Adorecream said:

Totally disagree, Screwdriver is fresh and vital sounding. It has a clean guitar and rock heavy sound to it and sounds like its a chart bound surprsie. Its better than all this dull old R and B of late, you get tired of the old BB King lookalikes in 3 piece suits playing moody blues and jazz licks.

If anything Screwdriver might win back some of his white audience who have been isolated by his very black sounding music lately. I don't have problem with it, but he can play white rock so well, but lately he's been under the spell of some black supremacy type movement. Can anyone name 5 white sounding songs in the past 5 years!!!!

Screwdriver blows the cobwebs off this John Lee Hooker phase he's veered into and brings the pulse and urgency back that has been missing from his music of late.

GT*OHWTBS.

Prince has plenty of non-r&b songs within the past 5 years. I don’t refer to them as ‘White sounding songs’, as you do, because that would be an ignorant description. Since when did he lose his White audience though? Even when his focus has been on jazz/r&b/soul/funk of late, Prince still draws a large White audience, many whom embrace the sounds of jazz/r&b/soul/funk.

Your comments are stereotypical as it’s like you’re saying White fans can or will only embrace Prince’s music if he does straight rock, and can’t relate to his r&b/soul/funk music. However, your comments pretty much confirmed what I said in a post on another thread, about ‘some’ fans, (not all), one such as yourself, who seem to have a problem when Prince embraces r&b/soul/funk music, and you degrade it as though those are lower forms of music, compared to ‘rock’ music.

Had you done your homework though, you would know that you would not have been able to enjoy rock, if ‘rock’ wasn’t born out of the womb of rhythm & blues. 'Rock' is the child of Rhythm and Blues, so without R&B, you would not have been able to experience/embrace the feel of Prince’s badass rock guitar solos coupled with his soulful screams, as he takes you on a ride, climaxing with those screaming guitar solos, which I’m sure leaves you whimping for more, like a panhandler begging for his next dime. So you should give thanks, praise and basically kiss the ass of rhythm and blues for birthing that child you love so much named ‘Rock’ music. Rant over.

[Edited 1/25/13 12:29pm]

RodeoSchro said:

2elijah said:

Adorecream said:

Totally disagree, Screwdriver is fresh and vital sounding. It has a clean guitar and rock heavy sound to it and sounds like its a chart bound surprsie. Its better than all this dull old R and B of late, you get tired of the old BB King lookalikes in 3 piece suits playing moody blues and jazz licks.

If anything Screwdriver might win back some of his white audience who have been isolated by his very black sounding music lately. I don't have problem with it, but he can play white rock so well, but lately he's been under the spell of some black supremacy type movement. Can anyone name 5 white sounding songs in the past 5 years!!!!

Screwdriver blows the cobwebs off this John Lee Hooker phase he's veered into and brings the pulse and urgency back that has been missing from his music of late.

GT*OHWTBS.

Prince has plenty of non-r&b songs within the past 5 years. I don’t refer to them as ‘White sounding songs’, as you do, because that would be an ignorant description. Since when did he lose his White audience though? Even when his focus has been on jazz/r&b/soul/funk of late, Prince still draws a large White audience, many whom embrace the sounds of jazz/r&b/soul/funk.

Your comments are stereotypical as it’s like you’re saying White fans can or will only embrace Prince’s music if he does straight rock, and can’t relate to his r&b/soul/funk music. However, your comments pretty much confirmed what I said in a post on another thread, about ‘some’ fans, (not all), one such as yourself, who seem to have a problem when Prince embraces r&b/soul/funk music, and you degrade it as though those are lower forms of music, compared to ‘rock’ music.

Had you done your homework though, you would know that you would not have been able to enjoy rock, if ‘rock’ wasn’t born out of the womb of rhythm & blues. 'Rock' is the child of Rhythm and Blues, so without R&B, you would not have been able to experience/embrace the feel of Prince’s badass rock guitar solos coupled with his soulful screams, as he takes you on a ride, climaxing with those screaming guitar solos, which I’m sure leaves you whimping for more, like a panhandler begging for his next dime. So you should give thanks, praise and basically kiss the ass of rhythm and blues for birthing that tchild you love so much called ‘Rock’. Rant over.

[Edited 1/25/13 11:19am]

Great response! can't believe anyone in 2013 would say "white sounding music". smh

wonder505 said:

2elijah said:

GT*OHWTBS.

