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Thread started 09/21/14 4:14pm

MinorG

Passing the torch?

Prince since 2010 seems to be focused on helping others, moving into a mentoring role. He produced Andy Allo, gave a few songs to larry Graham, exec produced Liv Warfield, produced a single for Shelby, worked on a song with rita ora, apparently worked with esperanza spalding on a track, guested on janelle monae's album.

In light of this, I've got two theories.

1) He said in a promo interview for 20ten that it was a significant year, it could be that the significance was he was done with releasing albums. He'd tried pretty much every way of releasing albums in 2000's from free in papers to free with concert tix, to exclusive store deals to online only. Maybe he was just done with the hassle of the business - his comments about the music industry going through changes and he would sit things out hint at this. I think he has seriously considered retiring as an active recording artist and using his talents to bring others up.

2) The return of prince in 2013-14 has been dependent on his desire to showcase the talents of other younger musicians, namely his work with the 3rdeyegirls and joshua welton. He has talked up and toured with hannah, ida and donna for longer than many thought and he has stuck with the concept beyond his normal midgefly attention span. Even the week before the release of plectrumelectrum it's only the 3 girls who have been seen in public and he's allowed greater prominence to donna's guitar playing than any other guitarist in his past bands. With hannah taking lead vocals this is likely going to be an album that showcases the band as much if not more than prince.
Josh is all over the production of art official age from what we can tell. I get the sense that to prince this might be as much a side project as 3rdeye, only this focusing on josh's production as the true "star" of the lp. In either case it is striking that he is sharing production for the first time (minus kirky j) on his "comeback" record.

Do you think prince only got these two albums out there to help his young proteges, and that if it weren't for josh, hannah, donna and ida we might have gone 5 years without a cd? Seems inconceivable but having a 4 year gap between projects would have seemed equally crazy back in 2010 to me.
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Reply #1 posted 09/21/14 5:50pm

KingSausage

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No.
"Drop that stereo before I blow your Goddamn nuts off, asshole!"
-Eugene Tackleberry
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Reply #2 posted 09/22/14 2:56am

dazedawhile

maybe even he doesnt realize what is happening

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Reply #3 posted 09/22/14 3:16am

KingSausage

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There's no point in passing a torch that's unlit.
"Drop that stereo before I blow your Goddamn nuts off, asshole!"
-Eugene Tackleberry
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Reply #4 posted 09/22/14 4:16am

databank

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prince has always, since the very begining (it started with the unreleased Sue-Ann Carwell and The Rebls projects) showcased other artists from his camp, composed and produced songs for them, etc. Even when this calmed down after the Newpower Pak project he would still ocasionally do it (there was the aborted Rosie gaimes 2000 album, the song for Kip Blackshire, cameos on albums by Rhonda and FunkyBaldHeads, the aborted Tamar album, etc.), and he used Kirk in the late 90's in the exact same way he's using Josh now, so I don't see any major shift in his career here, nothing at least that would justify building new "theories". prince has always liked the idea of being the mastermind behind a musical family/movement. Back in the days, he would more use artists as "voices" to be incorporated in his own musical vision, and maybe just now he's a bit more willing to let his fellow artists develop their own musical world and give a hand than before, because he's grown up. Still, in the case of 3rdEyeGirl, they're just another backing band, he just chose to give them more exposure than some past bands.

A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/
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Reply #5 posted 09/22/14 8:52am

stillwaiting

He simply seems to be trying to position himself with other people who are extraordinary in lack of talent. And he's done this over and over. In the early days, he had a lot of great people around him, and a few buffoons. Now he's working with this guy Josh who was proficient in playing the cowbell, and the triangle. And he's suddenly a co-producer? Really?

It's well documented that Prince wastes a lot of time. Let's see...3121, a really nice recent album...should I promote it? No...I should spend all this time with Tamar, tour with her, and then never release her album...yeah...that makes sense.

It just seems so crazy to watch Prince do dumb things...but he's slowly been making dumber and dumber decisions since the Purple Rain hysteria hit. The good news. is he still puts out mostly good music, and sometimes has some awesome live shows. The auto-tune on the new album has me frightened though. Yet another young person awful trend he has decided to follow. Yuck!

