First !


Good points there. Another thing is that a lot of those successful and popular albums by more current artists contain just as much, or even more, filler material than Prince´s new albums on a "songs-I-really-like" ratio.

For instance, people are still raving about Outkasts ( or better yet, Andre 3000´s ) last album, the Love Below. It was a decent album BUT, when I think about it, there were only three or four songs that I really liked, and even those became boring real soon. Same goes for some of Common´s albums, or Maxwell´s "Now" ( now Urban Hang Suite, that´s a totally different story...I still love the whole album).
For instance, 3121 was an album that I quite enjoyed.My main gripe with it were not really the beats or the melodies, I really loved the music of tracks like 3121, Beautiful Loved and Blessed, The Dance, Get On The Boat, or maybe even Satisfied, and I didn´t even mind the vocoder voice on Incense and Candles but I couldn´t really relate to most of the lyrics, just like TRC ( a great album but the lyrics were too cryptic for me, let alone for the casual listener...I loved the lyrics of Last December and Family Name but 1+1+1=3 and Digital Garden and the title track ,despite the great music, were too cryptic and not really accessible for me even though I did like the music)...

Back to 3121...the title track is great but not as timeless and easy to relate to as, say, its cousin Days Of Wild...sure , 3121 and the parties are cool...but the social commentary on Days Of Wild is more interesting and easier to relate to.
Or take Incense And Candles...nice and seductive beat, in my opinion, but what about those undecided and cheesy lyrics..." I want to do it to you...no I don´t...but I would like to...but don´t take your clothes off....hey I´m really horny..but let´s rather not do it..but hey, we could if we wanted to...oh no, Id rather not..."
The in your face and witty and creative lyrics are missing these days. Sure, songs like Temptation were also about the inner struggle, just like a lot of other songs from the past, but he´s seriously losing points in the lyrics and songwriting department these days..we´re talking about Prince here ,one of the best songwriters, and these days his agenda seems to have changed. And don´t even start with the Purple Rain era religiousity and the God monologue during the PR days...I found that weird as well, thing is, back then he also came with a lot of easily accessible stuff as well , which balanced things out.

The lyrics were either better to relate to ( like, you know, we´ve all been through those phases, break ups and whatnot , or just plain in love with someone), so stuff like Beautiful Ones, Damn U , Insatiable, Computer Blue, Purple Rain were songs that more people could emotionally relate to as opposed to cryptic stuff like Fury or boring shit like On The Couch or Satisfied.

I do catch your drift but all I´m saying is that I basically agree with you, I think the music and the potential are still there but sorry, he´s losing a lot of listeners because the lyrics are not what they used to be . He could´ve easily turned a lot of the songs I mentioned above into accessible songs by writing accessible lyrics.
Ironically, some of his best songs from the past were also HIGHLY personal lyrics but much, much more accessible than, say, Incense and Candles, which sounds like he´s holding something back. And then he wants to prove he´s still dirty by singing about " wet circles round the toy" or shit like "Glasscutter"...horrible lyrics there.

Know what I mean ?

Yeah. If he's going to say it just say it--don't beat around the bush. Duck means fuck and we all know it. Who cares?

skywalker said:

has it been really that bad? when Te amo Corazon was released it was like the end of the world. 3121 seemed to get more flack.
[Edited 7/12/07 15:08pm]

Yes, and I think it's been the same story since 1985.

skywalker said:

Excuse me, 'Do U Lie?' is one of my all time fav's.

I agree 100% , but I think this is worse than TRC .
When TRC was released people pitched a bitch but that was understandable. Now people are pitching a bitch and Wendy and Lisa are on the album. That's scary because Wendy and Lisa are held in high regards.

That being said TRC is now a "neo-classic" and any new release is cat shit.

If a new artist had put out Planet Earth as his first album he wouldn't be making a second.

true BUT we know that he possibly is capable of so much more.

muleFunk said:

Right ?

Now people have no emergency masterplan plan B or whatever left. Wendy and Lisa are on board, he does collaborate with Sheila E and Michael B and Sonny from time to time, Eric Leeds is also sometimes in the mix, and he doesn´t rap as much as he used to, nor does he rely so heavily on samples as in the early 90 ...and Larry G. is not as prominent as he used to be...what else can he do now to stop us from bitching and complaining ? Personally, I´m very happy with the way things are, except for the points I mentioned in my post above.

Maybe now people will not just go back as far as Emancipation to criticize him but even furhter back to 1987/88 to the point where it all started to go downhill ?
Reminds me of Old Friends 4 Sale , the original version...

