hi, i'm new here. i just listen to the music, i haven't read many interviews with Prince, so:

has Prince ever admitted to being unhappy with any of his output on strictly musical terms? has he ever referred to a song/album as a rush job or a failed experiment? i know he objected to the Black Album, but i thought that was on moral grounds.

I don't think so. He has mentioned about live arrangements of certain songs either adding to the original, or spoiling certain songs that should not be tampered with too much (I seem to recall these being sparser songs like Kiss, When Doves Cry, and Sign O The Times).

I don't remember him ever being hyper-critical of his own output publicly, although band-members have reported him being unhappy with certain songs (see The Vault).

When the BBC's Kevin Greening asked him about "sub-par" material on a TV interview in 1998 Prince feigned annoyance (but probably was annoyed) and said to him somehting like "Sub-par? Is that a sub-par shirt you're wearing>" Kevin Greening replied "Well, I like it" Prince smiled and said "Ah, now we're getting somewhere, you like it." implying he makes music that he likes, primarily for himself and doesn't really care if people don't like it.
[Edited 6/3/09 4:04am]

Welcome...

I don't know what specific statements Prince has made about his material.

KeithyT said:

God, he's too effing cool.

There's the quote about Parade where he said something along the lines of Kiss being the only thing he was proud of on that record (paraphrasing here).

I wouldn't put too much weight on these quotes though, Prince often says things for effect, or in reaction to something, especially if it's an interview.

NouveauDance said:

That's sad if he did say that
especially since Kiss isn't all Prince, it's BrownMark & Mazarati too

I think at this time Prince was on a bit of an ego kick
and rushing to the next thing to probably not be able to appreciate the creativity of surrounding the Parade project(s)

If Prince really doesn't care what others think, then he really should probably do more with each album via videos and singles. the videos from Parade in my opinion are the most creative and visually appealing. Even the live ALoverHYHead

They were way ahead of most musicians creatively during Parade
I Wonder U
Mountains
Kiss
Venus de Milo
Sometimes It Snows In April

Love or Money
Alexa de Paris

Old Friends 4 Sale
Heaven
All My Dreams

Mia Bocca

the Family music

..what does the mixture of james brown,jimi hendrix,marvin gaye,and charlie chaplin..yes chaplin the actor have in common?..
..that's how miles davis describes prince and he also said he looked 4ward 2 working with prince...now if they did collaborate'in in anyway..prince sure has tucked THAT project away..miles style was powerful enough 2 bring prince 2 his knees..i wonder about that project..
..mzsexybaby

NouveauDance said:

yes, that may be true, the quote about Parade was just tactics,

remember.... Prince was in the center of a "hysterical storm" after the succes of the Purple Rain album, I think he only tried to lower the expectations to Parade with that quote, cuz he wanted the broader audience to meet the Parade album with a more open mind, so they would expect something different and maybe then appreciate the music on Parade more,

Is this making any sense??

Parade is a wonderful masterpiece - and if someone would ask Prince himself, I believe he would agree to that today.....

(sorry for my bad english lol )
[Edited 6/3/09 7:57am]

WetDream said:

That's what I think too. He hates interviews but knows how to manage himself.

KeithyT said:

plus, I'm sure there are times when he listens to certain songs he thinks "I could've done this or I could've done that". That's normal and all artists do it.
I love his attitude about making music primarily to his liking.

Prince doesn't have an attitude, Prince is Perfect