AvocadosMax said:

I don’t get you fools who say that “2010-2016 was a low point” No the fuck it was not! If anything that last decade was his highest point in his entire fucking career!! Super bowl, 2009 and 2013 Montreux shows were legendary. Most of the albums were killer or decent. Live shows were fantastic as ever in general. Best interviews and tv appearances of his career. Piano shows and memoirs. Plus regaining his masters and then teaming up with TIDAL. Those last years were legendary and brought some of his greatest music since the 90s. Don’t tell me those years were a low point. Y’all can fuck the hell off with that bs

I agree I loved 2010 to 2016 and his rock n roll vibe.
But dude, chill out with the language, so not cool.
We all have passionate opinions. Peace.

BalladofPeterParker said:

I'm suprised Prince fans agree on how to spell his name.

Well, there is that whole "Roger" vs. "Rogers" thing.

I wouldn't say so personally - they don't compete with what had come before, but I've always considered D&P and Symbol to be fairly solid Prince albums. It wasn't until The Gold Experience that his studio work began to lose its magic for me. I stuck with him for quite a while though. When I donated my vast Prince collection to my younger sister, it was everything after Symbol that I gave her .

peaceandlove said:

fen said:

I wouldn't say so personally - they don't compete with what had come before, but I've always considered D&P and Symbol to be fairly solid Prince albums. It wasn't until The Gold Experience that his studio work began to lose its magic for me. I stuck with him for quite a while though. When I donated my vast Prince collection to my younger sister, it was everything after Symbol that I gave her .

Don't anyone even dare drag The Gold Experience into any discussion of his "lowest career point"... is nothing sacred??

Seriously, my fave Prince eras are '80-'87, '93-'95 and '14-'15... so while '89-'92 isn't a 'high point' for me exactly, I think he was generally chugging along fine in that era. '98-'99 was more the low point, I think... I'm not sure that any two consecutive Prince or NPG albums underwhelmed me as much as Newpower Soul and Rave. Although even *they* have their moments. And at least during the early '00s instrumental jazz/TRC phase, you couldn't accuse him of not experimenting.

ChickenMcNuggets said:

fen said:

I wouldn't say so personally - they don't compete with what had come before, but I've always considered D&P and Symbol to be fairly solid Prince albums. It wasn't until The Gold Experience that his studio work began to lose its magic for me. I stuck with him for quite a while though. When I donated my vast Prince collection to my younger sister, it was everything after Symbol that I gave her .

Don't anyone even dare drag The Gold Experience into any discussion of his "lowest career point"... is nothing sacred??

Seriously, my fave Prince eras are '80-'87, '93-'95 and '14-'15... so while '89-'92 isn't a 'high point' for me exactly, I think he was generally chugging along fine in that era. '98-'99 was more the low point, I think... I'm not sure that any two consecutive Prince or NPG albums underwhelmed me as much as Newpower Soul and Rave. Although even *they* have their moments. And at least during the early '00s instrumental jazz/TRC phase, you couldn't accuse him of not experimenting.

I hope nobody drags TRC cause I was about to be like you and go is nothing sacred either I looooove TRC.

But you are indeed right about NPS and Rave

AvocadosMax said:

peaceandlove said:

I agree I loved 2010 to 2016 and his rock n roll vibe.
But dude, chill out with the language, so not cool.
We all have passionate opinions. Peace.

My bad

No, you're cool...🤣

ChickenMcNuggets said:

fen said:

I wouldn't say so personally - they don't compete with what had come before, but I've always considered D&P and Symbol to be fairly solid Prince albums. It wasn't until The Gold Experience that his studio work began to lose its magic for me. I stuck with him for quite a while though. When I donated my vast Prince collection to my younger sister, it was everything after Symbol that I gave her .

Don't anyone even dare drag The Gold Experience into any discussion of his "lowest career point"... is nothing sacred??

