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Purple Rain is most unPrince Sounding CD I am writing this post not because I don’t like the Purple Rain cd, in fact I very much enjoy it and The Beautiful Ones is one of my favorite Prince songs. I think the cd is top 5 Prince cds and is truly groundbreaking. I am super happy for what it did to his career. That being said I think it is one of the least sounding Prince cds ever. I have always thought this about this cd even though it was one of the last of his I bought back in late 96 when I went insane into his music. This is a rock/guitar driven cd that Prince has only done once or twice ever before in his career. Obviously plectrumelectrum and you could argue Lotusflow3r but neither of those contained the high end material Purple Rain did and were mixed in quality. Just go track by track…tell me one song in Prince’s catalog(released under his name)that is like Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, When Doves Cry(yeah tell me another major Prince song without bass), Baby I’m A Star, or Purple Rain(not Gold). I will relent that The Beautiful Ones is something like a Prince song, but he doesn’t do power ballads….also somewhat like Computer Blue as the full version is amazing but this is just another guitar driven song, the full version gives us so much more. Darlin’ Nikki classic Prince song…no arguments here as well as I would die 4 U, it has many great Prince elements. Purple Rain and Let’s Go Crazy are just not classic Prince songs, although I love both of them, they are “crowd pleasing” songs that he felt he had to write so he could then have the most creative musical year of his career (1986) without being bothered. Classic Prince songs to me are When You Were Mine and Controversy where the guitar played a driving part but not the whole machine. When Doves Cry is truly amazing, that Prince could create a song and then remove the bass and the song is still amazing is amazing! Think of one great Prince song and remove the bass and let me know what you think of it. When we think of the great instrument guiding a Prince song, we rarely do think of anything besides a bass track. That is usually the most guiding part of a Prince song. This song does not have one, which regardless of the songs merit, it inherently means it is not a typical Prince song. I hate that Purple Rain became the cd that defined Prince, that just wasn’t who he was as an artist but again, I am super happy that it gave him the freedom to do what he wanted to do. I think the most Prince sounding cd is Sign O The Times, it truly shows his brilliance. Thank you all for reading! | |
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I like the angle of approach here. This album hit me when it came out and brought me into the Prince realm. I see your point that it differs quite a bit from his work in the whole (so can see the remark About classic in that context). |
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is that because it wasn't a very prince album or is it because prince was trying not to sound like that again because he didn't like the level of popularity he was experiencing? (couldn't leave his house) ... there were rawk elements on his debut and he was never a slouch on guitar .. eye can tell u it aint easy to rawk without a band .. after years of doing it all himself he finally got his band in shape enough to pull a beefier sound so it was a natural progression towards rawk .. happened again during dnp and gold when he was fully fleshing out a band sound he just could not pull off on his own .. gold is a bit of rawk but dnp era could also hold the same arguement that it was not really a prince sound .. especially with all the rapping .. but then again .. he rapped on everything for years after just like he crammed in his same guitar solo live for years after .. montreaux would be another example of an era that did not sound like prince .. while dnp had tony m to ruin every song montreax had renato ruining everything .. it could be said that prince never sounded quite like prince when he worked with a band but he was always collaborating right from the start even when he played everything himself .. eye would say pr is very much a prince sound that he refused to revisit out of a desire to try new things and leave a certain image behind .. | |
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I get what you mean-- slightly-- and it's totally a subjective experience. For me it's an energy thing, as if there was a different energy going into PR that created something so potent yet a little dissasociated. it's the completely foreign, unreal feeling of having your own movie & doing something so huge thus far, translating into the album. I can feel that energy trembling throughout it.
Then when I hear UTCM I get a very smug energy. Every album is different in that way from an intuitive & subjective point. [Edited 4/7/22 7:40am] We are the flowers growin' in God's garden
And that is why he spreads the shit around | |
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billymeade said:
The statement is tryhard and bizarre. Two songs written 5 years into a 40 year career that he played damn near every night thereafter and they aren't classic Prince songs? Okay. | |
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Kiss & Black Sweat [Edited 4/7/22 11:27am] |
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"Thread topic"
WTF are you talking about???! |
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A read the question more as that the songs are quite atypical in comparison with the majority. Yes, they have become our Prince classics but in Prince his output the songs are a bit different from his regular way of writing (and not his classic/usual way) |
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The op might mean "not sounding like typical Prince". |
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billymeade said:
Well, photographer Allen Beaulieu said he wrote LGC and gave it to Prince in exchange for an advance copy of the album Purple Rain. |
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This is paraphrasing, but there's a quote out there how Prince knew it was his "big chance" and so he put more effort into a broader-sounding sound to appeal to as many people as possible. Certainly Purple Rain is more accessible than most Prince albums.
