There was a time when I felt Prince was in a one-word formulaic rut with his ballads (Insatiable, Scandalous, Shhh, etc) but in spite of the wildly inconsistent reviews for his recent 3-4 album arc, i find that his ballads have been KILLER. Really well arranged, great vocals and substantive lyrics. Find myself listening to them more than the other stuff. Don't want to generalize per se, but the org seems to have an "anti-ballad" tone most of the time to me. Anywho, tops among the recent ballads that fit the bill are:

Somewhere Here On Earth (some of his best vocals ever!)

Better With Time (Maxwell was right to tweet about this superb gem!)

Ur Gonna C Me (i know its not "new" but an update)

Walk in Sand (some would say its too "poppish" but its good)

Sea of Everything (this is the one i'd send to radio right now!)

Call My Name (still not a personal fave per se, but it charted and did well for him)

Future Soul Song (unique song in lyrical despite the obvious attempts to sound "retro")

Colonized Mind (all ballads don't have to be "love songs"; best song on a solid album)

some say the funk is missing, the songwriting, etc. but for me, his ballads are as good as they've ever been!

but his ballads are killer! how could anyone not like them

Ha ha ha!

Best bait thread ever!

not trying to bait anyone. feel free to disagree. i was just thinking about how much i've enjoyed his recent ballad output

I think his ballads have been more consistent than his rock or pop tracks. I guess this is because these tap into Prince's "core" (i.e. love, romance and sex) more than other songs.

Shhh is formulaic?

I do agree that his latest ballads are quiet good, especially when listened to on head phones. His voice is amazing and most feature some genius element not readily apparent after the first couple of listens.

When he sings from his crotch, it's always magic.

I honestly think his ballads in all these latest years are HORRIBLE. The worst of his (terrible) production.

Future Baby Mama,

Call My Name,

U're Gonna C Me,

Sea Of Everything,

Future Soul Song,

but I have never been a big fan of

The Dance,

Somewhere Here On Earth,

Walk In Sand.

thankyou so much for this thread. My Pod was on shuffle in the car tonight and 'The Dance' came on. I was godsmacked at the power and passion of this track so much so that I rate it in my top 10 P ballads of all time. Would you agree that in the last 10 years that his ballads have become his strongest stlye of writng and singing?.

I would actually go as far to say that P is possibly the greatest and most consistently good r&b songwriter over the last 25 years.

"Sea of Everything" is definitely a top 10! The lyrics and the tone in which they are delivered definitely takes me somewhere deep.

"The Dance" (3121 version I can play over and over again) - the breakdown at the 4-minute mark is legendary.

DO NOT FORGET "MAN O' WAR" - this is perhaps the #1 ballad! Scorching guitar solo to boot!

Anything made for Susannah or Mayte are usually the deepest. You can just tell they come from a deep place. It's prehaps the closest glimpses we get passed the facade (for lack of a better term).

This one is not a necessarily a lovey-dovey ballad, but I have recently discovered "Baby Go Go" and I CANNOT stop playing it!

ps- for "thedance": you say that "The Dance" is a song you've never been a big fan of but I must point out your screen name - maybe your handle is in reference to something else?

I have to totally agree that the ballads are great!! I actually felt that there haven't been enough of ballads on the last 2 albums!!! I think Call My Name, Future Baby Mama, Somewhere Here On Earth, are some of my most played songs...I love all of them! And while I really love Future Soul Song and Sea of Everything, they don't evoke the same emotions in me as Insatiable, Shhh, Scandalous, Adore, etc.

The songs are beautiful and I listen to them a heck of alot, but that "true love" connection isn't there. Which is very representative of Prince's love life probably. You can't write about what you ain't feeling..

I do love his recent work though, on a whole, the albums are great and I'm really feeling his output. I just miss him doing love and romance like only he can. And notice at his recent shows..he is staying away from ballads pretty much other than Shhh.

Got to agree with this. OP, I feel he was in another habit like the one word track one...with songs like On The Couch and Satisfied...gospel-ish ballads that didn't leave much of an impression for me.

But tracks like Future Soul Song, Somewhere Here On Earth...KILLER.

Related: I was working at Starbuck's tonight, and Call My Name came on

A couple days ago, they also played Musicology. I was GROOVIN.

I have always wanted him to do a concert - just full of his love songs / ballards. It would be amazing !!!

MaggieJ said:

I have always wanted him to do a concert - just full of his love songs / ballards. It would be amazing !!!

That's what I want too!!! I say smaller venue, just a few hundred people, maybe at Paisley Park. I would do anything to get to that show, front row and center! I'm still holding out that one day he will do that, he has the best love songs ever!!

Genesia said:

When he sings from his crotch, it's always magic.

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

MaggieJ said:

I have always wanted him to do a concert - just full of his love songs / ballards. It would be amazing !!!

That's what I want too!!! I say smaller venue, just a few hundred people, maybe at Paisley Park. I would do anything to get to that show, front row and center! I'm still holding out that one day he will do that, he has the best love songs ever!!

And just him on piano, no accompaniments (or limited).

Yey, he ruins every record with too many of them...lol

serotonin said:

ps- for "thedance": you say that "The Dance" is a song you've never been a big fan of but I must point out your screen name - maybe your handle is in reference to something else?

The dance (my username), is short for Danceelectric, this used to be my username at housequake.com........

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

And while I really love Future Soul Song and Sea of Everything, they don't evoke the same emotions in me as Insatiable, Shhh, Scandalous, Adore, etc.

I rate Future Soul Song higher than Shhh.

i think it goes without saying that its wrong to expect all ballads to evoke the SAME feeling. some are "sexual" and some are just slow and content wise may be political (Colonized Mind), or spiritual (Future Soul Song, Still Would Stand...Purple Rain...). so to compare them all to each other is inappropriate IMO. i don't expect On the Couch or Satisfied to conjure the same feelings as Adore or Shhh. They're not supposed to. All ballads aren't intended to. And i recant in my description of Shhh as formulaic.

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

I have to totally agree that the ballads are great!! I actually felt that there haven't been enough of ballads on the last 2 albums!!! I think Call My Name, Future Baby Mama, Somewhere Here On Earth, are some of my most played songs...I love all of them! And while I really love Future Soul Song and Sea of Everything, they don't evoke the same emotions in me as Insatiable, Shhh, Scandalous, Adore, etc.

The songs are beautiful and I listen to them a heck of alot, but that "true love" connection isn't there. Which is very representative of Prince's love life probably. You can't write about what you ain't feeling..

I do love his recent work though, on a whole, the albums are great and I'm really feeling his output. I just miss him doing love and romance like only he can. And notice at his recent shows..he is staying away from ballads pretty much other than Shhh.

Why do you make things up in every single post? It's so tedious to see your purple font because I know it's got your warped fiction dressed in it.

datdude said:

.... And i recant in my description of Shhh as formulaic.

especially with Jon Blackwell on the skins and Prince tearing up the guitar.

Prince is very underrated as a balladeer. But it has won him a recent Grammy. He is a master at it and he gets better with age..................

[Edited 11/23/10 19:44pm]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Prince is very underrated as a balladeer. But it has won him a recent Grammy. He is a master at it and he gets better with age..................

Prince Ballads