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Reply #6 posted 09/22/14 10:29am

databank

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stillwaiting said:

He simply seems to be trying to position himself with other people who are extraordinary in lack of talent. And he's done this over and over. In the early days, he had a lot of great people around him, and a few buffoons. Now he's working with this guy Josh who was proficient in playing the cowbell, and the triangle. And he's suddenly a co-producer? Really?

It's well documented that Prince wastes a lot of time. Let's see...3121, a really nice recent album...should I promote it? No...I should spend all this time with Tamar, tour with her, and then never release her album...yeah...that makes sense.

It just seems so crazy to watch Prince do dumb things...but he's slowly been making dumber and dumber decisions since the Purple Rain hysteria hit. The good news. is he still puts out mostly good music, and sometimes has some awesome live shows. The auto-tune on the new album has me frightened though. Yet another young person awful trend he has decided to follow. Yuck!

This is mean and silly. Josh is a producer in his own right who plays at least the piano, sings, does programming and has produced full songs by himself in the past. Do I like his solo work? No, I think it's terrible, but he's a professional musician, not a cowbell and triangle player. Don't speak disprespectfully about people until u know what u're talking about.

A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/
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Reply #7 posted 09/22/14 11:27am

ludwig

MinorG said:

In either case it is striking that he is sharing production for the first time (minus kirky j) on his "comeback" record.

Don't forget Ricky Peterson's involvement in the production of The Gold Experience album.

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Reply #8 posted 09/22/14 1:46pm

MinorG

I understand that he has a history of working with both family style camps since the time days and working with people he likes moreso than people of renowned talent. However I guess my point was that he has taken an unprecedented break in his album releasing career, and his return is conspicuous by its sharing with his current new crew.
Was the break in releases purely down to no-one being prepared to give prince enough money? Possibly. But the last time he burnt his major label bridges with rave, he found a way to keep the flow of music coming under the radar. This time he round in 2010-2014 he pretty much only released music via friends and protégés until the whole 3rdeyegirl concept began.
So is the desire to return to the spotlight alongside josh and the girls due to his ego missing the attention or because he's taking pleasure in mentoring them through to stardom?
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Reply #9 posted 09/22/14 2:04pm

NouveauDance

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2010 wasn't significant in the slightest, he just couldn't be bothered giving a better title to his latest hodgpodge collection of songs. If he truly believed in a project, it's concept and songs I think he would sell the shit out of it - why should we and the general audience give a fuck when he doesn't, and 20Ten was a prime example of that.

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I think the 3rd Eye Girl thing was giving him life for a long time, and people seemed really interested in the concept and project when he brought it the stage - but I'm not hearing anything special, unique and different from the recorded music that that he hasn't already brought to the table for a long time now, and I've seen many a "what happens next" thread on here which says even many fans don't think he will put much staying power in 3EG.

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I think Prince uses proteges these days as deflection from the sub-par quality of his own wark, it screams of a lack of confidence in himself to me. And vulnerablity isn't something he should be afraid of, in fact I think it would make his own work stronger at this stage in his career. His music needs a shot of realness to me, I want to hear Prince put his true life experience in his lyrics, I think it would make his conviction to his craft markedly better. To put it in a sentence: I don't Prince's current music is living up to his immense talent. And that saddens me as someone who believes in that talent he has.

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Reply #10 posted 09/22/14 3:07pm

MinorG

Interesting post, can certainly see your point. I don't think we'll ever get prince releasing that emotionally eloquent album, it's not in his lexicon
I think his métier is pop not pop psychology.
There's a theory that a pop star stays the same age for the rest of their life of the age they first get famous, hence mj being childlike, jagger the strutting 20 year old, jarvis cocker the elder statesman of britpop and prince will always be the horny 19 year old. Who knows, maybe he will surprise everyone but I can't see him doing a profound Leonard Cohen type of record.
However, I disagree that his work is subpar, I've enjoyed a lot of the recent online songs, not heard the preview songs as I want something to look forward to next week!
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Reply #11 posted 09/23/14 2:50am

Rebeljuice

The only difference I see between what he is doing now, in terms of being a mentor, and what he has done in the past is the long hiatus between his own albums. The real question is whether it is worth the wait. AOA is certainly shaping up to be a musical departure and PE seems to be just what it says on the tin. I hope we get something else before the year is up to (PR reiisue notwithstanding).

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