dandeeland said:

sign o the times. Never understood why people like this so much. This cd has always bored me. This cd actually drove me away from Prince in the 80s. Luckily Batman brought me back.

Lol, some people really need to grow up first before opening their mouth!

funkomatic said:

dandeeland said:

sign o the times. Never understood why people like this so much. This cd has always bored me. This cd actually drove me away from Prince in the 80s. Luckily Batman brought me back.

Lol, some people really need to grow up first before opening their mouth!

yeah, like that funkomatic person... yeesh

thedance said:

some of you are really deaf, and ungrateful towards the classic stuff.

tells more about you than about those Prince albums..

snoozers

Funkomatic is right, that person better be joking (Dandeeland)......

sure a very weird opinion to have on Prince records....

yeah, let's make the forum unwelcoming to those with 'weird opinions'

Are you having fun Fusk??

Seriously, let's face it: some opinions on Prince records are better qualified than others - imho...

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to discuss the quality of opinions with you, because I know that my criteria are totally different from yours. I appreciate opinions that are interesting, challenging, edgy, well crafted, a piece of art.

fusk said:

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to discuss the quality of opinions with you, because I know that my criteria are totally different from yours. I appreciate opinions that are interesting, challenging, edgy, well crafted, a piece of art.

How f... creative!

Didn't know you became a fan of mine! I feel honoured, Mr fusk!

BTW: You took it out of context!

[Edited 12/5/11 14:15pm]

?

as if that quote in its original context was any less pretentious

SoulAlive said:

funkomatic said:

Lol, because Prince said so! Are you really that naive to ever believe what comes out of Prince's mouth?

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to discuss the quality of Prince' albums with you, because I know that my criteria are totally different from yours. I appreciate music that is interesting, challenging, edgy, well crafted, a piece of art.

BTW: There are no perfect albums in Prince's oeuvre except for Purple Rain maybe (looking at it from a pop point of view).

I'd argue that 1999 is damn near perfect

Even damn near perfect isn't perfect!

fusk said:

?

as if that quote in its original context was any less pretentious

You don't know the conversation history of Soulalive and me!

BTW: After decades of being a Prince follower and professional musician, I think it's about time to be pretentious. More longtime Prince fans on this site should be, because there's a lot of nonsense being posted on this site (e.g. SOTT is boring compared to BATMAN etc.) legitimated by the argument "tastes are different". It's one thing to claim to have a certain taste, it's another to develop it by listening and knowing your stuff.

funkomatic said:

You don't know the conversation history of Soulalive and me!

point taken!

funkomatic said:

BTW: After decades of being a Prince follower and professional musician, I think it's about time to be pretentious. More longtime Prince fans on this site should be, because there's a lot of nonsense being posted on this site (e.g. SOTT is boring compared to BATMAN etc.) legitimated by the argument "tastes are different". It's one thing to claim to have a certain taste, it's another to develop it by listening and knowing your stuff.

I can see that. Also, I agree that SOTT is amazing compared to batman (I like batman, but SOTT is probably my favourite Prince album). I have a personal list of reasons why I think SOTT is fantastic, and some of them are (sort of) musically informed. But in a sense I don't have confidence in my list because I'm not sure the reasons I have are strong enough to 'win' an argument over whether or not SOTT is good. So when someone says, 'ehhh SOTT isn't that great', my natural response isn't 'well, you're wrong because x y z', it's 'hmm... I'm pretty sure you're crazy, but maybe you know something I don't...' So it's possible that with your experience, you've come up with a better list of reasons.

I do the same thing. For example, I'm in grad school studying math. It's a LOT easier for me to tell people they've got wrong ideas about math (not even, 'you made a mistake and this is the wrong answer' - I mean I often tell my peers that their opinion on what math is (should be fairly subjective, right?) is wrong.) The reason I do that is because I've put in a lot of time becoming an expert, so it feels like I've come to some very correct conclusions. (hah, and I conveniently forget that my peers have put in the same time and are just as qualified as i am...)

Anyway. I was just in a bitey mood yesterday because I was inside all day avoiding work. Sorry about that. In fact, whenever anyone notices that I'm getting offended on behalf of someone else, just assume I'm procrastinating.

People who say Batman is a better album then Sign of the Times probably mistake the better sound quality and the simplicity of the former with it being a better album.

Probably people who happen to listen superficially to music, and who tend to listen to bland R&B mostly.