Seriously, my fave Prince eras are '80-'87, '93-'95 and '14-'15... so while '89-'92 isn't a 'high point' for me exactly, I think he was generally chugging along fine in that era. '98-'99 was more the low point, I think... I'm not sure that any two consecutive Prince or NPG albums underwhelmed me as much as Newpower Soul and Rave. Although even *they* have their moments. And at least during the early '00s instrumental jazz/TRC phase, you couldn't accuse him of not experimenting.

Sorry . I wasn’t arguing that it was a career low point as such (with the overview that we have today), but it was the moment that I fully acknowledged that I wasn’t enjoying his studio work as much. There are great moments on it no doubt, but I revisited it after his death and I still prefer the Symbol album - Sexy M.F is funkier and edgier than anything on TGE, Damn U is a better ballad and nothing on that album is as good as 7 (Dolphin comes close). Just my opinion of course. And no, nothing is sacred.

[Edited 11/19/19 15:35pm]

Couldn't get lower than everything after the turn of the century!

EVERYTHING he released with Warner Bros was 10 times more superior than anything he released afterwards.

I also take into account Prince was still trying to settle himself from a real change in the culture, that made him flow more easily. Overall the 80s culture in general Prince thrived in. He's a 70s child, he loves the 60s hippie movements etc then add that 'his' culture changed ie his 'kingdom' shrunk considerably. The Time, (Vanity 6/A6) engineers like Susan Rogers, Peggy O, the Revolution etc were 'gone' those people/expressions where his 'mirrored' community-as he called them in 1998. Yes Sheila E, Dr Fink were there, but the vibe had changed, his protege output wasn't like 1982-1986. And then in 1989 more people leave ie Sheila E, Cat, Boni, I think Atlanta Bliss officially retired

.

And now he is trying to pull things together, maybe some new influences aren't making the purple shine like it did before. Sequestered into Paisley Park, Graffiti Bridge disaster etc

Even his "low points" kicked a lot of ass. I never lost interest and almost always found something exciting in almost everything he did, even if I had to hunt harder for it or it wasn't as consistent. To me, the "I'm gonna do jazz now" thing that showed up with TRC and NEWS was as bored as I ever got.

I wasn't thrilled with the over commercialization of Batman and D&P or the hit and miss nature of GB but he was still bringing it live and writing good songs.

RicoN said:

no. there's not a shared view amongst Prince fans about anything. Apart form maybe Purple and Gold.

Ain't that the truth??!!

Seahorsie said:

RicoN said:

no. there's not a shared view amongst Prince fans about anything. Apart form maybe Purple and Gold.

Ain't that the truth??!!

So true! I see a lot of diversity of opinion, but nobody will ever start lauding purple and gold as a masterpiece

AvocadosMax said:

I don’t get you fools who say that “2010-2016 was a low point” No the fuck it was not! If anything that last decade was his highest point in his entire fucking career!! Super bowl, 2009 and 2013 Montreux shows were legendary. Most of the albums were killer or decent. Live shows were fantastic as ever in general. Best interviews and tv appearances of his career. Piano shows and memoirs. Plus regaining his masters and then teaming up with TIDAL. Those last years were legendary and brought some of his greatest music since the 90s. Don’t tell me those years were a low point. Y’all can fuck the hell off with that bs

Those last year were a low point.

Yes, he was still wonderful live, but that was always the case. Although that period where he did Greatest Hits Medley tours was very disappointing.

But the new music he created was forgettable or just plain bad.

And that's no slight agaist Prince or his work ethic. Could Michael Jordan dunk at 50 like he did at 25? Of course not. The brain ages as well as the body.

Stare, Free Urself and If Eye Could Get Ur Attention were "forgettable or just plain bad"?

Come on now...