Prince has plenty of non-r&b songs within the past 5 years. I don’t refer to them as ‘White sounding songs’, as you do, because that would be an ignorant description. Since when did he lose his White audience though? Even when his focus has been on jazz/r&b/soul/funk of late, Prince still draws a large White audience, many whom embrace the sounds of jazz/r&b/soul/funk.

Your comments are stereotypical as it’s like you’re saying White fans can or will only embrace Prince’s music if he does straight rock, and can’t relate to his r&b/soul/funk music. However, your comments pretty much confirmed what I said in a post on another thread, about ‘some’ fans, (not all), one such as yourself, who seem to have a problem when Prince embraces r&b/soul/funk music, and you degrade it as though those are lower forms of music, compared to ‘rock’ music.

Had you done your homework though, you would know that you would not have been able to enjoy rock, if ‘rock’ wasn’t born out of the womb of rhythm & blues. 'Rock' is the child of Rhythm and Blues, so without R&B, you would not have been able to experience/embrace the feel of Prince’s badass rock guitar solos coupled with his soulful screams, as he takes you on a ride, climaxing with those screaming guitar solos, which I’m sure leaves you whimping for more, like a panhandler begging for his next dime. So you should give thanks, praise and basically kiss the ass of rhythm and blues for birthing that tchild you love so much called ‘Rock’. Rant over.

[Edited 1/25/13 11:19am]

Great response! can't believe anyone in 2013 would say "white sounding music". smh

Thanks This is why I'm glad when Prince stormed the music industry, he basically sent a message that all Black musicians/artists are not creatively pigeon-holed/limited, to one form of music (unless they choose one specific form by choice to cater to or forced to do so by the music industry), nor do they all share the same interests in the same type of music.

I see nothing wrong with Prince embracing soul/r&b/funk/soul because it is clear, that many of the earlier musicians of funk/soul/r&b/blues/rock, had a major influence in Prince's stage performance/music style, and we can include BBKing, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard, Ike Turner, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Larry Graham, Sly Stone, and then some, and yes some of those guys wore suits and tore up the stage floor with their gifted and creative music skills.

[Edited 1/25/13 12:58pm]

Dandroppedadime said:

I like it, but he could of done more with the riff and hook - similar to Rnr affair, they aren't used enough or left til later in the song. great for us, but the casual listener needs to be hooked from the getgo. I just listened to the rehearsal version and like a lot of his live material - it has more vibrancy and edge than the studio version. the guitar soloing is rawer and goes on longer too.

why is he afraid to use a band in the studio and just let rip.

I think Prince's current studio production style (meaning the sound he's had more-or-less since 2004 imo ) is too slick, polished and clean. He seems to edit out any 'accidental' or unintended sounds using music editing software (thus losing that 'live' magic and feel imo) and yes, the sound is always clear and warm but kinda sterile; it seems to suck most of the life and spontaneity out of the music.

Live, of course, he has less overall control of the sound, partly due to being dependent on his band members to make the sounds (rather than his usual studio one man band of P), and he seems to relish the 'live' vibe.

Maybe if he recorded all his new material mostly 'as live' in the studio with his band, or even recorded new material as performed in concert and released those tracks instead of the studio stuff, his modern music would have more life and energy.

A lot of his early-mid-'80s stuff was a mix of live playing with clever overdubbing, rather than DI'ing everything into the board, as he seems to nowadays. That was full of life and character.

There are exceptions of course in recent years, like the track 3121, which sounds dirty, funky, out there yet modern. He left the dirt on the grooves there and made them real.

[Edited 1/25/13 13:01pm]

Miles said:

Dandroppedadime said:

I like it, but he could of done more with the riff and hook - similar to Rnr affair, they aren't used enough or left til later in the song. great for us, but the casual listener needs to be hooked from the getgo. I just listened to the rehearsal version and like a lot of his live material - it has more vibrancy and edge than the studio version. the guitar soloing is rawer and goes on longer too.

why is he afraid to use a band in the studio and just let rip.

I think Prince's current studio production style (meaning the sound he's had more-or-less since 2004 imo ) is too slick, polished and clean. He seems to edit out any 'accidental' or unintended sounds using music editing software (thus losing that 'live' magic and feel imo) and yes, the sound is always clear and warm but kinda sterile; it seems to suck most of the life and spontaneity out of the music.

Live, of course, he has less overall control of the sound, partly due to being dependent on his band members to make the sounds (rather than his usual studio one man band of P), and he seems to relish the 'live' vibe.