Anyone who dares to put more effort into listening to and trying to understand and feel music, can tell that Sign of the Times is a far better album then the Batman album. Indeed, Sign of the Times is poorly mixed and mastered (sounding way too 'thin' for its own good), but in terms of compositions and production that album is a masterpiece, while the Batman album is just simply 'good'.

the sound on SOTT is my favourite! I wish more albums sounded like that. It reminds me of Mr Bungle's Disco Volante, for some reason. Both albums to me 'sound' like their album art, which is neat.

There's a fairly wide range of dynamics (not everything is pushed up to the front). I can hear the distorted guitar on housequake even though it's way back in the mix. On Parade, for example, I have a hard time isolating stuff like that.

[Edited 12/6/11 13:45pm]

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

TBH anything from the 80s with the exception of Purple Rain and Sign O The Times. The rest of them were not perfect, they had bright spots, but some really, really weak spots too. Moreso than his ablums in the 2000s!

Dear God no.

I'm probably going to regret becoming involved in this again, but what the hell. This is what the internet was invented for, apparently?

It seems to me that a lot of people don't like certain records because they're hard to listen to? I mean, The Rainbow Children is almost a Jazz record - maybe more jazzy in parts than the Madhouse stuff? Except for the fact that there's some of the most outstandling funky grooves on it, like Family Name or The Everlasting Now! Plus, it's a concept album, hence all the nonesense on it.

But it depends what you're listening for.

Purple Rain is ultimately a pop record, but it's certaily one of the most intersting 'pop' records I've ever heard - perhaps one of the best ever made? I mean, it's pretty unconventional? The main thing that stopped me getting into Prince when I was younger was that I thought it sounded 'dated' or 'cheesy'. But there was a turning point, when I stopped relating a certain sound - like a Linn LM-1 or a Oberheim synthersizer - to the concept of 'cheesy', or a particular timeframe, and just started to listen to it's sonic quality as part of the arrangement in a piece of music. And that's when I got Prince. I think that's an observation relevant to the way most people listen to Prince's music.

I have to say though, in terms of overrated, Planet Earth and 20Ten are certainly that, in my opinion - possibly even the LotusFlow3r package. Even by Prince fans - ithey're just not as good as even 3121, which may be the best of the post-comeback stuff. It's like someone (I'm sorry I don't know names!) said earlier - if you played some of the new stuff to people, you might get a bit embarrassed by their reaction. That's one side of the argument, the other side is, if you have to be a 'fan' to like some of the stuff, and you don't even like it that much?

On the whole though, I still reckon P is one of the best creative people (all encompassing) there has ever been, EVER. So that's a factor!

EDIT: - oh, and the whole conversation's pretentious! The whole appreciation of art is pretentious. This added comment is in itself, very pretentious. It's ridiculous to think otherwise, I don't think it's a bad thing either. That's what happens when you get an understanding of wider concepts. Maybe people who react on a spontaneous gut instinct really do have a more valid opinion - it's just that I don't think those people are seeing the bigger picture...

OhmyGodwhycan'tIjuststopspoutingpureshiteI'mevengettingonmyownnerves.

The End. (of my involvement, for now, at least)

[Edited 12/12/11 10:53am]

LotusFlower is his most overrated. It's just so dreary and boring. No life in it.

sextonseven said:

SoulAlive said:

See,that's the thing...I don't think those are among the "strongest" albums he has ever made.Even Prince himself doesn't think much of Parade.A few months after it was released,he called it a "disaster",saying that he recorded it too soon after ATWIAD and that he "didn't have enough great material ready.I'm not gonna make that same mistake again".

The fact that Prince doesn't like Parade only makes me like it more. It's my favorite album ever by anyone.

My favorite Prince song, maybe by anyone ever, Mountains

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

sextonseven said:

The fact that Prince doesn't like Parade only makes me like it more. It's my favorite album ever by anyone.

My favorite Prince song, maybe by anyone ever, Mountains

"Mountains" is my favorite song on the album.

Musicology

3121

2010

Graffitti Bridge

NEW Power Soul

RAVE

Graffitti Bridge

Diamonds and Pearls

Oh...............Wrong Thread..... Overated not WORST

OVERATED

Sign O the Times

PURPLE RAIN (xcluding When Doves Cry)

wally1970 said:

Man u know that Prince did NOT rip parade like u r saying , send the link if that's true....

I don't have the magazine in my possession right now,but you can find those Prince quotes in the 1988 Musician cover story.

Graffiti bridge

Musicology

Planet earth