funkomatic said:

SoulAlive said:

One of Prince's funkiest jams is "Hide The Bone".That's exactly the type of hardcore,gritty,nastay funk that I wish he would do more often I think that particular era (1993/1994/1995) was when he was at his funkiest.

Disagree. It was the 80s once again!

In the early 80s,he was certainly funky but beginning with Purple Rain,his albums,for the most part,were more focused on pop.How many funk songs are on the Purple Rain album?

SoulAlive said:

funkomatic said:

Disagree. It was the 80s once again!

In the early 80s,he was certainly funky but beginning with Purple Rain,his albums,for the most part,were more focused on pop.How many funk songs are on the Purple Rain album?

Erotic City was the funkiest thing from that time, and it wasn't even on the album. Funk fans looked for 1999 pt. 2, and Purple Rain wasn't it.

Graycap23 said:

EddieC said:

Prince is a POP artist, not a FUNK artist.

Ohh lawrd.............

Thank you. Head was not pop, LOL!!!!

The Black Album, erotic city, I can go all day --Prince is funky, no question. I think it comes down to his disdain to categorization (white/black/rock/funk/pop etc) and he's too ecclectic to only doing pure funk music.

I think I was actually the one that first questioned Prince's status as a "funk artist" on the .org and started a thread on it (it was in '02 or '03). I was wrong then and was using too simplified argumentation to drive the point across. It was the same as here, basically - that he hasn't done "funk albums" and that they're mostly filled with pop music.

Prince has done hundreds of funk tracks during his career and some of them are used as definition what funk music is (especially the 1980s kind). Along with his big "pop hits" his funk stuff has always been played live. It's true though that he usually doesn't have more than a couple of tracks on his albums that are funk. When you look at his "masterpieces" it's actually a bit disappointing when you realize it's often the funk tracks that he took off from the albums, gave them for others or ended up not releasing them at all.

It would be hard to pick too many Prince albums that you could put on a list for "the greatest funk albums of all time". 1999 belongs there, certainly, but I'm not sure about the others. But If we're honest about it, the "pure funk" ratio isn't that high with bands like Parliament / Funkadelic or Mandrill either. A little bit higher than Prince's, but not that much higher.

[Edited 8/23/13 7:16am]

funkomatic said:

As far as the topic is concerned: No, I don't think Prince delivered. He should have created a funk album with at least 8 killer funk tracks. He came close in 1986 when compiling the Camille album.

Can you name one Parliament / Funkadelic album that has "8 killer funk tracks"?

Okay, maybe Mothership Connection. But that one has the same song on it twice.

novabrkr said:

I think I was actually the one that first questioned Prince's status as a "funk artist" on the .org and started a thread on it (it was in '02 or '03). I was wrong then and was using too simplified argumentation to drive the point across. It was the same as here, basically - that he hasn't done "funk albums" and that they're mostly filled with pop music.

Prince has done hundreds of funk tracks during his career and some of them are used as definition what funk music is (especially the 1980s kind). Along with his big "pop hits" his funk stuff has always been played live. It's true though that he usually doesn't have more than a couple of tracks on his albums that are funk. When you look at his "masterpieces" it's actually a bit disappointing when you realize it's often the funk tracks that he took off from the albums, gave them for others or ended up not releasing them at all.

It would be hard to pick too many Prince albums that you could put on a list for "the greatest funk albums of all time". 1999 belongs there, certainly, but I'm not sure about the others. But If we're honest about it, the "pure funk" ratio isn't that high with bands like Parliament / Funkadelic or Mandrill either. A little bit higher than Prince's, but not that much higher.

[Edited 8/23/13 7:16am]

I think we all know in his early days Prince is mostly concerned with appealing to cross-over and larger audience. He could if he wanted to but putting out strictly funk albums wouldn't be in his best interest back in the day.

He should work on a new album seriously... in this era he's getting at least recognized by Billboard and lately he gained a lot of fans... He should promote a new album with decent songs and I'm sure it'll get to number one easily because he's Prince... The man still got it so why not?!

novabrkr said:

funkomatic said:

As far as the topic is concerned: No, I don't think Prince delivered. He should have created a funk album with at least 8 killer funk tracks. He came close in 1986 when compiling the Camille album.

