Test a fan's loyalty:

1) Extraloveable 2011

2) 20TEN and the ruining of The Rainbow Children with the bigoted narration.

3) His choice of singles in the 90s (was not the best showcase of his material unless you want girly).

4) His 'proteges', such as 'The Twinz', Larry G. ? Shelby and Andy?

5) Behaving more like a record company after he was 'free' and in his treatment of The Time/The Family.

6) No financial or other form of recompense to fans who sent in bootlegs back in 2003.

7) The closure of the NPGMC and Lotusflow3r without warning and the Crystal Ball online order fiasco.

8) Contradictory attitude to the internet...had a great forward thinking set up with the NPGMC 03-06 then made comments about 'Internet is Dead' when he has just disproved this by using Itunes to release new single.

9) Talking about REAL music by REAL musicians, and 'we're analogue people' then releasing plasticy/digital sounding pap such as 20TEN and EL 2011

10) The inverse relationship between musical talent or maturity and his age...ie. compare his talent and sheer range of music on Parade / Dream Factory.... which was way beyond his years, now his music sometimes sounds like it could have been done by a teenager in his bedroom.

Things that make it worthwhile:

1) Prince Live

2) Sheer unpredictability, never knowing what's coming next, keeps things interesting for fans

3) Work rate and output...always new stuff coming..

4) His forward thinking attitude to music distribution, ie via newspapers, via Target, via Concerts.

5) His raising of injustices in the Music business to the public's attention.

6) His general 'coolness' / mystery.

7) Refusal to get involved in Twitter / Facebook cliquey nonsense.

8) Sometimes sexy proteges and his side projects.

9) Unreleased material often on a par if not better than released stuff plus the idea of the Vault and songs in there being remastered and freed unaltered (Crystal Ball II).

10) Sense of joy and fun that comes through in his music, inspiring.

[Edited 12/8/11 10:23am]

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Things that make it worthwhile:

1) Prince Live

9) Unreleased material often on a par if not better than released stuff plus the idea of the Vault and songs in there being remastered and freed unaltered (Crystal Ball II)

10) Sense of joy and fun that comes through in his music, inspiring.

These are what keep me going at the mo.

Add Lotusflower.com (the site, not the album) to point 7. Who would have guessed he'd kill that one also. That was a particular stab in the back for me.

And still... I love the guy. For me personally, he made that up with North Sea Jazz and Melkweg (but it still hurts that just a simple official fan site should be that much of a problem to maintain).

[Edited 12/8/11 10:25am]

^ I added that in too! i forgot about that, although i didn't join as I was suspicious after the NPGMC ...

TheFreakerFantastic said:

^ I added that in too! i forgot about that, although i didn't join as I was suspicious after the NPGMC ...

LOL! I was suspicious also, but thought "hey what is the chance of a repeat of that?!?"

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Test a fan's loyalty:

1) Extraloveable 2011

[Edited 12/8/11 10:23am]

?

Do people think Prince was saying to himself, 'this is gonna be a big fuck you to all the hardcore fans! hahahaha!'? To me it really looks like he was trying to acknowledge the hardcores. I think it's pretty cool of him to do anything like that at all, knowing that the song was gonna resonate most (either positively or negatively) with the people who spend a lot of time criticizing his music, his shows, his band members, etc.

I dunno, just the way it's phrased... 'testing a fan's loyalty'... like if he did updated versions of other unreleased songs, a lot of hardcore fans would start to hate Prince?

fusk said:

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Test a fan's loyalty:

1) Extraloveable 2011

[Edited 12/8/11 10:23am]

?

Do people think Prince was saying to himself, 'this is gonna be a big fuck you to all the hardcore fans! hahahaha!'? To me it really looks like he was trying to acknowledge the hardcores. I think it's pretty cool of him to do anything like that at all, knowing that the song was gonna resonate most (either positively or negatively) with the people who spend a lot of time criticizing his music, his shows, his band members, etc.

I dunno, just the way it's phrased... 'testing a fan's loyalty'... like if he did updated versions of other unreleased songs, a lot of hardcore fans would start to hate Prince?

Hate is a pretty strong word. We understand that it's his music and he is totally free to do with it whatever he may so choose. However it is also fair to argue that as an artist it is kind of his responsiblity to preserve the integrity of his past, for without it, he would not be where he is today. If he starts doing more things like "Extraloveable 2011" we probably would call that responsiblity to question! (As if there isn't already enough evidence that would allow us to do so anyways )

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Test a fan's loyalty:

2) 20TEN Mplsound and the ruining of The Rainbow Children with the bigoted narration.

