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.

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.

I like "Screwdriver"...It's def a fun song....But "black supremacy type movement"??? Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit....lol

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 kind of understand what you are saying. i don't see prince composing anything original with 3rdeyegirl, but i do like the basement vibe with this setup.

it's so relaxed, it's got to be deliberate. he's having fun & taking some respite, delving into the vault & pratting about in daft hats!

i would like to see him use this oppotunity to do an album of covers, classic popular tunes would be so cool

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.

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.

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.

all you get to decide is whether or not you like the song... that's it

the way it's turned out is how prince wants it to be

both this and RRLA have a vibe to their production that is different to other stuff he's done... it seems to be what he's going for right now... you either dig it or you don't

all you get to decide is whether or not you like the song... that's it

Dandroppedadime said:

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

not wanting to do something doesn't automatically mean you're afraid to do it

Most current Prince material does sound uninspired and a bit watered down. But 'Screwdriver' is not a good example to back that declaration. That song totally rules. Its simplicity is what makes it awesome.

[Edited 1/27/13 17:31pm]

controversy99 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.

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.

Exactly. Albeit with overdubbing - but i wouldn't mind that, the basic track would be live band in the studio and P could add to or edit it afterwards. I think Lotusflow3r and Rainbow Children used that technique - maybe it takes too much effort/money/stress to work with a band in the studio?

.

Thanx for your input Andy

The 80's... The 80's... The 80's...

This thread will repeat itself in 30 seconds.

HonestMan13 said:

The 80's... The 80's... The 80's...

This thread will repeat itself in 30 seconds.

that nukka andy wasnt even born in the eighties..if he was he yearning for days when he was ina diaper not even knwoung what the funk was happening around him

Dandroppedadime 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.

Exactly. Albeit with overdubbing - but i wouldn't mind that, the basic track would be live band in the studio and P could add to or edit it afterwards. I think Lotusflow3r and Rainbow Children used that technique - maybe it takes too much effort/money/stress to work with a band in the studio?

.

Who knows? I'd guess that $ is part of it. I agree that much of LF was done that way, and it sounds good. I think the TRC was done differently, probably John B. laying down the drums and then Prince playing on top of the playback, but it still sounds good.

This thread is a perfect example of the armchair music critics who claim Prince hasn't recorded anything "inspired" since the 80's as if it is fact.

Sure I can be critical too. I don't care for most of his business practices. I also don't like a lot of the live arrangements he has at times but seriously WTF do people expect from a musician that's in his 50's, has been there done that, and has sustained a successful career for over 30 years? Nevermind, we've all seen this discussion b4.

There's nothing wrong with not liking something or having an opinion but it's sooooo old coming here to hear people say "His career is and has been over" "He lost his talent" or "He just can't do rock" because Prince isn't doing what they want. Ever consider maybe he's happy doing what he wants? I think he's earned that right by now. "Was it good 4 U? Was I what U wanted me 2 be?"

After hearing both the live and studio versions of Screwdriver I like both for different reasons. I was happy the studio version didn't get the Fury treatment yet I still love the raw sound of the live version.

F.U.N.K. rocked harder than this song and that wasn't even a rock song. No idea why he's releasing something so defanged. I don't care what decade it is, he's a better songwriter and a better producer than this.

The live version saves it somewhat but how can he possibly not tell the difference himself? I assume he's just loving second rate rock at the moment.

[Edited 1/25/13 1:08am]

controversy99 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.

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.

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.

Agree.

The live version was wild and rocking, really amazing.

Studio verson is just ok.

rdhull said:

andykeen said:

His live performances prove that he is untouchable, this is true.

I'm not sure if it is true any more tbh. He's incredibly talented and experienced, that is true - but just with age he is obviously finding it difficult to keep up to the same level as when he was younger - I'm not knocking him for this it's natural, but these mantras about him being untouchable live are starting to show their age too.

