Leo
Well-known member
NO WAY!
The Prince Thread.
- Thread starter swears
- Start date
NO WAY!
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
I was just going to say that I don't really 'get' Prince but the only album I've heard is 'Sign of The Times' which has some good tracks on it but overall it leaves me cold...
So what should I be listening to? Give me a good kickoff album... or the best.
oh I've realised this has already happened I'll follow your recommendation
So what should I be listening to? Give me a good kickoff album... or the best.
oh I've realised this has already happened I'll follow your recommendation
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
the last time i listened to SOTT i remember thinking the cross was some pompous throwback to late 60s hippiedom and that the title song was a bit too knowingly sombre. his guitar playing is phenomenal for both on the concert dvd though.
if you want to try and 'get' prince, id recommend dirty mind if you like the idea of basic, lo-fi-ish, new wavey songs about incest and oral sex and stuff. or if you want to hear why so many house and techno producers like prince, 1999 is your best bet (the song something in the water does not compute in particular). purple rain is good for chart-conquering 80s megastar prince. parade has kiss on it which sounds like nothing else on there but i love it for being a more european, whimsical, melodramatic, orchestral and playful side of prince.
if you want to try and 'get' prince, id recommend dirty mind if you like the idea of basic, lo-fi-ish, new wavey songs about incest and oral sex and stuff. or if you want to hear why so many house and techno producers like prince, 1999 is your best bet (the song something in the water does not compute in particular). purple rain is good for chart-conquering 80s megastar prince. parade has kiss on it which sounds like nothing else on there but i love it for being a more european, whimsical, melodramatic, orchestral and playful side of prince.
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craner
Beast of Burden
Sign O The Times has, what, 3 amazing tracks, maybe 4, and the rest is rather superfluous and mediocre. The artwork is fantastic, the ambition is admirable, the tour video is pretty spectacular, but the idea of the album is greater than the execution. In my head, it is the album of the '80s, and then I listen to it. As a whole it is no better than 1999 which has, what, 3 amazing tracks, maybe 4, and a lot of mediocre filler.
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
"3 amazing tracks, maybe 4, and the rest is rather superfluous and mediocre" is a good description of most albums. just not the two you mentioned.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
prince album poll someone?
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
this is cute, but the song itself - nah.
Don't really get the Riot Goin On comparison because SOTT contains songs like this - but maybe they're in the minority
Leo
Well-known member
my love of prince -- despite having not listened to any of his new stuff in decades -- isn't so much based on albums as on a run in the 1980s of pretty great singles. not many artists can match a body of work that includes uptown, when you were mine, controversy, little red corvette, 1999, when doves cry, purple rain, raspberry beret, kiss, i could never take the place of your man, sott, alphabet street and others, imho. his albums might have lots of filler, but his 80s singles are a great and unmatched amalgam of r&b/funk/pop.
CrowleyHead
Well-known member
Is it cheesy to say that Purple Rain might be his strongest, y'know, gateway album, and compiled LP of material?
Like, "When Doves Cry", "The Beautiful Ones", "Darling Nikki", "Computer Blue", "Let's Go Crazy", "Take Me With U"... These are all excellent for introductions.
Like, "When Doves Cry", "The Beautiful Ones", "Darling Nikki", "Computer Blue", "Let's Go Crazy", "Take Me With U"... These are all excellent for introductions.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
As things stand from my perspective the best thing Prince ever did was write Chaka Khan's 'I Feel For You'.
Buuuut I bought a 6 quid Greatest Hits compilation today so I'm looking forward to proving myself wrong.
Also read a bit of this thread last night and the stuff about him influencing the Neptunes intrigued me, as I love the Neptunes.
Buuuut I bought a 6 quid Greatest Hits compilation today so I'm looking forward to proving myself wrong.
Also read a bit of this thread last night and the stuff about him influencing the Neptunes intrigued me, as I love the Neptunes.
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
While I'm still struggling with his music a bit, I really quite like Prince from the interviews I've been watching on youtube. he comes across as eminently sane/good humoured, quite contrary to what I'd have expected (never really watched an interview with him before, due to not being a fan) - even his religious conversion, he explains in a way that comes across quite well.
