Right I'm not sure the point I'm really trying to make here, so bear with me! I've been listening to a lot of Princes early work recently and I've really been digging it. Listening with headphones on I can hear all the funk going on in the background and it is just amazing. The stuff from For You to Controversy was just so funky, it deserves more praise than it gets. The Work Vol 1 cd 1 is absolute proof that early on Prince was a master of funk! Then it seemed that as he brought more rock into his sound his funky values receded more to the background. Much got diverted to 'B' sides and side projects like the 'Time' Sure the funk obviously still featured in his sound but it featured in special 'singles' like 'Party Man' 'Kiss' etc. This culminated in 'Emancipation' which is woefully deficient in funk, and everything falling a little flat. After this catastophic failure I think Prince shook himself down and tried to get back to his funky roots with the NPG. Hence records like 'The Exodus' and 'Goldnigger'- except it wasn't quite working like it used to!
The funk seems a little forced. Lately, Prince again is putting us on a strict funk diet but is it now because his doesn't truct himself to funk it like he used to? Is it because his funk was so connected with sexuality that he stuggles to create funk whilst not revelling in this anymore?

Do we think that he will ever switch back to his funky ways or is this Princely music gone forever?

he flirts around all sortsa music - don't sweat it cuz he'll b funky 4ever

It ain't about digging the funk...It is about harvesting love...

Prince laid emotions on the table across the board..And you ate the servings of your choice...And that nourishment has given you the understanding that you contain, or that you do not contain.

Prince gave "Us," a musical play, persay...to decipher....

Prince is highly aware of his perfect capabilities...Prince gives what he gives...and you listen...

If all you do is chomp on "Darling Nikki," You may be missing the bridge to, "Get on the Boat." Prince calls for having room for a hundred more....What does that mean? That "Planet Earth," isn't produced as well? I believe that Prince changing the way in which a record is produced...is a perfect plan.

Prince's sonic approaches changed over time. He chalked some changes up to trying to progress (as in the time he talked about junking his drum machines -- thank goodness he kept the Linns).

But I hear what you're saying. There's been a definite loss of the funk as he's transitioned to this jazzy stuff he's embraced in recent years. It crops up occasionally, though: the rhythm guitar work on the Undisputed remix and on some of the dance tracks on Musicology. I think Chelsea Rodgers is incredibly funky, if only for the bass and drum work.

The funkiest "recent" thing I've heard from him that left me tappin' my foot was the track he did for that fashion show (Versace?) -- the old synths were rockin' on that one.

Is it like it used to be? Nope. But I'm someone who misses his 1980s-1990s guitar tone.

There also was a poor transition from multi-tracking live instruments (in his early days) to starting to employ samples in the 1990s. Sometimes they were samples of parts he and the band had recorded. Still, occasionally, it all seemed canned and cold, like "Black Sweat."
[Edited 7/26/08 6:39am]

HismajestysSecondComing said:

I think it has a lot 2 do with age. I think/feel he was young and full or fire and passion and that's what was translated. The new music is mature and still full of life but he's saying more lyrically and the music just blows me away. I'm just starting 2 listen and xperience/feel P's music with headphones.

'Emancipation' is a catastrophic failure that lacks funk?! Oh, come now! Listen to the piano break down at the end of 'Jam of the Year'. 'Joint 2 Joint' doesn't make you shake it?! The horn charts on 'Sleep Around' not funky enough for ya?! P's voice gliding like a trumpet on 'Emale'?! Personally, I can't call an album with such lovely tracks as 'My Computer', 'The Love we Make', 'In this Bed I Scream', and 'Savior' a failure. But I'm a sucker for brilliant songwriting.

jackmitz said:

So am I. So am I

i thought this thread was going to be about the quality of the final product
but all we're talking about here is the funk
in that respect, i don't think prince has lost it
he likes it all
as for the production of it... yeah it's sadly lacking compared to his earlier work
with a nice exception from time to time

When he built Paisley Park and stopped working at Sunset Sound. Just a theory.

U know how i feel about it... hey he'll always be great LIVE!!!

He's older, grew up, joined a cult that forbids him to swear, so half his older work is out of the question.

His work started collapsing in on itself after the creation of his recording studio and he got comfortable and he started overproducing his work.