The mastering is pretty shit.

I don't understand why prince isn't playing the guitar alot. He's wasting his skills.

I would love to hear some music with lots of solos; bass and guitar!

TRC for the most part is well produced.

The gold experience has amazing points and shitty ones; the keyboard bit in endorphine machine! Someone should of said 'prince that bit ruins the song'!

I wish prince would use effects like page and hendrix did and create unique sounds with his instruments.

Prince also is lacking in epic songs. He could produce something like stairway, voodoo chile, november rain.
[Edited 9/29/06 10:15am]

Since 1990, I would single out the following for their production:

The Rainbow Children - Whether or not you like the album, there's no denying the creative production approach and the different "organic" sound never really heard before on a Prince album.

The Gold Experience - Again, maybe a matter of taste, but that thing is such a blown-up glittery mess that you can't ignore it, and I think it was done very purposefully in order to make it sound different from any "Prince" album, being the first proper album released by 0(+>.

One Night Alone...Live! - While missing some of the high points of the tour (i.e. would've been awesome to have Love Rollercoaster after 1+1+1=3 like in the concerts), the minimal overdubs and seamless transition from song to song recorded in different venues is pretty darn well done. The third disc is maybe more questionable.

The Truth - Quite a nice listen.

Low points being:

Emancipation - Lots of stuff to like, but the gooey plastic sound of the whole thing isn't what I would call "the album he was born to make." I think those 3 discs show less range than even Musicology or 3121.

Crystal Ball - More poorly assembled that some fan releases and bootlegs.
[Edited 9/29/06 10:47am]

I don't get all technical-I just love and appreciate the music!

Just IMO, production has definately been lacking on most releases for at least a decade now.

On one hand, Prince's production is magnificient, in the sense that he creates songs with a band feel with ease when it is only him. And I've heard other bands far more stuck in a rut and producing the same type of sound every album, Prince's albums remain extremely varied even after all these years.

On the other hand, there is a slick, smooth production sound that crept into Prince's music around Emancipation and continued through Newpower Soul, Rave, The Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse and Musicology. I can't really put my finger on what it is, but the sound on all those is too balanced and rhythmically kinda dull (all though of course there are still great songs throughout), they really sound like Prince alone in the studio not making the most of the drum machine.

For my personal tastes I do like music that is somewhat unbalanced, some sound or instrument way too much up in the mix can make it more interesting and carry the song - like the synth carrying When Doves Cry, for instance. Prince rarely puts out stuff that is a bit raw and unpolished, but he should because it usually works better, and one of his strengths is without doubt his guitar playing which he should let reign more on record rather than burying it in the mix.

I actually think 3121 was a step in the right direction for my tastes in the most part, a little bit unbalanced, a little bit more focused on one synth sound or beat rather than creating a boring balanced sound.

metalorange said:

co-sign.

Listen to the guitars in "Joy in Repetition" and ask yourself why they were barely audible. There are many more similar examples of buried guitar in Prince's catalog.

metalorange said:

Very true once again with, I would argue, the exception of The Rainbow Children. There's a piece of work that definitely does not sound like Prince alone in the studio, even though one can be sure it's mostly him.

mikek1 said:

Excellent points Mike. I agree completely.

Doozer said:

i know; why the hell does he do that? He's such a great player!

mikek1 said:

People have been complaining about Prince not featuring his guitar enough since forever. Guitar solos can take over a song. I always assumed he had different goals in mind for his albums than showcasing his guitar skills.

ElCapitan said:

GUITAR SOLOS ROCK! They don't have to be aggressive; just listen to maggot brain.

Everyone wants more guitar from prince!

skywalker said:

to me, production technique is a reflection of ur state of mind. so if ur asking if fans are disappointed with his state of mind, i dont know. isnt everybody disappointed with something cuz it feels like independent thinking? i dont know.

mikek1 said:

I agree, I'd love to hear more guitar. I'm just saying why I think he doesn't do it as much as might be wanted. I guess it wouldn't be Prince if he just gave us what we wanted. In the meantime, listen to him live I guess..

mikek1 said:

Maybe that endorphine keyboard tragedy
is simply because Prince wanted to introduce yet another "version" of the song. He already released the version on
the CD-ROM and then we heard the Arsenio performance.

origmnd said:

Wasn't it Interactive on the CD-ROM????

