As we know, many of the distractors here like to take our focus off of Prince in the now, by constantly referring to his past catalogue. Well, I was just reading about Ziggy Marley's perspective on the recording process, as compared to the live process, and this is what he said:

Live shows, he said, "are a real experience, not something I prepared like skits or a prepared show in terms of what I do."

and

Live is a much more free-spirited form of expression than in the studio where you have headphones and it's not as free of expression."

The above quotes made me reflect on Prince, and where he is with his art these days; clearly, Prince's love of live interaction is illustrated by his seemingly endless "work" on stage, and recent tours across Europe, and previously, the USA.

But then Ziggy goes into the recording process. The article reads:

Marley is not one to try and "out do" one recording over any previous one, he said. "Each one is individual," he said. "I don't know what 'better than' is. Expressing yourself, there isn't an idea of competing against each expression. It does not compare to anything else. There's no criteria of what makes it better than the others. It's where I am at the time."

Again, I see parallels with Prince above. Many people/haters deliberately contrast Prince's latest output w/ his past...as if Purple Rain is supposed to be replicated year after year; such shallow thinking clearly has no appreciation of what an artist goes through when producing/creating new work.

Therefore, let us consider Ziggy's reasoning...enjoy Prince's music from all stages, most of all - remember that where he is now - artistically, psychologically or even spiritually, is what we will hear recorded, whether we like it or not.

We cannot dictate to Prince who he must be, or what we want him to articulate or reflect in his art.

Ziggy article found here

[Edited 9/23/11 23:49pm]

[Edited 9/23/11 23:52pm]

Absolutely. Ziggy said it perfectly. Things are valuable because they're unique and rare not because they're in abundance or duplicates. I believe each song, each sound, each concert experience should stand alone and be appreciated for its uniqueness.

A couple of years ago I saw an interview with him on YouTube where he was talking about owning his masters and what not.

It really reminded me of what Prince was talking about back in the day.

Also in the credits to his second solo album, "Love Is My Religion," he thanks "the friends formerly known as the fans."

It also just so happens that none other than Tommy Barbarella plays keyboards on the title track. I think he's a bit of a Prince fan.

I tried digging around for that interview, but I couldn't find it...... here's about as close as I could get.

Prince's name is of course mentioned by Tavis Smiley during the conversation.

anc282 said:

A couple of years ago I saw an interview with him on YouTube where he was talking about owning his masters and what not.

It really reminded me of what Prince was talking about back in the day.

Also in the credits to his second solo album, "Love Is My Religion," he thanks "the friends formerly known as the fans."

It also just so happens that none other than Tommy Barbarella plays keyboards on the title track. I think he's a bit of a Prince fan.

I tried digging around for that interview, but I couldn't find it...... here's about as close as I could get.

Prince's name is of course mentioned by Tavis Smiley during the conversation.

Wow, thanks for sharing...I had no clue Tommy collaborated with him

nice ^

Thanks for this. It doesn't surprise me. I'm finding that many seasoned, veteran musicians say similar things Prince does about the songwriting process & the idea/pressure to recreate the early career, the record companies, the internet, iTunes, music journalists/criticism, decline of musicianship/instruments, etc. When it comes to the profession, these artists who've been at it at least a couple of decades are all kind of on the same page. Pretty much the only things odd that Prince says have to do w/ non-professional things, like religion, history, personal life, but thankfully he doesn't say much about those things (it seems to me anyway).

NelsonR said:

Again, I see parallels with Prince above. Many people/haters deliberately contrast Prince's latest output w/ his past...as if Purple Rain is supposed to be replicated year after year; such shallow thinking clearly has no appreciation of what an artist goes through when producing/creating new work.

I don't think I've ever read anyone say "please make a PR pt.2, 3, 4, 5". What I have seen is people say "Damn! Prince is such a great talent, he can do it all! I wish he put would that talent to real use a little more - a little more exploration and growth to see what that talent can really show off!".

Growth I think is the key word, growth as an artist - not replication. That's the exact opposite of what most people seem to want. So maybe you misinterpreted what these "people/haters" have said.

NouveauDance said:

NelsonR said:

Again, I see parallels with Prince above. Many people/haters deliberately contrast Prince's latest output w/ his past...as if Purple Rain is supposed to be replicated year after year; such shallow thinking clearly has no appreciation of what an artist goes through when producing/creating new work.

I don't think I've ever read anyone say "please make a PR pt.2, 3, 4, 5". What I have seen is people say "Damn! Prince is such a great talent, he can do it all! I wish he put would that talent to real use a little more - a little more exploration and growth to see what that talent can really show off!".

Growth I think is the key word, growth as an artist - not replication. That's the exact opposite of what most people seem to want. So maybe you misinterpreted what these "people/haters" have said.

Completely agree with you NouveauDance!

Prince's growth as a songwriter appears to be at a standstill... so I certainly hope he becomes inspired by something that makes him want to put some effort into a vision he has.

At the same time though, I like the ideology that Prince used to be a champion of: to demolish all lines of segragation - racial, sexual, cultural, etc.

Over the course of the past several years though, it's become more and more obvious that the poor guy is a homophobic Christian freak who battles his love of getting laid and celebrity.

NouveauDance said:

NelsonR said:

Again, I see parallels with Prince above. Many people/haters deliberately contrast Prince's latest output w/ his past...as if Purple Rain is supposed to be replicated year after year; such shallow thinking clearly has no appreciation of what an artist goes through when producing/creating new work.

I don't think I've ever read anyone say "please make a PR pt.2, 3, 4, 5". What I have seen is people say "Damn! Prince is such a great talent, he can do it all! I wish he put would that talent to real use a little more - a little more exploration and growth to see what that talent can really show off!".

Growth I think is the key word, growth as an artist - not replication. That's the exact opposite of what most people seem to want. So maybe you misinterpreted what these "people/haters" have said.

accepted

I saw the Melody Makers about 20 years ago and that was a cool show. I'm a big Ziggy fan as well a fan of the Marley Empire in general but I saw him last year and it was a pretty dry show. He didn't even look at the crowd and every song was nearly the same tempo.

love ziggy his brother stephen has skills 2.

music at its best

Hmmm, this would've been a better thread minus the editorial comments...Ziggy is cool beans although I much prefer Damian.

Given the fact that Prince is still perfoming before thousands worldwide and earning millions, it would be extremely silly for him or anyone else for that matter to obsess over perhaps a dozen or so people on a fansite with a negative opinion. Which is why I find this incessant finger wagging kind of odd and somewhat amusing.

It's a whole lot easier to simply not read opinions you can't deal with rather than constantly trying to dictate to others how they should think or what they should say.

I doubt that these "teachings" will significantly impact anything being said on this site.

didnt he write the theme song to the cartoon Arthur?

NelsonR said:

As we know, many of the distractors here like to take our focus off of Prince in the now, by constantly referring to his past catalogue. Well, I was just reading about Ziggy Marley's perspective on the recording process, as compared to the live process, and this is what he said:

Live shows, he said, "are a real experience, not something I prepared like skits or a prepared show in terms of what I do."

Except Prince's live shows are often rehearsed routines. Years ago his band basically knew a bunch of sections (songs grouped together) and pretty much played a combination of such. It's been better on his recent tours, but even then his "improvised" banter is still the same old crap.