"Dance On," is a good example of loving the humor of how the instruments are used.

"Play in the Sunshine." makes a great song because of how produced is sounds yet how easy it seems to come to these professional musicians or to the recording itself.

Many Prince songs sound much, much better, IMO, in their rawer,unpolished version ( like that 1985 version of We Can Funk or those rehearsal versions of Something In The Water and Noon Rendezvous) or as a live rendition, like most of the Gold material or even the SOTT songs, and some stuff almost always sounds better as a studio version, like When Doves Cry and Kiss.
I think the instruments used and whether it´s a live version or a studio version play a huge role.

Then again, most songs off of the 1999 album ALWAYS sound good, whether it´s the album version or a rehearsal version or a live version. He experimented a lot back then and evey incarnation of a song was different.

I have yet to hear the rawer sounding version of the Gold Experience songs. I know they are circulating but I haven´t had the chance to hear them yet, then again, I never really bothered. Also, the rock version of Space is probably also very interesting.

The Emancipation album.....

some superb songs-but plasticy sounding instruments and very weak drum sounds for me mean i really can't get into the album at all though disc 3 has some great moments where P manages to be a bit more experimental that the other 2 discs

polkadotbliss said:

That album could have been so great if he recorded all of it with Michael, Sonny and Morris. You can really hear the difference in songs like Betcha By Golly Wow, where he used the old band.
And some of the songs he chose were just....meh.
Why use We Gets Up when there is so much stronger stuff that was written during the same sessions, like Goodbye?
Could have been a truly great album....I liked it back then, still do..but it´s not what it could have been.

polkadotbliss said:

Good example! Songs like "I Can't Make U Love Me", "The Love We Make", "One Kiss At A Time", "Right Back Here In My Arms", "Courtin' Time" (which was addressed directly in an interview, as the interviewer asked him why he used a drum track on that particular 20's flavored song), and a ton of others could have had a much better feel had the band been used.

Prince himself backed up that theory when the "live studio version" of "Somebody's Somebody" was released on [i]The Holy River[u] 2-CD single set.

when Prince does it alone, he really needs to stick to only 16 or 32 tracks. When he starts getting in the 48 track range or more, it has that over-produced mess going on. Sometimes too much is just TOO much.

Nice thread Skywalker.

I think the sounds are essential and then not only in instruments but also sometimes in voice use. The former more so though.

The Word - is one song that took me ages to get into because of over production, imo. Upon initial listens I just honestly didn't like it. It has such a perfect beginning but the song progressively gets harder. Not only the guitar part at about 3.20m but also when the voices seem to go from volume 3 to 7 in a second at 1.40. If you've got it on loud, it becomes too loud. Now I listen to it on a softer volume and it's much better. But a lot of the song is so nice, I want it on volume 10. I love it now though and live through the heavy guitar part starting at 3.17 because the end percussion part is GORGEOUS!!!! I WISH I HEARD THAT MORE OFTEN. SO PURE. If I had my own recording studio, i'd revise the song.

Shy and Space, New World and many others for example are my examples of where the light sounding effects and clean guitar bassy strums make the song! And just the bassy feel of New world matches well with the chorus, which feels like the right volume for the beat strength and volume.

Sex in the summer is a song where I feel, better sounds could have made it more than what it is. Verse parts are perfect. Sometimes sounds in the chorus have too much of a high treble sound, and that goes for some other songs too.

While 319 is a good song in principle I think it is over produced. There are too many sounds for me and i DON'T LIKE the electronic grinding whines at 1.44m. Sounds anything but organic & instead of flowing it sounds disjointed. Maybe it's meant to be like that, but not my cup of tea.

Good songs have fewer sounds but they sound so much purer, leaving more space in my head to enjoy, instead of jamming it full. I should leave it at that otherwise my post will be too long. I love having days off

Good point about the song, "Gold". A more organic sound would've given it an entirely different feel.

A song that I feel could have been better with a more organic approach is "Reflection". The melody is so pretty but it loses some of it's senimentality with the drum machine.

Another example is "Zanalee", which I thought was pleasant enough until I heard the unreleased version. That's a great example of how a great song can be turned into an average song based solely on production.

As far as overproduction, "Saviour" and "The Continental" seem overblown, imo.

Bohemian made a good point about the vocals too, although I love "The Word". However, to a lesser extend, there are a few songs where the vocals ruin it for me. "Mad Sex" is an example of that.
[Edited 11/18/09 20:02pm]

Good thread.

Kidnap him,lock him up in an old warehouse somewhere in Eden Prairie with nothing but a bunch of old school analog instruments and analog recording equipment, and check out his tour rider from that time...feed him with nothing but that stuff that´s on his rider, like Doritos and Earl Grey tea....and see what happens.

It's mixed, sometimes I think his digital, produced songs are more interesting by far than the live ones. But I do think sometimes he rushes production and tries to make it too pandering and "normal" and "sweet"... like many of the Emancipation album tracks.
[Edited 11/18/09 13:49pm]