ernestsewell said:

I totally agree with you but don't you feel that Prince suffers this issue more than others. I kknow you can argue that maybe his original standard was higher than others and so has higher to fall. For example I do not have the Lotus album but i have heard Dance4me etc and this sounds like he is trying to recapture a sound that made him famous. I dont hear it as a cynical ploy to get sales just Prince conceiding to doing the pop that people (he feels) want from him. Yet critically this is deemed as weak and lacking. Yet contrary to most peoples complaints on here is for once doing his job as a recording artist. However much Prince can be a pain in the arse I do feel sorry for him as he really is in a lose lose position. Something unique from Prince and he is too obscure, something too immediate and he is a dried up self parody

Bohemian67 said:

Are you guys NUTS? BLIND? LIVING UNDER A ROCK? You might have noticed that Prince HAS toured in the past 15 years -- except most of the time he couldn't be arsed to play his NEW music and instead he played music he recorded while he was a "SLAVE".

Now, call me nuts but if I was Prince and I thought my new music was just as good or better than the stuff I'd recorded 10/20 YEARS AGO, I'd play the NEW music, not the same ole crap. BUT PRINCE DIDN'T DO THAT.

Ain't that a bitch: Prince had a choice and instead of playing his super-duper new music (something he did do in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995), he played OLD music. Not only that, most of the songs he released post-1995 have only been played a HANDFUL of times. So not even "occasionally", not even "every now and then", no they have been performed only RARELY.

Call me crazy, but if I were Prince and I thought my new music, which I recorded "while being free", is just as good as the old stuff, you're gonna hear it. Repeatedly. Don't like it? "You ain't gots da funk." Except THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. Ghee, I wonder why?

People don't hate Prince. I don't hate Prince. But when an artist sets a standard for themselves, then fails to meet it....therein lies the problem.

whodknee said:

all this from a nation who eat snails and frogs legs

U ppl do realise that this will be debated till the end of time cause not everyone has the same tastes?
I'm not a fan of heavy rock so there are some songs on Lotusflow3r that I don't like, but there are some I like too.
That's just how it is...different strokes for different folk.

Let's see if this thread comes to a unanimous decision

Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one.

Kinda regretting starting this thread!!!!

BartVanHemelen said:

So, I guess the insane fans would be those of us who liked The Symbol Album and roll our eyes every time we hear, "He's back" from wherever he was supposed to have been? Besides, my point is that Prince has a history of not playing killer songs when they are first released, and then playing them later, such as "Adore," which was only played at the aftershows for the SOTT Tour and as a brief snippet during the LoveSexy Tour, but found its way into the set list years later. There are some songs that are about a particular message and some songs about a particular mood, which tends to be more about creating something in the studio. Yet, Musicology songs were featured on the tour and 3121 and Planet Earth songs have shown up on other tours and been played on television to promote the albums so I would say that he's played them. My point is that he seems to think or know that most of the folk in attendance have come with a set list, and depending on his mood he will placate them.



He hates his former company, not his music. I never said that he does not like his old work. Why would he not play his older songs? When he is singing them live, he is making all the cash, which may be the greatest revenge of all. It's not like he's sending a check to WB after every live performance. Maybe you should learn to read slowly as well.

BartVanHemelen said:

Because it does not. There are a lot of reasons why certain songs get played live and some don't. Your logic means that Prince is saying, "I wrote these songs, I recorded these songs, I offered them for sale as a part of my legacy, but I don't like them." Maybe if he was tied to a long-term recoding contract, your theory would hold water. But since he records when he wants to record and tours when he wants to tour, there is no reason for him to write, record, and sell songs that he doesn't like. Now you could counter my point by asserting that he knows that no matter what he records and sells he’ll make a lot of money because there are plenty of Kook-Aid drinkers who will purchase anything with his name on it. Yet, if I’m willing to admit that his websites are terrible, that his photo/poetry book was uninteresting to me (even if I do like Indigo Nights), that the opening of the Nude Tour is my least favorite opening to a live show because I hate house music (I love everything after the house music ends), that the only song from Bria’s album that I have coupled with Lotusflow3r/MPLS is "Elixer," that most of the bootleg studio songs that I’ve heard do not move me (I’ve collected bootlegs since 1988), and that Prince has missed a great opportunity by not releasing more live audio and video, I could surely admit if I was not moved by his music or a particular release. His work does not sound uninspired to me, and you have not provided enough evidence to show that he doesn’t care for them.

However, even if the doesn’t care for Lotusflow3r/MPLS, there are a lot of songs that people like that the artist did not particularly like. Tina Turner did not initially like "What’s Love Got to Do with It," L. L. Cool J didn’t like "Going Back to Cali" or "I Need Love," and there are many other examples. As an artist, I can tell you that artists are often amazed as to what your audience will like. Sometimes, the artist is thinking, "I’mma kill’em with this," and the work is completely ignored. Then, other times, the artist thinks that the work is a throw-away piece, but it finds an audience, much like Louie Armstrong getting a hit with "Hello Dolly," a song that he recorded and forgot until he was on the road and fans were requesting it. So, even if you are right that Prince may not care for his latest production as much as his earlier work, it does not mean that the work lacks quality. Besides, it would be difficult for him or a Prince fan to like anything more than "Purple Rain."

