... deep down that he reached his talent high in 1987, or more liberally defined in the mid 90s?

Don't get me wrong, he has made many great songs in the late 90s and 00s, but the great songs are more far in between.

Of course I could not even come close to his talent, I'm just saying, as a true fan and serious reviewer.

Do you ask this of other performers or just Prince?

peter430044 said:

I've been a fan of his from the beginning, and I see this new 3 CD offering as evidence of his maturation process. I don't think Prince has ever wanted to focus on being a hit factory. He's interested in creating and performing good music. Now, some of you may argue he hasn't done that with this record, but I would disagree. LF has quickly become one of my all-time favorite Prince records (I made a playlist of my 10 favorites songs from LF/MS and I've been listening to it at least once a day). It's vastly different from Prince (his second album but the first one I became aware of) but he was only 19 or 20 when he put that out. Now he's 50.

One thing I am most impressed with is his recent live performances, starting with his residency in Las Vegas. Those concerts were sublime and a joy to behold. I can't wait til I get the chance to see perform live again.

I think he went through a change during 1989/90, and by 1995, he was truly at the top of his game. His musicianship had expanded a lot. His band was a lot tighter and more professional (Sonny, Tommy, Michael). Stuff like Exodus, The Gold Experience, Come, Chaos...all had incredibly stellar stuff on it. The '87/88 period was good, but that was as good as it would get with The Revolution around. They could have went through maybe another album or two, but they were really reaching their peak as a band. When the new NPG hit, that's when Prince took himself higher. If he quit in 1995 or 1996, he would have had a career that everyone would still be talking about.

pplrain said:

I like a lot of Michael Jackson's earlier work (pre 1995). Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Billy Jean and Black Or White are great. But after Dangerous it got gradually downhill, no doubt. You Rock My World is a great song, but an exception.

peter430044 said:

I think Dangerous was his last great album. HIStory was riddled with curse words and angst, yet dedicated to all the children of the world, as the single to "Scream" which had a warning label on it, yet the B-side was "Childhood" and was dedicated to the children of the world. Yeah...thanks Mike. Dangerous indeed.

Invincible was just horrible.

peter430044 said:

I doubt that he is concerned with trying to come to some conclusion of when his "peak" was/is. Do u sit around comtemplating when your peak was? I'm sure he is aware that he has changed but his perspective on the things he has gained is surely different then what a fan hears/thinks.

Something that u may toss off as being unworthy may be something Prince labored over and felt estatic when he completed it. His journey is personal, we are only spectators.

There will never be another like P and just to hard to get anyone to look like him - just look at the lookalikes available on the net - none of them truly look anything like him and not least to a fan that would smell a double from 5 paces !!! get real

No...I Know that Prince Knows that "The road U choose 2 walk in this life is the one that sings into the next." And there's "Musical Joy, in Repetition."

I think Prince has no lost his "talent high" at all.

He is still making incredible music and music that is still different and by far superior to anything on today's radio.

Prince is still musically stronger than ever.

ernestsewell said:

hmmm, we're still talking about him

peter430044 said:

His TALENT remains as great as it ever was. TALENT is something you're born with and you die with. As far as his level of creativity, however.....

I'm reminded of a quote from Albert Einstein who once said (I'm paraphrasing as I don't have the exact quote handy) that you're going to conquer the world by age 30 or not at all.

And if you think about it, you'll find precious few musicians who did their best work after the age of 30. Especially in the rock genre as youth is so much a part of what defines "rock".

My question for those here that seem so bummed that Prince hasn't reached his 80's heights again----what exactly is it you are expecting from him? An album with a bunch of Top 10 singles? How could that possibly happen? How could any 50-year old man possibly relate to the audience who is responsible for new songs being top 10 hits?

Put another way: what sort of relevance are you expecting him to have in 2009 at whatever age you are now? Do you expect him to put out an album that connects with you the way, say, "Sign 'O' The Times" did in your youth? Do you not understand that big part of why that album connected with you in your youth had NOTHING to do with Prince?