Maybe if he recorded all his new material mostly 'as live' in the studio with his band, or even recorded new material as performed in concert and released those tracks instead of the studio stuff, his modern music would have more life and energy.

A lot of his early-mid-'80s stuff was a mix of live playing with clever overdubbing, rather than DI'ing everything into the board, as he seems to nowadays. That was full of life and character.

There are exceptions of course in recent years, like the track 3121, which sounds dirty, funky, out there yet modern. He left the dirt on the grooves there and made them real.

[Edited 1/25/13 13:01pm]

totally agree. he shows glimpses of the raw live sound on nearly every album, but it's maybe not enough for us?

Ymaginatif said:

controversy99 said:

Great question. Consider:

Purple Rain is his biggest selling album and one of his best artistically. Guess what? 3 of the songs are basically LIVE BAND recordings.

Well, he used a live band for ALL of the songs on N.E.W.S.

That album sold only marginally less than Purple Rain, I believe.

You got me on that one. Well played.

I will say, though, a good mix of live band tracks and one-man-band tracks is usually nice -- The Gold Experience, Parade (to some extent), and the symbol album, to name a few.

No way did NEWS sell more units than Purple Rain (20+million) (it may of made him more money though?)

All of you, I say that Prince makes a white sounding rock song and that I am glad he has jettioned the black supremacy feel of late, and I feel like I have been turned into David Duke or the clan wizard of the KK. You all need to calm down, where did I say black music was inferior to white , I prefer black music to white anyway, so just let the 1993 Womyns Collective Political correctness go. This site is like the Spanish inquisition at times.

Sheesh!! You people (Americans) are so hyper sensitive, thats why I love my country, I say what I feel and not get crucified by the Racial sensitivity board.

Adorecream said:

All of you, I say that Prince makes a white sounding rock song and that I am glad he has jettioned the black supremacy feel of late, and I feel like I have been turned into David Duke or the clan wizard of the KK. You all need to calm down, where did I say black music was inferior to white , I prefer black music to white anyway, so just let the 1993 Womyns Collective Political correctness go. This site is like the Spanish inquisition at times.

Sheesh!! You people (Americans) are so hyper sensitive, thats why I love my country, I say what I feel and not get crucified by the Racial sensitivity board.

I hear Dumbfuckistan is lovely this time of year.

HonestMan13 said:

Adorecream said:

All of you, I say that Prince makes a white sounding rock song and that I am glad he has jettioned the black supremacy feel of late, and I feel like I have been turned into David Duke or the clan wizard of the KK. You all need to calm down, where did I say black music was inferior to white , I prefer black music to white anyway, so just let the 1993 Womyns Collective Political correctness go. This site is like the Spanish inquisition at times.

Sheesh!! You people (Americans) are so hyper sensitive, thats why I love my country, I say what I feel and not get crucified by the Racial sensitivity board.

I hear Dumbfuckistan is lovely this time of year.

HonestMan13 said:

Adorecream said:

All of you, I say that Prince makes a white sounding rock song and that I am glad he has jettioned the black supremacy feel of late, and I feel like I have been turned into David Duke or the clan wizard of the KK. You all need to calm down, where did I say black music was inferior to white , I prefer black music to white anyway, so just let the 1993 Womyns Collective Political correctness go. This site is like the Spanish inquisition at times.

Sheesh!! You people (Americans) are so hyper sensitive, thats why I love my country, I say what I feel and not get crucified by the Racial sensitivity board.

I hear Dumbfuckistan is lovely this time of year.

ROTFLMAO!

I'm still about the black supremacy feel...wtf?

Adorecream said:

All of you, I say that Prince makes a white sounding rock song and that I am glad he has jettioned the black supremacy feel of late, and I feel like I have been turned into David Duke or the clan wizard of the KK. You all need to calm down, where did I say black music was inferior to white , I prefer black music to white anyway, so just let the 1993 Womyns Collective Political correctness go. This site is like the Spanish inquisition at times.

Sheesh!! You people (Americans) are so hyper sensitive, thats why I love my country, I say what I feel and not get crucified by the Racial sensitivity board.

Your comments in your previous post, has nothing to do with the country you live in or Americans being hypersensitive. Nor does your disrespect and ignorance towards a form of music you claim you like, but obviously lack the knowledge of knowing, that 'rock' is the birthchild of Rhythm & Blues, yet you refer to Rhythm & Blues, and Black musicians who play that form of music as playing 'Black Supremacy' music.