As an adult, I don’t need Prince to blow my mind like he did when I was 14. I just want solid work, and Lotusflow3r/MPLS, in my opinion, is solid work with moments of Prince genius. "Dreamer," "Colonized Mind," "Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful," "Dance 4 Me," and "Old Skool Company" have great energy and move me. He if wasn’t inspired or moved when he wrote them, it simply means that 70% of Prince pleases me more than 100% of what’s on today’s radio, so all I need him to be is 70%. But not liking his latest songs as much as he he likes his older songs does not mean that he does not like his latest songs at all, and it does not prove that he is uninspired. It simply means that with age one's style chagnes as one's priorities change. If fifty year old Prince was just writing "Head," "P-Control," "Days O Wild," or "Face Down," all songs that I love, I'd think that he was trying to hard to remain young, not that he was inspired or like those songs.

You Bart are the other end of the spectrum of the Purple Kool-Aid drinkers who proclaim that everything Prince does is great and never criticizes the man for some of his head scratching actions towards the fans...You are a chronic complainer who has become a mere joke....Your every move can be telegraphed....It's kind of silly, really.

Since when my taste in music are influenced by other's opinions ?

The french press can say whatever they want, I like the three albums, all different.

In today's Journal du Dimanche newspaper, the accompanying magazine Femina has a go at Prince.

In their Tops/Flops section Prince is criticised for repeating himself.

A rough translation summary:

"Prince has aged well but his music hasn't. On the triple album, at best he repeats himself (badly).Prince is no longer charming".


It's hardly high-brow stuff but I just thought I'd let you know.

Joyinrepatition said:

People who dare to be adventurous in their eating habits -- how will they survive? Oh no, they seem to enjoy great meals!

I guess you prefer a nation that gorges itself on processed "food"? You do know that the French have a far healthier diet than Americans, right?

murph said:

Cosign! and he's not the only one like this, murph... There's more than a few of these "other-end-of-the-spectrum" fanatics...
In Bart's defense, I at least find his posts entertaining. In a mistermaxxx kinda way

Bohemian67 said:

Are you guys NUTS? BLIND? LIVING UNDER A ROCK? You might have noticed that Prince HAS toured in the past 15 years -- except most of the time he couldn't be arsed to play his NEW music and instead he played music he recorded while he was a "SLAVE".

Now, call me nuts but if I was Prince and I thought my new music was just as good or better than the stuff I'd recorded 10/20 YEARS AGO, I'd play the NEW music, not the same ole crap. BUT PRINCE DIDN'T DO THAT.

Ain't that a bitch: Prince had a choice and instead of playing his super-duper new music (something he did do in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995), he played OLD music. Not only that, most of the songs he released post-1995 have only been played a HANDFUL of times. So not even "occasionally", not even "every now and then", no they have been performed only RARELY.

Call me crazy, but if I were Prince and I thought my new music, which I recorded "while being free", is just as good as the old stuff, you're gonna hear it. Repeatedly. Don't like it? "You ain't gots da funk." Except THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. Ghee, I wonder why?

mushmackalenta said:

HAHAHAHA Ridiculous on two counts. 1) the whole pity/feel sorry defensive "I'm butt hurt cuz someone doesn't like the Prince album I like" demeanor. Totally ridiculous attitude for you to cop, but understandable when dealing with ass kissers.

2) You blindly letting someone spoon feed you a less-than flavorful meal of mediocre music for the past few years. Tsk tsk. Has your musical taste buds really diminished that much?

ernestsewell said:

My my - You're really quite unpleasant, aren't you?

The only thing Prince has done that I found exciting in recent times was that one-off "PFunk", ironically an attack on his fans.

Remember the cover of Musicology, that looked like it had been made in Microsoft Paint in about ten minutes? That just about sums up Prince in the 00's.

People don't hate Prince. I don't hate Prince. But when an artist sets a standard for themselves, then fails to meet it....therein lies the problem.

Imago said:

Damn that's sad!

Dayclear said:

And I've got a big one!

purplecam said:

I was referring to my opinion which can be very assholish when it needs to be.

jcurley said:

I hate it when artists become a parody of themselves; it;s grotesque and sad. I'd rather him go out in the "to thy own self be true" mode and at least be doing stuff that he feels passionate about. IMO Lotusflow3r was an attempt to appeal to his old fans and I didn't feel the passion behind it. TRC was rejected by many but it DID clearly reflect where he was at musically and emotionally at that time in his life.