herb4 said:

I think I know what you're getting at. The Future is in many ways the culminating track of everything Prince was building towards in the 1980s. The track points to a fusion of all Prince's strengths. It has some of his most ambivalent lyrics, the best use of aural space since Kiss, one of Clare Fischer's most impressive contributions, vocal steadiness and restraint, a convincing beat, on and on. The rest of the album doesn't get near this again. For this one track Prince is making a mature sequel to the 1999 album. It's also the ultimate Prince song to run to late at night. I really hope someday we will get the track without the Batman intro and outro. I like the soundbites in context, but this track really deserves to come out of nowhere, without any context, and blow you away.

paraded said:

I think I know what you're getting at. The Future is in many ways the culminating track of everything Prince was building towards in the 1980s. The track points to a fusion of all Prince's strengths. It has some of his most ambivalent lyrics, the best use of aural space since Kiss, one of Clare Fischer's most impressive contributions, vocal steadiness and restraint, a convincing beat, on and on. The rest of the album doesn't get near this again. For this one track Prince is making a mature sequel to the 1999 album. It's also the ultimate Prince song to run to late at night. I really hope someday we will get the track without the Batman intro and outro. I like the soundbites in context, but this track really deserves to come out of nowhere, without any context, and blow you away.

That's what I'm getting at. Great answer

NorthC said:

herb4 said:

First 2 tracks were dynamite. Amongst his best openers on ANY album and proboably the 2 best tracks on the record.

I remember wondering mainly how Prince's style would FIT Batman (and I still don't really think it does).

Unfortunately, it went downhill after that.

A very interesting dynamic with the high expectations that he was building up during these two songs. (Even though Electric Chair isn't my favourite). Yeah, after Arms Of Orion the rest of the album basically has to be S☮TT 2 to redeem itself. It never went all downhill. For christ sake, Partyman is one of his most effortless dance bangers in his career. You just can't sit still during that song. The album hit one major lowpoint in Lemon Crush though. The rest is OK to masterful. Yeah, I think Scandalous is flawless.

Is it just me or does The Future "sound" like how Gotham City would "sound" like, after seeing the grim dark set by Tim Burton... Prince truely is a genius. He captured the mood of Gotham into a song.

Transformed1 said:

I like Arms of Orion. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Seriously.

I like it too It's Prince doing a love theme for the movie and it works surprisingly well.

feeluupp said:

Is it just me or does The Future "sound" like how Gotham City would "sound" like, after seeing the grim dark set by Tim Burton...

Great observation.At the time,I seem to recall hearing that Prince would film a music video for "The Future" on the Gotham City set.I guess that was just a rumor,but it would have been really interesting.

NorthC said:

herb4 said:

First 2 tracks were dynamite. Amongst his best openers on ANY album and proboably the 2 best tracks on the record.

I remember wondering mainly how Prince's style would FIT Batman (and I still don't really think it does).

Unfortunately, it went downhill after that.

It did. "Trust" is the weakest song on the album, IMO. It's just a beat, really, and not a very good one, with boring riffs laid on top of it.

"Vicki Waiting" is pretty stellar and "Batdance" is just ridiculous fun . I don't hate on "Lemon Crush" and Orion as much as others but, yeah, there's a steep drop off after the first two cuts. To tie it into the OP, no, nothing that follows held up my expecations after the first two tracks.

Wolfie87 said:

Wolfie87 said:

What direction of musical style did you think Prince were going for in 1989 after only one listen to the opening track? In hindsight, the narrative has always been that his run from 1980-88 was broken. But don't tell me that you really thought The Future sounded anything that was on radio at the time. To me this song sounds like something still spawning from The Spooky electric cold funk. Somewhat returning to a continuation of The Black Album. Sure, by the time of The Electric Chair, you could question his direction as he was going for something in the likes of a ZZ-Top'ish country rock bar sound. And by the time of The Arms of Orion you just knew he had made his worst ballad since Free. But during that opening track, was that creative Prince feeling still with you? [Edited 12/29/18 3:47am]

I think "Free" is masterful.

minnesoundlvr said:

Wolfie87 said:

What direction of musical style did you think Prince were going for in 1989 after only one listen to the opening track? In hindsight, the narrative has always been that his run from 1980-88 was broken. But don't tell me that you really thought The Future sounded anything that was on radio at the time. To me this song sounds like something still spawning from The Spooky electric cold funk. Somewhat returning to a continuation of The Black Album. Sure, by the time of The Electric Chair, you could question his direction as he was going for something in the likes of a ZZ-Top'ish country rock bar sound. And by the time of The Arms of Orion you just knew he had made his worst ballad since Free. But during that opening track, was that creative Prince feeling still with you? [Edited 12/29/18 3:47am]

I think "Free" is masterful.

