I think most of us like the Madhouse albums [8, 16, 24], But which do you prefer of the later instrumental works "Xpectation", "Karmasutra", "N.E.W.S.", "C-Note", "Times Squared"(Non Madhouse Titled) [If there are other instrumental albums I don't know about, feel free to add them to the list ]???

BTW......Do you think Prince should continue to make these type of albums or not???

{I actually wish that Prince would release an instrumental album built off of Linn Drums, Claire Fischer violins & catchy melody's........but I'm not holding my breath for that one }

[Edited 5/26/11 12:44pm]

You should include Times Squared. And for the purpose of the thread, are you saying just after 8 & 16, or both versions of 24 as well?

Prince-related instrumental recordings:

1. Minneapolis Genius & Co. (?)
2. Loring Park sessions (1977)
3. 8
4. 16
5. 24 (1988)
6. Times Squared
7. 24 (1993)
8. Kamasutra
9. Xpectation
10. N.E.W.S.
11. C-Note

Prince making instrumental music: I like the effort, but the result is often underwhelming. "Xpectation" is pretty good (although a bit too new-agey at times). "Times Squared", too. The Loring Park sessions are actually quite impressive. I think the Madhouse recordings are the best. I'd really like to hear the finished "24" from 1988, if it exists. The circulating version sounds like a bunch of demos. Miles' version of "17 (Penetration)" is really good. I hope the studio version (from 1991) will see the light of day one day.

I think other than Kamasutra it's a pretty solid body of work. It's nothing wildly adventurous, I think he could push himself more.

Silly me, back in 2002/2003 after TRC/X/NEWS, I had pipe dreams of Prince turning away from commercial pop and concentrating on something more along those lines musically - then we got Musuckology. Still would like to see some more instrumental releases.

gunner82 said:

BTW......Do you think Prince should continue to make these type of albums or not???

No

NouveauDance said:

Musuckology

Fantastic! I love this new name for the album.

BTW, my instrumental choice would be Xpectation any day of the week.

For me it has to be C-NOTE, followed closely by Xpectation. Both are great albums for chilling out to.

olb99 said:

Prince-related instrumental recordings:

1. Minneapolis Genius & Co. (?)
2. Loring Park sessions (1977)
3. 8
4. 16
5. 24 (1988)
6. Times Squared
7. 24 (1993)
8. Kamasutra
9. Xpectation
10. N.E.W.S.
11. C-Note

Prince making instrumental music: I like the effort, but the result is often underwhelming. "Xpectation" is pretty good (although a bit too new-agey at times). "Times Squared", too. The Loring Park sessions are actually quite impressive. I think the Madhouse recordings are the best. I'd really like to hear the finished "24" from 1988, if it exists. The circulating version sounds like a bunch of demos. Miles' version of "17 (Penetration)" is really good. I hope the studio version (from 1991) will see the light of day one day.

I've never even heard of 'Loring Park Sessions' before. I'll have to check that one out....

NouveauDance said:

You should include Times Squared. And for the purpose of the thread, are you saying just after 8 & 16, or both versions of 24 as well?

Well, I wasn't referring to all "Madhouse" projects because most people really like those. I've heard a lot of different opinions on his later instrumental projects though. So that why I said "Post Madhouse". But I will keep 'Times Squared' & add it to the list properly.

TheDigitalGardener said:

I love Prince's instrumental work and I wish he would do more. You could also include C-Note in your list. I think it is a close call between NEWS and Xpectation, with Xpectation just nudging ahead for me. As already mentioned you have the two unreleased versions of Madhouse 24, with the '88 version being one of my favorites of the Madhouse lot.

I totally forgot about 'C-Note' [never heard that one]. Thanks!

gunner82 said:

I think most of us like the Madhouse albums [8, 16, 24], But which do you prefer of the later instrumental works "Xpectation", "Karmasutra", "N.E.W.S.", "C-Note", "Times Squared"(Non Madhouse Titled) [If there are other instrumental albums I don't know about, feel free to add them to the list ]???

BTW......Do you think Prince should continue to make these type of albums or not???

{I actually wish that Prince would release an instrumental album built off of Linn Drums, Claire Fischer violins & catchy melody's........but I'm not holding my breath for that one }

I would love to hear more instrumental works from Prince. That's what brought me to the party, his music. Not the lyrics but, his music. The lyrics are secondary. I could listen to his instrumental music all day ...

Can you imagine the uproar and utter horror that would dribble from the fingers of desperate fams if Prince's next 5 albums were instrumental?

It would be fucking glorious.

And the albums would be welcome too.

[Edited 5/26/11 14:10pm]

PurpleLove7 said:

gunner82 said:

I think most of us like the Madhouse albums [8, 16, 24], But which do you prefer of the later instrumental works "Xpectation", "Karmasutra", "N.E.W.S.", "C-Note", "Times Squared"(Non Madhouse Titled) [If there are other instrumental albums I don't know about, feel free to add them to the list ]???

