damn have to improve my English!

If you ask me about his most recent bad decision it is definately doing nothing at the moment.
I mean after the SuperBowl and the awards shows why not bring up a 3121 Las Vegas live album/dvd consisting of hits including the halftime show as well ?
That would easily be a million seller and a further push to his career at the moment. After this a big "greatest hits once again for the last time" - world tour and then a new album. (Or first the new album if he has something ready)

Definately a missed opportunity

SoulAlive said:

It's not a weak album. You just have a misunderstanding about it. You're probably one of those old school Prince fans that are into the funky side of him. That's cool, but his influences are more diverse than that. Plus it opened up more doors for younger generations of brothers who wanted to step outside the box and create experimental sounds with their music (Terence Trent D'arby, Van Hunt, Chocolate Genius, The Negro Problem, etc.). ATWIAD is a funky record anyways, but it's a different kind of funk.

Yeah, and that was an even worse decision because he also added nerdy orchestras and became a major joke to people. I would take 15 "Around The World In A Day" type albums over one "Parade" type album.

vainandy said:

I enjoy 'Parade' alot more than ATIWAD.At least 'Parade' had a genuine funk jam ("Kiss").

paisley16 said:





Well, he already had a hardcore fan base before he gained the "sophisticated" fans. He just drove one hardcore fan base away and replaced them with another....which is not cool.

From reading this thread,I think most of us agree that the name change was a mistake

I don't think it would have done too well here. Just look at the concert film. There were about 15 people in the entire theater when I went to see it.

After "Purple Rain", the general public wrote Prince off and said he had lost it. "Sign O The Times " may be a favorite around here but the general public still was saying Prince had lost it during that era also because he was still off on his retro trip and never returned to being the "Old Prince" before "Purple Rain". "Adore" was well loved but that was about it. The other songs that made it onto the radio, people were simply tolerating.

vainandy said:

Are you kidding me? 'SOTT' was considered a return to form.Many people (the general public) were confused by the two previous albums,but SOTT surprised everyone.The critics loved it,the fans loved it and R&B radio saw it as a return to his funk/R&B roots.Tracks like "Housequake","Hot Thing" and "Adore" were all over R&B radio,despite never becoming singles.If there was ever a time for Prince to launch a big US tour,it was in the fall/winter of 1987.In 1987,he was on fire.He would have been selling out arenas all over.Instead,he waited a year,released a less-commercial album ('Lovesexy') and went on a tour that had trouble selling out in many places.

[/quote]

Where Prince messed up with Paisley Park is he gave his protegees the same retro sound that he had himself after he changed his style. The general public did not want to take a retro trip and hear horns and orchestras in the 1980s. Warner Brothers should have put their foot down with Prince beginning with "The Family" album. People were already pissed with "Around The World In A Day" and then here comes another "far out" album from one of his protegees. I said back then that if he continued the style he was on, that Paisley Park would go under.

Yeah, but "Kiss" was intentionally released as a lead single to trick people into buying the album thinking the "Old Prince" had returned, only to find even more "far out" stuff.

vainandy said:

Another reason why he should have hired Jam and Lewis as producers/songwriters for the label.They were still doing the "Minneapolis Sound".It was fine for Prince to stretch out and bring orchestras into his music because he already had a loyal fanbase who would buy it regardless.But new artists can't be doing that weird,experimental stuff.They need to build up their fanbase first.Jill Jones needed a strong,commercial album to establish her as an artist.She needed songs that were in sync with the times,which Jam and Lewis could have given her.

Not around here. Yeah, "Hot Thing", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Adore", "Sign O The Times", and "It" was all over the radio but everyone was still saying Prince was living in the 1960s and 1970s because it did have a retro feel to it. The "old Prince" had been totally away from traditional sounding music with horns and things. The "old Prince" sounded like what everyone thought the future was going to sound like but the "new Prince" sounded like the past mixed with a little bit of the future. The "old Prince" had a colder sound which was kind of a style of his own and is why he was loved so much.

"It" should have been the lead single to "Sign O The Times". It could have tricked people into buying the album like "Kiss" did the previous year. However, people were getting damn tired of being tricked and were just dropping Prince's ass altogether.

