How many songs has Prince officially released as part of an album and/or one offs like FUNK and SST, or under pseudonyms? I have about 1,600 Prince tunes on my iPod, but some were never officially released so my count is skewed.

An age-old question I couldn't find an answer to (very possible I didn't search high AND low)

This song list indicates whether it has been officially released or not:

http://www.princevault.co..._song_list

Thanks for directing me to this website. According to the site, he's released 1,112 songs in his career. Nice!

Prince wrote 1100 songs and STILL had time to screw around.

He really IS Superman!

true. but of those 1100 or so songs are his best?

TheKid94 said:

Please rephrase.

blackwell1 said:

ha sorry. yeah for a second there i didnt even know what i was trying to say

of all those released songs are all of them his actual best? i mean for a period of time after the love-symbol album and excluding the gold expirience n come and some of emancipation...his music really didnt live up to what we all thought he could do.
I have full respect for him, hes is a musical genius. But i mean agter a while i think his music just kinda lost touch.

blackwell1 said:

ha sorry. yeah for a second there i didnt even know what i was trying to say

of all those released songs are all of them his actual best? i mean for a period of time after the love-symbol album and excluding the gold expirience n come and some of emancipation...his music really didnt live up to what we all thought he could do.
I have full respect for him, hes is a musical genius. But i mean agter a while i think his music just kinda lost touch.

TheKid94 said:

lol, TheKid94. Thanks, now I understand what you were saying.
But I don't agree with the part about "his music just kinda lost touch" part.
Not always being as good as Purple Rain, SOTT, 1999, etc. is not losing touch to me. It's just the way it is. No artist just keeps topping themselves forever. Not Stevie, not Earth, Wind & Fire, Sinatra, you name 'em. Doesn't mean their music lost touch, necessarily.
I think Prince's music is still very much in touch, innovative and different and interesting. Not everything is great like Purple Rain, etc., but it is still pert darn good. lol

blackwell1 said:

Wow - someone else who actually understands

Robert3rd said:

I had no clue it was that many (never counted 'em).

If you add all the unreleased ones i guess, one easily reaches 2,200

And if you add all the alternate versions, remixes, live and rehearsal versions one easily loses one's mind

Mindflux said:

I share this point of view as well: http://prince.org/msg/7/334979

databank said:

I knew it already

databank said:

Its astonishing, isn't it? That kind of productivity astounds me. Like Frank Zappa (and he was even more prolific!), one of my other favourite artists, these 2 and just a few others totally lived music and managed to produce stunning, original and idiosyncratic music at a phenomenal rate - just eclipsing most others.

It takes me a year to produce around 15-20 tunes I'd consider good enough to release.....these guys were doing 10x plus that and with much more complexity than I could ever muster.....just in awe really

Even in tunes that people may not like, or they feel "fail" in its particular genre, there should never be any doubting the brilliance of how it was recorded, or the originality of some of the musical ideas contained within. Just the smallest of unique production details that you've not heard from that artist (or anyone else) before feature all the time in these two's music.
[Edited 4/28/10 18:40pm]

Mindflux said:

Check out this Bill Laswell discography and tell me about it
http://www.silent-watcher...index.html

And this: http://www.discog.info/hosono.html

Also download the "Haruomi Hosono - word file of works he did for other artists (by Theo Spadlo)" file at the bottom of this already impressive solo discography: you'll be amazed
[Edited 4/28/10 19:06pm]

And Ryuichi Sakamoto ain't too bad either: http://www.discog.info/sakamoto.html

blackwell1 said:

You make a very very very good point. The point you brought up is true that not everything has to be like purple rain, 1999, sott etc. I completely agree. I have listened to every cd of prince and noticed that his music imo just kinda went downhill. I dont think he should try to top purple rain and become better than he was in his prime..i just think there were points in his life and in his music were i can spot a loss in the music. Like something was missing. And prince has been putting out music for about 3 decades and i believe that even if u just listen straight through his dicography there are songs that just dont have that prince magic that he puts in other cds.

TheKid94 said:

I hear ya. I didn't think Parade or LoveSexy were as good as PR or Around The World In A Day, but still enjoyed them. I guess that's where I could say I noticed a dip. But then he drops Sign 'O The Times, and it's back on in a big way. After that, I think radio vastly underplayed his music and perceptions then changed/were a bit skewed.

blackwell1 said:

Skewed? no, specifically (Batman thru Symbol) the music just wasn't as interesting, innovative or as good. People lost interest in general. Also tends to happen when your behaviour is also open to ridicule, after the name change/slave thing, he was experiencing that on top of a relatively poor era in his music.

What those people missed out on was a second brilliant era, pretty much everything from 1993-95 is pretty much awesome.

databank said:

I'm a big Bill Laswell fan too - especially his work with Talvin Singh as Tabla Beat Science.....lush

Marrk said:

mhm i agree come and the gold expirience are great cds. But after that ....idk it really depends on the mood, perception and patience u have on listening to prince

Marrk said:

Marrk said:

mhm i agree very much ive noticed that in order to get princes music u cant have any expectations, also u have to be in the right mood and just kinda let it sit with ur mind and kinda just let it flow....haha anyone see where im gettin at?

Marrk said:

I agree, the name change/slave thing is part of the perception issue that, indeed, skewed the response to the actual music. It hurt the commercial chances because many were apparently turned off or confused. If an Emancipation-quality album (music-wise, with different content) was dropped in another, earlier time, it wouldn't have had the burden of the name change issue. It might have yielded more open ears and greater commercial success, I believe.
I was fine with the name change/slave writing on his face since it described how the music business treats the artist's product - master recordings, etc. He had the ballz to point it out. So I loved Emancipation.
In all, man's had great ups and not-so-many "bad'' downs, so to speak, in his long career. You can't argue with his output -- "1,112 officially released songs."
I would acknowledge some periods were better than others, but to dwell on the lesser periods is like dwelling on the fact that Jordan could have won seven NBA titles instead of celebrating the six.
And Prince is still in the game.

Mindflux said:

It's an amazing album

blackwell1 said:

You lot keep saying that, while completely ignoring even prince disagrees with you.

The FACT remains that he isn't playing his "recent" music live, promoting it, etc. since 1996. You can pretend all you want, but his post-1996 output is almost completely forgettable. How come nobody is covering those songs if they're so great?

Mindflux said:

There are plenty of artists that are ridiculously productive. The real question is: how much of it is worthwhile. I'm impressed by say 1982-1988, but not at all with say Emancipation.

BartVanHemelen said:

I'm aware of that - hence the consequent discussion above about other prolific artists. As a proportion of recording artists though, its not the majority. And, as a recording artist myself, I know precisely how challenging it is to be that productive, whether you feel there is consistency or not. Guys like Prince and Zappa completely live(d) and breathe(d) music.

Oh and I'd never have guessed you felt that way!

BartVanHemelen said:

I am.