It is one thing to not like a particular music style, but no reason to insult the type of musicians who embrace it or the community that form of music was born out of, and introduced/shared with the rest of the world. Without Rhythm & Blues, you would not have been able to enjoy or witness the 'rock' styles of Prince or any other musician, whose focus musically, may be a 'rock' style. You can thank all the early and great Rhythm & Blues musicians, who were responsible for introducing 'rock' music to the world. Rhythm & Blues-a form of music Prince has apparently embraced, and has been inspired by the many of early musicians, that influenced his various styles of music. The one good thing is that Prince never allowed anyone to pigeon-hole him into one category of music or label his credibility as a musician, based on one style of music, which is when he performs a 'rock' track here or there, it shouldn't be a surprise. Prince playing rock music or sharing a 'rock' track, (Screwdriver) doesn't change his racial identity from a Black musician to a White musician nor will it change his credibility/value as a human being or musician, because-plain and simple--rock music doesn't define a musician's racial identity or value as a human being, no more than any form of music, including R&B/soul/funk/blues, etc.

Also, Rock music is not 'owned' by any, specific group of people nor is Rhythm and Blues, regardless of where those forms of music were first created or introduced. The purpose of music is about sharing. It's not about limiting what groups of people are allowed to embrace or play it, regardless of whether it is a solo artist or band comprised primarily of Black, White, etc., musicians/artists. Your comments remind me of when I read about America, back during the days of Black musicians like Chuck Berry/Little Richard, sharing their 'rock' music styles with the world, and many White parents referred to Chuck and Little Richard's music as 'race' or 'jungle' music, because they didn't understand it or just didn't want their kids to embrace any music created/played/performed by Black musicians/artists. Yet, many of their kids were supporting those musicians' music, and listening to it behind their bedroom doors when their parents weren't around....and then Elvis Presley got in the picture.

Where do you think Elvis learned all those moves/singing styles from? He learned most of it from Black musicians/entertainers. If James Brown was alive today, he would tell you that Elvis Presley, used to frequent nightclubs in Black communities and churches, because he loved that style of music called 'Rhythm/Blues/Gospel/Rock,' and wanted to learn it. Elvis would frequent nightclubs to watch Black entertainers perform, and visit churches in Black communities to learn their music/performance styles, and because of that, well, Elvis became Elvis. So when you look at old tapes/movies of Elvis grooving to the soul of the music, like the holy ghost entered his body, just know where he adopted that from.

Furthermore, you claim Prince can now win back some of his White fans, because he made a rock track called 'Screwdriver?' Again, GT*OHWTBS.

Truth be told, it doesn't seem to me like his White fan base ever left, regardless if he's been performing less 'rock-based' tracks for the past few years, and focused on other forms of music like, jazz/r&b/blues/funk/soul/latin-flavored tracks and soul/latin ballads. His White fan base was still there to support his music. I think the problem is you, because again, I don't see where a large portion of Prince's White fan base decreased, because he changed different directions with his music, post-Revolution. You know it really doesn't hurt for you to take the time, to do some research about various, forms of music, before throwing out such ignorant definitions of a style you seem to have no knowledge of.

::Oh and by the way, don't you ever, ever belittle the music style of the great BBKing-The King of Blues Rock. Shame on you::

'plan to plain spelling edit'

[Edited 1/26/13 13:31pm]

prince should listen to some old fishbone .. they know how to rock .. screwdriver is boring boring boooooorrrrriiiiinnnnnnggggg

i've made it my mission in life to defend everything he created in the 90s. for better and worse a prolific albeit head-scratching time we all survived unscathed. i wanna hear the acoustic version of jackhammer-you off

[Edited 1/26/13 10:21am]

TrevorAyer said:

prince should listen to some old fishbone .. they know how to rock .. screwdriver is boring boring boooooorrrrriiiiinnnnnnggggg

Did "new" fishbone forget how to rock?

Miles said:

Dandroppedadime said:

I like it, but he could of done more with the riff and hook - similar to Rnr affair, they aren't used enough or left til later in the song. great for us, but the casual listener needs to be hooked from the getgo. I just listened to the rehearsal version and like a lot of his live material - it has more vibrancy and edge than the studio version. the guitar soloing is rawer and goes on longer too.

why is he afraid to use a band in the studio and just let rip.

I think Prince's current studio production style (meaning the sound he's had more-or-less since 2004 imo ) is too slick, polished and clean. He seems to edit out any 'accidental' or unintended sounds using music editing software (thus losing that 'live' magic and feel imo) and yes, the sound is always clear and warm but kinda sterile; it seems to suck most of the life and spontaneity out of the music.