Endorphine Machine wasn't on there also was it (it has been years since I played the CD-ROM)?

ElCapitan said:

I read an interview where he said he would like to be remembered as a guitar player. I guess he changed his mind.

mrmarcus said:

Yes. Player will do just fine.

Digital~itis has taken over..thats the problem.

mrmarcus said:

Is that the interview where he said he was "just a guitar player"? That he considers Johnny Lang more competition than MJ?

It's the lyrics which disappoint me.

Nope, he could sing accoppella for me and it would be right on time!

mikek1 said:

Hell Yeah!!! I need to get fucked real good by his Guitar! Rock Me!

Sowhat said:

A performance video of Endorphine was on the CD-ROM

Fury on SNL woke up alot of people to his skills.

I was talking to a metal head in Tower Records one day, trying to get him into Prince. I tried to assure him that his radio songs are not atypical of his sound.

He said to me "does he play leads?"
That should tell how much people are aware of him.

lyrics, arrangment and production are all missing the "quirk".

mikek1 said:

Ive never had a problem with his in your face mastering. I've heard horrible mastering on old Led Zepplin albums...

the keyboard bit in endorphin Machine is h im making the song feature and odd "prince" noise up front, without it, it's a conventinal rock song that fiits with this theory that his 90's music was more conventionally arranged.

solos, bass, and guitars is conventional and goes against the point made in the original post!

TRC is his most conservative album he ever put out musically, it has the most conventional sequence of songs as far as the sound and tone. I asked Femi Jeya about this (when we were "one on one" at the last celebration) and he confirmed that he (Femi) was able to add more input to this album and have it produced in a more conservative fashion than the usual way Prince puts all the intruments including the embellishments up to "11".

Look at PLay in The sunshine or I could never take the place, those are unconventionally produced rock songs... the guitar is "buried" just like Joy in Repitition (personally I don't think it's buried at all!)

I have a feeling you guys want him to go backwards and produce more conservatively....

I say NO.

3121 (title track), Lolita, Black Sweat... these are just fine. Gems.

ufoclub said:[quote]

mikek1 said:

Bass and guitars are conventional instruments, but that doesn't mean you can't use them in an unconventional way in the production.

Though you may be right, TRC maybe was a return to 'conventional' production with conventional instruments, but that was why it was so refreshing, since either side of it were albums sounding somewhat digitised and computer generated, too obviously Prince alone in the studio not pushing for originality in tone or beat. TRC had a far more organic sound as if an entire band really was playing and had more free reign, more like the production on his earlier albums.

metalorange said:[quote]

ufoclub said:

well, "come on" from new pwer soul overshadows the entire Rainbow children album for me! The one that really stands out on Rainbow is Digital Garden. Other than that, I like the vibe of the title track... but all the others are too conventional to interest me.

3121 the title track, and Lolita are Prince in top form. He has always only had two to three songs that really are gems on each album. The rest grow on me as I forgive their dull or uninspired attributes. SOTT is a prime example. when it came out in 1987, I only liked three tracks on my intitial gut instinct (Sott, housequake, If I was girlfriend) the rest sounded a bit impotent. but with time, and homemade remastering and the movie, many others have come to life in my mind.

ufoclub said:

Well, everybody has a different favourite from Newpower Soul, I don't really see what is so terribly different or unconventional about Come On compared to the other tracks, several of them have that phat drum sound for instance. I would argue that The One with Rhonda's fretless bass and the orchestration is far more unconventional for Prince.

Perhaps there aren't really any stand-out tracks on TRC, but that makes for a more cohesive, consistent sounding album, the whole album is a flowing experience. I just can't hear this 'conventionality' through this album you can, it just goes all over the place, the feedback-bass on Family Name is high-point for me.



Well, surely you can't argue that Sign hasn't unconventional (for the time) production? Plenty of innovative sounds and layered/overlapping vocals. I do like 3121, Prince seemed to make more effort to come up with interesting synth/drum patterns, but totally different to the organic drumming on TRC, shows his breadth of production abilities.