rusty1 said:

It's a fact that " Diamonds & Pearls" wss Prince's last hit album. The album stayed in the top 10 for awhile.. It had two top 10 hit singles.. After the name change he never had an album That lasted in the top 200.. TGE entered the charts at #6 but fell off the charts very fast

Bu album success (and you're only using US figures) has nothing to do with this thread.

RJOrion said:

Hitnrun 2 had too many songs that werent new anymore...and Screwdriver, 2Y2D, and Rock & Roll Love Affair all sound like the same song... Baltimore was almost cringeworthy... HitrRun 1 had good moments but was not a great album...AOA was a great album start to finish, and has become even more meaningful, since he departed

True (to mainly hardcore fans), but this won't matter when people look back at his career in future years.

It took me a little while to warm to, but IMO Baltimore is majestic.

rusty1 said:

rusty1 said:

It's a fact that " Diamonds & Pearls" wss Prince's last hit album. The album stayed in the top 10 for awhile.. It had two top 10 hit singles.. After the name change he never had an album That lasted in the top 200.. TGE entered the charts at #6 but fell off the charts very fast

so that's how you determine an album's greatness.....by how well it does on the charts?

leecaldon said:

RJOrion said:

Hitnrun 2 had too many songs that werent new anymore...and Screwdriver, 2Y2D, and Rock & Roll Love Affair all sound like the same song... Baltimore was almost cringeworthy... HitrRun 1 had good moments but was not a great album...AOA was a great album start to finish, and has become even more meaningful, since he departed

True (to mainly hardcore fans), but this won't matter when people look back at his career in future years.

It took me a little while to warm to, but IMO Baltimore is majestic.

Nothing to do with the quality of the record.

I for one was glad to see those orphan songs finding a home on a proper album.

Besides, most Prince albums -including some of the "classics"- in fact contained songs that were years old. Hell, we had most of Come and TGE long before those records were out and see how fans rave about those records nowadays.

I also have no idea how R&RLA, Screw and 2Y2D can sound like the same song to one's hears; like... sincerely... how???

databank said:

rusty1 said:

databank said:

leecaldon said:

True (to mainly hardcore fans), but this won't matter when people look back at his career in future years.

It took me a little while to warm to, but IMO Baltimore is majestic.

Nothing to do with the quality of the record.

I for one was glad to see those orphan songs finding a home on a proper album.

Besides, most Prince albums -including some of the "classics"- in fact contained songs that were years old. Hell, we had most of Come and TGE long before those records were out and see how fans rave about those records nowadays.

I also have no idea how R&RLA, Screw and 2Y2D can sound like the same song to one's hears; like... sincerely... how???

Luckily the internet and org wasn't around in 87 or SOTT would have been some old shit.

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I must admit though I was a bit disappointed at the time of release of Phase 2 as we already had half the album but as you correctly say that does/should not detract from the quality of the music.

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I'd definitely regard it as one of his great albums. No gimmicks, sound effects, rappers, segues and I'd put the likes of Revelation, Look At Me, Look At U and Black Muse up there with some of his best work.

OperatingThetan said:

rusty1 said:

It's a fact that " Diamonds & Pearls" wss Prince's last hit album. The album stayed in the top 10 for awhile.. It had two top 10 hit singles.. After the name change he never had an album That lasted in the top 200.. TGE entered the charts at #6 but fell off the charts very fast

What's your obsession with sales and chart positions? James Brown only had one Gold selling album in his entire career. Is that how you would judge his output? Or George Clinton's? You're reducing Prince's music and career to that of a pop tart.

Just taking Rusty1's idea that the charts matter more than the music itself is so anti-Prince. It's funny.

After Diamonds and Pearls, Prince was no longer marketed the same way. That was WB decision to put Prince in the R&B category and not directly market to the POP market place. That helped in the declining sales. After the fall out with WB, Prince would have to pay to be played (on radio) in order to get a hit. Radio stations for the most part are owned by 3 companies WB being one of them. If your not on the playlists, your not going to get played.

Things Rusty1 forgot:

The most beautiful girl in the World maxi-single Sold very well and charted high on the charts all over the world.

Prince made more money off of 3121 album sales than Purple Rain album sales.

Musicology has multiplatinum status in sales.

And in the year 2016 Prince sold more albums in the USA than any other artist. Yes. more than Taylor Swift, Adele, or Drake.

Prince also had the most sold soundtrack for 2016.

HitnRun Phase 2.

I listened to it again this weekend and it just reaffirmed what a great album it really is. There are no weak songs (yes, even "Baltimore" is strong in my book) and it's best it includes some incredible songs. "Look at Me, Look at U" is as good a love song as he ever wrote, it's a song that could've come out at any point in his career and been widely regarded. "Xtraloveable" is great. "Revelation" gives us Prince the guitar hero one last time. "Big City" is a surprisingly fitting finale, it kind of brings Prince full circle, he's back to being a young, hungry kid with dreams, and the closing line is just so bittersweet. It's really an excellent record, with no real bad tracks.

AOA is also great, Plectrum Electrum is just okay. Before that, I'd go back all the way to 3121 as his last truly outstanding record; I don't know why it seems to get picked apart here so much, it's a strong R&B album and the songs are quality.

kewlschool said:

OperatingThetan said:

The Truth.

Phase 2 is great, containing some of his best work. The only one that didn't grab me was Screwdriver. I liked the music, but the music and vocal sound forced to me.

databank said:

rusty1 said:

When i listen to Prince's music, in my car, i go to the True classics. Any of his old music from 79 to 88. I don't say i've got to listen to Musicology or 3121 etc.. Those albums are average at best , in my opinion. This thread started with his last GREAT album.. The general public don't really know his post 2000 music. There wasn't one album the critics said were great or Groundbreaking past 1987. Again, Prince had his share of good music post 89 but nothing great. I felt that total connection to his 80's music. i've been a fan since 1984 & everything he did then was high level material. There were albums from 1989 on that felt like half baked ideas. The bottom line is i'll keep on enjoying his 1979 to 88 era with those B-sides etc.. The rest of u can enjoy hit & run 2 & 3121.. I've noticed a majority of fans on here think His music post 80's material matches his classic era. In my opinion it doesn't even come close at all. There will never be a post 80's Prince album that will be on any best lists of all time. It is because he's had good moments since 89 not great ones

AOA was well received by critics,Phase 2 as well and both got mostly good reviews.As much as I love the 80's albums I always looked forward to what was next.I think RBC,3121,Lotusflow3r,AOA and Phase 2 is some of his most interesting work.I honestly would tire of listening to the classics and wanted to hear something new.

[Edited 2/26/18 12:53pm]

rusty1 said:

When i listen to Prince's music, in my car, i go to the True classics. Any of his old music from 79 to 88. I don't say i've got to listen to Musicology or 3121 etc.. Those albums are average at best , in my opinion. This thread started with his last GREAT album.. The general public don't really know his post 2000 music. There wasn't one album the critics said were great or Groundbreaking past 1987. Again, Prince had his share of good music post 89 but nothing great. I felt that total connection to his 80's music. i've been a fan since 1984 & everything he did then was high level material. There were albums from 1989 on that felt like half baked ideas. The bottom line is i'll keep on enjoying his 1979 to 88 era with those B-sides etc.. The rest of u can enjoy hit & run 2 & 3121.. I've noticed a majority of fans on here think His music post 80's material matches his classic era. In my opinion it doesn't even come close at all. There will never be a post 80's Prince album that will be on any best lists of all time. It is because he's had good moments since 89 not great ones

You come across to me as a troll, who knows very little about Later Prince, you refer to "Old Friends 4 sale - The Vault" as the Prince Vault album. Instead of talking mess and picking on an album because it did not knock all those shit hoppers and singing sperm dumpsters along with the douchebag frat boy groups and instant idols out of the charts, you think its crap.

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I agree with everything Databank says. Most Prince fans are more sophisticated than the 14 year old neophytical mouthbreeders who buy Katy Perry, Lann de Rey and Nicki Minaj singles (And please don't correct me if I spell any of these names wrong).

.

Chart music and Prince went south like Databank said around 1996 when talented artists and career artists gave way to manufactured pap like the Spice Girls, P'Diddy, Mase, All Saints and then Mrs Telephoine headset singer herself Britney Spears along with Aguilera, Timablake and the Backdoor boys amongst others.

.

In 1995 we still had Boyz II Men, Whitney, Prince and MJ on the charts by 1998 it was all this yellow hair wearing, machine pumped beats and synchronised dance step crap along with groups of scantily clad girls writhing around on beds singing about sex (A trend that still occurs now). Prince was too grown up and too musical for that crap. All these acts were chosen for their looks and how much brand name crap they could move, rather thanany musical talent. Computers and processors took care of that. All they needed to do was mouth along to Muzak like the Vengaboys and 5ive.

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The period 1996 to 2018 has seen fad after fad of disposable pop acts

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1995 opened the floodgates with the Macarenas song and a lot of techno type shit like Haddaway, Cotton eyed Joe, Who the fuck is Alice and Real McCoy.

1996/97 saw Spice Girls and girl power type acts like Sean Colvin, Meredith Brooks, and commericalised bling bling shiny suit rap like Mase, Diddy, BIG, Junior Mafia, and megasexed r and b groups like Jodissy, Kc and Joejoe, Blackstreet, R kelly, superlips and B2B

1998 was the year of machine pumped dance groups like Nsync and 5ive

1999 was the year of the sexy girl group and more of the above and also Britney Spears was unleashed on the world that year (Baby one mroe time is 1998, but only hit the charts in Jan 1999) and also the big Santana comeback.

1999/2000 saw shitty R and B autotune and cool black guys songs - Mambo #5 lou beger, Cherish by Papa Bear, Who let the dogs out by Baha man and Thing song by Sisqo

2001 was the year of white alt rock and douche bags like Green Day, Blink 182, Bowling for soup, Lincoln Park and Slipknot (Nao apologetico for wrong name spelling - most of these bands were known but they went mainstream), Creed, Nickelback etc.

2002 saw the rise of singing show contestants and their songs, with Kelly Clarkson hitting the charts, winners and placers down to 5th on various versions of Idol, X factor and The Voice would assault the charts and rise and fall with incredible rapidity and vapidity of the music.

2003 saw the arrival of doucgebag MOR like Maroon 5 and super producers of shit hop like Timbaland and Farrell.

2005 was the year of the solo male douchebag like Jason Mraz, James Blunt and another James who had some song about how beautiful you were. It also saw the arrival of kickstart bands like Arctic Monkeys and Snow Patrol. Many had very big lips and were British like James Blunt

2007 was the year of the rap dance trend song (Chicken Noodle soup) and each year bought a new trend rap song - 2009 (Teach me how 2 dougie) 2010 Bedroom Intruder Anatole Dobson song, 2011 Stanky Leg/ Ass, 2012 Harlem Shake,2013 Versace, 2015 Watch me, 2016 Juju on that beat, 2017 Gucci Gang etc.

2008 was the rise of gaga, need I say more

2009/2010 on the cusp saw the arrival of Justin Bieber who would stay relevant to now, atrracting more hate than love.

2011 was the year of viral shit like Rebecca Black and Carly Rae Jepsen and the snapchat/ark viral ring tone song.

the 2010s have been a continuation of all the above, chart music now is just autotuned messes with bad singing, shit hop, skanky hoes singing about sex ith strings on their tits and bad so called rock music. Real Musicians like Prince could never compete or want to lower to this level.

.

I predict by 2040, Music will be grunting to a beat and the performers will be covered from head to toe in gold and diamonds and wear clothes with ads of corporations like Microsoft, Coke and Trump.

[Edited 2/26/18 15:15pm]

3121 was the last full album that truly bowled me over but there have been great moments since that, just not IMO great albums...there are some very good ones, however

NorthC said:

kewlschool said:

Just taking Rusty1's idea that the charts matter more than the music itself is so anti-Prince. It's funny.