Can you name one Parliament / Funkadelic album that has "8 killer funk tracks"?

Mothership Connection, The Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein and Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome are all testaments to the funk.

Certainly, but there are no eight killer funk tracks on any of those either. Unless we count the two versions of "Mothership Connection" as two different tracks ("Handcuffs" isn't that hot to me either).

Another thing that people would be just better off admitting about Parliament is that most of their later albums were very heavily influenced by disco. Ultimately, the big names in funk have hardly ever done albums full of "pure funk".

novabrkr said:

Certainly, but there are no eight killer funk tracks on any of those either. Unless we count the two versions of "Mothership Connection" as two different tracks ("Handcuffs" isn't that hot to me either).

Another thing that people would be just better off admitting about Parliament is that most of their later albums were very heavily influenced by disco. Ultimately, the big names in funk have hardly ever done albums full of "pure funk".

Mothership Connection and The Clones of Dr Funkenstein come very close though IMO.

Who cares about "pure funk"? Funk is not dead, it needs to be developed and played around with.

novabrkr said:

MadamGoodnight said:

SoulAlive said:

In the early 80s,he was certainly funky but beginning with Purple Rain,his albums,for the most part,were more focused on pop.How many funk songs are on the Purple Rain album?

Erotic City was the funkiest thing from that time, and it wasn't even on the album. Funk fans looked for 1999 pt. 2, and Purple Rain wasn't it.

I actually think that 1999 is a better album than Purple Rain.On 1999,there were two unquestionably funky jams: "DMSR" and "Lady Cab Driver".A better balance between funk and the pop/New Wave stuff.

SuperSoulFighter said:

novabrkr said:

Certainly, but there are no eight killer funk tracks on any of those either. Unless we count the two versions of "Mothership Connection" as two different tracks ("Handcuffs" isn't that hot to me either).

Another thing that people would be just better off admitting about Parliament is that most of their later albums were very heavily influenced by disco. Ultimately, the big names in funk have hardly ever done albums full of "pure funk".

That's a matter of taste of course, but if you think George Clinton didn't do pure funk albums, then pure funk does not exist. [Edited 8/24/13 2:54am]

If this isn't funk enough for him, he has got to check all his olfactory devices, like his nose, nerves, neurons, etc.

And if he can't smell the funk, maybe he can smell the different guys who peed over it.

[Edited 8/24/13 6:47am]

/\ Love it!

SuperSoulFighter said:

novabrkr said:

Certainly, but there are no eight killer funk tracks on any of those either. Unless we count the two versions of "Mothership Connection" as two different tracks ("Handcuffs" isn't that hot to me either).

Another thing that people would be just better off admitting about Parliament is that most of their later albums were very heavily influenced by disco. Ultimately, the big names in funk have hardly ever done albums full of "pure funk".

That's a matter of taste of course, but if you think George Clinton didn't do pure funk albums, then pure funk does not exist. [Edited 8/24/13 2:54am]

He has done a few of them, but there's a whole lot of other type of stuff included on Parliament / Funkadelic albums too. I just don't think Prince is much of an exception in that sense when considering his status as a "funk artist".

dJJ said:

SuperSoulFighter said:

novabrkr said: That's a matter of taste of course, but if you think George Clinton didn't do pure funk albums, then pure funk does not exist. [Edited 8/24/13 2:54am]

If this isn't funk enough for him, he has got to check all his olfactory devices, like his nose, nerves, neurons, etc.

And if he can't smell the funk, maybe he can smell the different guys who peed over it.

[Edited 8/24/13 6:47am]

djj, I have no idea what your post is supposed to be about.

I'm criticizing here the persistent claim on this site that Prince's status as funk artist is somehow diminished by his albums containing "mostly pop". When you look at the whole body of his work the number of funk tracks he has done is obviously quite high.

novabrkr said:

dJJ said:

If this isn't funk enough for him, he has got to check all his olfactory devices, like his nose, nerves, neurons, etc.

And if he can't smell the funk, maybe he can smell the different guys who peed over it.

