NouveauDance said:

Precisely.Imagine how things might have turned out if Jam and Lewis,Andre Cymone and a few others were hired as in-house producers for the label.A kickass song like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" could have been given to Sheila E.....a hot jam like "Lookin' For A New Love" might have gone to Jill Jones,sending her to the top of the charts.When you look at the records that were released on Paisley Park in the late 80s,it's clear that most of these albums needed stronger songs and better production.Prince needed some truly talented songwriters and producers.Berry Gordy created Motown but he was smart enough to hire some great songwriters and producers to help him out.

vainandy said:

I hear ya! I know exactly what you mean.I now think that Prince moved away from the Minneapolis Sound too soon.I miss that synth-heavy funk sound! When I listen to the outtakes from that period ("ExtraLovable","Purple Music","Possessed",etc),I always think of what could have been.It's a damn shame the world never got to hear those songs! We needed at least one more album with that classic sound. As much as I appreciate Prince's artistic evolution,I wouldn't have complained if he had given us '1999 Part 2'.By abandoning that style so soon,he paved the way for copycats like Ready For The World to come along and steal his sound.In 1985,"Digital Display" sounded more like Prince than Prince's own new music did.


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[Edited 3/14/07 5:15am]

SoulAlive said:

Yeah, I remember that SNL skit very well. I wish I had that on tape. That was funny as hell and on point. Like I posted, it tainted him not only in the eyes of his fans and his peers in the music biz but also to the general public.

Oh, how I remember that well! The DJs and magazines did it with "Parade" and the lead single "Kiss" was misleading enough to make people believe it. Before "Sign O The Times", they said Prince fired The Revolution and was going back to his "funk roots" and doing everything himself like the "old Prince". Even the title of "The Black Album", misled people into thinking it was an "old Prince" type album (the way he sounded previously when he was only known in the R&B world).

Every single album was a disappointment until finally people just got sick of it and said "fuck Prince". Yeah, there was funk on there but it was not the right kind of funk. It was retro funk. People wanted "cold" funk like before.

The Minnneapolis Sound was all over the radio in the late 1980s but, with the exception of ex-protegees like Morris Day or Jesse Johnson, most of the outsiders that had the sound had a more watered down weaker Minneapolis Sound. Prince should have been around showing them how it was supposed to be done....hard, strong, and funky. The others were too busy watering it down for a pop hit. If it just happens to crossover...fine....but don't go looking for a pop hit.

Only 1!


GRAFFITTI BRIDGE

Another humongous mistake was allowing or even encouraging the break up of The Time! Man, was that band tight! He had two of the most prodigious songwriters in history in his camp, and was only paying them something like two hundred dollars a week!..If allowed to fully bloom, there's no telling how far The Time would've gone, maybe even surpassing Prince himself. I mean, The Time always had that sound the original Prince fans craved, and when Prince fell off the wagon, The Time would've filled the void, probably topping Prince. I've been to many concerts in the 80's where The Time CLEARLY kicked Prince's ass! Sure Prince was writing their stuff, but that band was capable of doing their own thing as well, no doubt. Alienating Andre Cymone was another mistake. In the beginning, it was hard to tell who was the most talented, Prince or him. He just wasn't as driven, perhaps, and he liked to indulge in the things that come along with being a rock star, but he should've recieved his props for helping Prince, and supplying Prince with ideas, songs, and the sound that Prince is credited with creating.His 1985 A.C. is a must have classic. As I said before, Prince and his camp had the ability to create their own GENRE of music, but ego, greed, and jealousy got in the way.

Releasing too much uneven material on proper albums in the 90's. If he did a better job of editing and marketing during this phase, he could've had some of the greatest albums of the time. Every album had great moments and if you add the unreleased jams and the brilliant live experients. He was just so unfocused and he expected the pop mainstream to be able to keep up. He had tired of the music business conventions and traditional marketing. But in a way he was ahead of his time. Now the public are discriminating single song shoppers who disdain all the old music business ways.