I know that Prince fans get classified as "sophisticated", however I tend to think that they are sometimes quite fickle and overdramatic. Run a search at this site on "The Rainbow Children" and look at the post from the days right after that album was released. A good bulk of people were freaking out about the religious overtones claiming that "their" PRince was gone forever and that the album sucked etc.

Flash foward to now and "The Rainbow Children" is hailed by many as a classic. It makes me really take everything said at this site about "Musicology" with a grain of salt, because I think that these are the same people (myself often included) who claim "Lovesexy" and "Around the World in a Day" as some of Prince's best albums , but used to hate on them when they 1st came out.

I dunno what do you think?

Either that or the people who hated TRC just aren't around anymore, only those who liked it and therefore you mostly see a lot of praise for it.

As is the case with many "new" Prince albums there is a slow learning curve for some fans. Most of the naysayers eventually come around to a more positive view and see the merits of Prince's work, even if they won't admit it publicly.

How do I know this? Because no sane person would day after day, year after year continue to be devoted to something or someone they claim to despise. So, yes, there are some who are both fickle and overdramatic. But... don't believe the hype.

Prince's fans are not any more or less fickle and dramatic than the fans of most other artists. It is music, not rocket science, and it appeals to many different people with different personalities and temperments. I don't think they are any more sophisticated than anyone else....well, maybe more sophisticated than Britney Spear's fans, but probably about the same level of sophistication as fans of Springsteen, REM, Neil Young, U2, Pearl Jam, etc, etc.

RupertZ said:

Do you visit on a regular basis, any of the fansites for the artists you mentioned? If so, what do most of them have to say when a new album is released? Do you honestly sense the same venom in people's remarks as they discuss a new album... whenever one is FINALLY released?

I can give you one really good reason why Prince and his fanbase IS different than the artists you mentioned. And this is not to say that one is better than the other... just different. But, for the most part all the artist you mentioned are fairly predictible in terms of the types and styles of music they will release to the public. So the hardcore fans of their music have a pretty good idea of what they are going to get each time. With Prince though, nothing could be further from the truth. We never really know what type of music Prince is going to release next and when his new release doesn't meet some fans preconcieved notion of what the album should or shouldn't sound like, then all hell seems to break loose. I don't think any other popular artist can truly lay claim to being as diverse as Prince. And as a result, there is a difference, and there is no comparison.

From my perspective, immediate responses to albums mean nothing. It almost always takes time to judge the true value of an album. From a historical perspective, anyway.

FutureShock said:[quote]

RupertZ said:

Sounds like a fair asessment to me. I agree.

violator said:

It's true. Even an immediate positive reaction to an album may change over time.

For me, the really great albums are those that withstand the test of time - those that you listen to for months upon getting it and can pull out ten years (or more) later and still enjoy as much as you initially did.

skywalker said:

Well not everyone is as fickle as you. Parade, & ARTWIAD were brilliant records and were from the very beginning

The Rainbow Children does seem to be loved on this forumn but is far from a great record and I have felt that way from the beginning.

I suppose some need Ps records to grow on them but I'm not one of those people

Alexandernvrmind said:[quote]

skywalker said:

Well not everyone is as fickle as you. Parade, & ARTWIAD were brilliant records and were from the very beginning

The Rainbow Children does seem to be loved on this forumn but is far from a great record and I have felt that way from the beginning.

I suppose some need Ps records to grow on them but I'm not one of those people. I usually can tell right away when I'm going to enjoy a Prince record

They're both, mostly the latter

I wasn't impressed the first time i heard TRC, if i'm honest. In fact, i thought that bar a few songs, it sucked ass. Plus i found some of the lyrics to be offensive and in other respects i thought some of the lyrics were irritating/nonsensical.

But it grew on me. We all have the right to change our minds.

It still pisses me off lyrically, because i can't get away from some of the potentially inflammatory language. But, musically I think it's (Mr Burns voice) excellent and the best thing he's done in a long time.

You just can't tell immediately. I mean people may well have slammed NPS when it came out - and in retrospect we can see that they had every right to, because it was a toilet of an album. Musicology - well, i doubt very much that people will be hailing it as a masterpiece in a couple of years. Although you know damn sure that some people will throb with excitement at the mere mention of the album, as they would with every release.

CalhounSq said:

So yeah, that.

Alexandernvrmind said:[quote]

Alexandernvrmind said:

Well not everyone is as fickle as you. Parade, & ARTWIAD were brilliant records and were from the very beginning

The Rainbow Children does seem to be loved on this forumn but is far from a great record and I have felt that way from the beginning.

I am not saying that they were not brilliant from the beginning-just that I know a good deal of fans(even around this site) didn't immediately embrace those albums (and others) as being brilliant.

Well not everyone is as fickle as you. Parade, & ARTWIAD were brilliant records and were from the very beginning

I can usually tell whether or not I will like a Prince album. That is not always the case though. Nothing can save NPS, or Rave for me as albums. Some albums I may like right away, it takes a while for me to appreciate them fully.

Parade & ATWIAD were not appreciated right away by fans or critics right away. Some people praised them, others panned it big time.

skywalker said:

Prince fans on the whole, judge his albums too fast. They also tend to build up their expectations too much before hearing the actual release. We got 'What Do u Want Me 2 Do? Reflection, and Musicology' before the official release date, and the opinions were all over the place. The inclusion of those songs and the quality is much more apparent now that the entire album has been released. Even though the opinions are still very diverse, and some feel they have been let down, I think that Prince still managed to come up with some surprises. With each listen, I enjoy 'Musicology' more.

I like every track even better now. Life O The Party is still the weakest track to me. There are elements that I dig, but not that big on it in its entirety. Plus, the live version that he did for Life O The Party was so dope (almost completely different), that it killed the studio track for me. I wish he would release some extended versions of these songs. That is what impresses me most about his earlier work. The Extended cuts of songs like Anotherloverholeinyohead, LoveOr$, Love Bizarre, etc. Those are what I look back to along with his b-sides and think about why I dig his music so much. I also wonder at how he can make 26 albums and still have something interesting to say musically.

As far as its place in Prince's catalogue, I'd even go as far as to say I like it as much as LoveSexy and Around The World In A Day. I am not trying to make comparisons as far as how it sounds musically, but in terms of how much it makes sense as an album. I dig Around the World In A Day and LoveSexy better because of isolated tracks, not because of the albums themselves. I think this could have just as easily been a followup to Purple Rain and would have been received very well. There are more songs that make sense commercially and at the same time, you get a taste of Prince, the musician.