[Edited 11/21/19 12:53pm]

I like Batman and a few cuts on GB/D&P/Love Symbol, but Prince lost something around that time period for me. As others have mentioned, he stopped being an innovator to a great extent. Still supremely talented, but I felt like he was a little desperate for financial/critical success. The good stuff from that time didn't compare to the amazing material he released (or didn't release) beforehand. Not to mention that was when he started dropping really lame songs..

Still, commercially, it was a good time for him and he still had love overseas, but to an extent I felt like he was losing respect in the USA scene just a bit. I'd say 1999-2003 was a career low.

[Edited 11/21/19 15:00pm]

Strive said:

Stare, Free Urself and If Eye Could Get Ur Attention were "forgettable or just plain bad"?

Come on now...

[Edited 11/21/19 12:53pm]

As is so often the case, the original recording was vastly superior though (was it Jill Jones, 1986?).

To which I say "1998 - 2000".

andrewm7 said:

Seahorsie said:

Ain't that the truth??!!

So true! I see a lot of diversity of opinion, but nobody will ever start lauding purple and gold as a masterpiece

Ok, i'm gonna jump in here and do it .

Purple & Gold is no masterpiece but it achieves what it is going for. You may dislike it, it may not be the kind of music you want to hear from Prince, but he fairly nails that sound. Frankly, I think it does what it's trying to do better than, say, 3 Chains O'Gold's attempt to be Bohemian Rhapsody.

more like 2008-2015 (in terms of studio releases)

No. The view may be held by many but it's not shared. Batman, Graffiti Bridge, Diamonds & Pearls and O(+> each yielded at least one top 10 single. Each had some classic gems among whatever filler there was.

lol now way. He had GB, D&(, Symbol albums and tours etc. The low point was 1994-2000

To be frank...I absolutely love hearing opposing opinions.

It's proof that Prince literally had something for everyone. Versatility than a mug

callimnate said:

Couldn't get lower than everything after the turn of the century!

EVERYTHING he released with Warner Bros was 10 times more superior than anything he released afterwards.

I agree, sometimes i think he needed WB to get out the good stuff.

I don't believe in just release everything you come up with.

Emancipation aint no parade or 1999.

rdhull said:

lol now way. He had GB, D&(, Symbol albums and tours etc. The low point was 1994-2000

1994 was awesome, my personal favorite year after 1984.

I went to the Bataclan show in '94 and it was amazing and it was great to hear these brand new unknown songs live and after that show the whole The Gold Experience ride began for me and was such a great time. Very good memories for that year.

JorisE73 said:

rdhull said:

lol now way. He had GB, D&(, Symbol albums and tours etc. The low point was 1994-2000

1994 was awesome, my personal favorite year after 1984.

I went to the Bataclan show in '94 and it was amazing and it was great to hear these brand new unknown songs live and after that show the whole The Gold Experience ride began for me and was such a great time. Very good memories for that year.

I was really excited about the Gold Experience, when I Hate U single hit the radio

I was not excited about a Prince album coming out since Lovesexy

But I was underwhelmed after getting the album. the music didn't do me well, BUT the era overall was fun.

Did you like the Gold Experience album/music too?

OldFriends4Sale said:

JorisE73 said:

1994 was awesome, my personal favorite year after 1984.

I went to the Bataclan show in '94 and it was amazing and it was great to hear these brand new unknown songs live and after that show the whole The Gold Experience ride began for me and was such a great time. Very good memories for that year.

I was really excited about the Gold Experience, when I Hate U single hit the radio

I was not excited about a Prince album coming out since Lovesexy

But I was underwhelmed after getting the album. the music didn't do me well, BUT the era overall was fun.

Did you like the Gold Experience album/music too?

Yes I loved it, I was just dissappointed that Acknowledge Me and Days of Wild weren't on it.
I had a article from some magazine who were attendance at the World Music Awards in 1994 and in the article they posted the tracklist of The Gold Experience that they said would be released later in the year (of course that didn't happen) and that tracklist had Acknowledge Me and Days of Wild on it. So imagine my dispapointment when the album was eventually released without them in 1995.