I wonder.

I had an interesting thought about this.If he did, if and when 'Roadhouse Garden' and things like that are released, i think he should sign a temporary deal with a major label and market the old stuff heavily, getting him back on TV, radio and in peoples minds.Let's face it most of the world think he died or retired after '93.This could even be trumpeted as 'The Return of the Prince' (seeing as how this year the third part of Lord of the Rings is similarly titled, i think it would catch the eye of the public)

Obviously he could do his own thing in tandem with this contract, enabling him the creativity and freedom he craves.

What do ya think?

he has alot of videos in the vault. I was told he still owes a production manager 30,000 for a couple of videos he made for him that never came out in like 89-92.

Prince knows he can easily pull off hit songs and shit, but u and i no he's not on that track in life anymore, so dont get ur hopes up 2 get u down.

If Prince called anything "The Return of the Prince" in conjucntion with the movie "lord of the rings" it'd be the corniest sorriest shit ever.

skywalker said:

that's how advertising and marketing works though (something Prince hasn't a clue about!).I wouldn't have a problem with it.LOTR is hot.Prince less so.

Bottom line is i want that vault opening!

.
[This message was edited Mon Feb 17 9:37:32 PST 2003 by Marrk]

paisleypark4 said:

Yeah right!
That explains "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic"... Clearly he tried to make an album to get him back on the charts and be a hit again, but it bombed... Hard...
Prince can't pull off hit songs and shit anymore man...
His hit making days have been over since he left Warners...

Neversin.

Neversin said:

I don't agree. Rave had no promotion (of any use anyway), no radio play as far as i know.The first i knew of it was when i was walking around a record store and saw it in the rack.Then after i'd owned it for a month he was on TV performing 'Baby knows'.

Marrk said:

When Prince didn't have at least one great 'image' song to lead the album, what did you expect the record company to do? I agree with Neversin, to a certain extent.

Anji said:

May i say "So Far So Pleased" anyone?? I mean damn have u 4gotten that classic already???
[This message was edited Mon Feb 17 10:11:09 PST 2003 by paisleypark4]

paisleypark4 said:

I haven't.Didn't Gwen Stefani pick up awards just for being in other folks video's? damn she was so Hot around that time, or maybe i'm a little early?.

Another example of Prince missing the (gravy) Train?.

Marrk said:

"Rave" was also a very weak album, no better in the quality vs filler ratio than "New Power Soul". A compilation of the best bits from "Rave Un2" and "Rave In2" would have improved the quality of the album but not, I think, its commercial prospects.

Before Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic can accurately be used to draw conclusions about Prince's commercial potential, there are some key details that must be factored into the conversation. Let's review:

Clive Davis was the mastermind behind Rave, not Prince. Because of the publicity surrounding the song, Prince rightly felt that 1999 could be a big year for him. He decided to make a "commercial" record and approached all the major labels about one-off deals. Clive, the head of Arista at the time, was eager to work with Prince. He had just resurrected Carlos Santana from the grave - molding Supernatural into a 12-million selling blockbuster - and he all but promised Prince he could do the same with him. Clive's price for his assistance was creative control. If you recall, Prince was talking about plans to release his version of Rave weeks before the Arista configuration even hit stores.

Clive Davis picked the (wrong?) lead single. In a pre-release interview with USA Today, Clive said he knew "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" was a worldwide hit the first time he heard it. His enthusiasm for the song led him to make it the first single.

Director Malik Sayeed completed post-production on the "Greatest Romance" video weeks past deadline. The single was struggling to gain a foothold at radio, but the video wasn't ready so there wasn't any synchronicity with MTV, VH1 or BET to help. When the video was finally delivered, Prince took it to TRL himself and debuted it on the show. Too late, all momentum was gone and the song was a wash. It's sadly ironic that Sayeed created such a beautiful video for a song he inadvertantly helped to kill.

The promotional staff at Arista was never behind the album. It has been reported that the promo staff thought Clive completely miscalculated the commercial appeal of Rave and flushed $11 million down the toilet by getting the company involved. Without the full support of the Arista promotional department, the project never had a chance.

Prince tried to release the most accessible track on the album and turn it around, but Interscope wouldn't cooperate. In a final attempt to get Rave on its feet, Prince tried to get fan favorite "So Far, So Pleased" released as a single. Unfortunately, Interscope Records refused because they wanted signee Gwen Stefani to focus solely on No Doubt's faltering album, The Return of Saturn. Despite Gwen's own attempts, the label would not relent. Adding insult to injury, Stefani would soon after score a top 10 hit with Moby - his one and only. This would have almost assuredly been the result for "So Far, So Pleased" had it been issued.

Prince was completely disillusioned by the entire experience. In a love4oneanother news post, Prince wrote that his deal with Arista served no purpose, noting that Rave hadn't sold any more copies (certified gold) than his last independent release. Over the following weeks, he also posted occasional comments about Clive Davis that clearly communicated a rift between the two. This culminated in the creation of "Golden Parachute," a song titled after the dismissal payout that executives often receive and which Davis had already been given (to the tune of a reported $50 million) when he was forced out of Arista soon after the failure of Rave. While it was never discussed publicly, speculation held that the deal with Prince at least contributed to Clive's ouster.

As you can see, lots of things went wrong with this project from the beginning. It seems to have been doomed to failure before it even got a chance to succeed. For this reason, I feel it is difficult to glean an accurate projection of Prince's commercial potential from the whole Rave debacle. And for what it's worth, I think Prince can make a Tina Turner/Carlos Santana comeback, but it has to be done authentically with music that burns from his deepest soul. In my opinion, enlisting the aid of a hitmaking mogul is the very antithesis of what can return Prince to commercial relevancy.

Peace, David

I have now posted my message in a new thread. If you feel inclined to comment, please do it there so everyone can follow along more easily.

Peace, David

Prince makes videos for songs as and when he likes.
Whether a vault song has a video or not is often
totally unrelated to whether he had any plans to
release it or not.

He was at one point going to release a 'Video
Crystal Ball', but it unknown exactly what
songs were going to be included.

I've read he's made many, many videos for songs that have never been, and may never be, released. I don't think the possibly of whether a song might ever be released or seen by the public always plays into the equation of why he makes (or doesn't make) a video for a particular song.

I personally feel Prince is such an incredibly creative person, and he gets such a strong idea or vision in his mind for how he "sees" a song visually portrayed, that he has this actual, mental need to put it to video/film just to get a feeling of completion or satisfaction so he can move on to his next idea or project. Like if he doesn't make the video, the ideas for it will nag at him and make him feel "unfinished" and make it difficult for him to concentrate on other ideas or projects he wants to work on.

Sort of like those people who feel more in control and organized if they makes lists for every single little thing, and are always writing everything down on paper. Just the act of putting the concept down in some concrete way gives them a feeling of control. In terms of Prince, I think he visualizes some songs so strongly that he just HAS to make a video for it - but he doesn't necessarily figure said video will ever be seen by the masses. It's for himself.

I think the Cat has a ton of Videos in the Can.but I think it will all come down to His Music getting a Fair Marketing Shot.but it's kinda hard to Roll especailly if you don't roll with Clive Davis who is Instant Cheese at the Register.