Are our Xpectations just too high?

Prince has nothing left to prove and yet many of us, both fans and critics, always want more from him. We expect him to still amaze us with his musical repertoire and growth and to continue exploring new areas.

I admit that I am guilty of this. Musicology, IMHO, is not a brilliant album. It is good but not the classic I wanted with some killer tracks. But why should it be? It is certainly a lot more interesting and contains better quality songwriting and musicianship than the vast majority of pre-packaged lip-synching content out there at the moment.

You will notice that most of the reviews, either positive or negative, tend to only really compare Prince with himself "back in the day". Any disappointment about the album stems from fans and critics wanting another SOTT - ie to be shocked and amazed at an artist taking yet another strange and wonderful turn in their musical development.

No artist can sustain constant musical growth and change of direction throughout their career and none have to be the best of my knowledge (certainly not without alientating most of their audience).

Lets look at the benchmark by which all other artists are measured - The Beatles.

Their career as a band releasing records lasted from end 1962 to mid 1970 during which time they released 11 studio albums. It is almost universally agreed that across those 11 albums The Beatles demonstrated a phenominal and perhaps unrivalled level of musical growth, experimentation, originality and development.

Following their split the individual members of The Beatles continued to record but it is hard to see any particular originality in their work even though it goes without question that they continued to produce quality work and some beautiful songs. I am in no doubt that had The Beatles continued recording together their output would have become a shadow of their 60s work. Had their career lasted 25 years (and still be going) then they would have released an album in 1987. Now consider Paul McCartney's 80s work. It's okay but nothing particularly special - "Give My Regards To Broadstreet" anyone!

Now let's look at Prince. His first 11 albums take us from "For You" to "Batman". Would anybody argue that these also represent an almost equal level of musical growth, experimentation, originality and development? Had Prince stopped recording in 1989 would his legacy not also be held in almost as high regard as The Beatles?

It is probably just a coincidence but most people consider the releases up to Batman (though not including Batman which contained nothing really new - much like Let It Be) to be Prince's golden era and say how his 90s stuff doesn't measure up (arguable perhaps and certainly a matter of taste but the albums were no longer as consistently good despite featuring many good songs).

John Lennon's last album contained nothing original, "just" some beautiful well crafted songs. Perhaps we have to accept that this is where Prince is now (and has been for over a decade). He continues to produce good solid music but no longer needs or perhaps should explore new territory.

Maybe an artist only has a certain amount of time where they are at their creative peak and their art is part of the zeitgeist.

Prince is only really measured against himself these days. That must surely be the highest praise indeed.

What do others think?

P.S. I will say that Prince has in recent years (2001-2003) continued to stretch his musical muscles by exploring Jazz on TRC, the "X" album and News. However Jazz is not a mainstream format and was unlikely to secure any new fans or revive his popularity (not that this was his intention of course). I think for that Prince must be lauded.
[This message was edited Mon Apr 19 8:33:54 2004 by jaypotton]

Prince has nothing left to prove and yet many of us, both fans and critics, always want more from him. We expect him to still amaze us with his musical repertoire and growth and to continue exploring new areas.

I admit that I am guilty of this. Musicology, IMHO, is not a brilliant album. It is good but not the classic I wanted with some killer tracks. But why should it be? It is certainly a lot more interesting and contains better quality songwriting and musicianship than the vast majority of pre-packaged lip-synching content out there at the moment.

You will notice that most of the reviews, either positive or negative, tend to only really compare Prince with himself "back in the day". Any disappointment about the album stems from fans and critics wanting another SOTT - ie to be shocked and amazed at an artist taking yet another strange and wonderful turn in their musical development.

No artist can sustain constant musical growth and change of direction throughout their career and none have to be the best of my knowledge (certainly not without alientating most of their audience).

Lets look at the benchmark by which all other artists are measured - The Beatles.

Their career as a band releasing records lasted from end 1962 to mid 1970 during which time they released 11 studio albums. It is almost universally agreed that across those 11 albums The Beatles demonstrated a phenominal and perhaps unrivalled level of musical growth, experimentation, originality and development.

Following their split the individual members of The Beatles continued to record but it is hard to see any particular originality in their work even though it goes without question that they continued to produce quality work and some beautiful songs. I am in no doubt that had The Beatles continued recording together their output would have become a shadow of their 60s work. Had their career lasted 25 years (and still be going) then they would have released an album in 1987. Now consider Paul McCartney's 80s work. It's okay but nothing particularly special - "Give My Regards To Broadstreet" anyone!

Now let's look at Prince. His first 11 albums take us from "For You" to "Batman". Would anybody argue that these also represent an almost equal level of musical growth, experimentation, originality and development? Had Prince stopped recording in 1989 would his legacy not also be held in almost as high regard as The Beatles?

It is probably just a coincidence but most people consider the releases up to Batman (though not including Batman which contained nothing really new - much like Let It Be) to be Prince's golden era and say how his 90s stuff doesn't measure up (arguable perhaps and certainly a matter of taste but the albums were no longer as consistently good despite featuring many good songs).

John Lennon's last album contained nothing original, "just" some beautiful well crafted songs. Perhaps we have to accept that this is where Prince is now (and has been for over a decade). He continues to produce good solid music but no longer needs or perhaps should explore new territory.

Maybe an artist only has a certain amount of time where they are at their creative peak and their art is part of the zeitgeist.

Prince is only really measured against himself these days. That must surely be the highest praise indeed.

What do others think?

P.S. I will say that Prince has in recent years (2001-2003) continued to stretch his musical muscles by exploring Jazz on TRC, the "X" album and News. However Jazz is not a mainstream format and was unlikely to secure any new fans or revive his popularity (not that this was his intention of course). I think for that Prince must be lauded.
[This message was edited Mon Apr 19 8:33:54 2004 by jaypotton]

I agree with your sentiment, and myself and many others have said the same countless times.

Where does one go from here though as a fan? Does one say Musicology is a fantastic album, even though we admit it doesn't match his past output? Do we take this into account and turn a 5/10 into a 8/10? I will not be lowering my critical standards.

Seems like Prince's exciting, innovative, ground-breaking days are long over, just like every other pop act, they have their creative peak, and their commercial peak - Prince is joining the ranks of those artists who are past their best, yet still releasing records.

I get my exciting, ground-breaking music elsewhere these days, but I consider myself a fan of Prince's music for life, and as such, I'll always have an interest in checking out his new releases, even if I know (and accept) they will never reach the quality benchmark of the 1978-1988 period.

Saying that - TRC excited me, and Xpectation was a joy - makes it all the more sour that he followed with NEWS and Musicology.

Who knows what's coming next.

After Rave, did anyone see TRC & Xpectation coming?


//
[This message was edited Mon Apr 19 16:57:40 2004 by NouveauDance]