They say your kingdom´s falling, they say you lost your fire...
I bet people were even bitching durign his highschool days, like in Purple Rain where they sometimes don´t really dig what he´s doing.

muleFunk said:

TRC has always been fantastic work. Was great the day it came out.

roanmairin said:

By today's standards, Prince would have never made a second album based on For You.

Prince was at his absolute peak in the 80s both musically and lyrically. Debating that would be utterly futile.

But his music and lyrics are probably as overrated then as they are missed now. And one or two songs held out as examples don't makeup an entire decade.

"Future Baby Mama" or "Somewhere Here On Earth" don't represent the 00's anymore than the 80's are represented fully through the naive world view of "Ronnie Talk To Russia" or the intellect of "Dorothy Parker" (probably a whole lot less intellect going on here than I give it credit for).

If people understand the lyrics of today so well, I sure haven't seen them participating on the lyric threads of the last 12 years (maybe they're wiser than it would seem?) Because mostly it's just people getting offended by another person's interpretation and bashing people over the head with it.

Some choose to align with the left, others the right. These distinct groups will naturally view life through a completely different prism than I do.

Just take a peek into the Politics & Religion forum if you want to observe dumb. It would seem everyone is dumb that doesn't agree with the reader (even the genius intellects).

I think "TRC" is a masterpiece. Others absolutely abhor it. Who do you make music for?

Surely not the dummies, right?

funkyhead said:

THAT is exactly the point here...I still think he´s in a totally different league than all those great artists that we like to use as examples for the ups and downs in an artists life. And that´s what´s nagging us because we still witness those moments of greatness and uniqueness from time to time, regardless of his age or the year we´re living in..it´s still there, buried somewhere and sabotaged by himself only.

Brendan said:

Oh, TRC is surely a musical masterpiece but sorry, lyrics about a theocratic order and the highly cryptic title track or Digital Garden don´t really touch my heart. It´s still one of my favorite Prince albums though.And I really like the lyrics of Last December or Family Name. It´s just that his old songs were easier to access, easier to relate to, even though they were, just like TRC, very much based on what´s going on in HIS own universe, not necessarily my reality...but your right with your examples, good points. I think if some of the more recent albums had at least two or three songs with really strong and accessible lyircs, the whole situation would be different, it would balance things out.The music is still good.
I mean , for every song like Ronnie Talk To Russia you would still have stuff like Controversy or Do Me Baby ( though the latter one has never really been one of my favorites, but I´m just saying).

Of course it would, because he's new.

Look at my man JB, No one was really paying attention to his late 80's/early 90's work because he wasn't really doin nothing new, same with Prince.

KoolEaze said:

And I think we're saying mostly the same thing, just choosing different methodologies. But that might just be my own personal issues. Claps hands together quickly and misses frequently.

I also felt that some of the lyrics of "TRC" could be quite cryptic. Especially that garbage about blood and numbers. But I made those lyrics my own (where it was frankly possible), just like I did by interpreting "Dorothy Parker" as being about the recuperative energy of great art and artists.

As some have pointed out, Prince didn't even know this great poet? Should I believe them? I don't care. I'll continue to interpret that song for myself. I don't care if it doesn't mesh with Prince's idea.

My disagreement certainly wasn't at all with you!

My disagreement is with those that would hold up one or two great songs as being representative of an entire decade. Nobody is that smart.

And if I can hold out one song as being representative of what happened to the 00s, I'll of course choose the greatest. But that's a horrible way to argue anything. Again, nobody is capable of releasing nothing but future classics.

Prince still writes great lyrics from time to time. They might not represent him, but they're smart. Just check out the ironically titled "Future Baby Mama".

Metaphors abound. Whether there'll be anyone around to catch them, frankly I don't much care. I'm a rebel that way.

---
[Edited 7/12/07 16:02pm]

If Prince were a new musician he'd probably wouldn't even get signed if his albums sounded like TRC, 3121, Musicology or PE. not even if the music industry was in good health
[Edited 7/12/07 17:23pm]

.
[Edited 7/12/07 17:23pm]

"Do u lie?" kicks much ass... period end of story.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Shid , JB was as tight as ever with Static in 1988.

emesem said:

Listen no other artist in history save the Beatles may able to string together albums in sucession like the Dirty Mind-Lovesexy time period. So comparing this album or any other to that is futile ,but Prince is still making HELLA music

Hell, according like people like Hahn and others ,Prince had fallen in 2003 and he couldn't get back up.

Some forget that Musicology was HUGE to the non-Prince fan. 3121 got him much acclaim as well.

IMHO, TRC,Musicology,3121, and Planet Earth are all damn good albums.

muleFunk said:

OK, Static was the jam, but thats about it.


"Static, don't start none, won't be none"