It seems that since the early nineties to the present day Prince has two sides to him: Commercial Prince and Uncommercial Prince. In the eighties they were one and the same and worked together in perfect harmony.

It seems these days he can't really get that same balance. On one hand we have albums like Diamonds & Pearls and Rave - which sound more like a Greatest Hits collection more than anything else and then we have gems like The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone, The Truth etc...

My point is, why did he decide to seperate the two? It makes the whole conceipt of his artistry seem so much more contrived than it should be... as if he sits down and consciously decides what he wants to achieve with each album before he even strikes his first chord.

Any thoughts?

Yes.

MattyJam said:

You mean because it doesn't fit together properly and it feels like it is "trying" to be commercial at times - totally agree.

But for a moment there i imagined a parallel universe where Prince's greatest hits album was Rave.

MattyJam said:

Great word - a cross between 'concept' and 'conceit' - and it suits the point you are making.

MattyJam said:

Yeah, I see you point. Hey, keep your eyes open. Seems as if this storm of a struggle he's in is starting to die down. In my opinion, it seems as if he's searching for that balance right now, as we speak (type).

Blue

Did you see the "Emanicaption" tour? He sang 7 songs from Purple Rain at the show I saw. He did medlies of all his hits. I think he misses the days of being a superstar. And I'm sure it pisses him off when people say, "oh I loved your earlier stuff," but he probably feels obligated to give the people what they want. Remember the reviews he got when he did primarily "Rainbow" material at his Xcel show? They were horrid and mean. So he probably feels the need to be both commercial and 'true' to keep the money comin' in. It annoys me too.
[This message was edited Thu Feb 12 10:31:00 PST 2004 by jillybean]

jillybean -

I was at the Xcel shows he only did one song off of "The Rainbow Children"-The Work. He is still a superstar-whatever that is. However, he knows his audience. That is why he toured smaller venues with ONA and "The Rainbow Children" material.

skywalker said:

Get outta here! Then why the bleep did the papers say it was full of experimental new material? They said it was full of Jehovah's Witness messages and overtones. Darn that Pioneer Press!!! I would love to have gone, but I was detained. Thanks for the info.
[This message was edited Thu Feb 12 15:07:41 PST 2004 by jillybean]
[This message was edited Thu Feb 12 15:08:03 PST 2004 by jillybean]

I don't really think things off of The Rainbow Children, The Truth, and ONA would have worked on albums like D&P and Rave. There are two sides of Prince definitely and I think as the experimental side became more extreme, he needed to separate the two in order to be totally fulfilled but also bring home the bacon. But you know he woulnd't have released his more "commercial" albums if they weren't to his liking, so he's obviously happy with the results on both sides of the fence. And for that reason, I think it was most appropriate when, during the name change period, everyone called him "The Artist." I can think of no one that that name suits better than Prince.

MattyJam said:

I was just rereading your post and this quote struck me as interesting. I think it's when he DOESN'T sit down and decide what he wants to accomplish before he starts that we wind up with a cluttered mess of an album. The best albums most artists put out are the ones that are thought out, at least to the point of knowing what they want to project rather than just recording everything, putting it out, and hoping something falls into place.