stillwaiting said:

As far as where Prince is now, an over 50 artist. As much as it hurts me to say he is not what he once was, save for Lotus Flow3r, which I think is better than anything he has done since 1988, I also say he is the best over 50 artist of all time. The only ones even in the same galaxy with him would be Elton John, U2, and maybe one or two others. U2 hasn't even released an album since they turned 50, as No Line was from 2009. I have heard some of U2's tracks for their next album, and most of them were written before the big five o, and U2's stuff is not close to where they used to be.

Better TGE or TRC? no way.........

Good points, everyone.

One thing that I noticed is that everything after TRC sounded like it was designed to be performed live and sound about the same live as on record.

During his 80's, many of his songs were employed tricks of sound that made live versions sound radically different from the studio version (prince nevermuch felt pressured to sound exactly the same live as he did in the studio). He used the studio sort of as his "18th" instrument so to speak.

Today, I think some of his tunes are just as good as the 80's tunes, and certainly his 90s tunes. But, the lazy-ish sounding vocal treatments, and the bland studio treatment of these songs makes them sound stillborn at times.

Just listen to his SNL performance of FURY--it was fierce compared to the more docile sound on 3121.

In the 80s, every single album was different--true. But even more so, every album introduced surprises and often sounded like NOTHING anyone had released before. There has never been another Purple Rain or PARADE by any other pop artist of Prince's caliber, ever. But Musicology, 20Ten, MPLSound--bands like Jamoriqoi(sp?) and Maroon 5, etc. have all done similar things, often with more zest if not better musicianship.

Prince's sound no longer stands out--it hasn't for a long time. It's enough to be happy that it at least doesn't sound like it's catching up to some other sounds (like his attempts at rap).

Graycap23 said:

Planet Earth was NOT a planned cd. It was thrown 2gether at the last possible moment so that Prince could rearrange/finalize what he really wanted 2 do with Lotusflower. (just my opinion of course)

This would explain why it's such a strange album.

I actually don't hate the album like other people do. I even like several tracks on the album (even All The Midnights and Mr. Goodnight). But it certainly didn't feel like an album conceived with an A-side and a B-side, etc. It felt like you had an iPod genius shuffle running and those particular songs popped up.

I like the song Planet Earth...

SagsWay2low said:

Good points, everyone.

One thing that I noticed is that everything after TRC sounded like it was designed to be performed live and sound about the same live as on record.

During his 80's, many of his songs were employed tricks of sound that made live versions sound radically different from the studio version (prince nevermuch felt pressured to sound exactly the same live as he did in the studio). He used the studio sort of as his "18th" instrument so to speak.

Today, I think some of his tunes are just as good as the 80's tunes, and certainly his 90s tunes. But, the lazy-ish sounding vocal treatments, and the bland studio treatment of these songs makes them sound stillborn at times.

Just listen to his SNL performance of FURY--it was fierce compared to the more docile sound on 3121.

In the 80s, every single album was different--true. But even more so, every album introduced surprises and often sounded like NOTHING anyone had released before. There has never been another Purple Rain or PARADE by any other pop artist of Prince's caliber, ever. But Musicology, 20Ten, MPLSound--bands like Jamoriqoi(sp?) and Maroon 5, etc. have all done similar things, often with more zest if not better musicianship.

Prince's sound no longer stands out--it hasn't for a long time. It's enough to be happy that it at least doesn't sound like it's catching up to some other sounds (like his attempts at rap).

YES!! I look at "Of Montreal" (or even Janelle Monae) - that is a band doing music I wish Prince would be doing. It sounds fresh and new.

Jatrig said:

Nothing on Gold sounds like it could've been placed on Batman or Lovesexy.

319?

thepope2the9s said:

stillwaiting said:

As far as where Prince is now, an over 50 artist. As much as it hurts me to say he is not what he once was, save for Lotus Flow3r, which I think is better than anything he has done since 1988, I also say he is the best over 50 artist of all time. The only ones even in the same galaxy with him would be Elton John, U2, and maybe one or two others. U2 hasn't even released an album since they turned 50, as No Line was from 2009. I have heard some of U2's tracks for their next album, and most of them were written before the big five o, and U2's stuff is not close to where they used to be.

Better TGE or TRC? no way.........

I love every Prince album...TGE and TRC are fine. Other than $, and Feel Wonderful, I think there is more serious music on Lotus Flow3r. There is nothing as cheeseball on Lotus as the Darth Vader voice or the Wedding Feast, and Gold has the embarrassing "You are now an official member of the New Power Generation bit."

Still, there are wondeful moments on TGE and TRC. I just feel Dreamer, Crimson And Clover, and Love Like Jazz are too strong a big 3. I would've said Colonized Mind, but Prince ripped the song off of Miram Makeba's "Quit It."

SagsWay2low said:

Graycap23 said:

Planet Earth was NOT a planned cd. It was thrown 2gether at the last possible moment so that Prince could rearrange/finalize what he really wanted 2 do with Lotusflower. (just my opinion of course)

This would explain why it's such a strange album.

I actually don't hate the album like other people do. I even like several tracks on the album (even All The Midnights and Mr. Goodnight). But it certainly didn't feel like an album conceived with an A-side and a B-side, etc. It felt like you had an iPod genius shuffle running and those particular songs popped up.

I doubt that the album was rushed. Why would Prince randomly, for a rush one off album, get Wendy and Lisa to perform on it?? Seems to me he was working on it and was quite proud of it in the end.

I like the album. Not sure why it gets so much hate. I like pretty much every track except for "Lion of Judah"!

Edit: The two you listed are my favorite tracks on the album, too.

[Edited 3/15/11 22:15pm]