Just curious, you can likely put the #of songs Prince wrote somewhere around 1050. Who can compare to this- my initial thoughts are perhaps James Brown (tons of albums), Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Ani Difranco. I don't really think anyone.

Also I had read the Shuggie Otis thread somewhere and listened to Strawberry Letter , incredible song and I will be looking for more of his stuff. (Song even has a purple reference in first minute).

lonelyxmas1 said:

Maybe Only Hendrix...or Zappa...But ALIVE NOBODY!!

lonelyxmas1 said:

That's great! Add fuel to the 'Prince, before Prince' argument why don't ya

How many songs you write means nothing. I read an interview with Troy Hudson of the Timberwolves and he said that he has written more then 800 songs in the last 3 years. Does this make him a great artist?

love2thenines2003 said:

Thats bull. James Brown for example. He has released about 90 albums and 300 singles and there still is much stuff that didnt come out yet. Many session players like the Funk Brothers and Bernhard Purdie have outdone Prince before he was even born.

Many other people who have passed away have recorded MUCH more than Prince.. Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington (10thousands), Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, even John Coltrane who died at age 39, etc etc etc.

Its not about quantity in my opinion. Shuggie Otis has recorded much less than Prince, but his work seems a lot more sophistcated and mature than most Prince stuff. Mandrill have recorded 10 albums and are tighter and even more diverse than Prince...

lovemachine said:

Exactly.

I was just thinking recently that They Must Be Giants have written and recorded a staggering amount of music.

Chick Corea. Seven albums in 1978 alone.

Got away with murder.

.

Bob Dylan - he is the master of song lyrics and has put out numerous albums during his almost 40 year career. He never stops performing either. He's always touring somewhere in this great big world! BD -

Neil Young

soulpower said:

You read my mind on the 1st 2 paragraphs. James Brown and the Funk Brothers probably forgot more songs than 95% of musicians have compiled.

The jazz artists are criminally underrecognized overall on the org.

I'd add the caveat that I don't know much about Mandrill and little about Shuggie (whom I call the "missing link" b/w Sly & Jimi and Prince, but that's my opinion). As far as the comparisons to P, I'd say I'd need more info to agree or disagree.

lovemachine said:

What's with this need to slam prince all the time. The question didn't say anything about quality (which is highly subjective anyway). Just about number of songs written. U immediately had to turn it into a of slam of prince. Why?

soulpower said:

Again why the need to slam prince? That wasn't the question. Also a lot of the jazz greats u mentioned recorded tons and tons of other peoples songs. And also recorded over decades more than prince. So quanity can only be compared to people who have written for the same span of time.

Suugie Otis stuff is cute but more mature and sophistcated than prince? come on. Even u shouldn't believe that crazyness. Mandrill? ok your nuts.

Roy Ayers

tricky99 said:

How is this a slam of Prince? I question your ability to read and/or think rationally when it comes to Prince. If I am slamming anyone it would be Troy Hudson.

Stevie Wonder told David Letterman in 1995 that he had over 2,000 songs stored away. He has taken an opposite position from Prince in terms of releasing material. He doesn't feel the need or the pressure to release a prolific amount of material into today's marketplace.

*
*
*
FRANK ZAPPA
(and theres still more being released every once in a while)
*
*
*

In terms of composing songs other people would want to cover (and have covered) as well as leading his own band and being an outstanding musician?

Warren Haynes.

He leads his own band GOV'T MULE, is one the top guitar players around, co-leads one the best bands ever...Allman Bros Band!! Warren is an all-around great guy on the music scene who loves to jam with anybody who has chops and guts.

Latest release is DEEPEST END. This records a sprawling 6hr concert where GM featured a variety of bass players in the final commemoration of deceased bass player Allen Woody. It's a great package: 2CDS + a DVD that features the entire concert!!


Check this disc:

DETAILS:

The Deepest End CD/DVD

Two CD plus DVD set recorded live at the historic Deepest End Concert in New Orleans, LA on May 3rd, 2003. DVD includes 15 minutes of behind the scenes footage plus a photo gallery.

Starring Gov't Mule (Warren Haynes, Matt Abts, and Danny Louis). Featuring appearances by bass players Les Claypool, Mike Gordon, Jason Newsted, Victor Wooten, George Porter, Jr, Dave Schools, Greg Rzab, Rob Wasserman, and more. Also featuring appearances by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Fred Wesley, Karl Denson, Bernie Worrell, Bela Fleck, and many others.


Tracklist:


Disc 1
Bad Little Doggie
Game Face
Larger Than Life
Blindman In The Dark
Which Way Do We Run?
Fools Moon
Sco-Mule
Patchwork Quilt
Lay Of The Sunflower
John The Revelator


Disc 2
Beautifully Broken
Time To Confess
Banks Of The Deep End
32/20 Blues
Goin'Down
Slow Happy Boys
I Shall Return
Trying Not To Fall
Drivin'Rain
Soulshine


DVD
Bad Little Doggie
Blind Man In The Dark
Sco-Mule
Lay Of The Sunflower
John The Revelator
Chameleon
Beautifully Broken
Mule
Banks Of The Deep End
On Your Way Down
Down And Out In New York City
Maybe I'm A Leo
Voodoo Chile
Politician
Guitar solo
Drum solo
Sweet Leaf
War Pigs
Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy (Part 1)
Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy (Part 2)
Wasted Time
Thorazine Shuffle
[/i]


Check this site: http://www.mule.net/
[This message was edited Thu Oct 30 13:20:55 PST 2003 by PFunkjazz]

Les Claypool is the leader of avant-funk band PRIMUS and he's a phenomenal bass player.

