I often lurk here without posting, so be kind to my post!

Are we ever going to have another run of "classic" albums from Prince?

I personally consider Prince's best work to have been between 1980 and 1988, each album (and B-side releases) from Dirty Mind up until Lovesexy being classics in their own way.

The odd track has appeared since that has made me feel the same way ($, Valentina, Dreamer, Seven, Gett Off, Lolita, Shy, 1+1=3) but no one album, for me, has given me the same "kick in the guts" feeling that I got up until (and including) Lovesexy.

Is it just me that feels this? I wonder if it's because I'm getting old...

probably not, but im sure we'll get a steady supply of little jems thrown into the mix...

I'm sure to someone, somewhere, the current run is his greatest and they wouldn't be wrong if that's how they really felt. Objectively, if that's even possible, I'd say it would be near impossible for the general public to acknowledge a new classic run of albums from Prince. Mainly because most so-called 'classic' records need the public perception, mass promotion and critical garlands that follow in said work's wake these days to artifically elevate it to those echelons. Prince is currently without a record deal, 51 years old, has a pencil moustache and is viewed as a deeply odd and cheesy - albeit talented and legendary - artist by much of the current generation of record buyers who were not around for his commercially successful years. Bluntly, he doesn't have the backing for another Purple Rain, or even a Diamonds and Pearls.
However, if you're referring to a run of work that diehard fans can appreciate as up there with the pinnicle of his achievements, I'd raise you a Rainbow Children/One Night Alone Piano/Xenophobia/NEWS against any period. The Musicology/3121/Planet Earth/Lotus Flower era is also an incredibly rewarding listening experience if you have the patience and ears - far more sonically and thematically interesting than Batman/Grafitti Bridge/Diamonds era where his music mostly just seemed a bit...uninspired and deriative.
To my ears, of course.
[Edited 1/16/10 11:15am]

Considering the amount of albums he's wrote in his life I think the chances of getting another belter is quite slim because it will be getting hard for him to find the motivation and the original ideas, but it's not impossible

I think if there´s one thing to be said about Prince then it is the fact that you should never really count him off...he can always come back with a hit record when you least expect it, as seen in 1989 (Batman, after numerous reports that he was almost bankrupt...though it took me years to appreciate the Batman album a bit), or 1991 with Diamonds and Pearls, an album that I really like except for the Tony M. bits and Jughead and the pseudo Hip Hop feel, and then the smash hit single of 1994, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (not my cup of tea, really...but it was a hit nonetheless).
Everything after that was just a matter of bad timing, too much feuding with WB, personal tragedies and business related failures (the demise of EMI around the time that Emancipation came out....good album, horrible production, bad promotion but I digress).

TRC was great, if not in the lyrics department, then at least musically....though most casual listeners probably never noticed that album (some of the songs have horrible lyrics but the music sounds good to me), and most of the stuff that came out after TRC suffers from the same problem.....good music, but sometimes atrocious lyrics like Mr.Goodnight, Chelsea Rodgers,Planet Earth,Lion Of Judah,to name just a few....I know some will disagree and say that those are good songs but, coming from someone who wrote lyrics like When Doves Cry,Ballad Of Dorothy Parker, Forever In My Life, If I Was Your Girlfriend etc.,those are horrible lyrics.

I think he still has the capability to write good music but he should take more time for his lyrics and maybe not be so blunt with his use of religious or biblical imagery....it´s always been part of his music but strong songs like Lion of Judah suffer a bit from it in this day and age. Other than that, it´s a great song, just like the rest of the album but the lyrics of most of the Planet Earth album suck, especially stuff like The One U Wanna See etc.

To each his/her own, I guess. Also keep in mind that the music industry is almost dead and even the hippest artists are suffering these days.

skywalker said:

So true....back in the days, I didn´t really like Parade and Lovesexy because I was way too much into Hip Hop and RnB/Soul and Funk to really appreciate those albums....I was probably also too young. While I really liked 1999, Purple Rain and Around the World In A Day, I found Parade and Lovesexy too "pop" and "white music" sounding, for lack of better words. That´s just the way I was back then. Now I wish I had appreciated those gems when they came out and wish I had been to more concerts back in those glory years.But that whole 80s pop music thing that Prince was a big part of never really appealed to me a young teenager growing up with Rap and Funk.

