MattyJam said:

I completely agree...those are the only two I can stand either.

OldFriends4Sale said:

ha ha... "Alphabet Street" video was planned to look like a retro, PBS, kids video form the 70's. They might have done it quickly, but shooting it in that style was intentional, and me and my friends thought that was so cool back then... before Beck got all acceptably retro humorous.

bellanoche said:

-----
Thank you I know I can't be the only one that see the haterade toward RnB music on this board. I play P's unknown by the masses material for people all the time and they always want to know

" How come they never heard that song before"

P is good at writing RnB music and I have always been happy that he never abandoned it and I hope he keeps performing it long after the RnB haters are gone.

video killed the radio star

MattyJam said:

I think Gett Off is flawless.

I love Prince for his 1991 to 1995 albums (Diamonds & Pearls, o(+>, Come, The Gold Experience, GoldNigga and Exodus, the songs he performs in The Undertaker vhs and the 2 new songs from the Hits/The B-sides: Pink Cashmere and Peach and the outtakes he recorded in this period). It hasn't aged horribly, it's his best music, his BEST WORK EVER the one that proves he's a music genius. I like it much more than the 80s stuff, do you love Prince for songs like Little Red Corvette? The songs his non-fans can name?
His BEST era ever, where he really shows his genius and musicianship is 1991-1995. He didn't look his best until 1991, his best hair clothes (million times better than the 80s) and everything, the way he looks in the 3 Chains of Gold VHS/LD.. His Tours where his best in 1991-1995.
1996 to 2000 is his worst era ever (except for the songs She Spoke 2 Me, Don't Talk To Strangers,Crystal Ball 3-cd set-should we consider music released on this period or just music recorded in this period?), how can anyone say that's his best era?? are you people musically retarded?

Strollin, Willin and Able, Insatiable, Love 2 the 9s, Sexy MF, 3 Chains o Gold, 2Gether, Johnny, In a Deuce and a Quarter, Count the Days, Pink Cashmere, Peach, 2morrow, Dolphin, Shhh, Shy, Gold, Rock n Roll is Alive, Solo (this one is the reason to buy the Come cd), Dark, all the songs that appear in the Undertaker vhs, Purple Medley.

His 80s stuff sounds aged, specially his hits--i don't think any fan/friend loves P for his hits (except of course the song Purple Rain, but the full length version was not a hit, the 3:49 edit was). I do love many of his songs from the 80s: When We're Dancing Close and Slow, With You, Tick Tick Bang-the original recording which is really fast, Condition of the heart, Private Joy, Let's Work, most of the b-sides, Dorothy Parker, Housequake, Adore, Scandalous, Sometimes it snows in April, When 2 r in love, the Black album, Dance With The Devil (outtake from the Batman album), Still Would Stand all time, The Grand Progression (outtake from GRaffiti Bridge).
His best songs from 1991-1995 don't sound aged at all, Pink Cashmere or Peach or Strollin or Count the Days or Dolphin or Shy or Solo, etc these songs are timeless, Solo could have been recorded in the year 3000.

If I could travel back in time to attend Prince's concerts i would go back to 1991 (not the 80s) and go to all the concerts from 1991 to 1995.
[Edited 8/21/09 17:55pm]
[Edited 8/21/09 17:59pm]

I don't know: there's a certain warmth to the early 1990s sound that makes me want to revisit often. "With This Tear" and "Love Thy Will Be Done" are gorgeous.

WatchThemFall said:

I wholeheartedly agree on that one.

Superb track.

Gonzalo1979 said:

Where I still love Prince's nineties work, I disagree that his eighties work has aged poorly. And I must definitely disagree that a fan does not love Prince for his hits. Maybe it's because of where I live, but from 1978 to 1986, before I learned how to purchase bootleg material, I was introduced to Prince through radio and later video, which means that I fell in love with the hits on the radio, which caused me to purchase the entire album. Now to be clear, I'm not one who feels that I must choose between hits and lesser known songs. I'm moved equally by both, but it has never bothered me that many only know the songs that are mostly played on the radio. Even today, though I rarely listen to the radio, if a Prince "usual suspect" jam is played, I still put the volume on ten...well, as I'm getting older and my ears hurt more now, I can only make it to the volume level of seven.

OldFriends4sal said:

I can completely understand your sentiment, especially compared to the funds and production used by MJ and Madonna. And I can see how one would or could desire to see more elaborate and conceptual videos to compliment if not enhance Prince's great storytelling ability. Yet, since I've always seen him as a guitar hero first, I was cool with just seeing that in a video. Again, I'm not knocking the need for or the desire to see a more conceptual video with solid production, but I like that Prince decided to showcase himself as a musician, songwriter, and singer with a few moves/dance steps to work the crowd. I don't get as many opportunities now, but in rare moments when I'm not reading or writing and my wife is away on business, I'll watch his videos or a live concert and still enjoy them. Whether it is the live performance of the "Take Me with You" video or the "Willing and Able," "Diamonds and Pearls," "Insatiable," "Cream," "Live 4 Love," "Daddy Pop," "My Name Is Prince," "The Morning Paper," "Gold," or "Dolphin" videos, they all still rock, funk, and groove for me. While others were selling mini-movies, Prince was selling that he is a musician who can plug and play with the best of them. I don't mind well-funded and well executed conceptual videos; I just like the concept of selling quality musicianship more.

it may sound dated, but so does his 80's work.

at least he was still trying back in the 90's. through most of them, anyway.

if you think they've aged you probably never liked them.

