double post

[Edited 11/17/18 17:42pm]

1999 was probably the first Prince Song I heard, and now that I think of it, Little Red Corvette and Delirious quickly followed in making me gain an appreciation for Prince.

To be honest, of the 80s peak material this album I listen(ed) to the least. I heard all the over 80s records and then finally came to 1999. I actually credit Batman for making me understand it's brilliance.

I'd say the vocal performance was the best he did on any of his albums, he just sounds fantastic on this LP. It's a noticably big increase in range from Dirty Mind and Controversy vocally. When I saw the 1983 Benefit performance of Automatic I cut up a shirt into a halter top and contemplated piercing my ears, it's so sexy.

The lyrics are at turns clever, arresting and I'd say his most raw and explict. Let's Pretend We're Married is the kinda tune that'll have you ripping the auxillary cable out if the wrong person is in the establishment.

I think it was one of the best times in Prince's life as well, he had his friends around, he had garnered critical praise and scoring hits on the nation's airwaves, his sense of style had developed and sharpened, but he still had that rude boy edge. He was with Denise Matthews; and he was still very hungry. The torrential downpour of Purple Rain had yet to roll in, the calm before the fame if you will.

He broke boundaries on MTV, the first to do so. And inspired many of his peers with his music and even hair style, whether they admited it or not. 1999 is awesome and if I don't stop typing this thread'll have another massive post. Delirious is a personal favorite, especially that extended version

[Edited 11/16/18 16:28pm]

violetcrush said:

bonatoc said:

I love "Emotional Rescue".
The falsetto on "Kiss" makes use of the same wet noises.
They both howl like horny coyotes who can't take it anymore.
It's all in the mouthfuls of frustrations spit. All over the emotional floor.

There are some crazy beatbox bits from Prince all over 1999.
Prince is still way underrated in the beatbox category.
The Coda of LRC Dance Mix alone, these few seconds when he's rolling toms.
And his final tonguepressedonteeth doing a final wet kiss to the song, it's over.

The Led Zep/Stanist in reverse fake moans on "Irresistible Bitch",
doing some pervert electro-shaker slowly dying out of a burned fuse.
And the whip of the snare that cuts through it. Like Severine from Metropolis
waking up the crowd with her metal hat: cutting through the moans
of a sleeping backroom full of endorphins.
The Doomsday church bells ring.
The disco nod at the end: it was just a farce, a dance.
But she sure was Irresisitible.

I cranked LRC in my car every time it cane on the radio back then. Just loved it. When it was first released and starting to cross over I remember the kids in my church youth group were talking about the lyrics, and one guy said, "you know what the LRC is in the song right?
It's not really a car.
I just looked at him and was like "uh-huh, right I get it".
Then went back and figured out the lyrics
* Love Irresistible Bitch too. So good!! Especially the unreleased version

I hear you.

Like, "you know what they're background singing in the bridge, don't you?".
Playground secrets exchanged through the grapevine like dirty audio figurines.
The men don't know, But the little girls understand
and all that ji.. jazz.

About IB, as much as I love Prince going as far as he can to feel what a woman feels,
it's a bit too hysterical a delivery to my tastes. "Darling Nikki" it ain't.
But the punkish insane programming and bass, tied to "Feel U Up", is a miracle:
two songs ideas in ten minutes. And given the masterpieces the definitive versions are,
it's just one of these jaw-dropping moments, which SKipper closes by pushing your jaw back up,
his index pressing gently under your chin.

The man regularly gives me extactic smiles right in the street,
making me look like a moron around my block. Lawd, I had a reputation... He owes me.

TheGloved1 said:

1999 was probably the first Prince Song I heard, and now that I think of it, Little Red Corvette and Delirious quickly followed in making me gain an appreciation for Prince.

To be honest, of the 80s peak material this album I listen(ed) to the least. I heard all the over 80s records and then finally came to 1999. I actually credit Batman for making me understand it's brilliance.

