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Prince

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Ronald Thomas Clontle

18:04 / 06.08.01

Alright...I really love Prince. For the longest time I didn't have most of his catalog, I started out with The Hits volumes 1 and 2, and have recently filled in my collection so that I've got everything between Dirty Mind and Sign O The Times... all of them are great, some a bit better than others. My dilemma now is...should I bother dipping my toes into 90s Prince? Through the Hits, I know the singles from Lovesexy, Graffiti Bridge, Diamonds And Pearls, 0(+>, but am very apprehensive about picking up those records because a) I do have a limited record buying budget and b) I've the worst suspicion that I already have the best songs on those records. And I don't even know what to think of the records from Come onward....they seem pretty bad, I've never heard anything even remotely positive about any of them. Anyone here familiar with them? Any recommendations?

Ganesh

18:19 / 06.08.01

'Lovesexy' is interesting, and worth getting in its entirety (as well as 'The Black Album'); pretty much everything after that is patchy in the extreme, and worth avoiding. There are those who claim that Prince has already recorded vaults and vaults of tracks of such high quality that they'd bring the musical world to its knees. All I can say is, why doesn't the little fucker release 'em, instead of the same old same old pap...

Ronald Thomas Clontle

18:24 / 06.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh:
' There are those who claim that Prince has already recorded vaults and vaults of tracks of such high quality that they'd bring the musical world to its knees. All I can say is, why doesn't the little fucker release 'em, instead of the same old same old pap...

Amen. My feeling is that Prince should release all this brilliant music in some sensible way...I mean, lots of people love Prince, and really do want the guy to do good work again. I'm sure he could do it.

Same goes for Michael Jackson...if he put together a 10 song album of old school Michael Jackson Off The Wall/Thriller type music, people would go fucking apeshit, nothing could stop it. I don't understand why he just won't do it, why he can't just make a record that sounds like himself rather than trying to be 'current' with flavor of the month r+b producers. He should just do what U2 did with their last album, and make a record that is so blatantly Michael Jackson that people's heads would just blow up upon hearing it. I mean, have you heard the new NSYNC album? They're selling gangbusters doing their best Jacko impressions. The market is ripe for that sort of thing.

Ganesh

18:33 / 06.08.01

Jacko's busy having his ego surgically enlarged and administering succour to the children of the world.

<wheels out ancient Michael Jackson joke yet again>

Q: How d'you know when it's bedtime at Jacko's place?

A: The big hand is touching the little hand...

Of all the 80s behemoths, Madonna seems to have fared the best in terms of staying afloat and remaining reasonably zeitgeisty. Isn't Jacko about to pull some ridiculously overblown (and frankly trying-too-hard) publicity stunt to herald the release of his new album?

Higher than the sun :)

18:45 / 06.08.01

If he does. I'll show my arse to him.
What is Ganesh? "Messiah Complex."
Jarvis Cocker got it right.

[ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: Monica ]

18:54 / 06.08.01

Jarvis Cocker got it right. – Monica

So when is that new Pulp album coming out then?

Prince. I do like old Prince, the Dirty Mind/Controversy era. But I like Rick James more. And although I've not heard much of his recent stuff (usually at the end of a long evening at someone else's house), what I've heard wasn't worth it.

Saw him live with Chaka Khan and Graham Central Station though... THAT was worth it!!!!

09:14 / 07.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Flux = Rad:

Same goes for Michael Jackson...if he put together a 10 song album of old school Michael Jackson Off The Wall/Thriller type music, people would go fucking apeshit, nothing could stop it.

Case in point : Alien Ant Farm have released a cover version of "Smooth Criminal"... and it's quite... respectful.

Prince... I own none of his records... which is surprising, cos' I'm a complete StevieWonder-o-phile, and their kind of related in an evolutionary sense, aren't they? I'm kind of tempted by Sign o the Times, especially.

however, I had to review his last album for a paper I was working on, and it was ABSOLUTE PAP. STAY AWAY.

The Return Of Rothkoid

09:14 / 07.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh:
Isn't Jacko about to pull some ridiculously overblown (and frankly trying-too-hard) publicity stunt to herald the release of his new album?I thought I'd read somewhere that he'd just bought a jewel-encrusted breastplate for his next stage appearance. As you do.

And aren't the Jackson 5 in the process of recording a new album in support of their supposedly upcoming tour? Even though some of the members aren't in on it? Sounds strangely Beach Boys to me...

I second the "avoid Prince's recent albums" thing, too, coincidentally. Erk. I got one of them (an album or two ago) for free from work and used it as a coaster for quite some time.

Jamieon

10:02 / 07.08.01

I think I'd probably also avoid his more recent runce, too.

But there's still all that cool late 70's/early 80's stuff what he dun.

Can anyone tell me what 'For You' and the 'Prince' albums are like? I've got 'Dirty Minds' and am curious about the work preceding it.

