Do u think prince has been takin risks musically or is he playin it safe.
if he is playin it safe when was the last time he took a risk musicaly.
my opinion is the lat time he took a risk musically was with the rainbow children album a damn masterpiece.
that doesn't mean i don't like musicology 3121 and lotus flower.
all 3 of them are very slammin albums.
i would like your opinions on this.

i think prince has been more interested in HOW his albums are distributed than he is about what's actually ON his albums. not that i think he doesn't care about his music anymore, but i don't think there's been a whole lot of himself in the past three or four albums. 'the rainbow children' is the last album where i really felt connected to what prince was trying to say and do with his music, and honestly, i feel like his instrumental work since that time has been more personable than his "pop" albums. i'd like to hear another instrumental project soon.

Anxiety said:

Exactly.

DamnUSexyMf said:

Agree with you, TRC was a musical risk and a masterpiece...since then...pretty quiet out there (musically speaking...)!

ernestsewell said:

Ditto that!!!!! That is why I haven't been feelin his last few albums, he hasn't put his foot in it.

Oh he's playing it safe alright! His current output couldn't be any more risk free if he recorded it wearing a body condom!

Prince rules, he's a musical genius but sometimes his way of doing things defy all logic. For example, releasing a mediocre album free with a huge newspaper, giving him huge exposure, not to mention the 21 nights. Then with LotusFlow3r, a fantastic 3 disc set, he does the stupid Target deal, does very little to promote it, doesn't give it a worldwide release and bigs up what turns out to be the biggest turd of a website ever created. Now had he released LotusFlow3r with that newspaper....

IMO...he always has.

yes..especially if he crosses the roads with headphones on.

I believe that music being Second Nature with Prince is not risk taking. I think those days were long ago...Prince's following is gonna be there loving his music no matter what.

I believe that once U reach that level of fame, reaching hearts that already love U is goal enough. Maybe Prince would love to keep reaching a younger crowd...but that generation is bound to become interested in Prince sooner or later.

Sometimes I think Prince is now more concerned with legacy (being the first to do this or that) than being more daring and challenging in his music. Where's the hunger to prove one's self? But, he does throw surprises at us. Like the underrated "Lolita." A moral tale about not cheating done to dance music-what other "pop" act is doing that? If that ain't going against mainstream music-I don't know what is. I also believe Prince's message has a wider reach when doing moral tales instead of preaching. (preaching only reaches the choir and they are already on the boat)
[Edited 9/13/09 11:01am]

No, he isn't. I'm one of the few who didn't like The Rainbow Children but I agree that was probably the last time he took a risk, at least on his vocal albums. I have really enjoyed most of Prince's music circa 2004-2009 but I do think it is time for him to try something new, even if it turns out to be something that I do not like. I'd much rather see him try something ambitious and "fail" than to play it too safe.

Whatever he's doing it works for him

Prince is always taking risks, with his music and his fans....same old same old really

risks? not in many years. the last several albums were just music by numbers and noting we haven't heard from him many times before

this still can lead to quite a bunch of worthwile songs though

N.E.W.S. is a vastly underrated work and was the last time P went out on a limb musically. Very risky indeed and a consolidation of what he was trying to do for years with the Madhouse project.

I'm listening to it right now and it is in fact a bloody good album...
[Edited 9/14/09 9:21am]

I do not have TRC yet but I can imagine after having read the forum that with so many albums there have been "risks" taken, as he seems to have completed a rather wide and diverse range of genres and projects. But is it really a risk when an artist is as established as Prince is?

I cannot agree though, that he doesn't put his heart and soul into each album and is more interested in the distribution thereof than the music. That is not Prince's style I'm sure. Maybe he's more inspired in some projects than others but touch and finesse he puts into each and the different sounds he generates probably have more to do with experimentation than risk, in my opinion.

Handel said:

i agree with u news is vastly underated work like u i do believe it's a risky
project and a brilliant album

princes relationship with music is like an old marraige-u run out of things to do or say, but u aint going nowhere. he just started fuckin with protools, and i wished he would have taken more time to master it instead of rushing out MPLS. Maybe this is what WB always feared, that this rush to get shit out did take away from not only the ability to promote but the quality. Prince is one of those rare artist who we can astablish a direct correlation with quality and risk taking.

NOt since N.E.W.S. has he taken a risk musically.
Every album since then has songs that he's done before...in a matter of speaking.

PoorGoo813 said:

Exactly the point I was trying to make earlier

dreamshaman32 said:

Fuck Warners, the erratic path of the artist is not to be governed by marketing strategy, however sensible in a commercial sense. Nobody was telling Miles Davis what to do, they also respected Chick Corea for releasing six albums each year... As for Prince establishing a correlation with risk taking and quality, that's always a laudable and rare feat. Let's just be grateful for those moments...

Handel said:

I DON'T seehow warner's couldn't just oblige hime and let him release what he wanted to and only Promote BIG projects. Go ahead and promote the BIG projects and just go ahead and release the small without ANY promotion if it suits them to do so. Either way it would get released. IF it blows up, it blows up, if it don't, it don't. No scratch off their back if it don't and some good profits if it does. Prince pays for the production of his music> After a time it wasn't a concern of warner's. He had his own facilities and Prince's music was produced cheaply because he wasn't buying producers...just musicians which r much cheaper.

I understand the whole "watering down of the market" stance and how it may cheapen in image. But it's not always relevant and didn't seem to be relevant in Prince's case. It has forever been something that made him stand out, but it don't work for everyone, imo.

I think Warner's lost out on a lot of money by not approaching it this way.



The master's situation is a whole different beast which heavily affects the prior topic, but I can't wrap my head around this one right now.

Handel said:

Consider it agreed with then.