SpiritOtter said:

1725topp said:

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There is no way that you can categorize 20Ten as a R&B pop album without categorizing 1999 as a R&B pop album because they are the same type of "sounds". In fact there is just as much guitar on 20Ten as there is on 1999. So that at least proves my point that Prince's base/foundation has always been funk/R&B, which is clearly heard through the 80s except for Around the World in a Day and Parade. Everything else in the 80s is based on this same formula or style. Remove "Let's Go Crazy" and the solo from "Computer Blue," and Purple Rain is, according to your definition, a R&B pop album. This is also true for Dirty Mind. Remove "When U Were Mind," and it is a basic R&B/Funk album. Same for Controversy. Remove "Sexuality" and "Jack U Off," and it is a basic R&B/Funk album. Thus, whatever Prince was during the 80s, he is the same today. But, the real difference is that unlike so many others on this site who view R&B/Funk as somehow less sophisticated than Rock, I understand the diversity and creativity, especially with the bass, boards, and guitar, that R&B and Funk offers.

I think both you and skywalker have correctly pointed out the "clumsiness" of my RnB/pop classification of his Emancipation onwards work, because as you both point out astutely the same 'rule' could be applied to all his work. However, I think there might be an argument for a higher proportion (or certainly, a subjective felt sense) that as Prince has matured as an artist, his works have become far more formulaic (i.e. within the norms of a genre) than with his characteristic Prince-like idiosyncracies. It is why THE RAINBOW CHILDREN, N.E.W.S and even off-songs like GLASSCUTTER and F.U.N.K. were almost welcome surprises and out of the blue. Back in the day, you would be surprised if you were not suprised. Nowadays, you are surprised if you are surprised. Don't get me wrong; I dig all of it.

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I think that I can agree with you in spirit if not in letter that as Prince has gotten older he has been less "surprising," but I'll only add that once one has established or proven that one is great at what one does then I'm satisfied with just good work. Now we can debate, as we always do on this site, about whether or not his output of the last thirteen years has been "good/pleasurable," but for me I love most of what he's done over the past thirteen years, including continuing to be musically diverse. So, maybe, for me, I'm not looking to be surprised because I know that Prince is great and because I'm at an age where very little can surprise me. I’ve seen/experienced so much that when I see a young artist do something that many find shocking I just think, “I remember when so and so did that same thing.” But I must add that I wasn't so much surprised by Prince during the 80s because I had been exposed to so much wonderful art (music, literature, film, fashion, painting) that I just recognized Prince as another wonderful talent on this planet of whom I was happy to enjoy. Let me be clear. I greatly enjoyed Prince’s amalgamations of musical and ideological ideas during the 80s, but I don't know if I was ever "surprised" by it. So, today, I'm just happy that he still makes music that I enjoy with the understanding that even after all these years because Prince is so much his own person that there may come a day when I no longer like what he's doing. I just hope that if/when that happens that I'm not like so many here and spend the next _______ years lamenting it.

1725topp said:

SpiritOtter said:

I think both you and skywalker have correctly pointed out the "clumsiness" of my RnB/pop classification of his Emancipation onwards work, because as you both point out astutely the same 'rule' could be applied to all his work. However, I think there might be an argument for a higher proportion (or certainly, a subjective felt sense) that as Prince has matured as an artist, his works have become far more formulaic (i.e. within the norms of a genre) than with his characteristic Prince-like idiosyncracies. It is why THE RAINBOW CHILDREN, N.E.W.S and even off-songs like GLASSCUTTER and F.U.N.K. were almost welcome surprises and out of the blue. Back in the day, you would be surprised if you were not suprised. Nowadays, you are surprised if you are surprised. Don't get me wrong; I dig all of it.

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I think that I can agree with you in spirit if not in letter that as Prince has gotten older he has been less "surprising," but I'll only add that once one has established or proven that one is great at what one does then I'm satisfied with just good work. Now we can debate, as we always do on this site, about whether or not his output of the last thirteen years has been "good/pleasurable," but for me I love most of what he's done over the past thirteen years, including continuing to be musically diverse. So, maybe, for me, I'm not looking to be surprised because I know that Prince is great and because I'm at an age where very little can surprise me. I’ve seen/experienced so much that when I see a young artist do something that many find shocking I just think, “I remember when so and so did that same thing.” But I must add that I wasn't so much surprised by Prince during the 80s because I had been exposed to so much wonderful art (music, literature, film, fashion, painting) that I just recognized Prince as another wonderful talent on this planet of whom I was happy to enjoy. Let me be clear. I greatly enjoyed Prince’s amalgamations of musical and ideological ideas during the 80s, but I don't know if I was ever "surprised" by it. So, today, I'm just happy that he still makes music that I enjoy with the understanding that even after all these years because Prince is so much his own person that there may come a day when I no longer like what he's doing. I just hope that if/when that happens that I'm not like so many here and spend the next _______ years lamenting it.

Lovely. And ditto.

SpiritOtter said:

However, I think there might be an argument for a higher proportion (or certainly, a subjective felt sense) that as Prince has matured as an artist, his works have become far more formulaic (i.e. within the norms of a genre) than with his characteristic Prince-like idiosyncracies.

I hear you. I think this has as much to do with us (avid fans tracking down bootlegs and such in the unending eternal quest to listen to every note Prince ever recorded) as it does with Prince.