Mplsound is far worse than 20ten. Mplsopund is the "Jughead" of the last decade.

Plus, there is far more things wrong with TRC than just the bigoted narration.

MarquessMarq said:

fusk said:

?

Do people think Prince was saying to himself, 'this is gonna be a big fuck you to all the hardcore fans! hahahaha!'? To me it really looks like he was trying to acknowledge the hardcores. I think it's pretty cool of him to do anything like that at all, knowing that the song was gonna resonate most (either positively or negatively) with the people who spend a lot of time criticizing his music, his shows, his band members, etc.

I dunno, just the way it's phrased... 'testing a fan's loyalty'... like if he did updated versions of other unreleased songs, a lot of hardcore fans would start to hate Prince?

Hate is a pretty strong word. We understand that it's his music and he is totally free to do with it whatever he may so choose. However it is also fair to argue that as an artist it is kind of his responsiblity to preserve the integrity of his past, for without it, he would not be where he is today. If he starts doing more things like "Extraloveable 2011" we probably would call that responsiblity to question! (As if there isn't already enough evidence that would allow us to do so anyways )

I'm not sure what you mean by 'preserve the integrity of his past'...

you people really need to get over extralovable. no matter what he did with that song(other than leaving it exactly how it was) you people were going to hate it no matter what

uuhson said:

you people really need to get over extralovable. no matter what he did with that song(other than leaving it exactly how it was) you people were going to hate it no matter what

Only because it was perfect the way it was.

V10LETBLUES said:

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Test a fan's loyalty:

2) 20TEN Mplsound and the ruining of The Rainbow Children with the bigoted narration.

Mplsound is far worse than 20ten. Mplsopund is the "Jughead" of the last decade.

Plus, there is far more things wrong with TRC than just the bigoted narration.

Disagree, i think MPLSound is arguably his best album of the Noughties, (with Lotusflow3r)...much more funky and has attitude...

MarquessMarq said:

fusk said:

?

Do people think Prince was saying to himself, 'this is gonna be a big fuck you to all the hardcore fans! hahahaha!'? To me it really looks like he was trying to acknowledge the hardcores. I think it's pretty cool of him to do anything like that at all, knowing that the song was gonna resonate most (either positively or negatively) with the people who spend a lot of time criticizing his music, his shows, his band members, etc.

I dunno, just the way it's phrased... 'testing a fan's loyalty'... like if he did updated versions of other unreleased songs, a lot of hardcore fans would start to hate Prince?

Hate is a pretty strong word. We understand that it's his music and he is totally free to do with it whatever he may so choose. However it is also fair to argue that as an artist it is kind of his responsiblity to preserve the integrity of his past, for without it, he would not be where he is today. If he starts doing more things like "Extraloveable 2011" we probably would call that responsiblity to question! (As if there isn't already enough evidence that would allow us to do so anyways )

eavlinc said:

uuhson said:

you people really need to get over extralovable. no matter what he did with that song(other than leaving it exactly how it was) you people were going to hate it no matter what

Only because it was perfect the way it was.

nothing is perfect, dont be naive. regardless you all need to get over it. you sound like whiny children, which is sad since most of you are pretty old

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Test a fan's loyalty:

1) Extraloveable 2011

2) 20TEN and the ruining of The Rainbow Children with the bigoted narration.

3) His choice of singles in the 90s (was not the best showcase of his material unless you want girly).

4) His 'proteges', such as 'The Twinz', Larry G. ? Shelby and Andy?

5) Behaving more like a record company after he was 'free' and in his treatment of The Time/The Family.

6) No financial or other form of recompense to fans who sent in bootlegs back in 2003.

7) The closure of the NPGMC and Lotusflow3r without warning and the Crystal Ball online order fiasco.

8) Contradictory attitude to the internet...had a great forward thinking set up with the NPGMC 03-06 then made comments about 'Internet is Dead' when he has just disproved this by using Itunes to release new single.

9) Talking about REAL music by REAL musicians, and 'we're analogue people' then releasing plasticy/digital sounding pap such as 20TEN and EL 2011

10) The inverse relationship between musical talent or maturity and his age...ie. compare his talent and sheer range of music on Parade / Dream Factory.... which was way beyond his years, now his music sometimes sounds like it could have been done by a teenager in his bedroom.

\

[Edited 12/8/11 10:23am]

Interesting........I don't agree with any of your points besides #4.