Recently i was thinking that many of his songs of the last decade are missing a strong chorus (he is often repeating the same lines) OR they simply have no chorus at all. As if he isnt inspired enough / too lazy to deliver really strong compositions:

Some Examples (of many):
'Musicology... Musicology....'
'Cinnamon girl.....Cinnamon girl'
Million Days (no chorus)
'Not like i love my guitar... Not like i love my guitar'
Lion of Judah (awfull chorus..lol)
Boom (just a repeated 'Boom')
'4ever...4ever...'.

Its not like all of his eighties (and even nineties) songs had always strong chorusses, but at least they often had strong / creative instrumentation or a certain level of energy / rawness in the delivery to offer 'compensation'.

When i think about really strong chorusses from the last decade, the first thing that comes to mind is 'Love' from the 3121-album, but its hard for me to come up with other examples quickly.

I dont expect him to be as creative and innovative as in the eighties when it comes to his arrangements and instrumentation, but he seems to lack so much lately when it comes to one of the 'elementaries' of a good song: a strong composition.

Anyone else feels the same?

"Right Back Here In Arms" doesn't have one either...on purpose, according to the liner notes.

Prince has often had songs with either no chorus or just the same phrase
repeated as a chorus, or a instrumental riff instead of a sung chorus.
Here's a few examples...

Alphabet St. ("yeah, yeah, yeah")
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
I Wish U Heaven
Purple Rain
Sign O' The Times ("time")
When You Were Mine

.

Umm, holy river??? Great song...no chorus or its at the end if you consider it a chorus. I think Prince is a great song writer because he doesn't HAVE to go by a contrived formula, he does what he wants and in the past comes out brilliantly. Its not laziness at all, its creativity. Appreciate it!

I agree with that, Boris. It may be one of his characteristics.

But in general those songs from the eighties and first half of the nineties had stronger compositions then his recent ones (let alone the more creative instrumentation).
And for every song without a real chorus, you had a song with a strong one ( Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret, The Ladder, Sometimes it snows in april, Slow Love, Glam Slam, Cream, Money dont matter tonight, Seven, Dolphin,to name a few).

But what annoys me about the songs from the last decade is that he doesnt even seem to TRY to write a well-rounded composition, chorus or not.

Ummmm...there are a lot of songs from the last decade that have an actual chorus...

Another Like Me
Chocolate Box
U're Gonna C Me
Here
Valentina
Colonized Mind
$
Beautiful, Loved and Blessed
Incense and Candles
Love
The Word
Get On the Boat
The One U Wanna C
Future Baby Mama

Umm... how old is 'The Holy River'? almost 15 years...

Its easy to say: he is (still) a great, original songwriter, because he doesnt use chorusses. But thats not how it works for me.

There is nothing 'creative' about the songwriting of A Million Days, Cinnamon girl or 4Ever. To me those are lazy attempts to come up with yet another song, without really trying to deliver a truelly memorable composition.

To me, the use of his songwriting skills has really taken a 'nosedive' in this last decade. He is underachieving.
[Edited 1/26/10 12:02pm]

Well.. are those chorusses really as memorable as those from the eighties and early nineties?

The simple fact I dont remember many of them in a good way (apart from 'Love') tells me he is underachieving.

Yea I think it's typical of Prince to mix it up. It seems like he always has. Some of the better choruses in the last decade imo are:

U Make My Sunshine
Supercute
When Eye Lay My Hands On U
Call My Name
The Marrying Kind
Incense And Candles
Love
Beautiful Loved and Blessed
Future Baby Mama
Mr. Goodnight (Yea I said it...great hook)
Colonized Mind
Valentina

Riverpoet31 said:

Maybe you don't remember them because you're stuck in the past?

"don't you wanna come? 3121..."

I have realised that too. However, as superficial as it may sound, I think it also has a lot to do with the titles he chooses for his songs nowadays. They seem to be a bit more blunt and clear in comparison to Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, Tamborine, Housequake, If I Was Your Girlfriend, Lovesexy, Endorphinmachine, Space, I Hate U, Shhh, ...

For instance, he could have named 4ever "It's Okay..." or Musicology "True Funk Soldier", just to give an example.

But apart from that, there seem to be very few real "songs" from the 00s that I find brilliant because of the composition and melody. It's rather about the over-all quirkiness of his sound. I actually think his sound is more quirky than it was in the 80s from time to time, which makes many songs from his last 5-6 albums very enjoyable to me. Planet Erath has some very quirky songs, for example; - The Lion Of Judah, All The Midnights In The World, ... and I love them.

You are right, though, we haven't heard a climaxing chorus like the one in "Gold" for quite a while now.

Genesia said:

ding ding ding
[Edited 1/26/10 13:48pm]

Riverpoet31 said:

I agree with you -- listening to "7," "Thunder," "Gold," "Thieves in the Temple," or "Around the world in a day" makes me long for some well constructed chorus that gives me chills. We don't get songs like that anymore. But hey, at least we can always press play and they'll be right there.

Riverpoet31 said:

The simple fact that you don't remember any of them doesn't mean anything at all. The fact that you use this as a formula to tell you Prince is "underachieving" says a lot. It's faulty logic. Achievement/success/quality = you remembering a melody?

I can use an arbitrary, personal, formula as well:

I snap my fingers a lot less to Prince's songs from the 90's. Therefore, I can tell Prince's songs from the 90's aren't very good and/or rhythmic.
[Edited 1/26/10 16:51pm]
[Edited 1/26/10 19:04pm]

Riverpoet31 said:

CREAM?!!!!!
Great chorus?!!!
Surely you jest.

I said the same in a thread recently and got replied to like I was insane. I totally agree. What's more, I think you can partly blame it for his chart faliour for the last 15 years. Not catchy enough for joe public and weird verses that need decripting to even partially understand.

Yes he always had cryptic and psychodelic lyrics, but only now and again. Now it's every other song. I don't really know what he's banging on about anymore

Erik
[Edited 1/27/10 1:09am]

ernestsewell said:

yeah that's just weird isn't it? I'm gonna go back and check the liner notes for 'All the Midnights in the World'. Maybe I missed a comment saying 'shit on purpose'?



Erik