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CrowleyHead
Well-known member
Which, funnily enough, is written by his former hired guns, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis!
The fact is, indirectly, Prince DID basically have complete impact on R&B. For one, there was a point where at least maybe 18% of the chart was his affiliates... Andre Cymone produced for Adam Ant (one of the more low-key influences on Prince, though granted he sticks out like a sore thumb. He DID have some inexplicable chart presence with those records out here) and Jody Watley, Jam & Lewis produced for, among half the planet, Alexander O'Neal, the original suggested singer for The Time. Obviously Morris Day went solo, as did Jesse Johnson, Vanity, Wendy & Lisa. And that's just the official progeny/proteges; then you have to analyze those who had a more or less overt influence (Terrance Trent D'Arby), blatant biters (Whoever did "We Don't Have To Take Off Our Clothes") and lineage things, like how Teddy Riley and Devante Swing worshipped Prince, as would their proteges Timbaland and Neptunes. Like, "Frontin'" is SUCH a Prince-style song, with the falsetto/deep call & response chorus.
Leo
Well-known member
...and hits he wrote for other artists:
Bangles "Manic Monday" (1986) #2 US, #2 UK
Sinead O'Connor "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990) #1 US #1 UK
Stevie Nicks "Stand Back" (1983) #5 US
Chaka Khan "I Feel For You" (1984)#3 US #1 UK
Sheila E. "The Glamorous life" (1984) #7 US
Sheila E. "A Love Bizarre" (1986) #11 US
The Time "Jungle love" (1985) #20 US
The Time "Jerk Out" (1991) #9 US
Sheena Easton "Sugar walls" (1985) #9 US
Martika "Love... Thy Will Be Done" (1991) #10 US #9 UK
"Patti Labelle "Yo Mister" #6
"Vanity 6 "Nasty Girl" #7
Bangles "Manic Monday" (1986) #2 US, #2 UK
Sinead O'Connor "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990) #1 US #1 UK
Stevie Nicks "Stand Back" (1983) #5 US
Chaka Khan "I Feel For You" (1984)#3 US #1 UK
Sheila E. "The Glamorous life" (1984) #7 US
Sheila E. "A Love Bizarre" (1986) #11 US
The Time "Jungle love" (1985) #20 US
The Time "Jerk Out" (1991) #9 US
Sheena Easton "Sugar walls" (1985) #9 US
Martika "Love... Thy Will Be Done" (1991) #10 US #9 UK
"Patti Labelle "Yo Mister" #6
"Vanity 6 "Nasty Girl" #7
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
CrowleyHead
Well-known member
Oh don't get me wrong. Everything after Diamonds & Pearls is pretty much crap of varying degrees, the guy's a cunt as a person (He once lectured his former drummer about how his being Jewish was 'an obstacle they'd personally overcome together'.), has 'borrowed' credit from the dozens of talents he had in his circle, and if people keep trying to make this COMEBACK thing keep happening, I'll lose it...
Still, the man has a criminally undermined influence on urban music afterwards, both in the commercial sense and in house/techno and more distant forms. His camp BASICALLY dominated that world for a good year or so, not unlike how The Neptunes would at one point.
Still, the man has a criminally undermined influence on urban music afterwards, both in the commercial sense and in house/techno and more distant forms. His camp BASICALLY dominated that world for a good year or so, not unlike how The Neptunes would at one point.
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
yeah, his influence on house/techno with guys like jamie principle and then all the detroit guys like carl craig is pretty obvious, but i sort of shift between thinking people dont credit his influence enough (cos for a moment in the 80s everyone was trying to sound like prince, whether its van halen doing jump or ready for the world doing oh sheila) and people over crediting him. i once read something in Q where they said kiss invented modern R&B which i think was way OTT - hes like the token R&B guy its ok to like for a lot of rock critics/artists it seems. not sure about his influence these days, for a while you had a lot of neo soul artists like dangelo, bilal who sounded prince inspired, and andre3000 etc, but now it seems to come more from indie. though whenever i hear linn drums, it just makes me think of prince.
