A friend of mine, listening to TRC the other day, said that he enjoyed the album but it sounded bland. He stopped buying Prince albums back in '89, after he felt a little let down by Batman. A thought then occurred to me:

Has Prince lost his spark now that he seems to have found his answers? While he was searching for his "God" he produced music of inspiration, outrage, anger, love and soul. since then, technically good the albums may have been, they have all been quite safe.

What do you think?

Well. let's forget Batman - that was cold...

Prince ain't dead, he's only resting

No, his popularity is dead. Prince never "lost" anything musically. The only reason this may appear to be is because much of his output in the 90s was inconnsistent (mainly due to the WB conflict). But albums like The Gold Experience, Emancipation, The Truth, The Rainbow Children and NEWS are IMO up there with 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, SOTT and Lovesexy.

toejam said:

Yup, me agree !

.





i believe that as michael jackson says, : the music , the songs, exist already, they are out the in the universe. the talent is knowing how to tap into them and bring them to the people.


people that can do this are blessed.some can do it for a long time and some just have one hit.


some people forget how to and others decide not to anymore.

i wonder which category prince falls into.


.

I just listened to N.E.W.S. last nite for the first time
and he got me in awe for the 1001th time !!

He might be an ass, his music however is the highest still !!

toejam said:

What is this blaspemy that you speak? Putting NEWS up there with SOTT? Emancipation with Lovesexy?

I think Prince will always be interesting, he's not just a pop act, he's a very talented man.

But I think unless he goes through some sort of 2nd wind (which I honestly thought TRC might be the start of) - I think his best music will always be the period 80-88 - I don't think he will ever top what he created then.

That's a good run though, I mean 78-88, every album was different from the last, and build upon what he had done before in new and interesting ways - Even after that he remanined interested till about '95.

He's older now, and people change, their motivations change - and what has he got left to prove?

BoySimon said:

Well, if you listen to N.E.W.S. I don't think that he is creatively dead!

BoySimon said:

I agree. I think the "all-knowing" JW "answers" are incompatible with the instability needed to keep pushing. Hopefully, like with Dylan, he'll drop this religious nonsense after a few albums and go back to what he's best at - and like Dylan, tour his ass off.

(I also suspect the religiosity is a hedge against another unhealthy baby.)

Why does everyone have something against Batman, me and a friend were discussing this in the pub last night and we agreed that we bot still very much enjoy listening to batman. It's what got a lot of people into him. Are you against commercialism? Because now everyone is complaining that he isn't commercial enough.

BoySimon said:

Thanks for the thread, BoyS. Sounds similar to Nietsche paraphrasing Zoraster etc. As Eminem states in "What you say I am", if you think he is, then to you he is! Or we can rap with the f.l.o.w.

what a silly Q!!!

toejam said:

Even thought I agree with u, Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy and 1999 just have a classic, creative peak that u cannot get with any of the latest...

I bet if I started a thread with this title, I'd have some folks up my ass with a burning torch.

But anyways, I think Prince is still creative, cuz I couldn't come up with what he does. Unfortunately he's making music that most people can't stand. I mean if he wants to make money (which he does), then he needs to get over the bullshit and start recording more commercial music. He can do whatever he wants for his own collection, but for us it would be nice if he changed his tune. He thinks it's like feeding us brussel sprouts, if we keep eating them, we'll develop a taste for them. Sorry Prince, your sprouts still taste bad.

no i think he is far from it.

he may not be making music to poeples tastes, but hes still being creative. doesnt news and xpectation show that he is experimenting?

i also think its hard to compare his albums because they are so different and unique in their own ways (yes, even the crappy ones). and even the not so good albums showcase him experimenting, ok yes in some cases his lack of it.
i guess not everything he does is going to float everyones boat.

I never really like Prince's Albums (except SOTT)... I mean they were okay.

But Live!!! That where I really, really, really love Prince... and in my opinion, he is only getting better and better.

BoySimon said:

You should do your friend a two CDR compilation of Prince's best bits from 1990 to the present day. I'll start you off ...

We Can Funk
The Question Of U
Joy In Repetition
Thieves In The Temple
...

BoySimon said:

Oh, no, I don't think he's lost his spark. At all. He's more creative and inventive now than ever before.

Without meaning to annoy anyone, I'm not referring to Prince's musical creativity...although I think this has suffered as a result...I'm suggesting that since he has found his personal answers the music has lost bite.

Emancipation, Gold, Rave, TRC all have moments...of course they do...even NPSoul has a glimpse of goodness about it. Largely, however, there is now no nastiness to Prince. There is no conflict...perhaps he's beaten the Gemini out of himself...pun intended...as a consequence he can write a song like 1+1+1=3 and sing lines like "let me see you shake your pants" or "We don't give a duck what you got on"...I mean, come on.

For example: If you're going to write an album about religious conflict, TRC, then surely somewhere along the line the Devil is going to unleash a "Darling Nikki" on us or perhaps, more pertinently, the protagonist would sings a song like "God". There are no questions in Prince's music anymore. All is black or white...there is no grey...all the Rainbow Children are shiny happy people, there is no struggle.

Without the struggle there is no spark, without the spark there is no interest, without the interest there is a lack of chart position, no record company and a dwindling fanbase.

I've only just got NEWS through the post. I've only just listened to the first track...it's OK, on first listening...I need to listen to the rest of the album.

Next year he's going to have to play all the eighties hits again at Glastonbury, or the field will empty real quick, and the we'll have further request to send our WB stuff back to him as they milk the purple cow once more...Then again, perhaps that is the answer...maybe that'll make him angry once more and start a new conflict within...maybe we'll get our Prince back.

Prince's well of creativity has been dry for almost 10 years now.

You can look at it this way tho, the spirit of Prince lives on in all the new musicians he's inspired. And from them we've been getting some pretty good music lately.

No! He can still write music. He is now past his creative peak. Doesn't mean he can't make a comeback all greats do.

Didn't you guys hear? The devil only offered him 13 good albums, a couple of good b sides and a few hits with other artist in exchange for his soul