I'd say the vocal performance was the best he did on any of his albums, he just sounds fantastic on this LP. It's a noticably big increase in range from Dirty Mind and Controversy vocally. When I saw the 1983 Benefit performance of Automatic I cut up a shirt into a halter top and contemplated piercing my ears, it's so sexy.

The lyrics are at turns clever, arresting and I'd say his most raw and explict. Let's Pretend We're Married is the kinda tune that'll have you ripping the auxillary cable out if the wrong person is in the establishment.

I think it was one of the best times in Prince's life as well, he had his friends around, he had garnered critical praise and scoring hits on the nation's airwaves, his sense of style had developed and sharpened, but he still had that rude boy edge. He was with Denise Matthews; and he was still very hungry. The torrential downpour of Purple Rain had yet to roll in, the calm before the fame if you will.

He broke boundaries on MTV, the first to do so. And inspired many of his peers with his music and even hair style, whether they admited it or not. 1999 is awesome and if I don't stop typing this thread'll have another massive post. Delirious is a personal favorite, especially that extended version

[Edited 11/16/18 16:28pm]

Aye aye to all this.

rdhull said:

because ppl were dissing the record elsewhere and always praisng Parade

*

I don't think you can really compare the music of 1999 with Parade. The instrumental, lyrics and style are so incredibly different on Parade. It's like comparing apples to oranges. 1999 was Prince exploring songs about sex and eroticism and the apocalypse thrown in with the song 1999. Parade was Prince exploring songs about love, and the importance of love over sex, along with songs that tie in with UTCM.

*

1999 was the wild, sexual, young and crazy Prince. Parade was the more mature, serious, and romantic Prince.

*

I think the thing that stands out with Parade is that, with the exception of Kiss, which we know was originally meant for Mazarati, it was unlike anything he had done, and had a much more sophisticated sound with the Piano being the focal point vs. his guitar. These were more artistic compositions then they were "pop" songs. 1999 is a compilation of pop sounds and songs - extrememly good pop sounds and songs, which explains his quick cross-over once the album was released.

bonatoc said:

violetcrush said:

bonatoc said: I cranked LRC in my car every time it cane on the radio back then. Just loved it. When it was first released and starting to cross over I remember the kids in my church youth group were talking about the lyrics, and one guy said, "you know what the LRC is in the song right?
It's not really a car.
I just looked at him and was like "uh-huh, right I get it".
Then went back and figured out the lyrics
* Love Irresistible Bitch too. So good!! Especially the unreleased version

I hear you.

Like, "you know what they're background singing in the bridge, don't you?".
Playground secrets exchanged through the grapevine like dirty audio figurines.
The men don't know, But the little girls understand
and all that ji.. jazz.

About IB, as much as I love Prince going as far as he can to feel what a woman feels,
it's a bit too hysterical a delivery to my tastes. "Darling Nikki" it ain't.
But the punkish insane programming and bass, tied to "Feel U Up", is a miracle:
two songs ideas in ten minutes. And given the masterpieces the definitive versions are,
it's just one of these jaw-dropping moments, which SKipper closes by pushing your jaw back up,
his index pressing gently under your chin.

The man regularly gives me extactic smiles right in the street,
making me look like a moron around my block. Lawd, I had a reputation... He owes me.

Oh, I absolutely LOVE the hysterics in IB!!! I compare it to Possessed and the 1983 version of Extraloveable in that way. I love Prince when he's writing about pining for a woman and desparate to be with her, but she won't let him.

violetcrush said:

rdhull said:

because ppl were dissing the record elsewhere and always praisng Parade

*

I don't think you can really compare the music of 1999 with Parade.

Dont tell me..tell THEM.

violetcrush said:

rdhull said:

because ppl were dissing the record elsewhere and always praisng Parade

*

I don't think you can really compare the music of 1999 with Parade.

Dont tell me..tell THEM.

rdhull said:

violetcrush said:

rdhull said:

because ppl were dissing the record elsewhere and always praisng Parade

*

I don't think you can really compare the music of 1999 with Parade.

Dont tell me..tell THEM.

