Ok, all props to jon bream for his love and support for prince over so many years. but seriously.
for all of you who have picked up this sunday paper with the ten page layout of prince, you may have experienced a bit of the grief that i did in reading those album reviews, with each given a rating out of a four stars.
ok, first there's the first album "For You" album which gets 1.5 out of four stars!! ppllease! even after naming three crowning cuts from the 'Prince" album he proceeds to give it only two stars!

and he completely doesn't get 'controversy'.

AND HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD 'WHEN 2 R IN LOVE' AS A SELF-PARODY??!, as j.b describes it in his black album review. wow. sure, the song seems outta place there. but never for a second did it ever seem like self-parody.

The Sign o the Times concert gets only three stars even after it is elsewhere lauded as 'one of the most compelling concert films ever.' go figure.

his review of under the cherry moon is silly. did prince need to make a movie to find an excuse to snuggle up to anybody on the french riviera? honestly, this movie has its charm and does many things well.
and with no diss to graffiti bridge the film (yup, i like it), which gets the higher rating, but under the cherry moon IS a better movie.

Diamonds & Pearls gets 1.5 out of 4!! wha?? even after he names FOUR crowning cuts. excuse me!, but this album is mega-tight. show me one POP album of the last 10 years with this level of musicianship. even the unnamed songs, strollin, willing and able, live 4 love are reason enough for this to worthy a little more than 1.5!

and never mind what bream does to the symbol album. shame on j.b!!

many were slow to realize how 'come' truly is a great album, and perhaps many still don't like it.
but i happen to think it is great. it is different. come, space, papa, loose!, pheromone, solo, letitgo, and see, i'm already almost naming the entire album. and i liked the one word titles. come is one helluva 11 minute funk jam. classic prince.
and it gets ONE STAR??!

chaos and disorder 'predictably' gets 1.5. and if i understand 'nadir' correctly he's calling two of prince's most personal and heartfelt songs his lowest point in recording. call me cheezy but they are together two of my favorite p songs. just for the fluid and beautiful guitar alone of 'i will' j.b. shoulda done known betta.

and oh yeah, n.e.w.s. gets 1.5 out of 4. i really don't think prince intended it to be 'background' music at all.

so, why is this guy getting inducted into the hall of fame again? with so many crappy records, i don't get it. (obvious irony, i hope)

i guess i do gotta admit i love seeing a ten page spread on the man, and ultimately there is appreciation for j.b. being a close fan for so many years. (i remember buying his book so so many years ago), but perhaps they shoulda just dispensed with the album ratings.

were any of you equally frazzled or bugged by this?

bananacologne said:

What's this perspective that you mention?

bananacologne said:

exactly.

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I gotta admit that I found it odd while reading through that to see how few Prince albums actually got a good rating.

And I TOTALLY agree with you on Come. Dismissing it as garbage and calling yourself a knowledgable Prince fan...well, I don't see how those two things go hand-in-hand.

I'm all for perspective, but sometimes a guy's just gotta lighten the fuck up.

theblueangel said:

I dont like Come.

bananacologne said:

Damn, I saw that bolt of lightning come down all the way from Chicago.

















you should edit that, baby
[This message was edited Mon Mar 15 13:30:51 2004 by Anxiety]

Hey, it's a lot of my favorite people on this thread. Ya'll partying without me?

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

Just warmin' it up for ya, babe.

I was kinda shocked by his ratings as well. For someone who's followed and supported P as much as this guy would judge his albums so harshly. I wasn't expecting all of 'em to get 4 stars or anything, but I was pretty surprised that Chaos and Disorder was rated higher than Come (for example)

but. whatevs...I still enjoyed the whole spread, it's always interesting to read someone else's take on P's career..


ps...nana YOU CRACK ME UP!!!

By perspective I'm assuming that he rated them as against each other and not against other records out there by other artists.

Then those ratings probably make more sense.

I SHARED IN SOME OF THE SAME GRIEF WHILE READING THOSE REVIEWS. I WAS ALSO WONDERING WHY THE VAULT WAS NOT LISTED AS ONE OF THE ALBUMS. ANYONE KNOW WHY THAT IS?

i never cared about jon bream's ratings to begin with. . . come is one of my favorite prince albums