"prince's music in the last 10 years is nothing more than pale versions of his brilliant early work"

yes and no, depending on the music being discussed.

when he TRIES to make a hit, it ends up sounding pale.

when he does his own thing without a care for commercial potential, it exposes how much he's evolved as an artist.

unfortunately the good stuff has rarely hit the mainstream radar.

Dude, you find non-ironic joy in hairmetal and loathe Nirvana. I didn't even reach the end of your sentence.

Number23 said:

but i LOVE Milli Vanilli

Mazerati said:

I don't think it's an 'imitation' at all. I don't think Prince has tried too hard to imitate himself - he simply goes from the next thing to the next thing to the next thing, constantly trying new things and challenging himself. Not all his experiments have come off, but as the saying goes, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs along the way. It's like saying his early work was an apple and now he's doing oranges. You can't compare the two. Apples were good back then but if he'd just done apples for ever, it would have got boring eventually.

It's all about food, basically. You come up with some great recipes that are unique the first time round, but you have to move forward and come up with new recipes, even if they're not quite as well accepted as the first ones you did.

Sorry, I'm getting lost in analogies here...

metalorange said:

Do you like Milli Vanilli?

Number23 said:

I quite loved that one hit they had at the time. I don't think it really mattered that those two guys didn't actually sing on the record. These days it isn't the real voice of most singers, it's gone through so much filtering and auto-tuning.

Sad that those guys never recovered from the shame of it all and one later committed suicide.

metalorange said:

I've never heard their songs, to tell the truth. I'd probably recognise their big hit. I was still into Guns N Roses when they were about and other wee boy music. Although I was partial to Hale & Pace's 'The Stonk'. Oh, God, please slaughter the student within me.
[Edited 3/10/06 5:30am]

Number23 said:

I remember now, it was 'Don't Turn Around' it was on the radio everywhere, I'm sure you'd recognise it. Guns n' Roses did a cover of it (not really). I was more a fan of Guns n' Roses too myself.

The Stonk was for comic relief. For comedy value, I preferred Morris & The Minors 'Stutter Rap' which of course heralded the new age of gangsta hip hop...

Mazerati said:

With the rare exception of TRC, i'd say that statement is dead on.

I'd say to whoever said that they can shove it up their ass

Mazerati said:

Wrong statement.

well its funny really as Come was 1994 so i can't include that, but if someone said that to me I'd probably give them The Truth, TRC, ONA, selected songs from NPGMC Yr1 & 2 (Golden Parachute and Hypnoparadise are my two faves, plus stuff like My Medallion and Supercute), The Vault (ok it was collected from 1992-1996 but still), and probably NEWS (though a hardcore fan might compare it unfavourable to Madhouse!).

Personaly the stuff I just mentioned, all of it, is up there as my favourite ever Prince material, along with Parade and SOTT from the 80s. I love it all (well, nearly - Jughead aside), but for some reason those ones really really do it for me.

Never went into wide release.
What would happen if someone requested these songs at a Prince concert?
Would half of the audience even recognize them?
Would his current band even be able to play them?

Why does P do things like that?

littlemissG said:

Firstly, I don't know what is wider than the selling songs on the internet that is available around the world. For instance Chaos & Disorder only sold a little over a 100,000 copies; simply putting songs on disc does not inherently mean everyone will get to hear them because not everyone buys every album.

Secondly, Prince doesn't take requests at concerts.

Thirdly, half his audience probably haven't heard his ENTIRE catalogue, maybe albums here and there, so there's potentially a lot of songs audience members wouldn't recognise, whether they were internet songs or not.

His current band, like all his bands, would be able to play them if they had rehearsed them.

metalorange said:

'Don't turn around' was by Aswad.

'Girl You Know It's True' is the song you were probably thinking of. That was by the Vanilli. or not, as it turned out.

sorry for being a pedantic wanker!


[Edited 3/10/06 12:20pm]

don't forget "Blame it on the Rain..."

TRUE.

That's being nice.

Marrk said:

You're dead right, in my head I had the Vanilli brothers singing Aswads 'Don't Turn Around' now you've pointed it out, doh!

Oh what a furry little creature this catapilla be. So colorful, so briliant, so soft and dreamy. Who would think this catapilla would rap itself in something so unlike its former briliants. But just wait, soon a butterfly appears, so magical, that it washes away any thought, from your minds, of it ever being worm like.

Mazerati said:

I say, listen to TRC and the statement is proven false.

Mazerati said:

its a bit harsh but its closer to truth than lie , I think his new music from
1997 onwards hasnt been as good as whats come before , I'll defend anything hes made up to and including Emancipation quite happily but after that , I cant honestly say the music has affected me as much , theres maybe 2 dozen songs I really enjoy but the rest is just ...ok

In terms of innovation, yes
In terms of quality, no.
He released some brilliant music in the last 10 years: TRC, The Vault, etc
I hope 3121 is a very good album