People liked particular songs here and there during the late 1980s but I don't think they ever fully recovered after the style change after "Purple Rain". To this day, I hear people say "Prince lost his damn mind after Purple Rain and never came back".
.
.
[Edited 3/9/07 7:31am]

Exactly. You hit the nail dead on the head!

*Lovesexy album cover
*Name Change
*NewPowerShit
*LG
*GB movie
*Single Choices
*Lack Of Promotion of his albums
*

One road leads 2 another
As the door slams in your face
Why u want 2 diss the brother?
After 30 years….
I’d say he has WON the race

JudasLChrist said:

NOW u have hit the NAIL on the head!

SoulAlive said:

That's another one that I missed out! I think Prince could have broadened the appeal of the artist roster on Paisley Park by having Jam & Lewis as house producers alongside the likes of David Z and Prince himself. If the label had featured some acts that were certainly NOT protoges with no Prince involvement I think the label might have been more successful while still allowing Prince his "playground".

SoulAlive said:

Your confusing what would be a good business decision with what would have worked realistically. In other words it was not a poor decision because Prince's personality would not allow Jam and Lewis to take production control away from Prince. We're talking about a complete control freak- he would have wanted to have too much control over jam and lewis- just don't think this would have worked back then. You kind of answer your own question with the fact that Peterson was pissed with the lack of attention...these bands were used by prince to get music out...there was no real interest in development and thus I firmly believe jam and lewis would not be able to flourish under princes control. Your point seems logical that if prince doesn't have interest in developing having talent like jam and lewis around would allow that to happen wo prince's involvement. But you need to dive deep into the prince psyche- he is a very complicated and often confusing personality. Keep in mind this is the same person that gave the time a career, wrote most of their songs, played the instruments on most parts of their albums and then demanded they stop doing certain dances. I love P, and part of that love is his contradictions but back then he was the commander and would not reliquish power- even when if made sense. So no, I think that would have ended in disappointment and frayed relationships and blunted jam and lewis growth...thus to me it was not a major bad decision because it never would have worked.

* leaving warner bros.
* meeting larry and tina graham.
* replacing michael bland with kirk johnson.
* allowing tony m. to rap over his music..
* graffiti bridge.
* suing those that support him most.
* allowing doug e. fresh to rap over his music.
* being 48 years old and paying the twinz to dance beside him instead of paying a little more for a drummer who can keep up during "shhh."

and that's just for starters.

suomynona said:

How could I have forgotten?

Ok...
Graffiti Bridge Album & Movie
T.C. Ellis
Crystal Ball (I could have mixed and produced that better)
The LG experience including his conversion to the JW's
Rave CD and DVD!
1999 the New masters (Christ that was shit)
Doug E. Fresh (makes Toney M look like a god damn BAD BOY!)
Musicology
3121
Oh and the inherent belief that only Prince is worthy of producing Prince!

SoulAlive said:

I was too, but I would have been more excited say if he had done an in store signing or something since my friends & I were crazy teens who had seen the movie in the theater four times. I ran out to see UTCM too but I felt we were still kinda high off PR too.

fmarasco said:

I see what you're saying and you're probably right.I just think it's a shame that Paisley Park Records failed the way it did.If Prince had done things differently,I really think it could have been one of the top record labels of the 80s/90s.

vainandy said:

Interesting analysis I agree with you about the song "It".Shoulda been a single.....maybe not the first single,but a single somewhere down the line.

jaypotton said:

The label started off promisingly enough,with great albums by The Family,Mazarati and Sheila E.These early albums weren't blockbusters,but it was a good start.But then The Family and Mazarati broke up,and Sheila put her own career on hold to play drums for Prince It seems that things fell apart after that.He started signing less inspired acts like Good Question,Taja Sevelle and Dale Bozzio.There didn't seem to be a game plan,or any kind of strategy.Records were released with zero promotion.Earlier,I said that Prince was spreading himself too thin.He couldn't keep track of all these artists and maintain his own career.Imagine if Jam and Lewis and Andre Cymone were in-house producers/songwriters for the label.Things would have been so much different.

SoulAlive said:

wait a minute... you're saying mazarati's album was better than taja sevelle's?

suomynona said: