NuPwrSoul said:

I guess you could say "Xpectation" is the first of these?

MrTation said:

Only if he keeps it up.
Anybody remember the furor that broke out when Billy Joel
"announced" that he had sung his last words, and totally
switched to instrumentals?
Can you imagine what would happen if P did likewise?

i like the sound of TRC. Parts of it are funky, i like the instrumentation...

problem for me is that there are only a few good songs.

She Loves Me 4 Me

The Last December

1+1+1 = 3

and none of those are anything out of this world.

Family Name, Everlasting Now, Mellow, The Work (pt 1) - ok. Family Name would have been better had the first 4 minutes been lopped off.

Mellow, Muse 2 the Pharoah.. eh. do nothing for me.

Then there's the boatload of nonsense that you have to wade through to get to the few solid moments...


The Rainbow Children: an album that I've tried hard to like, but thus far have been unsuccessful. But I like the direction, stylistically. If only there was more strong material



*

rdhull said:

hmmm...

I don't know. Dirty Mind was very different than his first 2 albums, but also very different form the albums after that; to my listening the music and the lyrics stand pretty much separated from the rest. I think the critics raved about this album and it did introduce the public to the 'nasty' Prince, but Prince didn't really continue with the Dirty Mind style after it turned out to be somewhat of a dissapointment in terms of commercial succes.

I think Controversy was the real turning point in his 'adolescent' years. Imo Controversy not only introduced the typical Prince sound of the early 80's (typically: the drum machine, the funky guitar riffs -- Controversy, Sexuality , the energetic funk -- Let's work, the keyboard sound, the 'sexy' ballads -- Do me baby) but also the typical 'Prince themes' he continued to spin out on later albums, such as the mix of praising God/Love and sex, his 'androgyne' appearance, race issues, outspoken political statements, the use of "u", "2" and "4". These sounds and themes continued to very much play a part in his style after Controversy.

I agree with your statement about 1999, in that he mastered his early 80-'s style on this one. This was his 'grow up' album in terms of 'the 80's Prince', I think. I really, really like this album, but I wouldn't call it a turning point, because Controversy already started the style and themes. Purple Rain is I think a follow up on 1999, so not really a turning point in terms of sound and songwriting, but in terms of "commercial succes" PR clearly is a turning point. Without that succes I think he might have gone in an entirely different direction.

Around the world in a day sounds like another clear turning point to me. It was typically Prince to boldly experiment after the succes of PR. The two albums sound nothing alike. I think this is another turning point because he started to touch a more 'psychedalic' way of songwriting that he very much kept after it. The title song is clear indication of that and the songs Paisley park, Condition of the heart and Temptation. Parade kind of followed up and mastered the experiment of ATWIAD in various ways, making it a top class album, but not a turning point imo.

SOTT... hard to say... To me it is like Dirty Mind. This album does introduce the voice of Camille and leaves the Revolution very much behind in sound, but it doesn't really sound like a new musical era for him. To me it sounds the most like a collection of what he had already shown to be capapble of before mixed with some new elements that only become real apparant in follow up albums. It is a definit Prince classic, but it didn't define the direction his music went into like Controversy or ATWIAD did.

Lovesexy deserves to be called another turning point and at the same time the end of the 80's Prince. The end of the 80's Prince because it is generally seen as his last true classic and the sound of the Revolution is really gone and replaced with a new, more personal sound. A turning point therefore and because it is laced with experiments in new directions. It introduces the listener to 'newpowersoul' which played a big part in his 90's work. The God love sex theme was played out into the ultimate and it sounds as if Lovesexy is saying that the 80's are over and the 90's will bring a new Prince, yet not entirely clear what kind of...

That ambiguity is clearly show on albums like Batman, which sounds like a project that doesn't define a new sound or style and on Graffiti Bridge, which consist of mostly 80's song put into a 90's jacket. But both do take a little bit of Lovesexy with them and lyrically seem different than hisw ork before Lovesexy came out.

