Prince @ Monaco 8.16.2009

August 16. 2009
Spoting Monte Carlo Monaco
1.Purple Rain
2.When I Lay My Hands On U
3.Little Red Corvette
4.Somewhere Here On Earth
5.Cream
6.Miss You (with harmonica)
7.Shhh
8.All Shock Up
9.Peach
10.I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore
11.1999
12.Controversy
13.A Love Bizarre/LoveRollercoaster
14.Sexy Dancer/Dance 4 Me
15.Nothing Compares 2 U








[Edited 4/21/10 14:16pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

those are some creepy looking photos!

I'm listening to Lotusflow3r right now, and I continue to like this album more & more.

I thought Most of LOTUS was strong, i wasnt to keen on the MPLsound record, a track here and there, but it was more of the slick production sound and same stale RB toss in a linn drum sounds that were all over the Rave cd. As for Bria, i liked her but again, she is better off not associated with him, she already has fallen into the black hole of proteges

To me lotus (not including M-sound!) is his strongest effort in god knows when. "Colonized Mind" & "Dreamer" are two really strong cuts on one album. Instant classics. When was the last time there were two really outstanding cuts on one album? Whatever you think about the lyrics you have to give props to Prince for some new vibes at this stage in his life.
As good as Dreamer and Colonized mind are, it shows Prince moving away from his standard auto-pilot shtick (MplSound) of the last 15 years and created impassioned moving music again.

and his live recordings of those songs and his current shows period, show that he still has a lot to offer.
[Edited 4/22/10 17:00pm]

violetblues said:

totally agree 1000%

violetblues said:

well, other than the fact that I think he explored this sound already with The Rainbow Children, I agree. It sounds like he's enjoying making music on it.

lastdecember said:

I actually like MPLSound. Initially I preferred it for the fact that it was not so focused on guitar, but offered more well rounded sounding musicianship.

A few months later, I actually still like both albums but Lotus took longer for me to like. Compare that to Planet Earth which I enjoyed only for a short while.

I still really can't listen to Bria

I really, really dig "Wall of Berlin". Definitely one of my favorite prince songs now.

Feel Better was one I re-discovered on headphones.

On the surface it's a simple Prince groove, but underneath he is still the master of the subtle but ridiculously complex arrangement. How he can do so much but make a track sound simple is beyond me.

NDRU said:

I will politely disagree.
I loathe TRC, to me nothing on TRC comes close to the tight focused passion on Dreamer or Colonized Mind.
While both share a more organic sound, to me TRC is unfocused and scatter brained. I can forgive the lyrics, the goofy production, the supposed anti-semantic and fervent religious ideology. All that is fair game in art, but i cannot forgive tired compositions that go nowhere, to me it's just dead flat 70's fussion jazz with a lot of goofball baggage.
[Edited 4/22/10 18:13pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

Great video

violetblues said:

gotcha, I meant the two albums more as a whole than those specific songs. Particularly the first & last tracks on Lotus, and the live feel of both albums.

But I agree that what Lotus has over TRC is that it's more succinct, not so meandering--without the baggage, as you say.

damn i forgot to get the elixar before it shut down .... SHIT

violetblues said:

Are you serious?

TRC: The Work, 1+1+1=3
Musicology: title-track, Cinnamon Girl
3121: Fury, Black Sweat, The Word, title-track, etc.
Planet Earth: Chelsea Rodgers, and...mmm, whatever


But I do agree that Colonized mind and Dreamer are the best cuts of LotusFlower...

OldFriends4Sale said:

Power Fantastic

JoeTyler said:

The reason I love"Colonized Mind" & "Dreamer" is because as good as they are, they go back into the tradition that catapulted Prince into the stratosphere in the first place, creating music you wouldn't expect. In the Prince book, where would you put Colonized Mind? musically it is a shift in approach from the predictable rut he has been in for the past 20 years, rehashing the same tired ideas that went nowhere in the 90's thinking if he tried it one more time it would be different. On TRC he did the 90's vibe and sound with live instruments. cringe.


Those are the two better cuts on that mess, but I absolutely hate this album with a passion and these two tracks are part of the reasons why. Both offer nothing new compositional wise, both are simply boring takes on older better songs."Erotic City" and the other his umpteenth stale reworking of his JB vibe respectively.
The musician ship as top notch for sure, but the music tastes like day old Jack in The Box french fries.


Musicology is "nice" that's about as how far I'll go, its just another of his umpteenth JB doodles. Cinnamon Girl? I cringe and shutter fingernails on the chalkboard style whenever i hear the chorus .."cin-a'-min girrrrrlllll" shudder.


both nice enough, especially the vibe of both but something about them is missing that je ne sais quoi




Exactly, but I would say Somewhere Here On Earth would be the standout track on this one
[Edited 4/27/10 10:34am]

violetblues said:

Damn I hate that song

and The Work and 1+1+1=3 actually offered something new: a previously unheard classic funk sound; I mean, Prince meets James Brown? that's something he never tried to do before...

and Cinnamon Girl was his best pop single since Most Beautiful Girl in the World... yeah, I'm serious...

JoeTyler said:

I'm not a big fan of The Work, it's okay, but doesn't thrill me.

But I have never understood the claim that 1+1+1=3 is some kind of Erotic City ripoff. I mean get it, I hear the similarities, but I think the songs have totally different feels to them, and that 1+1 is a much more upbeat & live sounding song IMO

But that album has half a dozen other songs that I like quite a lot

You are joking, right?

skywalker said:

NO

Prince NEVER tried to replicate the style and sound of 60s & 70s funk, at least until TRC, of course

Sexy MF was the closest thing to pure 60s/70s funk, but then again it had Tony M, so it was not a pure 60s/70s funk sound...

JoeTyler said:

Patently false. Prince had been dipping into various JB styles since... At least 1981.

Spinlight said:

No.


Prince, until some TRC tracks, Prince NEVER tried to write and produce a counciously retro 60s/70s funk song...
[Edited 4/27/10 14:43pm]

JoeTyler said:

Don't you think Prettyman is classic JB style music?

NDRU said:

By classic or/and pure I mean Prince CONSCIOUSLY tryin' to create a 60s/70s retro funk sound; a complete artifice, in other words;

Sexy MF, Prettyman, etc come close, but for me, The Work Pt.1 was his first retro funk sound...

JoeTyler said:

I know, but I don't really see how The Work is more retro than Prettyman.

Sexy MF I can see, because of the rapping, and other tunes because of the more modern instrumentation/production/arrangement or whatever.

NDRU said:

It's been a looooong time since the last time I played Prettyman, but if I'm not mistaken that song had machine drums and synths right? but I repeat that I could be wrong...

JoeTyler said:

I'm going from memory, too, but I don't think it does. It has keyboards, but I think it's hammond organ. The drums sound real, but it could be a looping sample I suppose

Actually I don't really hear The Work as retro. More it was a continuation of what he'd been doing already, but the instrumentation happened to be "real" as you're pointing out. Maybe I just never really thought of it that way before.

I do hear something like Lolita as retro, though

February 7. 2009
Beverly Hilton Hotel Los Angeles
51th Annual Grammy Awards
2009 GRAMMY Salute To Industry Icons honoring Clive Davis at the Beverly Hilton Hotel














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