I think "77 Beverly Park" (or whatever it's called) sounds like a Parade-era jam. "What Do You Want Me To Do" sounds like the b-side-answer to "The Ballad Dorothy Parker"

"Black Sweat" reminded me of early 90s Prince - "Thieves in the Temple"/"Cream"/"Gett Off"-type stuff.

"The Word" sounds like Lovesexy - love the guitar in it! It sounds like he's playing on top of a mountain for the whole world to hear.


I agree with most here - part of the problem is just age, plus I think the internet takes some of the thrill out of things - it was hard to get excited over, say, Planet Earth, when I had already read 300 reviews of it online.

Prince's complete indifference to the last 2 albums and the theft of $77 from me didn't help much.

As far as the Radiohead argument going on - think of them at their Sign o' the Times era - it seems like every album is getting better and better. 20 albums in, they might dip a bit

I think it's wrong to suggest that there's a unified "old Prince feeling" that we all agree with. For every song, for every album, for every era, you'll find people who love it, hate it, and everything inbetween.

For some people, that "old Prince feeling" might be evoked by a specific instrumentation, for others it might be a certain sentiment or swagger, and for others it might simply be a production technique (overproduced/underproduced etc.). Maybe it's a combination of all of the above? My point is that people always get different things out of his music. If you're one who isn't really digging his latest stuff then there's really only two options: 1) listen to it again and try to hear things you may have missed previously, or 2) shelve it and listen to something else.

I think skywalker's nailed it on the head - it really comes down to the listener and their experiences. We all personify music in different ways.

The instrumental part at the end of "There'll never b another like me" sounds like something from his second album. I was refreshing.

Fury had a slightly 1999 meets I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man sound.

Old Skool Company sounded like Jughead slowed down but the vocal sped up, just to annoy and fuck with it's audience.


Colonized Mind was like taking "God Created Woman" and blending it with "The Ladder" with a tiny touch of "Purple Rain"

some new songs have a classic Prince vibe, but I think that the emotions that you feel when you are 14 years old and put the "lovesexy" vinyl on the turntable for the first time are impossible to relive

I think some people have misunderstood what I meant by the evocation of "that old Prince feeling." I wasn't talking about songs he releases today that sound like his '80's work. I also don't mean to deny that the emotional reaction to a song is due in part to the memories it is associated with. It goes without saying that a Prince song you lost your virginity to, or listened to while staying up all night as a teen, or heard the night you felt you were in love for the first time, etc. etc. stand alone compared to new ones you hear now in your more mundane moments.

All I was wondering was how many of his new songs remind you of his original sparks of genius and are not merely "good enough." The question itself is not a criticism of new Prince music so much as an inquiry based on the fact that most seem relatively unaffected by his new music.

There is something that annoys me though. It seems like a cop out when people almost want to give Prince a free pass for some of his weaker newer work simply because they are older now and claim he could never match his brilliance of the '80's. Okay, fine. I can concede that. Even so, the fact remains that there remain other artists that while not matching the nostalgia of previous releases still please a large part of their fan base with their newest releases.

Johnny Cash is as good an example as any.
[Edited 1/30/10 10:47am]

Fury on SNL!!!!

(and BS)

PurpleKnight said:

in that case, the answer is none.

There are songs and moments and ideas, yes. Nothing as full on and dense of brilliance as the old stuff, no, but nowadays I still see the potential of an idea. It might not always be expressed to it's potential, but I see the intent.

I like lots of bands/artists in this position, it's kind of a natural cycle. Not many of them still delight/frustrate me as much as Prince though.

From the 00s: There's stuff on TRC, ONA, NEWS, Xpectation, Planet Earth and Lotus Flower that still hold my interest. If I was bored of Prince completely, I'd be out of here, but I still like a good percentage of it, so I keep truckin'.

I would say something in the instrumentation of "Valentina" gave me an old Prince feeling. Also, on 3121, I thought "Black Sweat" and "Lolita" had some of that magic for me.

Now, let me explain...

On Black Sweat, the sheer sound of it was old school Prince. It was a synthesis (all my opinion, of course) of the 1982-83ish period and some of the "Sign 'O the Times" era stuff with the tech of today (save for my mistress, the Linn LM-1). Almost like the 1999-era Prince went out on a spaceship in a peach and black outfit.

For Lolita, the groove of it and the synth rhythm harks back to "Soft and Wet" and earlier 80s stuff. Maybe I'm wrong, but this is what I see.

But yea, most of the time, Prince albums can leave me flat when I compare them to the older things, but I can't really do that. Or at least I shouldn't.

I agree with the concept that the homeboy "skywalker" brought forth, that music isn't as impactful as when you were a child. The brain is young, these images and sounds etches a sketch, and it's usually with you for the rest of your days. So yea, when I hear MPLSound or Planet Earth (which I am not a huge fan of), it's never gonna compare to the first time I saw "Automatic" on TV, or the "Controversy" video, or even the first time I heard "Emancipation" in it's entirety. But it is what it is. Its usually still a good time.

I just wanted to point out that something doesn't have to be better than or even as good as Sign 'O the Times or Parade to be considered a great work. I agree that Prince may not have been as consistent since the mid 90's but he's had flashes of brilliance (and sometimes full on strokes of genius) up to this day ("Pfunk" is a prime example of that).

HERE....

soundwise? $

qualitywise? it just isnt that great compositionwise

PurpleKnight said:

No more candy gave me that feeling for sure....I love that song!!!

piccolo7 said:

same here "see what i did there"

Joyinrepatition said:

Reflection
The Dance
Somewhere Here On Earth
Dance 4 Me
No More candy 4 U

PurpleKnight said:

most of LF and MPLSound did that for me. the title track, The Word, and Black Sweat from 3121. and other tracks here and there from the past 10 years.

I'm just as hard on him as the next disgruntled fan, but for me, I enjoy them as they come while they're out and after the dust settles, I'm just as happy with some of the songs as I am with the older stuff.

I think the difference these days is that the highs aren't quite as high as they used to be, no matter how good they might be. and the lows crash through the floor, whereas they used to be just kind of average "meh" that was raised up by the superior stuff surrounding it ("The Ladder," "It," "Dance On," you get the idea...)