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Malcolm Gladwell has stated in his podcast "Revisionist History" that "some artists are Picasso, and others are Cézanne." Artists of the Picasso model execute their works seemingly at a stroke, often after long periods spent consciously or unconsciously assembling a coherent vision. Artists of the Cézanne model execute, execute, and execute again, refining their way from an imperfect first product to a much more perfect final one.
I feel Prince's genius is more along the lines of Cézanne, with sparks of Picasso through out his career. "Sign of the Times is a perfect example of Cézanne. We all know what it took to boil that album down. "Purple Rain" however is more along the lines of Picasso. tales say most of those song were made over night in sparks of inspiration due to the movie.
1999 is similar to Purple Rain in creation, and so on. But I think he is mostly Cézanne. | |
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I think it's possibly the first and only album of his where he was obviously going for the brass ring, which resulted in a heavy rock influence and high levels of drama. Prince never had a proper follow up to Purple Rain. Had he had one I'd wager it would've been a huge seller. |
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johnnieb said: Malcolm Gladwell has stated in his podcast "Revisionist History" that "some artists are Picasso, and others are Cézanne." Artists of the Picasso model execute their works seemingly at a stroke, often after long periods spent consciously or unconsciously assembling a coherent vision. Artists of the Cézanne model execute, execute, and execute again, refining their way from an imperfect first product to a much more perfect final one.
I feel Prince's genius is more along the lines of Cézanne, with sparks of Picasso through out his career. "Sign of the Times is a perfect example of Cézanne. We all know what it took to boil that album down. "Purple Rain" however is more along the lines of Picasso. tales say most of those song were made over night in sparks of inspiration due to the movie.
1999 is similar to Purple Rain in creation, and so on. But I think he is mostly Cézanne. Well, we know Purple Rain went through plenty iterations considering his projected soundtrack for it in 1982 didn't resemble anything close to what it ended up being. That said, he certainly executed at a consistent cadence but I'm not sure if I'd say HNR2 is the most perfect prince record or that subsequent albums were exponentially better than PR. | |
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Pretty much what CynicKill and billymeade said. The soundtrack album promoted the movie and the movie promoted the album. And the concerts from that tour was basically the movie performed "live on stage". All of those songs were sequenced well to tell the story of the film. | |
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Silly newbies. I'll tell U what the Eye in the Pimp stand 4! |
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Okay I have been a fan since I was 15, and I knew this would be taken out of context…. Yes let's go crazy and purple rain are classic Prince songs due to the nostalgia and I love them both. But when you think of classic Prince songs, how many have the guitar as the lead? So many people on this site think that Purple Rain is the be all end all, I saw the super bowl, I just hate that cd is the one that every one thinks that defines Prince when no other cd he has put out sounds like this at all. Prince knew he had to do something to put himself out there and then did what he wanted to do for the rest of his career.
[Edited 4/10/22 4:45am] [Edited 4/10/22 4:46am] | |
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AlexNevermind28 said: Okay I have been a fan since I was 15, and I knew this would be taken out of context…. Yes let's go crazy and purple rain are classic Prince songs due to the nostalgia and I love them both. But when you think of classic Prince songs, how many have the guitar as the lead? So many people on this site think that Purple Rain is the be all end all, I saw the super bowl, I just hate that cd is the one that every one thinks that defines Prince when no other cd he has put out sounds like this at all. Prince knew he had to do something to put himself out there and then did what he wanted to do for the rest of his career.
