He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

MendesCity said:

He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

It's called marketing.

kewlschool said:

MendesCity said:

He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

because in both of these cases, the production of the 2 types of songs do not sit well next to each other. I've tried to combine them both times, repeatedly. It doesn't work.

jhon00 said:

kewlschool said:

It's called marketing.

In some ways music is more segregated than it was in the 80s.

Yes, you are either played on radio or you are not. The ultimate in segregated music.

During his Warner years, his music wasn't R&B nor was it rock.

.

It was pop/funk/rock/punk/alternative/contempary/etc all rolled into one.

.

Only a handful of songs would be catagorised as a certain type of genre.

Whereas now, its strickly R&B or Rock. <yawn>

Very good question. its like he stumbled upon a magical formula between 1999 - SOTT then misplaced it.

kewlschool said:

MendesCity said:

He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

It's called marketing.

Just like having an awesome release party is marketing. It's just I don't really see where a fumbling bumbling mumbling photographer posing as a host calling him Prince and The Power Generations, and being oblivious to Jimi Hendrix...works

Militant said:

Radio segregation. Pop channels these days don't play rock and rock channels don't play pop.

But he's not even getting played on radio, so it's kind of baffling why he'd do this. I bet if you asked most casual fans, they'd say the diversity of genres is one of his most appealing traits.

Also - the PE songs sound just fine mixed in among the AOA songs in my opinion. I think we're just not used to hearing that kind of genre jumping these days.

callimnate said:

During his Warner years, his music wasn't R&B nor was it rock.

.

It was pop/funk/rock/punk/alternative/contempary/etc all rolled into one.

.

Only a handful of songs would be catagorised as a certain type of genre.

Whereas now, its strickly R&B or Rock. <yawn>

Yeah, that's true. A few of the AOA songs definitely would have benefitted from some epic guitar solos.

MendesCity said:

Militant said:

Radio segregation. Pop channels these days don't play rock and rock channels don't play pop.

But he's not even getting played on radio, so it's kind of baffling why he'd do this. I bet if you asked most casual fans, they'd say the diversity of genres is one of his most appealing traits.

Also - the PE songs sound just fine mixed in among the AOA songs in my opinion. I think we're just not used to hearing that kind of genre jumping these days.

Prince is not perceptive enough to know that 56 year olds are not all over the charts. He still believes he has a chance for that last hit. Sad, but true. So the Auto-Tune, and the rappers and other things are at the expense of wanting a hit. The last thing to come close to being a hit was "Call My Name," and a tiny argument could be made for "Future Baby Mama." He could probably make the album most of us all want if he would quit worrying about the latest trends, and hit records.

In defense of Prince, if selling out and bowing to recent trends is ok...AOA is not a bad album by any means, it just seems a bit over calculated to appeal to the young mindless Auto Tune crowd. But compared to most artists that started when Prince did or around the same time can't compare to him. As much as I love Terence Trent D'Arby...his last few albums as "Sananda Maitreya" were awful, save for 2-3 decent tracks. I didn't even buy his most recent one yet. U2 hardly ever release an album, so even though they seem to be better editors than Prince, they haven't released as much awesome music. I would probably argue that Prince would've been better served to release albums like U2, not to oversaturate the market..but have large outtake sets to satisfy us diehards...too bad that's not how it worked.

stillwaiting said:

In defense of Prince, if selling out and bowing to recent trends is ok...AOA is not a bad album by any means, it just seems a bit over calculated to appeal to the young mindless Auto Tune crowd. But compared to most artists that started when Prince did or around the same time can't compare to him. As much as I love Terence Trent D'Arby...his last few albums as "Sananda Maitreya" were awful, save for 2-3 decent tracks. I didn't even buy his most recent one yet. U2 hardly ever release an album, so even though they seem to be better editors than Prince, they haven't released as much awesome music. I would probably argue that Prince would've been better served to release albums like U2, not to oversaturate the market..but have large outtake sets to satisfy us diehards...too bad that's not how it worked.

At this particular moment, Prince IS on the U2 plan. An album every 4 years with some remasters/deluxe editions of the back catalog in between.