Live, of course, he has less overall control of the sound, partly due to being dependent on his band members to make the sounds (rather than his usual studio one man band of P), and he seems to relish the 'live' vibe.

Maybe if he recorded all his new material mostly 'as live' in the studio with his band, or even recorded new material as performed in concert and released those tracks instead of the studio stuff, his modern music would have more life and energy.

A lot of his early-mid-'80s stuff was a mix of live playing with clever overdubbing, rather than DI'ing everything into the board, as he seems to nowadays. That was full of life and character.

There are exceptions of course in recent years, like the track 3121, which sounds dirty, funky, out there yet modern. He left the dirt on the grooves there and made them real.

[Edited 1/25/13 13:01pm]

I agree with this... which is why I found his production work on Andy Allo's CD so refreshing. If I remember, he used analogue for that project and you could tell. Even the RNR Remix 7 has a warmer sound... hopefully he's moving back in that direction.

Maybe people like Raphael Saadiq who recorded his more recent work on old gear inspired P to revisit his old ways.

HonestMan13 said:

TrevorAyer said:

prince should listen to some old fishbone .. they know how to rock .. screwdriver is boring boring boooooorrrrriiiiinnnnnnggggg

Did "new" fishbone forget how to rock?

they did lose some key members for a while and the music stopped interesting me .. but up until after 'reality of my surroundings" they pretty much shat gold .. i would love to hear prince rock as hard as sunless saturday or pressure ..

SuperSoulFighter said:

It's been like that for twenty years. Great concerts, boring records. Having said that, I like Screwdriver. It's the first Prince song in a long time that gets stuck in my head.

You've got it wrong. Screwdriver is bad-- terrible even. His last GREAT concerts were the One Nite Alone concerts-- lots of good ones since. However, He's had some high quality music in the past 20 years. Emancipation, The Truth, Rainbow Children, Musicology, 3121 and Lotus Flower have great material and are very good albums overall.

Adorecream said:

This thread is a perfect example of someone having a negative opinion on a new song and starting a new thread as he can't handle the thought that his opinion will not get noticed in the sticky devoted to the song.

andykeen said:

Screwdriver is a perfect example of prince being un-inspirational in the studio. His live performances prove that he is untouchable, this is true. Playing along side accomplished musicians, with a sound incredible. However, when I listen to SD I find it hard to believe the wastefulness of it all. It's obviously a C&D track, or simply prince can't do rock. A basement band sound....where is the talented Musician? This is after all a guy who created some of the most imaginable music of the 80s. Man, the 90s fucked things up.

I felt the same way. The novelty of a garage rock band sound from a guy famous for the big, funk-rock hybrid Purple Rain album wore off for me with long ago. I'm your driver, you're my screw... distortion guitar riff and 3 part delay effect... I can't place where I heard that before, but I have somewhere back in the day. It's not a terrible song exactly, just kind of uninteresting and pointless. When Prince left WB, I believe a song like "Screwdriver" truly represents his vision. To release pointless material, whenever he pleases, without anyone to force better out of him. Low stakes, low pressure. Greatest hits tour, expendable sidemen. Whoo-sa, rub my ears. Dude cracked under the pressure long ago. and since then we have been watching him complete his therapy. However he still has not got back in the game.

novabrkr said:

This thread is a perfect example of someone having a negative opinion on a new song and starting a new thread as he can't handle the thought that his opinion will not get noticed in the sticky devoted to the song.

EXACTLY! Its not like the OP came with any new perspective on crticsm. He made a whole new thread thinking he was saying something new or distiinctive from the other rigamarole that is said here on the daily. That's why it's even worse, regardless whether one likes or dislikes the song.

TY nova for seeing that.

novabrkr said:

This thread is a perfect example of someone having a negative opinion on a new song and starting a new thread as he can't handle the thought that his opinion will not get noticed in the sticky devoted to the song.

That's what happens when folks think their opinion is holy writ...we get declarations,

rdhull said:

andykeen said:

rdhull said:

EXACTLY! Its not like the OP came with any new perspective on crticsm. He made a whole new thread thinking he was saying something new or distiinctive from the other rigamarole that is said here on the daily. That's why it's even worse, regardless whether one likes or dislikes the song.

TY nova for seeing that.

New perspective of criticism? Shit, doesn't that tell you something?

Yeah. That you don't know shit.

rdhull said:

andykeen said:

rdhull said:

Yeah. That you don't know shit.

Lol enlightening.

thanks