I disagree , as music is always going to date, I think when Prince wrote a song in 1991, he did not give a goddamn how it was going to go down in 2009 or even 1993 for that matter, it was made mainly to please the fans in 1991. Fortunately most of the 1991 material has aged well. And the mid 90s stuff was funky and real as it is now, have you ever heard "Hide the Bone" at full volume, none of the rappers today could compare to that. Its great he recorded his 90s stuff loud and full of the rap and swearing, because you won't get it off him now. I mean will you ever hear Prince say "Come here you sexy motherfucka" in 2010 or "What u stopping 4 nigga, I didn't say stop". Some of the Batman and GB stuff hasn't aged well, but Diamonds and Pearls, Symbol and Come have all aged well (In fact I love Symbol more now, than when it came out). The joy with Prince music, is that most of it was way ahead of its time when it came out and people are appreciating it now.

Huggiebear said:

:agree:

nobody ever wrote or produced any great or interesting music by coming at it from a desire for it sound "timeless". nothing every changes or evolves that way.

Music does age, and new music can be timeless. Originality is timeless.
It's the artist from the 50's that kept on writing doo-wop songs, using tired popular phrases of the day that have been beat to death, while people and music had moved on.
Every genre deserves credit and respect, but when it becomes a formula, going through the motions it became dated. Same with any genre from any era.

Prince was going through the motions of what was "supposedly" in style. That makes it dated because he didn't bring anything new to what was going on, didn't put a spin on it to make it his own like he did earlier, it was an artist thinking formulaic doo-wop was still in vogue.

It has nothing to do with recording techniques or technology, its about the substance of the music. If you like Prince's 90's music that's fine, but that's not to say it doesn't sound dated.
It was cringe-worthy to see an artist of Prince's caliber, reduced to getting on his hands and knees pandering to what he thought was the lowest common denominator, it was Norma Desmond waiting for her close up. It was very sad to see.
[Edited 8/23/09 11:24am]

MattyJam said:

I also concur with the title of the this forum because ALOT of his music back then was for lack of better words, weak as hell. It's funny that this topic is generating some of the same sentiments I had about "Pussy Control" because thats a song I'd be ashamed to play around a friend..

One of the reasons I don't care too much for 90s output was his incorporation rap and the gangsta image he attempted to portray at the time. Also, like a few others have said, most of the things he came out with at the time sounded rushed, I realize he was trying to escape his record contract, but even stuff from Diamonds and Pearls and the symbol album sounds dated...

Another thing that bothered was not only Prince's "infusion" of rap, but how a 35, 36-year-old artist who denounced the genre a decade prior was now using it as a way to appeal to the youth. Sounds like a sell out to me...

Educated313 said:

ironic, because that's one of the few that my friends even like from the last 20 years.

hell, at work the other day, two guys in their early 20's were begging me to put on Pussy Control. it's a cult classic even to this day.

I still play all of Prince's music. I just get in the mood for a particular song one day, and play the whole cd.

MattyJam said:

I listen to Prince's music almost daily and really depends on my mood ie what I want to listen to. I love blue light and so I can listen to it anytime.

I love "my name is Prince" it brings up some good memories from times past of the younger, flash in your face type of Prince .

mozfonky said:

I like to think Joint to Joint was more spoken word. I agree with you about Girls & Boys and about the effects of him trying to be hard in raps (as if we can ever really accuse Prince of trying to be hard). I just thin the whole Tony M. thing was a disaster...dude SUCKS...and that's that.

Well Diamonds & Pearls was when Prince stopped leading and started following the pack. Everyone always said he was one step ahead of everybody else in the 80's but I think he wanted more commercial success (him getting pissy with WB over sales figures and lack of promotion proves this) and so started to conform to current musical trends. Tony M & The Game Boyz were a disaster, yes, but Prince knew what we wanted and he's stubborn so is gonna stick with it despite the criticism.

There is some stuff from D&P & that's held up very well though...Willing & Able, Insatiable, Money Don't Matter 2Nite, Damn U, And God Created Woman, Sweet Baby...

The material got tighter later when he stripped it down to just him, Sonny T & Michael B (Barbarella can go shampoo his hair)...

laurarichardson said:

I know I am late with this response, but I compeltely agree with you. Prince has NEVER abandoned his RnB side, even though many of his Pop/Rock fans seem to want him to. Unlike those RnB artists who achieve crossover success and then abandon their RnB roots to continue chasing crossover money, he has always navigated both worlds without losing his roots only to later come crawling back when the crossover Pop/Rock crowd has moved on to its latest RnB fixation. He never left, and I love him for it.