We already had his golden era , unless he got a sneaky curveball up his sleeve

Hi, and many thanks to all you who have posted responses.

I do agree with skywalker, in that some of the work I'm including in my "golden" period certainly wasn't seen as great at the time and that through rose-tinted spectacles I might have glimpsed a run of brilliance that wasn't really there.

Sure,albums like ATWIAD, Parade, SOTT and Lovesexy might have had their clunkers on them, but generally, I feel, they felt part of an overall plan. My view is that Prince reached the end of the 80's with his "good idea" pocket empty.

Of course many might disagree and see other periods as fondly as I do the one I've mentioned, and that's cool - I just wonder if he's going to have another stretch that gets us all talking like this...

It has been a "Golden," run from the beginning. I look 4ward to whatever Prince puts out.

I really don't think you can predict or expect anything from Prince.

He throws curve balls all the time.

1980-1988

1992-1997

2006-2009


are golden eras

And that's why we love him.

Don't want this thread to be seen as down on the guy - I think he's an absolute genius and some of his recent material is fantastic.

$ could have slotted nicely into any of his 86/7 output.

No I don't think a brilliant Prince album will see the light of day - but IF...

then he needs to hire Warner Bros. again to do his promotion,

His albums hasn't been that great, and not that successful on the charts since their split in 1996.

It all went downhill for Prince with Emancipation... NPS, Rave..... 3121, Planet Earth.

1978-1995 = Warner Days... is the golden era - imo.

The Gold Experience and TRC are great albums for me, as a whole. But in the 80s even the B-sides were classic. I am not sure if Prince has the same artistic passion he had back then.

thedance said:

Co fucking sign that

I think thedance is right about our man needing a major label behind him. Admirable as his staunchly independent stance is, it's not going to win him any new fans. A deal with a professionally run record label, with the muscle to promote properly would make the world of difference to Prince's stature.

He might not want this of course, but I do wonder if a bit more commercial success might not kick his songwritng chops into order...
[Edited 1/16/10 14:11pm]

thedance said:

Charts mean nothing to me. Music is one of the most subjective things that ever existed. One person could think "Insert Song" is the best thing ever, another could hate it. I feel that 3121 was the best album of this decade for him(see it's subjective ). I also liked Planet Earth and LOtUSFLOW3R. For me 1980-1991 was when the best music was made and beyond that it was hit and miss.

As far as the "golden" era thing. That usually correlates with the age of artist. While in their 20's and 30's is the "prime years" so to speak.

Prince has nothing to prove, at 51 he's accomplished a lot, I think the most realistic thing to expect is music a long the lines of what we have heard this decade(which is very good to me).

GraffitiKid said:

I agree with that.

^ Charts... is a long discussion.... they are not what they used to be.

but, charts are great when Prince is # 1

we all wanna see Prince as "a success", don't we ?

I mean it was cool in 1984, when PR, the album was spending 24 weeks at # 1, outselling everybody else.

thedance said:

Prince was #1 in, several ways, in 2004. Some folks around here were still bitching and moaning about this, that, or whatever.

There are several distinct runs that should be put in context. the first, the one you speak of was artistic 81-88, longer and more groundbreaking than any artist before and after. There is a commercial run, 84-92 where he still charted no matter how dismayed the audience, when he could still get major $ for releases and executives called him back. 93-00 was a run where he was self detructive business wise but fed the hardcore fan base with gems and a feeling of exclusivity for still standing by him. 00-04 was a frustrating period where he was stuck between the hardcore and wanting to be back in the limelight. 04-present is a combination of all of the above, theres some gems, some artistry, he even charts a little, feeds the hardcore by how and when he performs, and he is generally accepted as icon/ which provides him access in major circles and primo gigs like the super bowl.

KoolEaze said:

Look who's rewriting history. EMI's demise came long after Emancipation. As for "bad promotion": Prince did more interviews in 48 hours than in the previous part of his career combined, he went on major tv talkshows (Oprah, Today,...), had numerous cover stories... One of the main reasons Emancipation failed was because it was shit, simple as that.

skywalker said:

Parade was record of the year in New Musical Express. Really big flop, that.

The Lovesexy Live gig was shown on TV all over the world. Really big flop, that.

