Why are all these people allowed to say anything else than the NPS-Rave -era? Seriously. This is not even funny anymore.

Novabreaker said:

I'd take NPS and Rave over the Jehovah's Witness years easily. Oh for the days when every interview and lyric wasn't some veiled monotheistic fascism.

DavidEye said:

I agree with name change, the fighting with warner bros, but Prince still made great music during theses times.

kpowers said:

I agree. His music was SO awsome! Even if his look was...err...I don't know...not really my thing. He did seem kinda mean and angry but you can't argue with the music. Whenever I heard a new Prince song I was FLIPPIN' OUT during that time! It was like an adrenaline rush whenever I heard a new song at this time or saw a new video.

I started disliking him when he put out Lovesexy.....then jumped back on the bandwagon in the mid 90's.

Rave

MUSICALLY: 1997 - 2005 xcept for "One Nite Alone " & "The Rainbow Children"...maybe...(i didn't like all the preachin' on this last album but the music was OK,something he had never done before...)....just MY opinion

i was talkin' about OFFICIAL releases...of course...(i liked SO MUCH "The Chocolate Invasion" )

Didn't the album cover assist the 'bombing' of Lovesexy in the States? And the fact that Prince put out the concert movie for Sign O The Times rather than tour properly... I thought that killed the momentum of his career in the States for a while... As though he was considered a 'European' act.

rudeboynpg said:

I remember Harold Lewis.He was the Uptown representative who lived here in the States,right?

What's great and frustrating about being a Prince fan is that we get to live through his "worst" periods. We get to see his artistic process in all it's warts and failed directions. Sade was said that through all Prince's failed experiments you get to experience pure genius. Imagine the courage. I would rather have his vast catalog versus a calculated, media driven, market friendly act that releases a polished album every 3-5 years after it has been product placed, tested and commercialized (think of every other "superstar").

And who can deny that every "worst" period has songs that make their top twenty?

From the opening of "Jughead" to the end of "Jughead"....no excuse

I don't really get it when prince fans don't dig his early 90's works... Ooh wee, he kept the funk real tight and made many of his best ballads, and hits too...
The Diamonds and Pearls, Love Symbol and The Gold Experience albums are real tight albums, I listen them alot...

only the the late 90's were a bit dissapointing 2 me but if u like funk n soul u will always put those cd's on too... Happily, in that time Warner released The Vault, one of my favorites

DavidEye said:

That's right!

fonkee said:

I agree.

I also have to go with Larry Graham. Did nothing for me.
For some reason in my head Larry Graham was completely beneath Prince. I mean sometimes I think Prince is too modest when it comes to his talents. Rip me if you want but these are just my opinions. I mean during that period he seemed at a stand still. He didn't or couldn't get Mile Davis at some point and too me Miles is the one Jazz influence That Prince Admired the most. Genius to Genius.
Larry Graham is and was NO Miles Davis. Just a poor substitute.

BTW, I used too dig that Gold microphone....Only Prince!

legendofnothing said:

I dig those comments. I much as i liked Larry in his heyday, I equally disliked by the time he and Prince were doing their thing. Larry basically was played out after "one in a million" came out. At least to me.

Definitely NOT the worst.... Just listening to 1999 for the first time in ages. Still sounds as wonderful as ever....

.... except for Free, God that song sucks. Republican Triumphalism of the WORST kind.

...almost scared 2 say... I don't like much his first albums... until Lovesexy. I of course don't mean purple rain or SOTT or 1999 or Parade are not good, but I don't think they've got the sound P wanted them 2 have... Then I also agree that he sometimes did stinking sh*t like "come" and "rave" for example... I also think he found his really own sound only some years ago somewhere between the gold experience, Emancipation, the Rainbow Children and Musicology...

...anyway I'd give much 2 hear SOTT re-recorded now !

i love parts of everything with the exception of graffiti bridge. it just stinks

BoySimon said:

Huh, I never thought of it that way, but that's kinda spot-on now that I hear it. Geez, thanks.

BoySimon said:

Espousing the virtues of freedom, democracy, activism and unfortuately patriotism does not equate to "Republican Triumphalism." Prince is non-ideological when it comes to political parties. He was widely misquoted around this time in a Musician magazine interview when he sarcastically stated that the American public will probably favor Reagan over Carter because he has "bigger balls." He later addressed this misunderstanding in the song Paisley Park ("whoever said that elephants were stronger than mules.")

