PRINCE NEVER LOST IT, the artist did

What excatly did he lose?
His virginity...?

FunLovin said:

His creative propulsion.

The thing that made each album from 1978 to 1987/88 more progressive, and different to the last - reaching out artistically into something he hadn't done before.

We all know he's still prolific, we all know he has made some great stuff since, we all know he's still a fantastic musician.

But he DID lose it.

VelvetSplash said:

He did not lose it, he reversed it to something else, something undone and as great as the others...

So you think Emancipation, Rave, NPS stand up to Parade, SOTT and 1999?

VelvetSplash said:

I think it has also something 2 do with u're (and our) age.

Back in the days we were young and easy 2 impress.

Now we're not 2 easy 2 buy a record with shakey & sweaty hands.

Essence said:

Emancipation?? Man, that album just felt so COLD to me. Yeah, there were a few pretty good tracks (Right Back, Face Down, My Computer, The Love We Make, In This Bed,...) on it, but as a whole, it was just so much filler type stuff. As it's been said many times around here, turn that sucker into a single 80 minute CD, and you've got a pretty good album, though still "cold", IMHO. I'm sure that word or feeling comes from the production, which it seems he let Kirk have a huge hand in. Since Gold, only TRC has been anything of substance.

namepeace said:

if it is true that he lost his stroke, because of the dissapointments, mainly in sales, then it would show that he never truly beleived in himself. No surprise then that he lost it AFTER Lovesexy.



but an artistical drop in originality and quality.

but Graffiti Bridge dropped commercially, like never any album did before, plus the movie made him look ridiculous.


but these 2 albums were so commercially inspired, that he lost track of his musical roots; Prince was no longer the original musician from the 80''s, he was now following the trends of hiphop.



but he hated it himself and decided to drop the name and fame of "Prince".


but it didn't help him in the end.


I agree, which seem to mark a return to old form, if it weren't for C&D and Emancipation.


"very well" is an overstatement. The album made him lose long term fans who were wondering why he was sounding so R&b kirky j'ish and not like prince anymore.


mainly very dissapointing results.


who love his music mainly for his 80's work. the toruing went down as well in terms of bigger venues. it all was getting less and less than before... rapidly. NPS was a sti8nker and so was rave. Thjose albums didn''t do him any good in terms being succesfull in new original Prince music. he was still feuding with WB too, which was getting tired.




Nothing compares to the dark age either.

rdhull said:

okay then I did go...got lucky enuff to sit/stand in the front row for like 250 bucks w/out being a member of NPGMC...

ConsciousContact said:

actually, it was all over the radio in america too. was a huge hit that summer. my friends who didn't even like prince used to sing it in school all the time

Musically, he did not lose it in '88... come on. he did a major musical progression trying to complicate his simplistic pop by shredding and layering up the formulas with Lovesexy (the album)... and the variations of "Come" the bizarre "pheremone" and unconventional arrangement of "Days of Wild" (studio version) all beat the simple elementary stuff off of "Parade" as far as deep deep listening. (I'm not talking about words, I'm talking about the patterns of sound)

He lost it when he put out the first two discs of "Emancipation".. or did he? You are not hearing everything he does for sure. His career moves are bad for his image, but the real substance is always there, being put to tape, and not released at times, because he always wants to push his image bounderies. And he sometimes has really bad taste when it comes to predicting what people like now.

I don't think he's lost anything. He just need new people to hang around that will encourage him to put out cooler, crazy stuff.

VelvetSplash said:

cborgman said:

That's what I would have thought.

VelvetSplash said:

if it's creative propulsion you're talking about then the same can be said for Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and even MJ. It seems to be a trait amongst artists not just Prince.

alexnvrmnd said:

Since TGE only TRC has been of any substance in your opinion. I think Emancipation divides fans down the middle, many see it as his best 90s work (Alex Hahn did in his recent book) and many see it as part of a downfall, that's cool it's all just opinions...

am i the only person alive that likes NPS ??

c'mon it has some gr8 tracks...







we have made it 2 the dawn...

The only thing Prince lost was the same fans that supported him during the Purple Rain period. Most of them got tired of waiting for a copy cat album of Purple Rain. I did think the name change was wacky & made his career take a dive...but it was something he felt he had to do in order to be released from Warner Bros. I guess!