Okay.....to THEM - read my post #64 on thsi thread

*

When was the debate about 1999 vs. Parade? Just curious...

violetcrush said:

rdhull said:

Dont tell me..tell THEM.

Okay.....to THEM - read my post #64 on thsi thread

*

When was the debate about 1999 vs. Parade? Just curious...

2000-2001-ish

rdhull said:

violetcrush said:

Okay.....to THEM - read my post #64 on thsi thread

*

When was the debate about 1999 vs. Parade? Just curious...

2000-2001-ish

Okay, so maybe most of them have had the time to go back and re-evaluate...

violetcrush said:

rdhull said:

2000-2001-ish

Okay, so maybe most of them have had the time to go back and re-evaluate...

Of course they did. Nobody gaf abiut 1999 till I posted that back then

This album is a god damned onion, except that all the layers taste delicious.

Layer after layer of sounds are built over simple, often repititous synthetic beats, hooks and riffs - all within deceptively simple song structures. Every new listen reveals one more new sound, especially with couple of bong rips and the right set of headphones. There's consistently always one new little, tiny, perfectly placed and masterfully nuanced little bit of embellishment and punctuaction, just when you're worried the song is going to go on forever and drag.

Often it's something as simple as a moved or added cymbal crash, placed in a different spot within in a new measure, a syncopated shift in the beat or even a subtle shift in the key or one simple added note in the synth riff. Others, it's a really well thought out callback, as in the Q&A of "Automatic" or the timely introduction of an odd sample in "All the Crtics Love U". Further, just when we think the funky jam of a song like "Lady cab Driver" has shown us everything it has, in comes a nasty, organic sounding drum fill within all the synth followed byåΩ a face melting, buzz box guitar solo.

Other songs switch us up again and introduce a sense of space amidst all the linn drum repitition, allowing us to catch our breath and mostly relying mainly on Prince's wonderful singing voice throughout. The passionate and agressively jarring scream in "Something in the Water" and the beautiful vocal delivery (and range) of the underrated "Free", which also gives another nice, welcome guitar piece, reward the listener with the scope of this artist's incredible sheer talent.

These songs should, by all rights, get boring - a lot of them anyway - and in anyone else's hands they would. But you never want "DMSR" to stop. Prince has taken and learned the lessons of Pairlament and built on them on them by introducing something new in each one at JUST the right time. Clinton's stuff COULD drag sometimes if you weren't on a dance floor. But P won't allow that.

"You best be paying attention" he challenges us.

Similarly, nearing the end of "Automatic", the song has taken on so many layers of sound, that built without us even noticing, that it immediately makes us want to play it again to hear what we missed, even though it's close to 10 minutes long. One is either exhausted from the experience or charged up enough from it to hit rewind and do it again. Even the album's lowest point, "Delirious", a song that any other pop musician would kill for, is hardly a "skipper" for anyone not already tired of it and fits in perfectly within the whole.

This album has EYES; carefully trained ones that guide you perfectly through the vision of the navigator, through the fog of his young, sexually charged mind, delivered with impeccable timing from a one of a kind genius and captain of a ship that always seems to know EXACTLY when to turn to avoid the icebergs, even when we think we know better. It's a "needle dropper" and an album that, using the standards that used to be applied to measuring music, can be played from start to finish. And, in fact, should be.

It's genuinely incredible. A god damned masterpiece and a king hell bitch of a record that delivers across an astonshing range of genres with a laser sighted vision and focus that never fucks around for one second. It's my favorite Prince album and my favorite album, period. It's easy to write off as a "too synthetic", "too 80's" sounding, over polished, programmed and overly technical endeavor for people with the wrong kind of ears but those folks never really dug into that onion and found the candy inside.

To this day, it delivers new discoveries for me - stuff I never noticed before - and it still makes me want to dig further.

^^^ He performed Automatic, Delirious, and DMSR at the 1st Ave '83 birthday show, and even on that tiny stage with no frills, neon lights, or smoke the songs are fantastic. I love love love that show. Even with a seemingly simple song like Delirious the way he sings it just pulls you in. When you watch him he's got you hook, line and sinker.