Well, my opinion is:

a). Firstly, that's a matter of fact, that any recording artist is going downwards throughout his career. I think it's a natural way the things are, that you can't really be writing really great songs and melodies forever. Take any possible artist - you never see them rocking for 20 years straight on the same "level". It's always some period of time, when they're almost superhuman in their musical ability, and afterward they're always losing it. And that's exactly the same thing with perceiving music too - my personal experience leads to this conclusiion, and generally I think it's obvious - in 5 to 10 years of being a musical maniac (or at least an active, interested, involved listener) you loose your ability to perceive music with really strong emotions too! Think about it - in the beginning good music is always like a lightning strike for you - you're crying, laughing, going mad simply after listening to one song, one record. And now - you check any long-awaited album, and you're sitting in the headphones checking web with a blind face going like: "wow, well, cool record! yeah, pretty nice songs! cool! I would go and type "Artist - Album is freakin awesome on my twitter!" And you move along. Well, that's a little grotesque, but it's quite truly for most people, I believe so. I love Prince's music SO MUCH, and not only his early works, and I certainly think that he is by far THE most fantastic and great artist in the history of recording industry, but it's obvious that his music will never be the same. You can't really be writing the-best-songs-in-the-world forever. Simply because an extraordinary creative work-load can't last for too long. That's why Olympic champions are also retiring much earlier, than regular office clerks. You can't be superhuman for too many years. But the question is what are you doing next - and I think Prince is a great example of how you can be shining bright even after your career pick is over - damn, he's 51, people, and he's still so FREAKIN' AWESOME.

b). The problem is also in the listeners. I think people tend to sit waiting for "next golden era" simply missing cool things happening! You have to understand, that not his music and songs alone were bringing the whole magic in for millions of people during his golden era - it was a whole combination of different factors, a specific zeitgeist. For instance, I personally believe that "3121" is one of the best albums by Prince ever, but most people in my opinion tend to miss it completely. They were waiting for the exact recreation of "golden era", but that's obviously not possible! Everything changes, nothing is the same, it's a different time now.

And also there's a factor of retrospective - now we can see how "golden" and "classic" this era was for Prince, but I don't think that for contemporary people back then it was all too obvious. Who knows, maybe in 10 years 2000s would be considered as a golden era too? "Prince rocks with Musicology, with 3121, he made the whole industry shitting bricks with giveaway of "Planet Earth", he made fantastic LOTUSFLOWER, he embraced the new "luxury" business-model (selling 10 diamond iPods for the same price as regular artists sell 100.000 CDs), and he was still classy and sexy in his 50s". Why not a golden era?

Well, I already gone far TL;DR, sorry! But I hope someone would read this, I would like to discuss...

BartVanHemelen said:

1. In regards to Parade, the stink of the film was all over the entire project. Yes, the tour was genius, and critics loved the album, but as far as Parade being evidence of a "golden era" ? It wasn't viewed that way in 1986. "kiss" was huge. The rest of the Parade project was regarded by the masses as being a further downward slide for Prince, not a "golden era".

2. Lovesexy was a commercial flop in the United States. Again, I love the tour and the album, but in 1988 it was not viewed as a product of "a golden era". It was a flop.

Furthermore, Lovesexy Live being shown all over the world is NOT evidence of it being successful.

You said it yourself. Prince was all over TV for Emancipation. Does that mean Emancipation was a huge success? The Jam of the Year tour sold out all over the US and performed better than his Lovesexy tour did in the US. Does that mean that Emancipation was a huge success? You cannot have it both ways.

Don't get me wrong. I am not diminishing/dismissing the greatness of those projects. I am simply stating that only in retrospect do we agree that this was some kind of "golden era". In 1986 and 1988 many Prince fans were, as they are now/always, complaining and disagreeing about what Prince was doing.
[Edited 1/20/10 8:35am]

mayhnaus said:

Pur-lease. He sold MILLIONS of records, tours sold out and had to add extra dates, he was constantly talked about in the press,... I'm sick of you lot trying to rewrite history in order to pretend that it isn't so bad now. Prince was a SUPERSTAR in the 1980s.

mayhnaus said:

Yeah, let's compare albums that had a lackluster reception to million-selling classics that were in top 10 lists at the time and pretend they're just as good.