In addition, he's also formed a number of spinoff bands like:
OYSTERHEAD with Stewart Copeland (drums) and Trey Anastasio (guitars),

HOLY MACKEREL with Joe Gore & Charlie Hunter (guitars) Jay Lane (drums),

SAUSAGE with Jay Lane (Drums) and Todd Huth (guitar),

an improv unit with drummer Brain (from PRimus), guitarist Buckethead and PFunk keyboard whiz Bernie Worrell called Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains
and my fave configuration,

his Frog Brigade which produced the excellent disc PURPLE ONION



which features drummer Jay Lane, guitarist Eenor, saxophonist Skerik, and percussionist Mike Dillon.


Claypool's songs are a bit idiosyncratic and very eclectic, so you may not hear of many folks covering his songs. Still, he's prolififc enough to manage a number of spinoff bands while keeping a foot in reactivating PRIMUS, who are touring right now in SF for Halloween. They have an Ep/DVD out now




called ANIMALS SHOULD NOT ACT LIKE PEOPLE which features new songs for the reunited orignal PRIMUS lineup plus all their videos that MTV was too bullshit to run.


Check 'em all out at: www.primussucks.com
[This message was edited Thu Oct 30 13:45:30 PST 2003 by PFunkjazz]

namepeace said:

No, you need the music. Go hunt for that vinyl... Mandrill cant be beaten by any band. And they are my family.
You will agree once you listen to them.

tricky99 said:

Mandrill have some of the tightest and most diverse stuff out there. And Prince happens to adore Mandrill.

I really didn't want to belabor the fact that the catalogs of many jazz, blues & funk artists is often MORE MEANINGFUL than Prince's, (sorta figures that it was kinda obvious), but and to y'all that brought 'em up.

BowiE

[This message was edited Thu Oct 30 16:55:53 PST 2003 by bananacologne]

soulpower said:

Shuggie Otis is not more sophisticated musically than Prince I'm affraid. He is still VERY good though, don't get me wrong. Mandrill on the other hand are nowhere near Prince musically. Its just not right to even mention them in a thread.

soulpower said:

And about the Jazz greats...Alot of the great jazz albums were live improvisations. In other words, you could put out an album a night if you wanted. Sometimes you gotta wade through a ton of crap to find really good jazz.

garnis said:

to say nothing of the crap I wade thru in my Prince collection!

garnis said:

Get in where you fit. The WILSON Bros kick plenty ass when I've see 'em.

bananacologne said:

yeah but has bowie put out more than prince? prince has done around 26 albums at least? i dont think bowie has done that? people just seem to be listing artists with alot of albums. plus we're talking about how prolific, has bowie put out on average more than one album a year, several of which multi discs?

plus how many albums has dylan done?! cos i have this rock n roll encyclopaedia which names all releases and etc and dylan has less than 30 im sure? plus james brown did not have 90 albums, remember for the first years he released a single every 3 months, (just looking it up now) his first single was 56, and his first album, live at the apollo, 62. between that time he released around 25 singles in 8 years, but really quite a few of these seem to be covers anyway. ive just counted about 45 albums, and after 85/86 there were many compilations i didnt count, and even this 45 contains MANY compliations and live albums.
plus i dont know how long these albums were, it would be more realistic to look at run time of songs, i say this because from late 80s onwards (where james brown released one album of original material of 10 songs so probs no more than 40 mins anyway) albums significantly increased in length due to cds. in this time, prince did d and p (an hour?) symbol (75 mins, you could cut that into 2 60s albums) come is around 60.70mins? gold experience is long too. obvioulsy emancipation is 3 hours. plus prince was bound in the 80s to an album a year really whereas obviously in the 60s james brown seemed to release 2 albums in a month at one point

however, how many albums would prince have if in the early 90s warner had let him release 4 albums a year like he wanted? tonnes more! it only seems like now prince isthinking free, releasing a 7 cd box set, NEWS, xpectation and hopefully a musicology album all in ONE YEAR. incredibly for todays standards.

lets not also forget all the albums prince wrote but released for someone else or under a pseudonym. madhouse has what 2 albums and recorded a 3rd. how many time albums did prince write? at least 2, plus vanity 6 and apollonia 6. sheila e. sheena easton. so on so forth. so i reckon prince surely has coming on 40 albums...in 25 years? dont even pretend bowie has done that!!!

Maybe Only Hendrix...or Zappa...But ALIVE NOBODY!![/quote]
And about the Jazz greats...Alot of the great jazz albums were live improvisations. In other words, you could put out an album a night if you wanted. Sometimes you gotta wade through a ton of crap to find really good jazz.[/quote]


yeah do you think hendrix has over 40 odd albums under his name? official he only has about 5 surely? and from what i can tell arent bootleg just him jamming. its abit unfair to count that as an album and more than prince who plays all the instruments and finishes the songs. know what i mean?

softandwet said:

Most of these sucked the hairs out a pig's ass!

Only a Prince fam would think VANIYT6, APOLLONIA and Sheena Easton records were noteworthy.