I'm sorry, but none of this makes much sense. Why would you want this?

Efan said:

I'm sorry, but none of this makes much sense. Why would you want this?

I kind of see where he is going with this (maybe Im daft like he is lol). Because I expected a longgg wait before he would reelase something after Purple Rain. And when that wasn't the case, I was all "this is what you give us as a followup to Rain? Man, you should have waited and took your time."

Granted, of course we wouldnt have songs like Kiss, Condition etc. But at the time, to me, they did not have the power of the Purple Rain songs. It was as if he was regressing imo.

[Edited 11/14/11 18:38pm]

only problem is that the songs didn't exist then

cdog572 said:

Efan said:[quBecause ATWIAD and Parade musically castrated Prince's career at the top of his game.It was as if he wanted to sabotage his own career.I don't know why people drool over those two albums as if they were masterpieces.Those were two of the weakest records Prince has ever done.Especially compared to the albums that preceded them.Prince and Prince Fans can spin it either way they want.Those records were experimental mistakes that destroyed most of Prince's American Fanbase.

whoah!

it would have been great if the performances from SOTT were used in an actual sequel to Purple Rain. You know....he gts from outta MPLS and becomes a huge star doing big arenas but an actuall narrative is built around it.

This is still kind of a weird scenario. He MAYBE would have kept a large American audience, but then in your plan, he wouldn't have released very much, so it's kind of like a tree falling in the forest kind of scenario. And really, is a large American audience all that important anyway?

If you do Sign after Purple Rain (which, by the way, couldn't happen until after Challenger exploded, unless you eliminate or significantly change the title track, because otherwise you're creating a paradox in the time-space continuum and I don't like that), and then wait a couple years and release a greatest hits, well, you've pretty much revised the entire '80s for Prince. So even if he does have a larger audience, he's not giving them very much to listen to. So maybe they drift away for that reason.

cdog572 said:

How can you be a sellout when you're losing both your new and your old audience?

Prince was always experimental and was not going to sell out and change that about himself after Purple Rain. If you didn't like it, that says more about you than Prince. I happen to like it way more than Purple Rain, Parade and Sign O The Times. It was the perfect follow up, and the promotional tactics are what messed up the era, not the music IMO.

You could argue I'm not a "true" fan, cause I don't own every Prince album and don't plan to either. I bought Around The World In A Day cause I loved what I heard, but there are other albums of his that sound like shit though I respect him for not following the crowd and doing what he wants musically. That's what good artists do.

Something was going well for him when he did that in the 80's. About the 90's, I'm not so sure. It's an acquired taste for sure and for years I was saying that with the exception of a few tracks, I didn't like his 90's stuff from what I knew, but since joining the boards, I have found some songs and albums that I like, so I don't completely dislike his 90's catalogue, there was just something awesome about it from For You through Diamonds & Pearls. After that, it was hit and miss with the songs though the ones I was feeling were very strong, and he did well with Musicology & 3121.

cdog572 said:

Diamonds and Pearls was a delight.I think The Gold Experience is one of the best and most coherent records he's ever done.But TGE is grossly underrated.

Funny you brought it up, I'm listening to some tracks off Diamonds and Pearls tonight. I recently began to appreciate some of The Gold Experience as well awhile back. I LOVE Gold, I sort of feel like it speaks to me right now and where I'm at in life. We March and Billy Jack Bitch are also good. I remember seeing Pussy Control performed on vh1 a lifetime ago and rediscovered it this year.

OP.... I Disagree completely. I was 15 yrs old when ATWIAD came out. I was honestly shocked when that album was released. It was nothing like ANYTHING Prince had done before, BUT that's why he has such a huge fanbase & as much respect in the music community as he does today..

A commercial, Top 40 album would have been easy & predictable following Purple Rain. Look at the unreleased songs during that era... However, Prince was experimenting & kept people guessing.

SOTT was great, but you can't just remove ATWIAD & Parade from the progression.... Doesn't work.

This conversation made me put it on

"Raspberry Beret" was a #2 hit in the U.S. It was the first record I bought (being 12 at the time) and the one that turned me on to Prince. "Kiss" was a #1 hit in the U.S. As for the albums, ATWIAD reached #1 in the U.S. and Parade reached #3. SOTT the album only reached #6 in the Billboard 200, although "U Got The Look," the highest-charting U.S. single from SOTT, made it to #2. "If I Was Your Girlfriend" only made it to #67.

SOTT was a critical success, but the two preceding albums were very successful on the charts. So, no, I don't think he should have waited three years to release a followup to Purple Rain.

alphastreet said:

This conversation made me put it on

this conversation makes me want to gouge my eyes out

who's stopping you?

I've always considered SOTT to be the 'real follow-up' to Purple Rain.The two previous albums were too quirky (not necesarily in a bad way) to be considered proper follow-ups.