MrsGoodnight said:

You're right. He has a tendency to take things to the extreme & threatening fans with legal action & his overzealousness with religion are two of the more unfortunate extremes of late.

He is just not a fun guy anymore. If the JW version of God is giving him all of his current inspiration, perhaps he should seek a new faith, as what he's released since 1998 has been largely uninspired drivel.

prettymansson said:

I can respect that response but I can't relate. I've never liked Miles or Jazz 4 that matter.

mirrorbestfriend said:

Prince has lost his funk edge after 87???
I strongly disagree!
He might be loosing his funk edge at age 87, but until then he'll still have the ability to come up with funky tunes if he wants to.
He might not deliver funk as often as we might like, but nevertheless Prince can still be funky if he chooses to.

Graycap23 said:

buddy guy

Jazz is a big word...
Im not "into" it myself..but I love jazz/funk
roy ayers..the headhunters.. the blackbyrds..gil scott heron ect...miles sorta loses me with the "straight" jazz stuff..but some of his albums like ON THE CORNER..Tribute to Jack Johnson..and some of his later stuff have heavy Jimi Hendrix..James brown..Sly stone..& Prince influences.

Graycap23 said:

sosgemini said:

Miles co-wrote only one of the eight tracks. (Prince would NEVER allow that.) This was more of an Marcus Miller record than a Miles Davis record. (Marcus wrote 5 of the 8 tracks and co-wrote a 6th with Miles.) It's one of his more poorly reviewed albums. Surely not a return to form -- what Miles is most appreciated for (albums such as "Kind Of Blue," "In A Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew.")

I wonder how many Prince fanatics mistakenly bought "Tutu" because of the long rumored Prince involvement with the record

Or how many think Madhouse is better than Miles...

---

[Edited 12/26/07 6:36am]

Graycap23 said:

C'mon! Put on "In A Silent Way" or "Kind Of Blue" and listen to that straight through some night with a glass of wine and some nice company. Or at least buy them now and listen again in ten years. Masterpieces. (Along with "Bitches Brew" and "On The Corner.")

No music collection is complete without "Kind Of Blue."

suomynona said:

Honestly I can't feel that shit. I've tried. I don't drink either.....

Graycap23 said:

In ten years, when you do, you'll appreciate Miles too

suomynona said:

lol.....why 10 years?

For once, I partially agree with you. I disagree that he lost his funk when he started using more traditional instruments such as horns and, of all things, orchestras. He still made funky music but he lost his own sound when he started using these things.

There weren't too many R&B artists that had a sound like Prince in the early 1980s and the ones that did were copying off of him such as Ebonee Webb and Bobby Nunn. When Prince started branching out into other genres and using more and more traditional instruments, he stopped sounding like an artist with a sound of his own but more like an artist on a retro trip trying to sound more and more like their musical heros growing up. A song like "Let's Work" is pure Prince. A song like "Housequake", as funky as it is, doesn't sound like pure Prince. It sounds like Prince paying tribute to James Brown.

vainandy said:

On point again my friend !!!

Graycap23 said:

David Bowie and furthermore Prince has been repeating the past for more than a decade. I haven't heard anything cutting edge from him in years.

I think he has the ability to create something cutting edge, experimental, and yet commercial. I believe when he reaches that point again we will know. Still I think he had so many hits early on that he reached a comfort zone live (during the 90's) with them and the need/desire to knock the piss out of ya-all isn't in him. Maybe he will reach a point and that will change, and if it does we will know. Prince has the hits so having some new mind blowing music means little to him.
[Edited 12/26/07 9:18am]
[Edited 12/26/07 9:20am]

Others who prove 30 years aint nothing

Johnny Cash had a resurgence of creativity, popularity and critical acclaim right before his death...

Burh Bacharach collaborated with Elvis Costello and reached critical and creative success reintroducing his signature sound to a new generation...

Bjork is coming up to her 30th anniversary of recording...

Betty LaVette has surprised the world by releasing two solid albums within the past couple years reaching critical and minor popular success.