After Diamonds and Pearls, Prince was no longer marketed the same way. That was WB decision to put Prince in the R&B category and not directly market to the POP market place. That helped in the declining sales. After the fall out with WB, Prince would have to pay to be played (on radio) in order to get a hit. Radio stations for the most part are owned by 3 companies WB being one of them. If your not on the playlists, your not going to get played.

Things Rusty1 forgot:

The most beautiful girl in the World maxi-single Sold very well and charted high on the charts all over the world.

Prince made more money off of 3121 album sales than Purple Rain album sales.

Musicology has multiplatinum status in sales.

And in the year 2016 Prince sold more albums in the USA than any other artist. Yes. more than Taylor Swift, Adele, or Drake.

Prince also had the most sold soundtrack for 2016.

And what were those bestselling Prince albums from 2016? Purple Rain and compilation albums... So that actually proves rusty's point that the general public doesn't know or care about Prince's later work...

Prince in 2016 had I believe at least 20 albums in the top 100 on the charts at once (A record for any artist.).

Prince also had 5 top ten albums at once. Proof with exposure to your music, people will buy it.

EmmaMcG said:

thedance said:

imho,

Phase 1, altho Art Oficial Age was even better.

I don't no why u like Phase 2

Such a boring piece with only 1-2 good songs...

That's how a lot of people feel about Phase One. Aside from 1000 Hugs and Kisses the rest of the album is crap. I wouldn't say it's "boring" but it's by far the worst album I have by any artist and were it not for the fact that I'm a completist I would have left it on the shelf in the store, where it belongs. Phase Two, while not exactly pushing boundaries, is full of top quality songs. Stare, Revelation, When She Comes, 2Y2D, Groovy Potential, Xtraloveable, Black Muse and Look At Me, Look At U. That's why it's held in such high regard. Although having said that, I wouldn't go so far as to question why you like Phase One. We all have our own idea of what's good and if you think songs like Ain't About 2 Stop and Shut This Down are good then I'm glad you have something to enjoy with that album.

Groovy Potential is the only great song on Phase 2...

Sorry I dig all songs on Phase 1 (only, except the opening track).

No it's not a joke, just IMHO.

thedance said:

thedance said:

EmmaMcG said:

thedance said: That's how a lot of people feel about Phase One. Aside from 1000 Hugs and Kisses the rest of the album is crap. I wouldn't say it's "boring" but it's by far the worst album I have by any artist and were it not for the fact that I'm a completist I would have left it on the shelf in the store, where it belongs. Phase Two, while not exactly pushing boundaries, is full of top quality songs. Stare, Revelation, When She Comes, 2Y2D, Groovy Potential, Xtraloveable, Black Muse and Look At Me, Look At U. That's why it's held in such high regard. Although having said that, I wouldn't go so far as to question why you like Phase One. We all have our own idea of what's good and if you think songs like Ain't About 2 Stop and Shut This Down are good then I'm glad you have something to enjoy with that album.

Groovy Potential is the only great song on Phase 2...

Sorry I dig all songs on Phase 1 (only, except the opening track).

No it's not a joke, just IMHO.

I like Phase 1 as well but I have to be in the mood for it.I usually start it at Like A Mack as I don't really care for the first three songs.

rusty1 said:

When i listen to Prince's music, in my car, i go to the True classics. Any of his old music from 79 to 88. I don't say i've got to listen to Musicology or 3121 etc.. Those albums are average at best , in my opinion. This thread started with his last GREAT album.. The general public don't really know his post 2000 music. There wasn't one album the critics said were great or Groundbreaking past 1987. Again, Prince had his share of good music post 89 but nothing great. I felt that total connection to his 80's music. i've been a fan since 1984 & everything he did then was high level material. There were albums from 1989 on that felt like half baked ideas. The bottom line is i'll keep on enjoying his 1979 to 88 era with those B-sides etc.. The rest of u can enjoy hit & run 2 & 3121.. I've noticed a majority of fans on here think His music post 80's material matches his classic era. In my opinion it doesn't even come close at all. There will never be a post 80's Prince album that will be on any best lists of all time. It is because he's had good moments since 89 not great ones

.

Or was that your experience and you're imposing it onto Prince's discography? Can you name some "great moment" artists that happened in the past 25 years?