Obviously, I'm a Prince fan, like the rest of us here. But I'll confess to not having all of his albums. Especially his earlier, pre-Purple Rain material. Some of it I've had, and not listened to thoroughly, some of it I have.

Yesterday, I filled in the gaps in my collection and I decided to start listening from the beginning. From "For You" on - in order.

Presently, I'm at 1999 - and that's when I made a discovery, that many here may know alread, but I don't see many people talking about: Prince didn't become Prince until 1999.

Surely, he was Prince. Surely, there were moments of Prince-ness in Dirty Mind or Prince, but it wasn't until Controversy did I begin to see the seeds of who Prince would become and, more or less, remain. Before 1999, we're given a couple of glimpses into what we know as the Prince approach to music making - songs like "Do Me, Baby," "So Blue," "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover" in particular.

But the key factor in the fast majority of these songs is Prince's singing voice.

"Ronnie, Talk to Russia" is the *first* Prince song that isn't in the upper-octave, falsetto singing voice. It's sort of amazing to hear this voice - that is *the* Prince voice we all know, suddenly appear.

He falls back into the Funk/Disco fusion with "Let's Talk" but then we get the extremely awkward, extremely interesting "Annie Christian." This isn't a good song in particular. The lyrics are relatively puerile, the whole thing feels like a college cheer. There's no subtlety or nuance to the message or the style, but suddenly, as a fan - you see that Prince isn't happy with the music he's been doing. He's ready to move to the next level, he's ready to change things, and he's got some ideas.

"Jack U Off" is glorious in it's own way. The first thing that I realized upon discovering this song, is how much "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" sounds like this tune. From the beat, to the singing voice, to the melody, here was Prince tapping into his future sound.

As such, it's a great last track to go into 1999.

1999 is the arrival of Prince. The Prince we'd know for the rest of his musical history, up until at least this point. From the first notes of the title track - it's already different than anything he's done before.

The disco is gone. This is a new fusion - punk & new wave. And suddenly, we aren't treated with Prince falsetto. We've got Lisa singing the first words, Dex following her, and then Prince himself. But not the Prince we'd heard for years - this is the Prince singing the way Prince needs to sing. The way Prince would sing to change the world and the face of music.

"Little Red Corvette" is the final nail in the coffin of the old Prince. Even though he'd go back to the falsetto voice on occasion, to great effect on ballads and softer songs, "Little Red Corvette" is slow, powerful, and emotionally driven. It's a slow-churn, and Prince's voice is haunting. He's not trying to shock us any longer with discussion about his sister's panties, or a blatant exclamation of jacking someone else off.

Now he's using nuance. He's using his voice, his music, and his poetry to transcend beyond standard faire overt-sexuality, and enter the realm of seduction. "I'ma try and tame your little red love machine" is far more potent and powerful than "A blowjob doesn't mean blow."

By the time the chorus has kicked in, Prince has arrived. "Little Red Corvette" is the first Prince song. The vocal stylings alone are defined. From his powerful singing voice, to his high falsetto and his low grumble, Prince moves all over the vocal scale and it feels right. This is the birth of the Man. The Artist.

I wish Prince would write a biography. I wish he'd tell us all what he's gone through, how he was thinking about music at this time, how he made these transitions, what helped him change, what was going through his mind. All we can do is speculate, but man, it's fun.

The rest of 1999 is eye-opening. Prince plays with musical styles. "Delirious" continues the slow, bass-heavy thump. "D.M.S.R." is our first Prince-party JAM! Like "Housequake" or "NOW!" or "There will never be another like me."

He continues to play with new sounds, new song-stylings that we'd hear throughout the rest of his career. "Something in the Water" is "My Computer." 15 years early. And with "International Lover" Prince lets all of us know that he can still bring it like he used to, but that things have changed. You'll have to open your mind from now on. He's discovered his voice, and he's going to do things you've never imagined. But he can still give you that old-style disco/funk/falsetto ballad you fell in love with.

This is long, so most of you won't read it. Don't bother wasting time telling me it's too long or you need Cliff's Notes. Just ignore the thread if you don't want to talk about something more than 'What Prince Song Makes You Wanna Poop the Most??'
[Edited 1/8/09 10:55am]

bleutuna said:

nice thread thanks..