I like them both and free was liked by his fans back before we had no internet, back when we were the odd men out who'd discuss it amongst ourselves in school, we loved it. Now, with the mob mentality of the net, people cluster together and develop a group think that would have been impossible then.

PeteSilas said:

minnesoundlvr said:

I think "Free" is masterful.

I like them both and free was liked by his fans back before we had no internet, back when we were the odd men out who'd discuss it amongst ourselves in school, we loved it. Now, with the mob mentality of the net, people cluster together and develop a group think that would have been impossible then.

I love Free. It's the song that made me a Prince fan back in 2010.

minnesoundlvr said:

I think "Free" is masterful.

me too! I never understood why so many fans dislike it.

SoulAlive said:

minnesoundlvr said:

I think "Free" is masterful.

me too! I never understood why so many fans dislike it.

Wow I didn't know that it was so disliked. I've always liked it myself and I loved his moving rendition for the second Piano Mic show in Sydney.

pinkcashmere23 said:

SoulAlive said:

me too! I never understood why so many fans dislike it.

Wow I didn't know that it was so disliked. I've always liked it myself and I loved his moving rendition for the second Piano Mic show in Sydney.

all i can say is you will find some very interesting observations on the org here. the net itself? it's just a new form of mob thinking/mentality in a lot of cases.

PeteSilas said:

pinkcashmere23 said:

Wow I didn't know that it was so disliked. I've always liked it myself and I loved his moving rendition for the second Piano Mic show in Sydney.

all i can say is you will find some very interesting observations on the org here. the net itself? it's just a new form of mob thinking/mentality in a lot of cases.

That's very true about the net. I must have missed the negative comments about it on the org, though I remember there being several about Arms of Orion.

Shit! I love Lemon Crush and HATE Arms of Orion.

The Future is one of my favorites off of the album. The rush of strings. The drum machine programming. The keyboard/guitar programming...The LYRICS! All killer.

Yellow smiley offers me X/ecstasy, like he's drinking 7 up. I would rather drink six razorblades...razorblades from a paper cup. He can't understand. I say too tough. It's just that I've seen the Future. And boy it's rough.

The Future hyped me for the rest of the album. I enjoyed it. I didn't expect this type of song after the Future or that type of song. By then, in 1989, I was just glad to get the experience of hearing another Prince album.

Batman kind of unfairly falls out of the 1980-1988 golden period that is often talked about.

Maybe because the album is not necessarily a Prince concept (meaning that Prince didnt invent Batman and it loses some kind of integrity becuase of that)..

Just a thought..

But I adore this album....

I was so sad that Lovesexy failed commercially - why the hell didnt Glam Slam even make the top 100!!!!!

Anyway.... It has some dark moments which are my favorite Prince moments....

Future / Electric Chair = Slam Dunk opener...

Arms of Orion / Partyman slow things down for me big time... I just never got into Partyman except for those blaring synth horns that I love...

Vicki Waiting - 2 cool

Side 2 is so solid... I am a Lemon Crush worshipper...

And Batdance has one of his most blazing guitar solos - I think the whole song is stunning.

But it definitely marked a turning point.....

Graffiti Bridge had many outtakes that were known by the diehards so while the album was good... for many of us, it wasn't as fresh as some of the other albums....

Looking back, I wish he had listened to Madonna and realized GB was not worth going after.. another example of P needing an editor which is the story for most of the 90's.

Diamonds & Pearls comes along and for me, that is a pause in the greatness that isn't resurrected until Gold Experience

"Glam Slam" was a poor choice for a single.It diddn't stand a chance on pop radio in 1988.

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

I was so sad that Lovesexy failed commercially - why the hell didnt Glam Slam even make the top 100!!!!!

SoulAlive said:

"Glam Slam" was a poor choice for a single.It diddn't stand a chance on pop radio in 1988.

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

I was so sad that Lovesexy failed commercially - why the hell didnt Glam Slam even make the top 100!!!!!

The homoerotic undertones (and overtones) of the entire Lovesexy piece quelched the commercial vailbilty of any of it no matter how good it was. Sad but true.

Conversely, "Batman" sold millions based on the hype and the logo alone.

In 1988, EVERYTHING with a Batman logo on it sold. You had to live through it and see it to believe it. It was before the internet and the fucking HYPE was Off...the....chain....LARGE. People were paying to go into theaters for OTHER FILMS just to catch the trailer.

