seriousely, is there any artist that can stand alongside prince in terms of being so prolific, brilliant and consistent (circa '80-'89)? i'm continually amazed when i discover something new from his 80's heyday cos the volume and quality of work is just so outstanding! just how many albums did he produce, overall? vanity 6, jill jones, the family and time albums, madhouse etc...all classics. not to mention his own run that bettered the likes of stevie wonder, bowie, dylan, neil young and the beatles (imo). the only thing that annoys me is i have to search so hard to find all this stuff hopefully one day it'll all be rereleased and remastered and i live for that day

edit: apologies for double post
[Edited 3/26/06 20:47pm]

How about Uret--- er... Aretha?
[Edited 3/26/06 20:43pm]

it is shocking I mean the breadth of musical styles covered from 1999 through Lovesexy is just sick

Parade is just a tremendous record brilliant mad genius...oh goodness I could go on. It is just schocking all the things he was doing mucially during this period

CuntOMatic said:

i hope that's not a dig at my love for fleetwood mac or the time i compared them to the beatles and got shot down

Um.


Ok.

kinaldo said:

Seriously, no.

Prince is the most prolific artist of his generation (at least), and while he may not always connect with huge audiences, the breadth and scope of his work is impressive. He schooled his contemporaries on the concept of variety.

Not sure if I agree that his side projects were "classics," but his extracurricular activities earns him extra credit.

I'm not too keen on saying one artist "betters" another but his body of work will stand alongside the all time greats, no question about it.

I think we're all in agreement on this one - hence our membership of this message board.

padawan said:

Oh please. There are plenty of artists who have extensive back catalogues. Look at Howe Gelb, Frank Zappa, Ed Kuepper, Hank Williams Jr, Conor Oberst, Ray Charles, Lou Barlow, Miles Davis, Ryan Adams (who released at least 3 albums last year), Neil Young, Stephin Merritt (famous for the 3-disc, 69-track album "69 Love Songs" from 1999), numerous dance music artists, plenty of country acts (who released up to three albums a year for a long time), etc., most of them recording under various names.

Even a seemingly "normal" band like Sonic Youth have a ridiculously complicated discography, full of side projects, etc. -- look here for an idea: http://www.saucerlike.com...cat=albums (and those are just the SY albums, also look at the singles, side projects,..).

http://www.music-city.org...scography/ -- "Johnny Cash discography in a nutshell : 71 CD released between 1989 and 2006." (see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/w...iscography )

Oh, and if you think Prince is prolific, how 'bout this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Burr -- "Henry Burr, sometimes called Irving Gillette and other pseudonyms, born Harry Haley McClaskey, (born 1882 - died 1941), singer of popular songs from the early part of the early 20th century, early radio performer and producer. He was one of the first singers to make popular acoustic recordings and one of the most prolific recording artists of all time, with more than 12,000 recordings according to his own estimate."

[edits to add more names and work on the layout]
[Edited 3/27/06 3:57am]

BartVanHemelen said:

What's this hate complex u have with Prince? Have u seen a doctor about it? I'm really concerned about your mental health (or lack of it). I hope you are at least on some meds.

tricky99 said:

In-frigging-credible. How is POINTING OUT FACTS a symptom of a "hate complex"?

BartVanHemelen said:

If you want to POINT OUT FACTS, why don't you go on the 3121 main sticky thread and correct your wrong "facts" about Prince's record sales figures?

POINT OUT FACTS only when it serves you, hmmm...?

BartVanHemelen said:

Well... in the case of Johnny Cash you are wrong... check out the link you're referring to... 71 albums between 1989 and 2006? Everyone who knows something about music knows that Folsom Prison and San Quentin were NOT released as late as 1989... and if you don't know that then you don't know FUCK ALL about the Man in Black...

71 reissues maybe... but that hardly counts now does it...?

Second time I'm telling you Bart... you're losing it man... you USED to have your facts straight...

MartyMcFly said:

Yes, most of them are reissues and compilations. Now imagine how much source material you need for 71 reissues.

BartVanHemelen said:

Weak, Bart, weak....

BartVanHemelen said:

I think we should include MJ in the "highly productive" category too. I mean, how many greatest hits packages has the man released in recent years? Impressive output!

EmancipationLover said:

There is no way Musicology sold 6.3 million. That's a completely made up number.

During their run, George Clinton and Rick James were very much like Prince in terms of protegees. George had Parliament, Funkadelic, Parlet, and The P Funk Allstars. Rick had Teena Marie, The Stone City Band and The Mary Jane Girls. He also produced tracks for Bobby Monticello, The Temptations, Kleeer, and Eddie Murphy.

