by them rather than his current body of work.

i will say this in his defense - the 'one nite alone' piano album was a step in the right direction. even if i razz it, 'N.E.W.S.' was a step in the right direction. there were even parts of 'the rainbow children' which i think were pretty forward-thinking, and it was nice to see him thinking conceptually with his albums again.

i'm just afraid that since around the time of diamonds & pearls, he's felt a pressure to be derivative of something else if he's going to create something successful. at that time, it was trying to cop a hip-hop vibe, which he tried to do throughout the '90s to less than stellar results. and consider the RAVE album, which flopped because he tried to produce the hell out of it, second guessing his own sensibilities so he could try to churn out another hit album. and then, musicology - rely on 'old skool soul' with some pastiches of his OWN sounds of yesteryear to get by.

he knows how to innovate and to provoke his audiences - 'parade' and 'lovesexy' and even the aforementioned recent releases challenged listeners in certain ways. sometimes when he goes into his whole "old skool classic soul revue" mode it ticks me off...sure, the man should be allowed his indulgences at this point, but i can't help but feel like there's so much more he could be doing - that his output could be so much fuller and that he could be doing things that could do his career so much more justice.

i guess as long he's getting paid, all that stuff is gravy.

Anx said:

Sounds good to me.

I think the ol-skool stuff get a little overplayed, 1 or 2 ol-skool songs per album ain't that much. He's always worn his influences on his silk (not wool!) sleeves. His biggest problem (or asset depending on who you ask) is sounding too much like Prince.



damnicanttypeedit!
[Edited 1/24/06 9:07am]

I was with you until that part about embracing the pen0r.

i'm sorry - what was this thread about again?

XxAxX said:

Mariah Carey, whether she was too fat to wear that bikini.

Universaluv said:

I disagree. Lauryn Hill is perfectly sane. Leave her alone!