A whole mess of folks tend to carve Prince's career into
fundemental compartments.

The obvious shifts are "Prince / Symbol / New Prince".
Some even go so far as "Pre JW / Post JW" or "Curse / Clean"


I personally don't see them as earth shattering shifts
than I do perceive them as being "moods" in a long
continuum.


Prince has always reinvented himself, and although the pace
of that is slowing, you have to admit his last 3 albums
are still different enough from each other to be show
that he's still playing around with ideas--albeit, the
music overall is more 'safe'.

But Prince I feel will continue to shift gears on us
without giving us much notice. And, this is a good thing.

Prince said it best, in response to his release of
Around The World in A Day (Which was radically different
from Purple Rain & 1999): "I could have just rewritten
the Purple Rain ablum in a different key."


What do you perceive as fundamental shifts in his career?
How do you define them?

Oh Shit!
General Discussion :box:

You website heretics are going to jack this shit for sure.

Mods, please move

shew!

Thank GOD!!! It's now in the Music & More forum!!!




Between you and me folks, those General Discussion guys are assholes!
They can't be trusted.

He has gone through many phases in his personal life and career so his fans have seen him through it all.

I do not care for the man he has become today but he has his own reasons for becoming a shadow of his former self and his rants regarding chemtrails, JW religion, vast changes in his musical expression etc.

I don't care for the music he releases today, music from the past makes up for it somewhat and the lack of cursing and his questioning others about their motives I find to be disrespectful of others i.e. perfect example Kevin Smith who tore him to shreds and talks about 'Prince World' in his standup.

PanthaGirl said:

I love Kevin Smith's account of the Celebration.



I personally had the funds and time to fly up for those invasions, but absolutely no inclination to do so.
He was way insane and preachy at that time, and there's just now way I was going to spend good money to be lectured and made to play stupid reigndeer games.


However, even during those plastic years & the Rainbow Children years, his had really interesting sounds in the mix. Spotty, but peppered with brilliance throughout.


I'm not sure if I would want to define him as a shadow of his former self, though I can totally see where you're coming from. I'm not sure what to make of Prince now. I just know his hairdos and hair dye are a bit much.

Imago said:

Absolutely Kevin Smith is genius and speaks with unique diligence on his account of events, I love it!

I'm still searching for some of the decent sounds throughout that era but I suppose due to my taste in music I fail to hear the best of him especially on that album RC. On occasion I like to listen to ONA C-Notes, a few songs from Musicology and ummmm yah that's it I think.

Reason I say shadow of his former self because he seems to have lost his spark, I mean he still plays that guitar flawlessly and conducts his music with aptness but it is lacking in much overall. As for his image, that's a whole other thread and story.

"It's 3am in Minnesota. Get me a camel"....

PanthaGirl said:

I got immediately pissed when I Kevin said Prince had him waiting for his call only to be told to wait some more.

I don't care what business you're in, that very very very unprofessional.
People who can't say that they'll do something, and then do it on time
irritate the shit out of me.

Nowt wrong with ordering a camel at 3am if you're attempting to push the people around you to their limit with a little (albeit conceited) surrealistic humour. If I was an outrageously gifted global superstar (as he was in 1992) with hundreds of employees and millions of fans relying on me to lay golden eggs at the drop of a platinum cane, I'd need to feel protected and coccooned by people who overflow intelligence, passion and love. He never asked Tony M to get the camel.
Man, if Prince wants a camel, get him a fucking camel. get a talking camel with a ring of black orchids tied round its neck with JD Salinger's autograph branded on its arse. If you can't do that, resign. Go work in a bank. Or McDs. Prince wants you to make the impossible happen. You went from a single cell to you in nine months. Now get Prince a camel.

Number23 said:

U obviously live in another dimension.

Number23 said:

I fucking love you, Billy

PanthaGirl said:

He's taking a piss.

Old Prince: 1978-1984
New Prince: 1985-1993
Symbol: 1993-1999
Overly Religious Hypocrit but still funky: 2000-Present

vainandy said:

PanthaGirl said:

Now that's impossible.

Imago said:

Taking a piss or taking the piss out of it LOL? I don't know these peeps at all so I'm left to believe he was from another planet mon'...

Number23 said:

so profound. sooooo profound.

Number23 said:

Exactly and the people around him do make stuff happen when he clicks his fingers. Prince wants to play in Paris with 48 hours notice ? Done. change your name to a symbol to get out of your contract? Took a while, but done. Give your CD away with a right wing newspaper Mr Nelson? Done.

So if people achieve all this shit for him day after day they are victims of their own success really and they shouldn't complain when asked for a camel. He has enough money and success to get what he wants when he wants and THAT hasn't really changed much through any of those eras.

Imago said:

Not as profound as the minor key piano/NASA-bleached galaxy cross-pollination moodsetter on your homepage. It's an audiovisual demoncocked arseblast. Shame its presentational fluff to support petty musings about the weather. Show me magic.

pandemoniun6 said:

PanthaGirl said:

Actually, at one point, they did. And may again, if genetic survival requires it. All shapes the genome takes to survive are transitory. All living things are transitory species, nothing is a 100% defined pig, squirrel or a 100% defined Chinese man. Gills and wings are in all our blood. All is transitory, the greatest show on Earth.

Number23 said:

ouch.

Imago said:

Number23 said:

Well, that got me to click on Imago's link. I admit I went for the demon cock, but I stayed for the soothing notes that washed over me as I read the weather updates.

The most drastic changes came with changing the band. That´s one reason why I would split the symbol years into two ...not just 1993-1999 but rather 1993-1996 and 1996-2000.With the new bands came a new sound and a new attitude ( and a new hairdo...something that used to come with every new album).