Scandalous >>>

ShellyMcG said:

I am in love with that song. The video is great too. I'm probably one of the few women who doesn't find Prince particularly attractive but even I have to admit that he's sexy as hell in that video. Nobody does it like that these days. Prince's ballads are pure magic. He can play all the instruments, dance like a ballerina and do all sorts of different genres better than anyone but for me, the most impressive thing about Prince was his ability to write a love song. The words, the melodies. Everything. The man was a genius.

The "Scandalous" and "Insatiable" videos are his best.

Most of his videos are so annoyingly minimalist with the fake live performances on the same generic stage over half the time. These two videos show the key was actually taking it even more minimalist, no phony live band playing drum machine/synth music, no illusion of concept: just Prince by himself and a video camera, that's all you need.

Fenwick and I argue about this song all the time. He loves it, I think it's overdone and annoying as hell. Disappointing because he's so known for his ballads like that; "Do Me Baby," "International Lover," "The Beautiful Ones," "Condition of the Heart," "Adore," "Scandalous," "Still Would Stand All Time."

But "Insatiable" is just too much in not great ways.

Oddly, Fenwick hates "Damn U," but I think it has an instant classic and throwback sound to it.

So for me, in that time zone, "Scandalous" > "Insatiable"

TrivialPursuit said:

Fenwick and I argue about this song all the time. He loves it, I think it's overdone and annoying as hell. Disappointing because he's so known for his ballads like that; "Do Me Baby," "International Lover," "The Beautiful Ones," "Condition of the Heart," "Adore," "Scandalous," "Still Would Stand All Time."

But "Insatiable" is just too much in not great ways.

Oddly, Fenwick hates "Damn U," but I think it has an instant classic and throwback sound to it.

So for me, in that time zone, "Scandalous" > "Insatiable"

"Too much" what, though?

To me it's all about that silky flow kind of stacatto "In-sat-ia-ble's-my-name-when-IIiIiIT-comes-to-you". The song would be zzZzzZ city without that moment. Instead it's like crack-cocaine just for the hook. Seems ahead of it's time too, as 90s R&B melodies became more compact/cluttered, even moreso into the 00s and 10s.

"Damn U"'s great, too. Kind of a "Slow Love"-esque classical panache to it. As a teen I was bored by all the ballads except "Do Me, Baby" and "Shhh". Now maybe I go the opposite extreme where it's hard to name an explicitly bad one.

[Edited 12/4/22 20:09pm]

That synth bass...

Strange that Prince never used a pickin' double bass in his songs.

Or am i wrong ?

I only remember Levi Seacer playing one in the Party Man Video...

But that was just a gimmick.

WhisperingDandelions said:

RJOrion said:

ShellyMcG said:

I also really like the Chocolate Box video. It gives me kind of Sin City vibes.

Sin City 2 maybe. That's a track I always want to dislike philosophically for the autotune but it's always so damn enjoyable.

No doubt it's Scandalous mark II, and he even played them back to back live, but I'd say it's better.

.

Damn U and Shhh have been mentioned and I'd rate those higher than both Insatiable and Scandalous

WhisperingDandelions said:

"Too much" what, though?

To me it's all about that silky flow kind of stacatto "In-sat-ia-ble's-my-name-when-IIiIiIT-comes-to-you".

That alone is so fucking cringy for me.

It's just missing something. Not sure what it is, but it feels thin, unfinished, cheap.

Crucial > Scandalous >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Insatiable

GiggityGoo said:

GiggityGoo said:

Crucial > Scandalous >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Insatiable

Crucial is ear piercingly bad. Periodt! It's more hype than content.

TrivialPursuit said:

Fenwick said:

I’m just really not interested in romance ballads.

Is this just general distaste for the most universal of human emotions, or are you sitting there rocking an L.T.D. T-shirt with a Marvin Gaye poster on the wall and some Isaac Hayes on the box, shaking your head that Prince romance ballads just don't quite pass muster?

Fenwick said:

Well. To be clear… I don’t LOVE it. I’d never say “Alexa play insatiable” But I do think it’s one of his best romance ballads.

You've heavily defended it to me! haha

______________________

I was talking to Fenwick today, and I made mention that there are different Prince ballads.

There are the sexy ballads - Do Me, Baby, International Lover, With You, Slow Love, When 2 R In Love, Adore, Satisfied, The Question of U, Scandalous, Insatiable, Shhh, One Kiss At A Time, Man O War, The One, Somewhere Here On Earth.

There are just ballads that can be intense and moody, emotional: Condition of the Heart, Under The Cherry Moon, Damn U, Sweet Baby, Joy In Repetition, Sometimes It Snows In April, Diamonds and Pearls, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, The Beautiful Ones, Solo, Dark, Te Amo Corazon, Soul Sanctuary, Love U But Don't Trust U Anymore, She Loves Me 4 Me, Power Fantastic.

There are also uplifting power ballad like Free, Gold, Purple Rain, Anna Stesia, Still Would Stand All Time, The Love We Make, She Gave Her Angels.

Obviously some of these could be shuffled around. But to me, to compare "Damn U" to "Insatiable" or "Scandalous" is like comparing "When Doves Cry" to "319," or "Endorphinmachine" to "Darling Nikki."

his vocals on this one are incredible.

typical prince thing of sounding like he knows hes killing it and loving himself as much as the woman hes singing to lol

its a seduction ballad though, not a romance one (eg adore), though obv its prince, so the two things are often overlapping

[Edited 12/6/22 1:28am]

Definitely a total seduction ballad here. I personally think it's not so similar to Scandalous, as it's a whole different beat / feel (classic 6/8 whereas Scandalous is a slow binary rythm), love Scandalous too, got the maxi with the 3 part Suite on vinyl back in the days when it came out. The cover foto on Scandalous is just incredible especially in the vinyl size.

Always loved Damn U, too!

[Edited 12/6/22 3:43am]

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

giorgio said:

id say its def similiar to scandalous.

but they both do it so well, you cant really say its just a cheap copy of it.

he just had enough inspiration to do it twice!

i guess kim basinger was a good muse.

TrivialPursuit said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

id say its def similiar to scandalous.

but they both do it so well, you cant really say its just a cheap copy of it.

he just had enough inspiration to do it twice!

i guess kim basinger was a good muse.

But that's also why Scandalous is better. It's the original source and Insatiable is just the copy.