[Edited 4/10/22 4:45am] [Edited 4/10/22 4:46am] Lmao Actually Prince was a guitarist. Most of his songs have a prominent guitar. [Edited 4/10/22 4:53am] | |
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Okay let us run down his top ten hits genius:
Little Red Corvette- guitar played a main part but drums and bass really drive this song Delirious- bass drives this song Let’s go crazy/purple rain- Proves my point When Doves Cry- drum machine I would die 4 u- bass/drums Raspberry Beret- bass/keyboards Pop life- keyboards/bass Kiss- keyboards Sign o the times- amazing bass line U got the look- bass line I could never take the place….- you could argue guitar but keyboards drive this song Alphabet St- lol bass Batdance- the guitar is the best part but not the driving part Thieves in the Temple-see above Cream—-shall I continue??? [Edited 4/10/22 5:13am] [Edited 4/10/22 5:44am] | |
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AlexNevermind28 said: Okay let us run down his top ten hits genius: Little Red Corvette- guitar played a main part but drums and bass really drive this song Delirious- bass drives this song Let’s go crazy/purple rain- Proves my point When Doves Cry- drum machine I would die 4 u- bass/drums Raspberry Beret- bass/keyboards Pop life- keyboards/bass Sign o the times- amazing bass line U got the look- bass line I could never take the place….- you could argue guitar but keyboards drive this song Alphabet St- lol bass Batdance- the guitar is the best part but not the driving part Thieves in the Temple-see above Cream—-shall I continue??? [Edited 4/10/22 5:13am] No I really don't think you should continue because 90% of those songs even gave guitar solos in them. One thing that is more or less constant in Prince's music: the pairing of guitars and synths. Forever. You would've had a more successful thread had you said something like Parade was UnPrince because he rarely if ever used a clarinet before or after. Purple Rain was an extension of 1999 and Controversy and Prince used it as the blueprint for several records thereafter. So when you say you were a fan since you were 15... What are you now? 17? | |
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You’re an idiot Where is the guitar solo in delirious, I would die 4 u, raspberry beret, pop life, u got the look, etc??? Sure I will continue: Diamonds and Pearls- keyboards 7- drums TMBGITW- keyboards/drums I am 41 years old and I am not trying to argue with anyone, just stating that although I love Purple Rain, I hate that cd defines him when it is so unlike him. | |
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AlexNevermind28 said: You’re an idiot Where is the guitar solo in delirious, I would die 4 u, raspberry beret, pop life, u got the look, etc??? Sure I will continue: Diamonds and Pearls- keyboards 7- drums TMBGITW- keyboards/drums I am 41 years old and I am not trying to argue with anyone, just stating that although I love Purple Rain, I hate that cd defines him when it is so unlike him. You dunno where the guitar solos are in U Got the Look? Have you ever heard Raspberry Beret extended? You know IWD4U has a distinctive guitar hook? How about the acoustic guitar that drives 7? The guitar solo in D&P? Pop Life is driven by a guitar too - you do know basses are guitars right? You're objectively wrong. And now you've called someone an idiot when you're out here being clowned by people for having a shit take the likes of something you hear from a tryhard newb. | |
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Disagree. I was a 14 year old Prince fan when PR was released and it seemed like a very natural progression from 1999. PR was absolutely not un-Prince like. Especially if you had seen him live during his 3 prior tours. No one was left scrtathcing their head thinking WTF? when When Doves Cry was released as the first single. It seemed very Prince as did all the other singles. No one was saying 'Wow, that doesn't sound like Prince.' To my ears, it sounded like he took elements of Dirty Mind and 1999 to the next level. You could actually make the arguement that ATWIAD, Parade, or even D&P, were the most un Prince sounding records (I won't) But anyone who was around when they were released would proabaly agree simply based on the reactions of his fans. [Edited 4/10/22 19:37pm] |
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. Exactly. . I have NEWS for anyone who thinks PR is the most unPrince sounding album: You must be one of The Rainbow Children walking Around the World in a "Daze" in a Parade or in the first phase of a HitnRun to think this. . The first 8 albums can be easily grouped in pairs - For You & Prince, Dirty Mind & Controversy, 1999 & Purple Rain, Around the World in Day & Parade. PR is a development from the predecessor with no substantial step change, whilst there are others that are substantial changes. [Edited 4/12/22 3:28am] |
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Prince was a guitar hero, wanted to be seen as one and truly achieved it with this album in the publics kind. Not exactly I know as he was still underrated for years, but for many ppl this album and the film sold him as guitar hero. And lol at keyboards being the dominant part in ICNTTPOYM |
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funkbabyandthebabysitters said: Prince was a guitar hero, wanted to be seen as one and truly achieved it with this album in the publics kind. Not exactly I know as he was still underrated for years, but for many ppl this album and the film sold him as guitar hero. And lol at keyboards being the dominant part in ICNTTPOYM Or the synths that drive Kiss. His list is hilarious. | |
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I agree with this. Purple Rain was the natural extension of what came before. The song Purple Rain isn't in a different lane than the song "Free." Let's Go Crazy is like is the rock of "Little Red Corvette" had a baby with the post apocalyptic pulse of the song "1999." I could go on. - The OP is mistaken. Purple Rain is the the MOST Prince sounding album. Out of all of his albums, this is the quintessential one. It's all there. "New Power slide...." |
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If you're talking about the brickwalled version, then yeah it doesn't sound like most Prince CDs. But the original mastering sounds like most of the other Prince CDs from the era. I'm assuming you feel the original LP sounds more like a Prince album, and that is basically what you get with the original CD. Luckly, they are rather easy to track down. Give a listen and hopefully you'll like it. [Edited 4/12/22 11:51am] | |
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