I think Prince's 90's work is hard to judge in terms of 'turning points', because it is kinda messy. It sounds pretty incohesive alltogether. The contractual problems with Warner clearly had a negative effect on the energy, quality and craftmanship that went into most of his 90's albums. But if there would be one album deserving the title of 'turning point' it would be 'Diamonds and Pearls' to me, because it turned Prince music into a more commercially 'fixed' and less experimenting musician than he was in the 80's. I like much of D&P, but the use of rappers, hip hop beats, new 'modern' keyboard sounds, new drum machines and less 'pshycadelic' songwriting takes away mucjh of the 80's 'magic' and defines most of his 90's work, with some exceptions like Come and The Gold experience.

Next turning point in the 90's would be Emancipation, because I think you can hear that the tension from the dispute with Warner of the early 90's isn't the main theme anymore and he turned to the Kirk Johnson production style which leans a lot on the "R&B" sound of the late 90's. Not ground breaking, but more following like D&P and the Symbol album. Nevertheless a turning point because it is his liberation album that paved the way for his understanding that sounding like the hit of the day doesn't make great Prince albums.

"The Truth" stands alone like Dirty Mind and SOTT. It can't be compared to other albums and it wasn't followed up.

NPS and RAVE are imo his weakest efforts of the 90's following the sound he introuced on Emancipation.

As for TRC... it sounds like a turning point, but it could also be another Dirty Mind/ SOTT /The Truth type of album; standing alone in terms of style, themes, sound and songwriting. Not really defining a certain style, and not really introducing a new one, but really good music and one perhabs one of his better efforts. Time will tell I guess.
[This message was edited Thu Mar 27 7:59:15 PST 2003 by huggy]

huggy said:

he didn't have 2. dm was more of a stance of freedom and rebellion, as opposed 2 "commercial success". he "growed up" a smidge with that album.

mine!!!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I agree with that. But it doesn't really define a new era imo.

huggy said:

sure it did--he didn't wanna be pigeon-holed into the "teenybopper" set, cuz that's just where he was on both for you and prince. he had 2 do somethin different, there's no way he coulda kept goin the way he went on the first two albums...

rdhull said:

I think "ALl That U Can't Leave Behind" is a bit of a
stinker. I thought it sounded dull, flat and boring.

The only thing I can remember now is "New York" but the
other tracks incl "Elevation" are just repeats.

Achtung Baby has that cohesive feel to it and it sounds
really unique in a Berlin sort of way.

If you've been to Berlin you can see how that really did
inspire the album. It sounds like Berlin. It's great.

IstenSzek said:

Wild Honey, Kite, Walk On, In A Little While are repeats? Yeah it is well known and a conscious return to their old sound but I would hardly call any of ATYCLB repeats

I think a major turning point is that his evangelism reached new levels. Really, up until this point he expressed his spirituality and his beliefs as something he believed, but in TRC, it became more about "this is what everybody else should believe." That was kind of a big change, and I think it's why I had more trouble getting into this album than others.

Efan said:

I agree with that and agree that this change in his presentation is the major cause for the controversy amongst his fans

IstenSzek said:

That's the way I felt too. I tried hard to like it, it never grabbed me, didn't feel it.

rdhull said:

yes yes yes! i'm listening to it now... it's totally restored my faith in him

MrBliss said:

stop lyin'

rdhull said:

.. i'm not! ... i only got trc a few months ago... and i listen to it all the time... i dig it... like you said... great musicianship

rdhull said:

Well, perhaps "repeats" was not the right word [I listened
to it again last night after posting here] but there is
something about that album that makes it seem very distant
and dislocated. I just can't get into it. There is not one
moment that really grabs me. It seems a bit contrived but
in a silent kind of way. Urgh, I don't know how to explain
I just don't like it



The English version has "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" on it
and I was so incredibly pissed off that my version didn't
cos that was such a beautiful song. Especially after having
read the SR novel the lyrics came from. Cool.