For the younger set (I'm 51), this might be hard to understand and I'm hard pressed to come up with a modern equivalent, at least relating to pop culture, but Batman OWNED 1988.

herb4 said:

SoulAlive said:

"Glam Slam" was a poor choice for a single.It diddn't stand a chance on pop radio in 1988.

The homoerotic undertones (and overtones) of the entire Lovesexy piece quelched the commercial vailbilty of any of it no matter how good it was. Sad but true.

Conversely, "Batman" sold millions based on the hype and the logo alone.

In 1988, EVERYTHING with a Batman logo on it sold. You had to live through it and see it to believe it. It was before the internet and the fucking HYPE was Off...the....chain....LARGE. People were paying to go into theaters for OTHER FILMS just to catch the trailer.

For the younger set (I'm 51), this might be hard to understand and I'm hard pressed to come up with a modern equivalent, at least relating to pop culture, but Batman OWNED 1988.

that's right, it's strange to me how it's not remembered for the same kind of pop phenomenon that et or star wars was, the hype was inescapable and the movie was actually pretty good too. for whatever reason, some things are forgotten, it's hard to believe that other phenomenons like Arsenio Hall or Eddie Murphy aren't accurately looked back on by either those of us who were there or what kids have picked up on, no telling a young person how huge eddie was, they'd think of kevin hart who doesn't really come close.

herb4 said:

Of course I love Prince now, but anytime I read a heated Batman OST discussion I have flashbacks to 5 or 6 year old me asking my mom who wrote or put in the Joker art gallery and town parade music because they didn't fit at all with the rest of the movie.

.

But "The Future" actually fits perfect with the atmosphere of Tim Burton's gotham, I wish it was used more than just in the background for 8 seconds.

[Edited 12/31/18 6:13am]

[Edited 12/31/18 6:14am]

I thought the whole thing would be aggressive, intense and moody, like the tone that the movie was attempting.

In its entirety, it's campy and exhausting, like how the movie turned out. I still love Batman, but it always get this nagging feeling that it could have been so much better if this track was replaced with that track. It doesn't feel like a cohesive vision like the rest of his 80s output.

Given that my own life was in upheaval, I wasn't paying attention closely at all. I heard things in the wind, that were not positive at all before I heard a song from the album. I ended up ducking the album for a long time. All I cared about was him expanding out into movie scoring, and applauded that.

Instantly loved it!!! The funky futuristic bass sound in the background. The choir and strings sample. Instant classic.

RODSERLING said:

Prince creative feeling is there during the whole album you snobberish punk. Even if Lemon Crush and Orion were among his worst output, the other 7 tracks are Prince at his best.

and i LOVE Lemon Crush AND The Arms of Orion (to hell with the haters of it and Free btw ). to the OP, my first thought was classic funky shit! Electric Chair as some zz top country ish.....DUDE. gtfoh post haste! ZZ WISHES they could be that funky. don't get me started on the SNL performance. just like food biases to a baby just trying food for the first time, don't pass on your hearing issus/style preferences!

datdude said:

RODSERLING said:

Prince creative feeling is there during the whole album you snobberish punk. Even if Lemon Crush and Orion were among his worst output, the other 7 tracks are Prince at his best.

and i LOVE Lemon Crush AND The Arms of Orion (to hell with the haters of it and Free btw ). to the OP, my first thought was classic funky shit! Electric Chair as some zz top country ish.....DUDE. gtfoh post haste! ZZ WISHES they could be that funky. don't get me started on the SNL performance. just like food biases to a baby just trying food for the first time, don't pass on your hearing issus/style preferences!

OMG That SNL performance.....!!!!

The blaring harmonies, the scorching guitar, the tongue click! and HIM... just so STUNNING!

One of my favorite P moments of all time.....

GOD I MISS HIM!

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

datdude said:

and i LOVE Lemon Crush AND The Arms of Orion (to hell with the haters of it and Free btw ). to the OP, my first thought was classic funky shit! Electric Chair as some zz top country ish.....DUDE. gtfoh post haste! ZZ WISHES they could be that funky. don't get me started on the SNL performance. just like food biases to a baby just trying food for the first time, don't pass on your hearing issus/style preferences!

OMG That SNL performance.....!!!!

The blaring harmonies, the scorching guitar, the tongue click! and HIM... just so STUNNING!

One of my favorite P moments of all time.....

GOD I MISS HIM!

whats up with that tongue click...he's done that a few times...