In my opinion, the problem with Prince these days (well, since 1996, actually) is that he keeps pretending that he still can deliver a strong/cohesive album every year or every two years...

Routine is the word that comes to my mind when I think about Prince as a composer. You can decide for yourself if that's an attribute you like a composer to be described as.

[Edited 1/15/11 0:41am]

JoeTyler said:

In my opinion, the problem with Prince these days (well, since 1996, actually) is that he keeps pretending that he still can deliver a strong/cohesive album every year or every two years...

That may be true but song selection may also be a problem. For example, I think that Diamonds and Pearls is a fairly weak album but some of the outtakes from that era are very strong. I'm sure that someone must like it but Musicology would become a stronger song simply by removing "Life O' The Party." The contemporary vault songs are probably not as strong as the older ones but I suspect there are more than a few worthy outtakes from each album that could be substituted for some of the weaker album tracks. The problem is that fan opinions vary wildly and what I think is a weak song may be someone else's favourite.

rialb said:

JoeTyler said:

In my opinion, the problem with Prince these days (well, since 1996, actually) is that he keeps pretending that he still can deliver a strong/cohesive album every year or every two years...

That may be true but song selection may also be a problem. For example, I think that Diamonds and Pearls is a fairly weak album but some of the outtakes from that era are very strong. I'm sure that someone must like it but Musicology would become a stronger song simply by removing "Life O' The Party." The contemporary vault songs are probably not as strong as the older ones but I suspect there are more than a few worthy outtakes from each album that could be substituted for some of the weaker album tracks. The problem is that fan opinions vary wildly and what I think is a weak song may be someone else's favourite.

In the case of songs like "Dead On It", "Life o the Party", "Jughead", and others... I think the super fans of those tracks could take one (retroactively) for the team should those tracks be erased from the albums somehow.

funkomatic said:

Routine is the word that comes to my mind when I think about Prince as a composer. You can decide for yourself if that's an attribute you like a composer to be described as.

[Edited 1/15/11 0:41am]

I am under the impression that Prince rarely pushes himself anymore to make really strong and original compositions and record passionate and raw performances.

LF does have some of that, but 20TEN is the opposite, in my opinion.

MPLS and PE have some good moments, but like 3121 and Musicology I can't deny that these albums lack strong compositions, as well as passionate performances.

On the other hand, TRC, ONA, some of the instrumental stuff he released and some of the one off songs like Supercute or When I lay my hands on U, are quite strong, composition and performance wise, in my opinion.

But overall what makes the music he made before, especially in the 80's, different is the soul that it carries and the direction that it has taken. Overall, it's a different kind of soul, older but also darker in my perception and a different kind of direction in music, with an emphasis on contemporary R&B, neither of which is very much to my liking.

I blame it on his money addiction, not on his age or his religion. These days (but basically since a long time already) Prince very much looks to how he can make a lot of money quick first and then on the quality of the music, instead of the other way around.

Not that he does this ALL the time, but it is a pattern, the way I perceive it at least. With stuff like that recent 'charity event' deal (charity for Prince yeah!), website disaster after website disaster with fans feeling screwed out of their money, fans threatened with lawsuits about copyrights, getting sued himself for unpaid bills or not showing up at a show, or one off newspaper releases like 20TEN, that probably wouldn't have passed a record company quality test, but that did make him a guaranteed one or two million pounds or so, it's not about the music first anymore, but about the money.

One could argue whether that's positive or negative, but in my view there are not a lot positive to things to say about that. He could at least make 20TEN available on a website or not bitch about his fans downloading his stuff anymore. Or he could at least make sure his entire catalogue post WB is online to purchase legally. But he doesn't, yet he complains fans download illegally and declares the internet dead when it turns out that you can fool some people some time, but that you can't fool all the people all the time.

It's that soul, that spirit, that has changed the music too, the way I experience it at least. Just listen to songs like Mr goodnight, $, No more candy, PFUNK. Or the change of title to Xpectations, C-note or the 77 tracks on 20TEN etc, etc. A lot of it is about money and somehow relates negatively to his fans. Did he write such stuff back in the old days about his fans? I don't think so, or I don't know of it. But I do think that has changed.

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[Edited 2/13/11 7:57am]

Interesting question/thought. I wonder if what you've observed is simply natural progression?

In life, generally speaking, we endeavor to perfect ourselves and/or our craft. Using this precept as an acceptable model...we could say that Prince's early work was much like those who are "new" to a particular career and "experiment" using trial and error as a gauge; experimentation can lead to great discovery. However, as one grows and learns from the "experimental" lessons, the work is refined. The refined work may seem less exciting, but it is precise.

I believe he is a much better composer than ever. In the early days Prince may have experimented more with sound, composition and lyrical styles; but today, in all of the body of his works, he's perfected his techniques and simply may choses to style his work as a master rather than as an experimentalist.

He's the same.