NOTHING but good. Control of one's own destiny is more important than money and sales.

It was messy and damaging, but every artist who does that is better for it in every way.

purplecam said:

the symbol album was hyped with the talk of a video 4 every song on the album with the last video revealing what the symbol means..u can't really call "3 chains of gold" that project in total. but the ball was dropped somewhere along that line whether it was WB or Prince himself.

Wouldn't the music released by Prince have been more focused if he had stayed with WB. Like, they wouldn't have let him release a 3 CD Emancipation album but would have had it trimmed down to 1 or 2 CDs (which, IMO, would have been better for the album). I think we could have been spared some releases which have not gone down too well with some fans.

On the other hand, I think it's great that we have some "odd" non commercial releases like NEWS, Xpectation, Chocolate Invasion which probably wouldn't have been in any plans by WB

Smillan said:

I picking up on your comments about Emancipation and agree that it is not as great as we were expecting but I don't think it's the songs/music, I think it because of how over produced and superslick it all sounds.

I think that beacause Prince was going through the whole Slave thing and no real new music was being released - Prince had way too much time on his hands to keep working and re-working on Emancipation.

I don't think that there is another Prince album before or after Emancipation (although TRC comes close) that has that over worked studio sound that it has.

Prince would have done good to stick with WB, but WB would have done better to let Prince do it his way.

If had been promoted the way it deserved and the full 3 chains o gold project released along with interactive given full publicity, it would have been the perfect introduction for The Dawn, and The Beautiful experience! and then some.....

But then with any kind of history changing speculation - he and we, seem to have done OK regardless.

I do feel that he needs some guidance or direction though. Objective but not controlling.

I wonder more not if he stayed with WB - but, (and it always gets said I know, but I can never help myself!) BUT, if he had kept Wendy and Lisa close by!!!

Even if he wanted to do a new ting with the band or whatever then fine. But he should have kept them as close friends and assist him with his new ideas!!!

ElectricBlue said:

Hey look, we've got David Copperfield here, magically pulling random numbers outta his ass!

Leaving Warner Bros was obviously a bad move as far as good, consistent CDs are concerned.. There hasn't been a single release since being "emancipated" to match the quality and appeal of his previous works. THE GOLD EXPERIENCE was his last great album. Without anyone to offer critical feedback about his the status of his work for the last ten years or so, he's been producing disappointment after disappointment in terms of recordings.

Even his best concert tour, MUSICOLOGY, was all based on his WB catalog.

daPrettyman said:

Thats when some people write the best things isn't it really when they are going through hard times, so its not out of the question that he could have come up with the goods, he just didn't want to which is fair enough.

SoulAlive said:

It may seem like that... but I don't think it did that much damage seen as years later he sold out a 21 night UK tour. Hes still in demand. Artists that stay with record companies don't get it right. Some of them are just more in the public eye as they are all over adverts etc... thank god Prince stayed true to himself, for that I respect him.

FlamingRaindrop said:

Dance said:

co-

DieselsDen said:

Wow. Everyone has different taste. The Rainbow Children is one of Prince's best works and that came YEARS after he left WB.

If he hadn't left, he'd STILL be whining.....

I read Eric Clapton's bio, and he also had problems with Warner Bros. His complaint was "one executive after another left, or was fired". He felt the relationship became disjointed.(p291) I think this was 2003 or 2004.
Robbie Robertson left, also. All without alot of hoopla.
Prince would've needed a straight jacket if he stayed.....ha!

I think his music since leaving warners has been great. The Truth was an amazing CD. I also really liked Emancipation, Musicology, Plantet Earth, 3121, One Night Alone etc. I saw him on the Musicology tour in Tampa, which was AMAZING. However, he could do just as amazing a show and only draw on material released since he left Warners.

xplnyrslf said:

Yep,

It was best for him to leave.

It was a good move. It's great anytime a man can do his own thing, even if it's temporary. Who knows where/what Prince would be now, if he'd stayed.

mentalist said:

i swear they get 2 much credit then they deserve, if he kept them close as u say, then y did THEY want 2 bolt b4 the parade tour? y was he then going in2 the studio by himself and creating all those great songs that were supposidly the camille album, the original crystal ball set and then reduced 2 sott? the aftershows he became so famous 4 doing happend without wendy and lisa or the revolution 4 that matter

DieselsDen said:

the sott tour, the gold experience and ONA tours were his best ..musicology bored me

themusicthatcounts said:

the advertising was that this was the last time the hits were going 2 b played helped in selling that 21 date stint. same thing happend with musicology tour billed as the last time etc etc ..what helped the london gigs was that he was going 2 b stationary 4 while. thus not just london fans or manchester were able 2 fill up that arena. given he was in a major city in the world helped as well, i highly doubt if he did a 21 night stay in say (no offense 2 those that live there) but aimes iowa he could have pulled that off

Euripides said:

i wish he would do just that ..

ElectricBlue said:

you're smoking something

what i find funny is he asked madonna to hlp him out with warners and she wouldn't and now she is leaveing warners

L4OATheOriginal said:

I think, (not to be confused with I know!) that... (thought I'd make that clear before who or whatever decides to go for the attack!) that there was alot of truth in how W & L's and Princes working relations was depicted in Purple Rain.

Prince has always hired musicians to play in his band, to play his music and just his music. I don't think he likes having musicians around him that are also talented singer/songwriters. It's maybe why it didn't work out with Andre Cymone.

Wendy and Lisa know their stuff. When you read old stories and that, it also seems that they had a broader musical interest/education than Prince, coupled with the fact that they were not just musicians but also equally capable of writing and producing their own material. I think Prince felt threatened by them and as a result would restrict their input more and more through fear of not being the 'ONE' in control of everything.

Prince was to Wendy and Lisa, just the same as what Warner Bros ended up being to Prince!

Of course they wanted out!!! They wanted to write songs as make albums as a band. Prince wanted to do it on his own!

It's a damn shame!!!

Well, he wanted to leave so it's good he did.

But I'm not sure the freedom has been totally good for his music. He was talking about releasing more albums, and actually he's released less. Okay, I don't count TCI or Slaughterhouse because I don't have them on cd. I want cd's!

Moreover, TRC aside, his music hasn't seemed as creative or vital since he left, tho that could be more age than label related.

He might have bitched about them cutting away at Sign 'o' the Times, but they were probably right. It's his most acclaimed album! Vision is one thing, but Prince could use some professional marketing advice, like a major label might offer.

mentalist said:

the same can b said about the time during the 1999 tour

Smillan said:

Bad...we got more music when he was WITH them. Depressing to imagine what we could have at this point if they had actually been nice to each other.

It was necessary.

Prince needed to be free before he got trapped in the corporate machine.
A corporate machine that is now falling apart.

Prince is free to do whatever he wants to.

daPrettyman said:

And let's not pretend that Prince toured for free from 1978 through 1996, made movies just for fun, and spent months on top of the chart throughout the 80s and early 90s just because it was a hobby...he was paid handsomely during his WB years.

To his credit, Prince never made money they issue when he was squirming to get out of his WB contract. But, it was definitely a higher point of his discussion in interviews and other public comments once he seemed to really get a handle on the fact that he could sell less and make more on albums.

I don't think anyone could argue that his most creative work was produced with WB.

he made $ but due to the way he lumped alot of people and said disparaging things about hard working people, he lost his mojo. just because your a genuis and they are bean counters dont give you a right to question their usefulness. he made those statements about them as a rich man, before he met those bean counters he was a broke black kid from north minneapolis. once he let it get personal he forfeited his magic. if he could do it again he'd do it differently and leave with his mojo intact.