My Thoughts about the Era u Mentioned,
Batman = was reasonably good,kinda different to previous work and fit the movie well, worked well as a soundtrack album.
GoldExperience= the hip hop wannabe stuff he started doing around or before this time was crap, having said that there were several Gems on Gold, but in general most of Prince's attempt at the hip hop thing have been crappy, that includes his brief rapping on Black Album.
Diamonds & Pearls = bit Commercial, but wasnt a bad album.
LoveSymbol = IMO was reasonably good also, some good tracks and some pretty crappy ones too.
Come = Overall not a great album, not many good tracks, some tracks hit the mood right, eg = Come,Space, LetItGo,
Chaos&Disorder = Another mediocre album,nothing really new or interesting here.
NewPowerSoul = I dont mind this album sometimes when Im in the mood but generally
its not Great album,
Emancipation = C.D's 1 and 2 are pretty good, cd 3 pretty crappy,
Rave To The Joy Fantastic = Has its moments, i do really like certain aspects about this album, but overall its probably not amongst the best Prince Albums.
Musicology = i havnt heard everysong but from what i have heard its a mediocre album.

Best Prince Albums In No Particuliar Order,
Purple Rain,
Parade,
Sign O the Times,
1999,
Prince,
Around The World In A Day,
Graffiti Bridge,
LoveSexy,

The lyrics to Free, whilst espousing all those lovely thing you say, jdcxc, ahve a benign "Land of the Free", "Be grateful you are not 'living over there'" feel. And don't forget Prince was the man who also wrote 'America'. He has (SWEEPING STATEMENT ALERT) republican tendencies. (note small 'r')... just take a look at his busisness dealings... I also think he has (ANOTHER SWEEPING STATEMENT ALERT) confused tendencies, much like many, I would imagine. The altruistic Prince of Love4oneanother married to the one that put POV films out of business?

If I'm gonna chose, I'l chose the New Power Soul and Rave period... the whole period with mediocre music and a WAAAAY too dandy appearance!

All of that luckily changed in a blink when he went back to calling himself Prince, and appearing at a press conference with the white high collar sweater and the shaded glasses a la SOTT. His music became better shortly after...

musicolog said:

wtf?

1) For you/Prince - Not totally bad, but the music had nothing specifically "Prince-like" back then imo (with few exceptions like "Bambi") - just too generic.

2) Parade - Of all his 80's albums, this is the "wannabe something" one imo. Prince trying to approach different styles, but lacking the brilliance of SOTT yet. Sounds like a pre-study to later work sometimes (exceptions like "Kiss" again, of course). Not to talk about this haircut...

3) NPS/Rave - 'Nuff said already. Some brilliant songs, some horrible ones. Albums missing some overall flow. Strange production flaws (not talking about Kirky J. here, I mean stuff like using chant choruses on two songs on a rather short record like NPS). In addition, Rave suffers from a bad tracklisting.

[quote]

Novabreaker said:

Those are classic Prince albums, why wouldnt they have the sound, I see them as really individual albums they all had there own sound and vibe, thats partly why there Great.

I disagree Graffiti Bridge was still one of his cool albums, Tick Tick Bsng was over the top but Prince is over the top, and at least that Album had some good viby energy to it and was entertaining despite being a bit too much like a musical in parts.
There was still decent albums after this too, including Diamonds and Pearls and to some degree LoveSymbol, I think the real decline mostly started post LoveSymbol,
Come was very mediocre, even though i really like tracks Come,Space,LetItGo,
Chaos&Disorder was crappy and mediocre, Gold was an improvement but still not in league with the really cool albums, NewPowerSoul was pretty crappy, Emancipation didnt live up to the hype even though cd's 1 & 2 had some good moments. Rave was probably overhyped, was some real crap here, but some stuff i like too, The Rainbow Children was improvement in certain ways but over indulgent religiose themes and ranting dialogue between songs kinda restricts the potential for this album being one of the cooler ones, Musicology from what i heard of it is pretty dull.
The thing I notice most is that generally Prince maybe post LoveSymbol stopped taking big risks and started making albums that didnt really stand out compared to the roll he was on between Prince to Graffitti Bridge, its hard to pinpoint it but there is something missing between these two periods. Post LoveSymbol most of those albums seemed kinda disjointed they just didnt seem to flow right they lacked some kind of magic vibe in the music , I mean look at Parade, look at Purple Rain, look at LoveSexy and Sign O the Times, all those albums just had such a vibe and flow to them that most stuff post LoveSymbol lacks.