[Edited 8/24/13 6:47am]

djj, I have no idea what your post is supposed to be about.

I'm criticizing here the persistent claim on this site that Prince's status as funk artist is somehow diminished by his albums containing "mostly pop". When you look at the whole body of his work the number of funk tracks he has done is obviously quite high.

For Funk fans the rate per album is way too little!

The problem with Prince is he keeps using the same all over the place album formula over and over again in order to maintain his mainstream pop appeal. As interesting as it might be in the early days as predictable and boring it became later on.

So if he wants to make another strong artistic statement, he needs to go deeper than that, not only touch the surface by doing a little bit of all.

Considering this I have to say, although I'm not that big of a rock fan, that he seems to be on the right track by following a more consequent rock approach in his live settings. But the question is: will he give it enough time, will he go deep enough in order to get really good results out of it? I doubt it.

funkomatic said:

novabrkr said:

djj, I have no idea what your post is supposed to be about.

I'm criticizing here the persistent claim on this site that Prince's status as funk artist is somehow diminished by his albums containing "mostly pop". When you look at the whole body of his work the number of funk tracks he has done is obviously quite high.

For Funk fans the rate per album is way too little!

The problem with Prince is he keeps using the same all over the place album formula over and over again in order to maintain his mainstream pop appeal. As interesting as it might be in the early days as predictable and boring it became later on.

So if he wants to make another strong artistic statement, he needs to go deeper than that, not only touch the surface by doing a little bit of all.

Considering this I have to say, although I'm not that big of a rock fan, that he seems to be on the right track by following a more consequent rock approach in his live settings. But the question is: will he give it enough time, will he go deep enough in order to get really good results out of it? I doubt it.

*

The problem is that you seem to want Prince to be something that he's not and something that he’s never claimed to be. Prince is funky, but that isn’t all that Prince is or has striven to be. It ain’t his fault the he was or has been the only person talented and brave enough to keep alive the funk. So, no one should try to place the albatross of carrying the funk legacy around his neck. For you, his doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that has become "predictable and boring". But, for me, it hasn't because I still enjoy the fact that when I play a Prince album each song will be something different. That's what I like. That's why I like Prince. Again, I'm not saying that he can't create an entire rock, soul, blues, or funk album, but that would certainly be boring to me. Even with 3rdEyeGirl, the heavy rock shows always include something else, which, again, keeps it from being boring to him and to fans like me. I love that his shows can include songs, such as “Screwdriver,” with songs, such as “Ain’t Gone Miss U When U Gone.” Eclectic Prince is the Prince I love. And if we can judge anything by the singles that we have received this year, the album will, again, be another collection of differently styled tunes, which keeps me excited and not bored. If anything, Prince is one of the few artists today keeping alive the legacy of George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic by being able to tour with two different ensembles that are both great: 3rdEyeGirl (rock) and NPG (Funk and soul). In this, Prince is certainly carrying the Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic legacy of busting categories, continuing to make it impossible for anyone to “say a funk band can’t play rock”. So, while Prince may not have fulfilled your expectations of a funk artist, he has certainly fulfilled his expectations of playing all of the music that he so desires, and that, according to Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic, is fulfilling his artistic potential. Besides, Bootsy Collins stated that Prince “legalized the funk,” and that’s good enough for me.

funkomatic said:

novabrkr said:

djj, I have no idea what your post is supposed to be about.

I'm criticizing here the persistent claim on this site that Prince's status as funk artist is somehow diminished by his albums containing "mostly pop". When you look at the whole body of his work the number of funk tracks he has done is obviously quite high.

For Funk fans the rate per album is way too little!

The problem with Prince is h

No the problem with you is, that you expect him to fill his albums with a majority of pure 'funk' music. Whatever that may really mean in your view and according to your taste. It could all depend on whatever day you are living and how your P is smelling.

1725topp said:

funkomatic said:

For Funk fans the rate per album is way too little!

The problem with Prince is he keeps using the same all over the place album formula over and over again in order to maintain his mainstream pop appeal. As interesting as it might be in the early days as predictable and boring it became later on.