BartVanHemelen said:

Why? The sales of the US alone qualify it for double platinum (2 million, but including the questionable concert giveaways). It also charted high in the UK (#3), you need to move some units to get that, I guess. Plus the complete rest of the planet... doesn't seem too unlikely for me.

EmancipationLover said:

Sheesh. THINK will ya? Prince's biggest hit in the 1990s was D&P and he had to tour that all around the world and do a lot of promo for that. And now you want me to believe that a record that got to number 3 in the UK charts at a time that the record industry cries about dwindling sales, a record that didn't get toured, a record that didn't spawn half a dozen hit singles, did almost as good? [Flame snipped - BananaCologne]

MartyMcFly said:

How 'bout this, hm: YOU go through those 71 albums and report how much is actually on it. It's SEVENTY-ONE albums. SEVENTY-ONE. And Cahs is merely ONE of many artists I presented for your consideration. Sheesh, now I know why so many Americans believe the blatant bullshit their government sells them.

BartVanHemelen said:

I have obtained my information from Wikipedia. That may be a questionable source, as all contributions are submitted by internet users, but the info on there can be corrected by any user, if it is wrong. Hence, Wikipedia got recently compared to the Encyclopedia Britannica and didn't even do such a bad job in that comparison.

While I can back up my information, you only have your believes and guesses. Come up with some facts!

[Snip - BananaCologne]

Id never be so bold as to proclaim Prince as THE most prolific artist, i dont know enough about music gernerally to be able to state something like that. For me however, I dont think i will ever discover someone who produces music at a rate and diversity in the way prince does (did). The 80's stand as a monumental acheivement for him, and to really appreciate how good he is, you have to emerse yourself in all his projects from this era.

Prince
Dirty Mind
Controversy
The Time
1999
What Time Is It
Vanity 6
Purple Rain
Apollonia 6
Ice Cream Castles
The Glamorous Life
Around The World In A Day
Romance 1600
The Family
Parade
Sign O The Times
Madhouse 8
Sheila E
Madhouse 16
Jill jones
The Black Album
Lovesexy

22 albums in 10 years. Its this period specifically that will be prince's legacy, and this is just the released stuff. We have unreleased albums like Dream Factory, the unfinished Roadhouse Garden project. Theres stuff like all his B-Sides, all the weird and wonderful 12" versions, all the unreleased songs. This is also ignoring all the concert tours, those mind blowing aftershows. you could make one hundered very different live albums out of all of them but he never has. Im also ignoring songs he wrote for other artists such as Sheena Easton.

This may not be the most prolific output ever, but he touched every base for me in that decade. Almost everything i enjoy in music can be found somewhere in that 10 year catalogue.

Im also a huge Ryan Adams fan, he's released about 11 albums in 10 years (3 last year alone), as well as having about 3-4 complete unreleased albums, and while i absolutely love him, he doesnt come close to acheiving the variety Prince did.

BartVanHemelen said:

I'm not American, fool!

CrozzaUK said:

NouveauDance said:

Co -

EmancipationLover said:

That comparison has been debunked as utterly ridiculous.

EmancipationLover said:

You can't. Some number on WikiPedia is NOT a fact. I presented numerous facts that prove that Musicology can NEVER be almost as big a hit as D&P, even when you take into account the fraudulent US sales number. You need to prove your claim, I've already offered plenty of proof that your claim re Musicology's sales is utter nonsense.

Like I said: "Prince's biggest hit in the 1990s was D&P and he had to tour that all around the world and do a lot of promo for that. And now you want me to believe that a record that got to number 3 in the UK charts at a time that the record industry cries about dwindling sales, a record that didn't get toured, a record that didn't spawn half a dozen hit singles, did almost as good?"

EmancipationLover said:

I don't want to be helping Bart out in his arguments but albums don't have to sell big numbers to chart highly here in the UK.

I seem to remember 3121 sold more first week copies than Musicology and also more than Come which debuted at number 1! I seem to remember reading 3121 sold about 39,000 copies in it's first week. 3121 has dropped from 9-22-out of top 40, so hasn't sold many copies. I think Musicology dropped just as fast, so I can't see that having sold much over 100,000 here, if it's even that high. .

TheEnglishGent said:

Actually, you're contradicting yourself here.... 3121 sold MORE than Musicology in its first week yet charted at no.9 (as opposed to Musicology's no.3)... so what does that tell us?

Prince was easily the most talented and prolific artist of the 80s, he was to that decade like Bob Dylan was to the sixties, most hits were Prince, written by Prince or deliberate rip offs of Prince (Ready for the world etc). Its is these laurels that alone should ensure him a place in the annals of musical composition along with Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethhoven, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Elgar, Britten, Dylan, Presley, Jagger-Richards, Lennon-McCarthy and West. Sorry I couldnt resist it.