funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

SoulAlive said:

I agree.So many potential singles on that album.

I can only imagine the max being a single. There were several singles from that album already. None of them except 7 did much. None of those singles were of the same caliber as those from d+p.

I think the Symbol album is stronger than D&P.I'm not sure what went wrong with the promotion and the singles.Songs like "And God Created Woman" and "The Continental" might have worked better as singles,imo.The album sold well regardless.

..

[Edited 12/30/23 22:10pm]

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

My issue with symbol is the whole rock opera thats scattered through the lyrics but still really needs all the segues to make sense. Its also the most densely arranged and packed of all his albums. Its the opposite of minimal 80s prince. Its one of my least favourites personally. It feels like an album that needs videos or a film for it to really work. But beyond all that, which is normal for albums like this, its just not got any bonafide all time great prince songs the way d+p did. Though i loved it as a teenager at the time, now i can never quite get into it. And i hate 7, to go back to singles. Its leaden to me, so flat melodically, and the chorus never ends.

It's like a movie soundtrack.I think the 'Three Chains O Gold' film should have been released around the time of the album's release,instead of a few years later.That film could have served as a strong promotional piece for the entire album.

To me,D&P is a "lite" Prince album.It's decent,but it's also very "safe".Yes,it did well commercially but how many longtime fans rate it as one of their favorites? The SDE came and went,just like that.

Symbol is a bolder,more adventurous and more fun album,imo."Sexy MF" alone kills anything on D&P.

SoulAlive said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

My issue with symbol is the whole rock opera thats scattered through the lyrics but still really needs all the segues to make sense. Its also the most densely arranged and packed of all his albums. Its the opposite of minimal 80s prince. Its one of my least favourites personally. It feels like an album that needs videos or a film for it to really work. But beyond all that, which is normal for albums like this, its just not got any bonafide all time great prince songs the way d+p did. Though i loved it as a teenager at the time, now i can never quite get into it. And i hate 7, to go back to singles. Its leaden to me, so flat melodically, and the chorus never ends.

It's like a movie soundtrack.I think the 'Three Chains O Gold' film should have been released around the time of the album's release,instead of a few years later.That film could have served as a strong promotional piece for the entire album.

it's just not got any bonafide all time great songs the way d+p did

To me,D&P is a "lite" Prince album.It's decent,but it's also very "safe".Yes,it did well commercially but how many longtime fans rate it as one of their favorites? The SDE came and went,just like that.

Symbol is a bolder,more adventurous and more fun album,imo."Sexy MF" alone kills anything on D&P.

Definetely!

D&P feels anemic compared to the Symbol album.

"Musicology" the song was a lame single, especially for a "return to form" promo phase tour+LP. The fact that that one's the closest he's got to a TikTok hit shows how bad his single choices were. Unfortunately tiktok gen won't acknowledge non-single tracks for this guy marketed like puffy shirt Rick Astley so thems the breaks, guess that's that.

[Edited 12/31/23 4:34am]

psyche2 said:

SoulAlive said:

To me,D&P is a "lite" Prince album.It's decent,but it's also very "safe".Yes,it did well commercially but how many longtime fans rate it as one of their favorites? The SDE came and went,just like that.

Symbol is a bolder,more adventurous and more fun album,imo."Sexy MF" alone kills anything on D&P.

Definetely!

D&P feels anemic compared to the Symbol album.

Oh yeah, 100%.

I really despise the slippery slope Prince fans acting like those of us who hate on D&P not being SDE worthy try to conflate that hate to the entire 90s. uh, no, the 90s is fine, literally his very next record of the 90s is about 20x better than D&P and a true Top 10 Prince classic....

The only LP "safer" than D&P in the Prince oeuvre is s/t.

WhisperingDandelions said:

"Musicology" the song was a lame single, especially for a "return to form" promo phase tour+LP. The fact that that one's the closest he's got to a TikTok hit shows how bad his single choices were. Unfortunately tiktok gen won't acknowledge non-single tracks for this guy marketed like puffy shirt Rick Astley so thems the breaks, guess that's that.

[Edited 12/31/23 4:34am]

Personally, I thought the production on it wasn't organic enough, but it wa certainly a song that i saw get some traction among non-Prince fans. It is catchy.

blacknote said:

Te Amo Corazon. Good God what was he thinking releasing this boring song as a lead single????

I was thinking the same lol

However I do appreciate it in context of the album, but as a first single to start the promotion... hell nope!

Fury SNL version should have been released as the first single, this version kicks ass!