14:22 / 07.08.01

If you like Dirty Mind you'll like Prince and For You as well. Be prepared for a bit more pooncing and a bit more disco, but inherently stil the same thing. Remember that Prince is the album that gave the world I Feel For You, which is absolutely breathtaking in its original, away from the likes of Chaka Khan. Also Bambi on Prince is worth the entry price, as is Soft and Wet on For You.

For my money, Everything up until the Black Album is gold, and Lovesexy is worth speculating on if you can get it for under ten bucks.

the hit list, then, would be:

For You
Prince
Dirty Mind
Controversy
1999
Purple Rain
Around the World in a Day
Under the Cherry Moon
Sign 'O' the Times
Black Album
Lovesexy

plus any of the 12-inches or b-sides released in that time. some of them are on the The Hits CD. Some are not.

The Black Album was originally released in around 1989/1990, but then was withdrawn and deleted, but it was rereleased around 1999 on CD. a must have.

m.

Ronald Thomas Clontle

14:45 / 07.08.01

Hey! Parade is really quite good. How can you deny "Kiss"?

re: Madonna

I think that she provides a lot of false hope to people like Michael Jackson and George Michael, etc because she manages to stay afloat thanks to constant reinvention, so the others think "hey! we have to reinvent ourselves to stay with the times" and that's just so wrong, because Madonna's ability to do that sort of thing is unique and special, and it's not something that just anyone can do. And there are some celebrities that the public just WANTS to remain in stasis. Michael Jackson is one of them...if he never got crazy surgery and kept doing the sort of music he was doing up until the mid-eighties, he would still be unstoppable.

The only other major pop star I can think of to pull of a real reinvention is U2, when they did Achtung Baby....

Jamieon

15:01 / 07.08.01

quote:If you like Dirty Mind you'll like Prince and For You as well. Be prepared for a bit more pooncing and a bit more disco

That's okay, I love disco and enjoy a good poonce.

15:23 / 07.08.01

I swear I'm not hijacking you thread, really I do...

But I think that fans of Prince will also appreciate Rick James a lot, he was/is a great musician and thoroughly funky...

Here's another link.

Hey matsya: Chaka Kahn is a brilliant vocalist, that Prince cover does neither of them justice

Her work in the seventies with Rufus is what you need to check out.

11:13 / 08.08.01

hohboy, wait until cherry bomb finds this thread....

12:18 / 08.08.01

Oh my god, I just did!!! But now I have to read it all....

12:21 / 08.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Flux = Rad:
Hey! Parade is really quite good. How can you deny "Kiss"?

and "Anotherloverholeinyohead!!"

12:26 / 08.08.01

As far as 90s Prince goes, I'm going out on a limb here because I really like both 0+> and "The Gold Experience." o+> is chock full o' good songs, like "The Morning Papers," "I Wanna Melt With You," "Continental" (one of my personal fave Prince songs), and the hits like "7" of course. I don't think anyone liked "The Gold Experience" apart from me, but "Pussy Control" fucking rocks, "Eye Hate You" is at least funny, and then well I just have dirty romantic memories of my first boyfriend, a white dress I used to own and both "Shy" and "Breakin' Down." Also "Billy Jack Bitch" fucking rocks as well.

Personally I think the best Prince is all on the "B Sides' of the "Hits & B-Sides" album. Even I am a little disappointed in his more recent stuff but I still stand by my purple man...

Fengs for the Memory

10:53 / 09.08.01

Ahhhhhhhhh. No,no,no. As a dissenting voice,I may as well get it over with quickly.
Derivative, formica pop of the most vapid kind. Souless, cod-funk with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball.And some of the worst guitar solo's since Billy Duffy wanked all over Cult records.
Praise the Lard x

11:21 / 09.08.01

The worst thing about this thread is I've now got 'raspberry beret' floating around my head.
You unspeakable bastards.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:27 / 09.08.01

You say that like it's a bad thing.

12:28 / 09.08.01

I'd agree with a lot of what everyone else has said here - prince is good up until Sign O The Times, is OK for Lovesexy and then gradually declines album on album from bearable crap to unbearable crap. Get Lovesexy because it's a laugh, and there really are a couple of worthwhile songs on Graffiti Bridge, but leave the rest WELL alone...

Jamieon

13:56 / 09.08.01

quote: The worst thing about this thread is I've now got 'raspberry beret' floating around my head.

And you love it.

Say, "Thankyou Barbefriends...."

16:23 / 09.08.01

This would be the perfect place to tell my prince story and my first deliberate magic act.
I live in Toronto and it so happened in 1997 that prince was going to be doing a secret show on the day of his birthday at a club.
My dream since I was a teen was to go to one of the purple one's famous birthday bashes,usually held at glam slam in minn.I could not belive the luck...
...it was not to be it seemed.I tried every contact and scalper I knew to try to get tix but no luck.I went to the club to see if it was possible but no.
I fell into a sad state knowing it was that close and yet untouchable.I gave up and walked away from the club.
When I was young I used to drop acid with my buddy Lucifer ironically behind that club.I began to think of how much of my energy I left at that spot during my trips.I went to the spot and rolled a spliff and communicated with my god-head.I decided to make a trade:If I could get in the show, I would in exchange and tribute,give up sex for one year...
I did not take it to serious at the time.I finished my spliff and went near the badk of the club where I could hear him playing Purple Rain.There were a few girls back there as well.I picked up my cell phone to record the song for nostalgia and as I did the back door to the club swung open.I ran in with the 2 girls from the back who kept on thanking me thinking I had something to do with it.When I walked past security and everyone else got nabbed but me,I realized power was at work here.I went to the front of the stage in tears.
Prince broke into"How come you don't call me anymore?" and in the middle,the crowd broke into an impromptu version of happy birthday.
When it came to"Happy birthday dear...artist formerly known as prince" it was a mouthful but a moving experience.
That night the after party was at another club.I went,met prince and yes,did not have sex for a year.
HUH.