So if he wants to make another strong artistic statement, he needs to go deeper than that, not only touch the surface by doing a little bit of all.

Considering this I have to say, although I'm not that big of a rock fan, that he seems to be on the right track by following a more consequent rock approach in his live settings. But the question is: will he give it enough time, will he go deep enough in order to get really good results out of it? I doubt it.

*

The problem is that you seem to want Prince to be something that he's not and something that he’s never claimed to be. Prince is funky, but that isn’t all that Prince is or has striven to be. It ain’t his fault the he was or has been the only person talented and brave enough to keep alive the funk. So, no one should try to place the albatross of carrying the funk legacy around his neck. For you, his doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that has become "predictable and boring". But, for me, it hasn't because I still enjoy the fact that when I play a Prince album each song will be something different. That's what I like. That's why I like Prince. Again, I'm not saying that he can't create an entire rock, soul, blues, or funk album, but that would certainly be boring to me. Even with 3rdEyeGirl, the heavy rock shows always include something else, which, again, keeps it from being boring to him and to fans like me. I love that his shows can include songs, such as “Screwdriver,” with songs, such as “Ain’t Gone Miss U When U Gone.” Eclectic Prince is the Prince I love. And if we can judge anything by the singles that we have received this year, the album will, again, be another collection of differently styled tunes, which keeps me excited and not bored. If anything, Prince is one of the few artists today keeping alive the legacy of George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic by being able to tour with two different ensembles that are both great: 3rdEyeGirl (rock) and NPG (Funk and soul). In this, Prince is certainly carrying the Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic legacy of busting categories, continuing to make it impossible for anyone to “say a funk band can’t play rock”. So, while Prince may not have fulfilled your expectations of a funk artist, he has certainly fulfilled his expectations of playing all of the music that he so desires, and that, according to Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic, is fulfilling his artistic potential. Besides, Bootsy Collins stated that Prince “legalized the funk,” and that’s good enough for me.

Not sure if you all get me right, but in the end it's all about getting him out of his routine and initialising a new learning process which makes him go deeper than usual. The more focus the stronger and edgier the artistic statement.

Prince did the best funk music of the 1980s. End of discussion.

Most definitley, there aren't many tracks out there that are funkier than Lady Cab Driver or Cystal Ball.

Maybe Funk'n Roll is the start of something.

You never know. It's prince.

funkomatic said:

1725topp said:

*

The problem is that you seem to want Prince to be something that he's not and something that he’s never claimed to be. Prince is funky, but that isn’t all that Prince is or has striven to be. It ain’t his fault the he was or has been the only person talented and brave enough to keep alive the funk. So, no one should try to place the albatross of carrying the funk legacy around his neck. For you, his doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that has become "predictable and boring". But, for me, it hasn't because I still enjoy the fact that when I play a Prince album each song will be something different. That's what I like. That's why I like Prince. Again, I'm not saying that he can't create an entire rock, soul, blues, or funk album, but that would certainly be boring to me. Even with 3rdEyeGirl, the heavy rock shows always include something else, which, again, keeps it from being boring to him and to fans like me. I love that his shows can include songs, such as “Screwdriver,” with songs, such as “Ain’t Gone Miss U When U Gone.” Eclectic Prince is the Prince I love. And if we can judge anything by the singles that we have received this year, the album will, again, be another collection of differently styled tunes, which keeps me excited and not bored. If anything, Prince is one of the few artists today keeping alive the legacy of George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic by being able to tour with two different ensembles that are both great: 3rdEyeGirl (rock) and NPG (Funk and soul). In this, Prince is certainly carrying the Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic legacy of busting categories, continuing to make it impossible for anyone to “say a funk band can’t play rock”. So, while Prince may not have fulfilled your expectations of a funk artist, he has certainly fulfilled his expectations of playing all of the music that he so desires, and that, according to Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic, is fulfilling his artistic potential. Besides, Bootsy Collins stated that Prince “legalized the funk,” and that’s good enough for me.

Not sure if you all get me right, but in the end it's all about getting him out of his routine and initialising a new learning process which makes him go deeper than usual. The more focus the stronger and edgier the artistic statement.