Let's see...who else is out there?


U2? How long have they been together?

Graycap23 said:

Sometimes it takes us to grow older, experience different things, be with different people, etc to appreciate some types of music.

vainandy said:

i agree with u for once also

Add Bob Dylan to my list with his 97 return to form.

Yeah, but those folks never had a funk edge to begin with.

This question is funny to me. If people aren't happy with the music he's putting out, and want to express their dislike, then fine. But this is like asking who feels that Prince has lost his sexiness? Is it possible?

vainandy said:

i ma not debating funk but creativity in general...

sosgemini said:

Tom Waits has no trouble being creative

I don't think that Prince has lost anything but I do believe and i think it was said earlier in the thread that Prince is holding back from being Superfunky like in the past. I still enjoy what's come out but I can see the forest from the trees too. Another reason why he hasn't lost it is because he's STILL killing it on stage. That the place where you can really see if the fire is there or not IMO. Different strokes for different folks.

Oh, I don't think Prince ever lost his creativity. As a matter of fact, he lost his funk edge when he became too creative. As for creativity though, Lord knows he's been more than that. The man has mixed orchestas with funk at a time when most mainstream funk fans were laughing their asses off and didn't want to have anything to do with classical.

As for folks like Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash is a country singer and country music never died and went out of style. Bob Dylan, from what I've heard was a folksy type singer. The 1990s brought that type of music back when everyone just had to do an accoustical or unplugged album. Until funk comes back (which it probably never will), Prince could do everything creatively possible with funk and it still wouldn't be successful. Should he give up funk and move on with something else? Hell to the naw. He's the only one still making funk and somebody's gotta make something for folks like me. Country never died, rock never died, hell, funk never should have died either. Of course, those other genres didn't have something cheap like shit hop to kill them off.

vainandy said:

that's not what i am talking about either.

I am talking about creative edge/energy. An album that grabs folks ears irregardless of its genre..I am sure you will never be satisfied unless prince pulls a full 100% funk album but you can release an album with every song being uptempo funk and it could still be perceived as a weak creative work.

there are some of us who enjoy music for its artistry...no matter what genre the music is in...in other words, my comments were not directed towards you.
[Edited 12/26/07 14:09pm]

vainandy said:

Great point. Prince went beyond cool, beyond funky. The stuff he did was more creative after 1985, but less "cool" so to speak. Cool in the sense that you want to blast it from your car and not turn it down when you get to a stop light.

For the record I think Prince is still creative and funky, I think he's dumbing it down a bit lately, though.

Exactly.

NDRU said:

You seriously think Prince is capable of creating an entire album's worth of quality work but he is just dumbing it all down for the masses?



No way!!!

sosgemini said:

Well, I know how you feel about this, but I thought the Rainbow Children was great, and that was only a few years ago.

Not great song-for-song great, or pop potential great, but creative and cohesive and musical. Also weird, and unconcerned with musical or thematic boundaries. To me it truly was the first real "Prince" album since Graffiti Bridge.

And the album proved to be very controversial (at least to the 10 people who heard it) as half of them think it's a masterpiece and half of them think it's the biggest piece of shit he ever did.

The last three records have had some okay stuff on them, but they feel way too simple. They're restrained, no goofy narration, no going past 45 minutes, no obvious theme. Just nice bland pop songs.

And it's worked to some extent. The albums haven't been real hits, but his image in popular culture is better than it's been in a long, long time. Meanwhile his fans hate him!

NDRU said:

I respect the creative attempts made on TRC but that was over seven years ago and was a small blip when you look at his entire career over the past 15 years. I could care less about his image!!! I want quality music.

sosgemini said:

I agree about his image. His public acceptance doesn't mean anything to me. But I am just saying I think it's something he's consciously doing. And I think it's something he did starting with Diamonds & Pearls and all through Rave.

TRC was just a tiny blip, like you say, but to me it was the true Prince popping his head out. Unfortunately, he went back inside and shielded himself with Beyonce.