Any way, Screwdriver might not re-invent the wheel but it's a decent little pop song, ten times better than RNR and I'd just like to buy a CD or lossless version please.

andykeen said:

rdhull said:

that nukka andy wasnt even born in the eighties..if he was he yearning for days when he was ina diaper not even knwoung what the funk was happening around him

It's not my intention to write a 'chip on the shoulder' screed. However, giving that I was born in the 80's but not having the then lived experience of his music. I (and I am sure most) appreciate the shear quality of his of studio in retrospect, and making comparisons is only natural. Prince was a tour de fource, untouchable. Now? Sadly, forgettable.

And yet he's on the cover of Billboard magazine and being honored by them next May, EOnline saw fit to try and start some trivial feud betweeen Prince and other artists and the song your talking about is being polled on MSNBC. That doesn't sound like someone who has been forgotten.

I agree with this. Prince has been spinning his wheels in the studio for years now. It's really disappointing. Same songs, different titles. Great musicianship, little inspiration in the songs. Back in the day, every Prince album was a surprise. You never knew what he was going to do next. An album like Lovesexy sounded unlike anything he'd done previously. The last time Prince inspired me on that level was The Rainbow Children - which at least had a vision, and felt like the most "free" Prince had been in some time. 3121 is a great Prince album, but without the sense of adventure his 80's albums had. A song like 'Joint 2 Joint' is maybe the last time I felt Prince stretching himself.

He has so much talent and genius. He needs to boldly go where he hasn't before and continue being the inspirational artist he once was, not just the incredible performer. For me to NOT feel excited about new Prince music says a lot, because I was once hugely fanatical and thrilled about his albums.

switters said:

A song like 'Joint 2 Joint' is maybe the last time I felt Prince stretching himself.

Nah more recent then that! Most of The Rainbow Children. One Nite Alone (perhaps) and certainly "The Dance" on 3121 (come on did anyone expect Prince to have a Tango on his album!)

Regarding the OP - Screwdriver has actually resparked my interest in Prince. It has a rough dirty feel that is not dissimilar to the Dirty Mind (let's do an 8 track demo instead of fully mixed album) approach. I like it and hope the album (if there is one) has an overarching theme/feel like that as opposed to another Prince album that covers the full range of styles Prince likes and ends up as a pastiche of itself (ie it becomes what you expect from recent Prince albums - rock track = check, funk track = check, delicate falsetto ballad = check, mid-tempo God song = check and so on.)

He's 54. He isn't 24.

andykeen said:

rdhull said:

that nukka andy wasnt even born in the eighties..if he was he yearning for days when he was ina diaper not even knwoung what the funk was happening around him

It's not my intention to write a 'chip on the shoulder' screed. However, giving that I was born in the 80's but not having the then lived experience of his music. I (and I am sure most) appreciate the shear quality of his of studio in retrospect, and making comparisons is only natural. Prince was a tour de fource, untouchable. Now? Sadly, forgettable.

Forgettable to you or the world? cuz from what I see Prince is far from forgettable. He's living a good life and his career is still going whether you like his new music or not.

only thing I don't like about screwdriver are his vocals. It sounds like he's straining, but its okay. and i do like the graphics of the lettering on the video. Its okay.

andykeen said:

rdhull said:

that nukka andy wasnt even born in the eighties..if he was he yearning for days when he was ina diaper not even knwoung what the funk was happening around him

It's not my intention to write a 'chip on the shoulder' screed. However, giving that I was born in the 80's but not having the then lived experience of his music. I (and I am sure most) appreciate the shear quality of his of studio in retrospect, and making comparisons is only natural. Prince was a tour de fource, untouchable. Now? Sadly, forgettable.

I dont know what the fuck all that blather is that you just wrote but you initally came here on the site espousing your thoughts of how Sly Stallone was the greatest actor. You were in fuckin Kimbies or even a zygote when Prince had his heyday and here you are trying to come across as a broke ass Bart (who is broken down himself especially only getting into Prince in the early to mid 90's but acted like he was wayyy invested for decades before he began his Chapman-like negative obsession) just trying to follow the hate crowd. It is so disingenuous because you are just using barely relevant but over used complaint points to make yet another tired overplayed Prince was better in the 80's as if we all dont already know that. Its 2013 dipshit. Go watch and jizz over Expendables 2.