MendesCity said:

He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

Nah he used to blend funk and rock in the same song.

funksterr said:

jhon00 said:

kewlschool said:

It's called marketing.

In some ways music is more segregated than it was in the 80s.

People are more conservative than ever. Everybody lives in his own little box.

laurarichardson said:

funksterr said:

Nah he used to blend funk and rock in the same song.

Those songs do not get on the radio or get any promotion. Separating the music was the way he could get WB to put the project out. Stop blaming Prince for the environment today. Even he has to play by the rules sometime.

What are you talking about? Blending funk and rock within the same song is the Minneapolis Sound, and it's influence is still being felt on the radio today. Artist's are still having big hits and money is still being made off of it. Maroon5 has made an entire career out of it. It's the formula Prince is acclaimed for. It's the reason he is considered a 'musical genius'. What so called 'environment' are you referring to?

Askani said:

stillwaiting said:

In defense of Prince, if selling out and bowing to recent trends is ok...AOA is not a bad album by any means, it just seems a bit over calculated to appeal to the young mindless Auto Tune crowd. But compared to most artists that started when Prince did or around the same time can't compare to him. As much as I love Terence Trent D'Arby...his last few albums as "Sananda Maitreya" were awful, save for 2-3 decent tracks. I didn't even buy his most recent one yet. U2 hardly ever release an album, so even though they seem to be better editors than Prince, they haven't released as much awesome music. I would probably argue that Prince would've been better served to release albums like U2, not to oversaturate the market..but have large outtake sets to satisfy us diehards...too bad that's not how it worked.

At this particular moment, Prince IS on the U2 plan. An album every 4 years with some remasters/deluxe editions of the back catalog in between.

Not really. U2 released 2 songs from March 2009 to Aug 2014. 5 and a half years, and just one song at the end of 2013, and one in early 2014 before their new album.

Prince released countless online singles, and "leaked" songs on You Tube, 3EG Twitter, etc. Almost 2 or more albums worth of material since the release of 20Ten.

i think its to point out how diverse he is

I loved when Rockgospelfunkysoul was his thing. You would hear churchy organ with a rock guitar with an r n b gospel soul sound. use to be my favorite blend. Kinda what made Purple Rain so special to me. Couldn't really catagorize the music, just had to listen.

I wish he hadn't, I wish he had released the best songs of AOA and Plectrum merged in one album, with something for everybody:

Wow

Clouds

Pretzels

Breakdown

The Gold Standard

Another Love

Way Back Home

Tic Tac Toe

FunkNRoll

Time

luvsexy4all said:

i think its to point out how diverse he is

In 2014 if Prince still has to do that then somehow it's gotta be his fault

Listen to the Prince podcast. You have two guys on there saying they rarely listen to rock music, why? Their color.

Prince did get more blacks into rock, but Prince's rock not anybody else. lol.

Come on black people, rock music is good.

Militant said:

Radio segregation. Pop channels these days don't play rock and rock channels don't play pop.

And neither are playing any of the new tracks Shame.

funksterr said:

Askani said:

MendesCity said:

He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

because in both of these cases, the production of the 2 types of songs do not sit well next to each other. I've tried to combine them both times, repeatedly. It doesn't work.

I agree. However, I did bridge the two albums by putting STOPTHISTRAIN after affirmation lll and that works pretty good. Shuffled some of the poppier PE songs to follow and the electro funk of AOA transitions nicely into the 3rdeyegirl stuff.

Askani said:

MendesCity said:

He did it with LotusFlower and MPLS, and he's doing it again. It's like he's forgotten that his refusal to segregate R&B and rock is what made him so appealing in the first place. We can handle it, buddy - put it all together.

[Edited 10/1/14 19:09pm]

because in both of these cases, the production of the 2 types of songs do not sit well next to each other. I've tried to combine them both times, repeatedly. It doesn't work.

I agree. However, I did bridge the two albums by putting STOPTHISTRAIN after affirmation lll and that works pretty good. Shuffled some of the poppier PE songs to follow and the electro funk of AOA transitions nicely into the 3rdeyegirl stuff.