Arms Of Orion was both a terrible single choice AND a terrible song. It's worse than Jughead in my opinion.

leecaldon said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

strongoxman1 said:

RODSERLING said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Some ppl just have no taste. Musicology sucked. And still sucks. (Sounds much better live though, less tame, though the lyrics are still just bad nostalgic cheese). However as a single i guess its a good choice, considering what there was to work with on that (so so) album.

My Little sister had 15 years old at the time, she listened only to commercial songs on the radio. She hated everything I listened to. She saw one day the music video on TV, she asked me if I had bought the album. She thought the song and the video were great ! I never knew why this song specifically. She borrowed me the album from time to time, only to play the music video on PC ( that is missing from the Sony re-release by the way) That was before YouTube !

maybe young ppl liked the nostalgia vibes

i thought it was starbucks funk

but at that point in his career, maybe that was smart

there is something catchy about musicology TBH

but i still dislike the song

i dont hate it, its too bland to hate

but i dont really need to listen to it again.

he did manage to make it something much better on the tour though

the only real songs that i think would have worked as singles on that album are cinnamon girl, maybe a million days, or musicology, so i guess its a decent choice to have that as the first one, out of those.

[Edited 1/5/24 11:55am]

RODSERLING said:

leecaldon said:

Personally, I thought the production on it wasn't organic enough, but it wa certainly a song that i saw get some traction among non-Prince fans. It is catchy.

I saw one consumer on a french wreckastore Looking closely at Prince greatest hits. It was 15 years ago, the guy was in his twenties. As I was Around, I asked him what was he Looking for? He said " Is there a comprehensive greatest hits with all his hits? Like The Most Beautiful Girl and Musicology?" I said no, nothing past 1992. So he went out of the store without buying nothing. How many of them didn't buy a Prince greatest hits because Batdance, Partyman or Musicology weren't in it? Some answers here are completely out of the reality. Musicology was a great lead single : great song, great video, best marketing strategy possible for a comeback.

Yeah, I remember kids like my nephew, who was 5 at the time, dancing around to it. That first part of the video hooked him.

"Musicology" was the perfect single.It's a delightfully funky track that reintroduced Prince to the masses.Even my father,who was never a big Prince fan,got excited about this song and bought the CD The video was great too.

CO-sign "A Million Days" as a better Musicology single. "Call My Name" was a fine single.

And as a counterpoint to all your various anecdotes about some casual who perked up at a snippet of "Musicology", I was in high school at the time, prime adolescence, and multiple peers with pretty good taste would immediately clown on "Musicology" when I tried to name-drop Prince.

Post-1984 the youth get more and more alienated from Prince, so this was literally all anyone in my age range knew of the man, save for like one or two girls who had Prince moms.

It's a simple throwback, nothing deep or cutting-edge to it. A supposed "return to form" for Prince should have some friggin' bite or might to it. There's nothing in "Musicology" that will compel anyone do a deep dive or become a super stan. It's a "hey that's kinda nice" single at best from wide-eyed casuals, a "hey that's kinda corny cringe, how is this guy a legend again?" from art nerds.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

it was starbucks funk

"Starbucks Funk", you nailed it.

I should retag the genre on my MP3s for 'Musicology' to this. This is why we need additional qualifiers before everyone writes "funk" every other post like they do around here. Something like "Head" makes "Musicology" look like prime Yani in terms of funk. "Return to form", what an insult.

[Edited 1/7/24 23:35pm]

AOA was the real return to form in this century.

not musicology.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

CO-sign "A Million Days" as a better Musicology single. "Call My Name" was a fine single.

And as a counterpoint to all your various anecdotes about some casual who perked up at a snippet of "Musicology", I was in high school at the time, prime adolescence, and multiple peers with pretty good taste would immediately clown on "Musicology" when I tried to name-drop Prince.

Post-1984 the youth get more and more alienated from Prince, so this was literally all anyone in my age range knew of the man, save for like one or two girls who had Prince moms.

It's a simple throwback, nothing deep or cutting-edge to it. A supposed "return to form" for Prince should have some friggin' bite or might to it. There's nothing in "Musicology" that will compel anyone do a deep dive or become a super stan. It's a "hey that's kinda nice" single at best from wide-eyed casuals, a "hey that's kinda corny cringe, how is this guy a legend again?" from art nerds.

1984 is pushing is - Prince was huge in the early 90s, all over MTV etc. He was very much part of the mix of major acts in that period. I recall the Emancipation concert being widely covered on radio stations.