11:05 / 10.08.01

quote:Originally posted by runt:

And you love it.

Say, "Thankyou Barbefriends...."

Like arse, I do.

11:08 / 10.08.01

quote:Originally posted by run rabbit run:
This would be the perfect place to tell my prince story and my first deliberate magic act.
HUH.

And I can't believe you wasted your energy.

16:24 / 10.08.01

In which way?Telling the story or the story itself?

16:25 / 10.08.01

O+>

The Knowledge +1

22:39 / 28.09.01

Prince is way cool, for me he's up there with Michael, Madonna and Bowie.

You sexy mother fuc...

Regrettable Juvenilia

22:45 / 28.09.01

I just got an album of mad people doing Prince covers called If I Was Prince. Peaches is on it, but not in the way you'd expect necessarily.

Anyway, tis good. Not obvious stuff.

Brigade du jour

21:03 / 11.04.04

It may interest someone to know that a friend of mine has just asked me what to do about 'getting into Prince'. And hey you know, been quiet at work so browsed the last three years of Music threads to see if there was a thread on my all-time musical hero, and what do you know! Here it is!

Anyway, I started my friend off with Dirty Mind, Purple Rain, Lovesexy and Diamonds & Pearls. Thought these albums gave a good overview of his 1978-1993 period, the pre-squiqqle phase, if you will.

As for the stuff post-1993, I've only quite recently checked out any of it. Emancipation is a fucker of an album, three discs each exactly an hour long, of where the little bloke's head was at just after he got married but just before his baby died. It's kind of a fucked-up record if you bear that in mind when listening to it, but a great party album if you don't. 'We Gets Up' in particular is classic upbeat Prince.

The Gold Experience which somebody mentioned before (sorry, the new-look Barbelith doesn't allow me to look at recent posts while typing mine, anymore!) is pretty good after a couple of listens. It even made me like 'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World' which at the time I had regarded as utter bilge. Context is clearly very important.

The Rainbow Children is fairly strange, my first impression of it was something like "wow, it's finally happened, Prince is officially a jazz artist!". It's kind of space-jazz, like if Miles Davis joined Hawkwind, or summat.

Regrettable Juvenilia

22:18 / 11.04.04

Emancipation is still one of the dumbest purchases I ever made ('cos I paid full price when it was first release, and it's ended up on sale most of the time, and I barely ever listen to it) - but I'd just really discovered him and thought "hey, he's been emancipated, he must be good again now!". Credulous me. It does have one song I really like though: 'My Computer', Prince as lonely soul appalled by the outside world, looking for fulfillment and frienship on the interwebnet... I'm sure nobody here can relate.

Someone on another site recently asked people to pick the 5 Prince songs they'd save if they could only save that many, and off the top of my head I chose:

'When Doves Cry'
'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man'
'When U Were Mine'
'Kiss'
'Pope'

With these 5 runners up:

'If I Was Your Girlfriend'
'Alphabet Street'
'Little Red Corvette'
'Forever In My Life'
'It'

My tastes seem a little... rock.

Brigade du jour

22:53 / 11.04.04

'Ere, this'll make you laugh.

The first Prince album I ever got was the Batman 'soundtrack'. To be fair, there r some good songs on it, but again it's kind of a long jam/party album rather than a collection of good songs.

Although, a friend of mine once told me she masturbated listening to 'Scandalous'. I can, ahem, see her point.

Oh, and Flyboy? If you can choose just five songs out of that immense body of work, you're a better 'lither than I!

00:07 / 14.04.04

'Batman soundtrack?'

'Throw ittt.'

I love Prince; when I was a young rockist, c.'95-6, Bill 'Smog' Callahan brought me round to this way, with his lovely paean 'Prince Alone In The Studio', off Wild Love.

01:34 / 14.04.04

Hey, the Batman soundtrack is good! It's no Dirty Mind, but I'll take it over anything else since Diamonds and Pearls (or should I take seriously all this stuff about the new album actually being pretty good?)

Brigade du jour

03:23 / 08.05.04

Any of you lot heard the new album Musicology?

I think it's pretty ordinary although the title track rocks (well, 'funks' I suppose - does that function as a verb?), and there are some nice hooks and stuff elsewhere but I've only listened to it twice and need to 'get into it' properly. Didn't blow me away like some of the other albums.

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