Sheesh, these albums are so shit Prince doesn't even bother rehearsing the songs for live gigs.

skywalker said:

Bullcrap. Girls & Boys was always on TV, and yeah the movie stank but people still adored the album. Dude, his birthday concert was broadcast all over the world. I repeat: back then Prince was a STAR. Those gigs were considered classics BACK THEN.

skywalker said:

Did I miss something? Were TV stations in the habit of broadcasting live shows from acts nobody cared about in the 1980s? Are you serious? THINK about the work involved in a) capturing a live gig (especially a revolutionary show like Lovesexy Live) and b) broadcasting it all over the planet. Both of these things are NOT run of the mill.

For crying out loud, UK pop mag Smash Hits had a review of The Black Album! That's how BIG Prince was.

skywalker said:

Yes I can. Broadcasting a LIVE pop concert in 1988: HUGE deal. And have you SEEN Lovesexy Live? That's not some easy pop shit. But whoring yourself all over the place to promote your latest opus in 1997? Par for the course.

Oh, and at the Lovesexy gigs half of the gig was just about the entire Lovesexy album. With Emancipation Prince released three frikking CDs and barely played anything from it.

Emancipation was a failure because less than six months into the "multi-year project" it became clear that it was dead as a dodo: it had zero cultural impact, singles were doing zilch, and Prince had given up. Back in the 1980s, people were complaining that Prince was releasing too much: barely a year passed and there was a new album + tour + image. Emancipation on the other showed what happens when you couple a shit album with an overdose of phony PR: people get sick of it real quick.

It's always fun to read your comments BartVanHemelen ..... I can't say I disagree with anything you posted to be honest. I'm thinking that the people here who really believe that Prince was not that 'golden' back in the 1980's were not around in the 1980's.

Prince is a SUPERSTAR now as well. What is your point?

Listen, I am not shitting on the past or the 80's. It is my favorite Prince era. People simply favor/view the past as "a golden era" more in retrospect, and don't appreciate being a Prince fan right now in the moment. My point is, a the time,not everyone viewed the Parade and Lovesexy eras as gloriously as they do now.

Look at the ticket sales in the USA for the Lovesexy Tour in '88 vs the Musicology tour in '04. Musicology was the highest grossing tour of the year in the USA. Can you say that about the Lovesexy Tour in '88?

It could be argued that the hype/fervor/sales of 21 Nights in London was comparable to any of his other European tours. Actually, better than the reception The Gold Experience tour received from fans/critics.

Let's compare the Billboard charts:

3121 reached was #1.
Planet Earth reached #3.
Lotusflow3r reached #2.

Lovesexy didn't crack Billboard's top 10.
Parade peaked at #3.
Sign O' The Times peaked at #6.

Yes, charts are simply a measure of popularity. They don't mean much to me. However, I think that this goes a long way to showing how popular Prince was in the USA during his "golden era" compared to now. Your vision is skewed.

Fact is neither Parade, nor Lovesexy sold as many copies in the USA as Musicology did. Furthermore, I could argue that Prince did more high profile/meaningful televised performances in the 2000's than he ever did in the 80's.

You can argue that Lovesexy and Parade sold more copies than Prince's newer albums, but they both nearly or barely went platinum. Again, meaning neither sold more copies than Musicology. Those are pretty weak sales for Prince being the superstar that he was. I mean, it is a bit shocking that only 2 years removed from Purple Rain and he didn't sell over 2 million copies of Parade in the US. This is Prince of "the golden era" of 1986.

mayhnaus said:

Spew your venom all you want. We understand that you lost your Prince fan club ID somewhere in the mid 90's. I also suspect that what music critics say about music holds a lot of weight with you.

I love Prince in the 80s and now (and I never said otherwise), but your perception of the glory years is skewed. Both Parade and Lovesexy were huge duds in the USA and hurt his career is some ways. Yes, he was artistically at his peak, but fans were leaving in droves in the US. In fact, Lovesexy dented his career so much that he had to go commercial and tag along with the Hollywood/WB juggernaut that was the Batman flick to hit #1 again.

I get that Lovesexy is a very important album in terms of Prince and his fans. I am not trying to argue it's greatness. However, I live in Minneapolis. To the un-Purple in this town, Lovesexy has about as much cultural relevancy as 3121. You may not wanna hear that, but it's true.

[Edited 1/20/10 21:01pm]
[Edited 1/21/10 6:03am]