But Prince doesn't make album length statements--his chosen length is the song, his albums are collections of disparate statements, and his statements (even if they goes beyond a single track) aren't unified genre statements, whether that's funk or rock (the current shows may be often nearly all one genre--but if so, he still feels the need to point out that other shows during the same stand have a different balance--he doesn't want to be a funk or rock or jazz artist). His artistic statement requires, apparently, that he exhibit (or at least remind people of) his desire to be eclectic. To me, that's a pop mentality. Regardless of whether you agree with that term, it's highly unlikely that he will ever do anything extensive that's focussed on one genre--if he did, it would probably be to meet someone else's expectations, not his own artistic goals.

SoulAlive said:

MadamGoodnight said:

Erotic City was the funkiest thing from that time, and it wasn't even on the album. Funk fans looked for 1999 pt. 2, and Purple Rain wasn't it.

I actually think that 1999 is a better album than Purple Rain.On 1999,there were two unquestionably funky jams: "DMSR" and "Lady Cab Driver".A better balance between funk and the pop/New Wave stuff.

I do too. Not only is 1999 my favorite Prince album, it's my favorite album of all time. I just love the sound from this period. Even the B side Irresistible B*&^h is Funky with a capital F.

funkomatic said:

1725topp said:

*

The problem is that you seem to want Prince to be something that he's not and something that he’s never claimed to be. Prince is funky, but that isn’t all that Prince is or has striven to be. It ain’t his fault the he was or has been the only person talented and brave enough to keep alive the funk. So, no one should try to place the albatross of carrying the funk legacy around his neck. For you, his doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that has become "predictable and boring". But, for me, it hasn't because I still enjoy the fact that when I play a Prince album each song will be something different. That's what I like. That's why I like Prince. Again, I'm not saying that he can't create an entire rock, soul, blues, or funk album, but that would certainly be boring to me. Even with 3rdEyeGirl, the heavy rock shows always include something else, which, again, keeps it from being boring to him and to fans like me. I love that his shows can include songs, such as “Screwdriver,” with songs, such as “Ain’t Gone Miss U When U Gone.” Eclectic Prince is the Prince I love. And if we can judge anything by the singles that we have received this year, the album will, again, be another collection of differently styled tunes, which keeps me excited and not bored. If anything, Prince is one of the few artists today keeping alive the legacy of George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic by being able to tour with two different ensembles that are both great: 3rdEyeGirl (rock) and NPG (Funk and soul). In this, Prince is certainly carrying the Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic legacy of busting categories, continuing to make it impossible for anyone to “say a funk band can’t play rock”. So, while Prince may not have fulfilled your expectations of a funk artist, he has certainly fulfilled his expectations of playing all of the music that he so desires, and that, according to Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic, is fulfilling his artistic potential. Besides, Bootsy Collins stated that Prince “legalized the funk,” and that’s good enough for me.

Not sure if you all get me right, but in the end it's all about getting him out of his routine and initialising a new learning process which makes him go deeper than usual. The more focus the stronger and edgier the artistic statement.

*

I can't say, empirically, that you are wrong, but Prince's past history seems to suggest that he doesn't or wouldn't have the interest to focus long enough on funk or any one genre to develop the statement that you desire. For instance, I like Greek literature and can teach some aspects of it and often borrow dashes of it in my own creation. But, I'd be bored to tears if I was forced to construct an entire Greek play or poem. Thus, that new learning process that you suggest seems to be quite dependent upon Prince engaging something for a period of time longer than he would desire to do. I don't think that anyone is saying that you are wrong for wondering how it would sound if Prince dedicated more time to your genre of choice, but, based on Prince's history, your desire or request seems to be an attempt to get blood from a turnip. Or, for a more accurate analogy, Prince is only interested in donating a limited amount of blood, sweat, and tears to funk because he desires to donate other amounts of blood, sweat, and tears to other genres. That's just the way he seems to be wired. So, it would seem to be more constructive and less stressful for one to enjoy the amount of funk one desires from other places and just enjoy what limited amount of enjoyable funk that one gets from Prince rather than stressing or demanding that he delivers more because, again, Prince’s history seems to suggest that more isn’t coming.