BTW......Do you think Prince should continue to make these type of albums or not???

{I actually wish that Prince would release an instrumental album built off of Linn Drums, Claire Fischer violins & catchy melody's........but I'm not holding my breath for that one }

I would love to hear more instrumental works from Prince. That's what brought me to the party, his music. Not the lyrics but, his music. The lyrics are secondary. I could listen to his instrumental music all day ...

I definitely like the instrumentals. I just think it would be dope to switch from Jazz to electronic for an experimental album. I always liked 'Wet Dream Cousin', So to hear something similar would be dope [except updated]....

have you checked your orgnotes yet?

TheDigitalGardener said:

have you checked your orgnotes yet?

Yup!

It's probably blasphemous for me to say this but I enjoy Xpectation more than the Madhouse albums. If the rest of The Flesh album is as good as "U Gotta Shake Something" I expect that would be his best instrumental album but we may never hear the rest of it.

rialb said:

It's probably blasphemous for me to say this but I enjoy Xpectation more than the Madhouse albums. If the rest of The Flesh album is as good as "U Gotta Shake Something" I expect that would be his best instrumental album but we may never hear the rest of it.

At least not while the wee shit is alive.

I would sell my granny for a quality copy of The Flesh sessions.

gunner82 said:

I think most of us like the Madhouse albums [8, 16, 24], But which do you prefer of the later instrumental works "Xpectation", "Karmasutra", "N.E.W.S.", "C-Note", "Times Squared"(Non Madhouse Titled) [If there are other instrumental albums I don't know about, feel free to add them to the list ]???

BTW......Do you think Prince should continue to make these type of albums or not???

{I actually wish that Prince would release an instrumental album built off of Linn Drums, Claire Fischer violins & catchy melody's........but I'm not holding my breath for that one }

[Edited 5/26/11 12:44pm]

I truly love Xpectation and N.E.W.S...it is hard for me to decide between the two...

rialb said:

It's probably blasphemous for me to say this but I enjoy Xpectation more than the Madhouse albums.

One of the differences between "Xpectation" and the Madhouse albums is the level of musicianship. I mean, I like Sheila E., Eric Leeds, etc., but Vanessa-Mae really masters her instrument. IMHO, that's the only time in his career where Prince really worked with a "serious" musician.

[Edited 5/27/11 2:13am]

The musicality on Xpectation and N.E.W.S. is simply astonishing, weither one likes them or not one has to admit it. I remember a dude saying here recently that N.E.W.S. was like the Weather Channel's incidental music and that's such bullshit

I like all the aforementioned album, save Kamasutra which was a poor exercise in contemporary music, but I certainly wouldn't blame Prince for trying something different, and releasing Kamasutra was a bold move.

I wish Prince would release more stuff like that. 16, The War, C-Note, N.E.W.S.... all these experiments are more refreshing IMO than Prince's pop/rock/funk albums (even though I enjoy these a lot, too). Prince's musical skills are so HUGE that he's kind of wasting them if he doesn't use them to try and record something more experimental once in a while.

Prince's career would have been so ASTONISHING if he'd explored as many genres as he could the way Bill Laswell did!

...

[Edited 5/27/11 3:59am]

TheDigitalGardener said:

Can you imagine the uproar and utter horror that would dribble from the fingers of desperate fams if Prince's next 5 albums were instrumental?

It would be fucking glorious.

And the albums would be welcome too.

[Edited 5/26/11 14:10pm]

Most people are way too uneducated musically speaking. There's more to life than a 3 minute-long pop song or even a 10 minutes long funk jam

databank said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Can you imagine the uproar and utter horror that would dribble from the fingers of desperate fams if Prince's next 5 albums were instrumental?

It would be fucking glorious.

And the albums would be welcome too.

[Edited 5/26/11 14:10pm]

Most people are way too uneducated musically speaking. There's more to life than a 3 minute-long pop song or even a 10 minutes long funk jam

My comment was only in jest, each to their own I guess.

I would not say that most people are uneducated music wise, it's just that the 3 min pop song, slushy ballad or 10 min funk jam is what most people would prefer to hear I suppose.

Imo, a little musical adventure (an instrumental project) would be very welcome indeed.

I like the first 2 madhouse albums, but not because of the musical skill in them. In fact, as jazz albums, they aren't great but they were music from my favorite time listening to Prince. That era (86-88) was very special to me and those two albums (yes I said album!) were parts of the soundtrack to my life. I would play them before a date, etc. I think that they mean more to me than they are as great music. Hearing Sheila, Levi, Prince and Eric (as well as Atlanta Bliss on occasion) was amazing and I loved that he threw us a curve with those albums.

Xpectation is a good album, but I enjoy it for driving at night. It really has that sort of mood in it for me.

I also LOVE the song YES on The Family album. It really seems like the precursor for Madhouse.

Xpectation is very dope imo

[Edited 5/27/11 14:47pm]