The Prince Thread.

Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Definitely getting converted by listening to this greatest hits comp for the last few days. Highlights so far - ''I would die 4 u'', ''1999'', ''I wanna be your lover''...

Don't really get 'Purple Rain' (the tune) though. Just seems a bit boring to me, like any old extended rock ballad. I'd like to hear more stuff in the vein of ''I would die 4 u'' - obviously appeals to me cos it sounds a bit like electro/techno.

Oh and thanks for posting that documentary Elijah, really enjoyed it and gave me an insight into Prince's appeal.
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Corpsey; if you wanna hear the really experimental stuff, see if you can dig up the B-Sides compilation they did back in... I want to say, 1999? (HAUHAUHAU). There's some rubbish, but stuff like "17 Days", "She's Always In My Hair" (AKA The Song Vernon Reid Just Wishes He Could Pull Off), "La La La, Hee Hee Hee", "God" & "Joy Fantastic" are brilliant.
 
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Esp

Well-known member
rubberdingyrapids said:
@corpsey, i dont think youll find any moments that will have you going 'oh thats the neptunes!' other than hollaback girl which replays the drum pattern from housequake. the neptunes were more influenced by straighter 80s R&B imo, things like janet jacksons control album for instance.
Click to expand...

Trying to blindly ascribe influence is pretty pointless (despite it seemingly being a favourite past-time of music journos) but Prince was one of the first to introduce RnB that ignored bass as a rhythmic device and drew all the focus to big drums and a simple catchy, melodic keyboard hook - When Doves Cry is a good example.

Its hard to say that the Neptunes wouldnt have sounded the way they did without Prince but Prince introduced the sonic palette to RnB that the Neptunes (alongside a whole load of other 'Keyboard' beatmakers) would employ.
 
connect_icut

connect_icut

Well-known member
Which 12"s should I be on the look out for, if I want some particularly choice/experimental B-sides on vinyl?

Also, gotta give a shout out to Parade. I like Prince at his weirdest and most minimal and this is the album that delivers that most consistently, for me.
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
"Raspberry Beret" goes down, without a doubt, simply for having "She's Always In My Hair". Not only is that my favorite Prince tune probably, but it's this really great piece of proto-funk-metal psychedelia.

"1999" has "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore", which is a great Soul Ballad, so yeah, obviously grab that if you can.

"Gett Off" is itself, and if you don't get it, wow. But the remixes on the CD Single (I don't know if any 12" were pressed off hand) are absolutely fantastic.

"Let's Pretend We're Married" is okay, but again, B-Side "Irresistible Bitch" is such raw synth-funk.

"When Doves Cry" and "17 Days" as B-Side... enough said.

The B-Side of "Purple Rain", "God", is possibly one of my favorite slabs of gospel not made by 'Gospel' artists. Also, the vocal freak-out section is just purely great Prince at his most bugged out during such a commercial period.

I've yet to hear the full 21 minute version of "America" from the 12 Inch, but if you're into really raw funk, (judging from the 10 minute version they cut a music video for, which I really need to get a digital version of sometime) you have to hear it. The B-Side, "Girl", is actually one of my least favorite songs from this era though.

"Sign Of The Times" is overrated, but "La La La, Hee Hee Hee" as a B-side is great post-P-Funk goofiness.

And once you fully go off into the 90's, I'd ignore most of the 12s. Also, I wish I could remember what Erotic City is the B-Side for.
 
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BareBones

wheezy
has nobody mentioned the black album? that has a lot of filler on it but also some of the best prince jams - 'bob george', 'dead on it' etc. Plus I like the whole idea that after sign o' the times he went and made this totally raw-as-fuck funk album, and then decided not to release it because he had some mental ecstasy experience and became convinced the album was evil. Not to mention the spinal tappery of the artwork etc being completely black.

corpsey i think you'd particularly be interested in 'dead on it' cos it's kind of "prince does rap" but all the lyrics are basically him criticising rappers for not being able to sing etc.
my favourite from the album though i think is rockhard in a funky place, which has one of the most insanely catchy brass sections i've ever heard
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
The Black Album is weird, as its contents don't bear out the mystique that's grown up around it. I quite like Cindy C.

When did Prince become rehabilitated within the hip-hop community, because it seems that he was pretty estranged from them at this point (87ish)? It was interesting to see Chuck D talk about Prince in such glowing, fanboy terms on the BBC documentary - I'd have thought his opinion might've been a little different.
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
there was some old ice cube and chuck d interview in the nme in the 90s where they talked about being prince fans. questlove is a big fan too. i think when he started painting slave on his face, a lot of rappers seemed to like him more after then (unlike most of the rest of the world). i preferred prince when he hated rap personally. hip hop hasnt been good for him. but hes worked with loads of rappers in the last 15-odd years, including chuck d, so of course chuck is never going to say anything bad about him or talk about how princes politics in the 80s were so opposed to that of PE or most rappers.

i like the black album a lot, its got some of his funkiest material ever, and maybe his best jazz track, but yeah, i never fully understood the hype around it being so dark and terrible. its not THAT bad. he said worse things on tracks in the early 80s! i had a tape my cousin had from the late 80s though where it was sped up several notches and dirty as fuck. that was the best version.
 
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BareBones

wheezy
some of the lyrics from 'When 2 R In Love' are fantastic...

Come bathe with me
Let's drown each other in each others emotions
Bathe with me
Let's cover each other with perfume and lotion
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Prince likes rap that's convenient to like, like Public Enemy or saying you enjoy Run DMC 20 years later because they're irrelevant. Or when they have a fetish for live music.

True story, when D'Angelo and ?uestlove visited Prince, he spent the time jamming with them, but kept interupting to tell the afro-wonder how to play, because admittedly Ahmir is a terribly generic and monotonous drummer. THIS IS ONE OF PRINCE'S MORE REDEEMING QUALITIES.
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
prince is a better drummer.

but questloves best, and least monotonous, drumming was done pre-illadelph halflife. organix is underrated.

prince likes 'worthy' rap. anything that might seem violent or sexual isnt to his liking. he also has generally bad taste in rap. and a lot of his worse judgement calls since the 90s have been cos of rap. he just changed his tune about it cos he knew it was too massive for him to continue to slate publically, but obv that also led to a certain undermining in his confidence about the direction he should go in. prince and rap come from two totally diff schools of thought on virtually every level. i dont think prince ever even comissioned any good remixes from hip hop producers which would have been the best way for him to go about it, rather than trying to do it all himself.
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
He did try to have Shock G remix something for one of the Crystal Ball tracks. Mind you, this was already well past Digital Underground's 'peak'. But it was a pretty 'left' decision for him.

Then again, a lot of his decisions come from the people around him, as, despite common held belief, he isn't writing ALL THE MUSIC anymore. Instead he has his band... Including that TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE... OH GOD, THAT FUCKING FAT BIGGIE DRUMMER. That's Prince's downfall, right there! But moving aside, yeah, he relinquished a lot of control from I want to say... 93-99 to his bassist, Levi Seacer, and he became the musical director. And I'm never sure which records are all him again... I believe the 20Ten one is definitely just him, beyond that... IDK.

Now as far as his taste in rap, he only knows what people provide him, he's very naive. Hence... Tony M.
 
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