yes!
He clearly understands that the peak of his popularity in the past, but I think that he believes his songs are just as good as before.

basically, the best music artist creates in age from 20 to 40 years old - he is more emotional, brash, bold, active, open to experimentation, he has less burden of the past, less frustration, etc.
After 40 years old, also acquired valuable qualities, which usually do not have enough youth - maturity and wisdom.
Prince's music has changed, it is a normal and natural process.
just more people prefer his old hits.

[Edited 1/16/13 2:16am]

[Edited 1/16/13 2:15am]

BobPaisleyPark said:

Be honest, do you really believe that Prince truly believes that his modern day music is as good as the likes of Corvette, Alphabet, Doves, Beret, 1999, Mountains, Heaven, Girlfriend, Adore, Kiss, SOTT etc, etc.

He keeps telling us, that his music is as good as it's always been.

But do you believe him?

the thing people don't seem to get is that there is no "as good as" when it comes to art... there really isn't

you don't get to define it... either do i

there's stuff we connect to/vibe with... and stuff we don't... it's not something that can be measured... and you know what?... it doesn't matter... i'll say it again... IT DOESN'T MATTER

just dig what ya dig... and i'm sure for most people who visit this site, there's plenty prince has released that we can dig

and as far as what prince thinks of his music... i'd never presume i knew where a person was really at with what they'd created... who am i to say what he thinks about something he recorded last week compared to something he did in 1980

artists are generally moving forward... the thing inside them that drives them to create keeps them moving

it's possibly why david gilmour would rather sit in his river-boat studio and make a new album that tour with roger waters... or why robert plant seeks out new artists to make new music with rather than touring with the other led zeppelin guys

prince started making music because it was in him... and he's still doing it... luckily there's been a whole bunch of it along the way that many of us have gained an immense amount of pleasure from

fans with a sense of entitlement just need to get over it

[Edited 1/16/13 4:11am]

one can only guess what he believes

but I do think he believes he is releasing his best

I am glad he his still around and creating new music after all these years

no - you can't compare purple rain to purple & gold - but you also can't compare colonized mind to jughead

why must everything be a comparison to what he did in his prime youth?

if you don't like his music - then don't listen to it & stop expecting groundbreaking tunes from a man in his fifties who has been so creative for so many years

he deserves a lot more credit from his fans than he is given

funkomatic said:

skywalker said:

Why do people think what Prince plays live is an indicator of how he views his music?

Surely, he has an idea of what his audience wants to hear. Thus the difference between arena and club setlists.

Look at the celebration concerts and how they were jam packed with new songs and obscure fan favorites.

In some ways, Prince cannot win. In the mid 90's, when he performed exclusively Gold Experience material in the UK, he got poor reviews for his shows even though we consider that material stellar.

That's pretty simple. If there's new cool material available, if you feel its relevance, you want to show it to the world, no matter what. The least thing you think about would be: what could happen if I play a setlist like this in a venue like this etc. It completely doesn't matter.

Neither do I consider his material from the Gold experience stellar nor do I think the concerts were great.

Really? I think performers always have their audiences in mind. There is a funny cliche that a concert going audiences least fav words to hear are: "And now we're going to play a new song from the new album."

The Beatles almost never toured for the 2nd half of their career. You know what they did when they felt the relevance of cool new material? They released it on an album. That's it. They rarely played live from 1965 onwards.

Ever watch the 1996/97 Chris Rock interview with Prince?

In that interview Prince states that he'd love to play Emancipation live in it's entirety and that he could. However, he also states that he wants/needs to play "Kiss" too because the crowd wants to hear it/came to see it.

[Edited 1/16/13 6:35am]

skywalker said:

funkomatic said:

That's pretty simple. If there's new cool material available, if you feel its relevance, you want to show it to the world, no matter what. The least thing you think about would be: what could happen if I play a setlist like this in a venue like this etc. It completely doesn't matter.

Neither do I consider his material from the Gold experience stellar nor do I think the concerts were great.

Really? I think performers always have their audiences in mind. There is a funny cliche that a concert going audiences least fav words to hear are: "And now we're going to play a new song from the new album."

The Beatles almost never toured for the 2nd half of their career. You know what they did when they felt the relevance of cool new material? They released it on an album. That's it. They rarely played live from 1965 onwards.

Ever watch the 1996/97 Chris Rock interview with Prince?

In that interview Prince states that he'd love to play Emancipation live in it's entirety and that he could. However, he also states that he wants/needs to play "Kiss" too because the crowd wants to hear it/came to see it.

[Edited 1/16/13 6:35am]

There's always a choice. Do you want be a pop clown or a real artist?

I believe that his music isn't as good as it used to be, whereas he's best Musician than ever..

Whenever Prince plays Live, his success is undeniable and his Fame is Still on the Top

I doubt that he believes his music hits the same way that it used to..