i was thinking of the good old days in the eighties when i used to rush down to hmv on the first day of the release of a new prince album and get my paws on it. i got every prince album on the first day and i remember the excitment of wondering what it was going to sound like, because with prince, you could never be sure which musical direction he was going to go in( which of course was a big part of his appeal)
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... i remember sign o the times very well as there had been a special programme on the uk radio one channel where they played about six songs from the album two days before its release so i already knew it was going to be a good album.
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... i remember putting the album on and laying on my bed and i was blown away by how brilliant it was, even better than i thought it would be. every musicial style nailed to the floor by his genius. superb.
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... it remains to this day the best album i have ever heard.
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... of course with the internet, getting older and prince losing his way in the mid nineties, the excitment has almost gone. i still love his music but its not the same as the eighties. i wonder if others feel like this as well.

blackboab said:

if you feel this way as a listener, give some thought for the artist too

I agree, but I wonder how much of it is age-related and changing tastes and just plain old personal growth (for both listener and artist)?

What I miss is the cd single that came out about 2 weeks before the cd. Then a week after the cd is released out comes the maxi-single.
It was like clockwork.
Every record company followed this release pattern.
It was great.
Now if there is a cd single thats a miracle.
When there is a cd single it comes out weeks & weeks ahead of the cd.
And then only as an import.

cynicalbastard said:

I agree completely. A lot of fans are blaming Prince for "changing" and not being the same anymore, but those same people I don't believe are considering how they themselves have changed.

I mean, of course Prince has changed. But haven't we (the fans) also changed since 1978??? I sure hope so. Many of the old time fans were probably teenagers when we first starting digging Prince. TEENAGERS FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!! Twenty plus years later, I sure hope that no one would still think, do, and have the same interests as a teenager.

With that in mind, I believe that we all will hold some level of nostalgia for the "good ole days" regardless of whether the memories are Prince related or not. Unfortunately though, I think some fans are trying to hold Prince to an impossible standard.

People change, we all change... life goes on. Why would Prince be any different?

blackboab,I agree with you! I remember back in the 80s,the release of a new Prince album was an EVENT.The night before it came out,I couldn't even sleep.I couldn't wait until morning when I would rush to Tower Records at 9 AM to pick up the new album.One of our local radio stations would always get the new album a few days before it's official release,and play a few tracks.It was so exciting to hear these new songs.

Nowadays,with the Internet and all,it's just not the same.The thrill is gone.You got people downloading entire albums before they even come out!

DavidEye said:

I completely agree! The internet has opened up a whole world of possibilities and being able to chat to fans all over the world like this is bloody fantastic.

However, I remember the days of being in the fan club and getting the newsletters and magazines in the mail, reading of the release dates etc etc and having something tangible to hold in your hands.

Nowadays even when a new release comes out, holding the cd in your hands is not the same as the album or the 12" single.

It truly was an event, we would be bugging the store weeks and days in advance to see if they had gotten the shipment in yet and just every now and then we would get it a day or two early as they had gotten to know us well. It would be a party as we sat down to listen to it for the first time. We had our routines. Put it on the turn table and no-one was allowed to speak until we had played it all the way through, both sides once. Then we each took a turn to play the fave track from first listen etc. Yup it was an event. I stll do this now but to a lesser degree!