On the Shelf 133&134: Prince
Nov. 16th, 2014 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23On my shelf along a series of punk bands, industrial dance, and plenty of British new wavers, sits Prince.
I consider myself a bigger Prince fan that most. Everyone has an opinion of the Purple One, but there are times when he was nearly perfect- Dirty Mind, Purple Rain, Sign O The Times.
Prince hasn't really had much of a chart presence since "Diamonds and Pearls". This also is probably no coincidence that every record he releases is considered the 'comeback". No surprise then, that the new album "Art Official Age" is a monster hype machine heralding a return to form. Since Prince's biggest issue may be he's too prolific, it's accompanied by a second release "Plectrum Electrum" which is co-credited with an all-female trio named 3rdEyeGirl.
I do like Prince's 90 work quite a bit. I don't consider all of his best work done in the 80s. "The Gold Experience" is as good as any of his classic albums, in my opinions, but things start to get patchy.
I would start with "Emancipation", which at three discs, proved that maybe Prince didn't need to release everything he put on record. It's a bit of mess from there. The man simply needs some quality control.
There are double albums, give away albums, and lest we forget a four sided instrumental jazz album.
"Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" was Prince given the "Supernatural" treatment, though much better on paper (duets with Ani DeFranco, Sheryl Crow, Chuck D, and Gwen Stefani). "Musicology" and "3121" similarly high profile moves ("Musicology probably the best of his 21st Century work).
The truth is I find pretty much everything from '96 on to be fairly pedestrian. Clearly, not Prince's fault. The line to aim for is so high, not only based on what he has done, but you have to compare any new Prince album to what his disciples can do. A new Prince album needs to be as good not only as Purple Rain, but also as good as Andre3000, Lenny Kravitz, D'Angelo, and Janelle Monae.
In which case, one gets the feeling that Prince can go into a studio and crank out Princemusic all day and all night. "Art official Age" is certainly competent, but it's never going to be the first Prince album you grab for.
There's plenty of ballads, plenty of "Black Album" style rock, and the best thing about it may be that Prince wrote a song around the "This could be us but you playing" meme, which is like meta...
"Art offical Age" is getting plaudits, though it will be interesting to see where that reputation stands 5 or 10 years down the road. I think it will stand as another 'near miss'.
For me, i like "Plectrum Electrum' a bit more.
Leave it to Prince to blur gender lines in that is most "cock rock" album of his career is performed by a trio of female musicians.
"Plectrum" isn't perfect, but it does nod to some of the obvious influences like Hendrix, Sly Stone, and Funkadelic and certainly Prince himself makes that list. I didn't like the first song I heard when it hit the internet earlier last year, but "Plectrum" is an album that sort of depends on where you drop the needle.
At times, it is a 'big dumb record' and it doesn't offer much more than "big and dumb", but other times it does go off in some interesting directions.
I consider myself a bigger Prince fan that most. Everyone has an opinion of the Purple One, but there are times when he was nearly perfect- Dirty Mind, Purple Rain, Sign O The Times.
Prince hasn't really had much of a chart presence since "Diamonds and Pearls". This also is probably no coincidence that every record he releases is considered the 'comeback". No surprise then, that the new album "Art Official Age" is a monster hype machine heralding a return to form. Since Prince's biggest issue may be he's too prolific, it's accompanied by a second release "Plectrum Electrum" which is co-credited with an all-female trio named 3rdEyeGirl.
I do like Prince's 90 work quite a bit. I don't consider all of his best work done in the 80s. "The Gold Experience" is as good as any of his classic albums, in my opinions, but things start to get patchy.
I would start with "Emancipation", which at three discs, proved that maybe Prince didn't need to release everything he put on record. It's a bit of mess from there. The man simply needs some quality control.
There are double albums, give away albums, and lest we forget a four sided instrumental jazz album.
"Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" was Prince given the "Supernatural" treatment, though much better on paper (duets with Ani DeFranco, Sheryl Crow, Chuck D, and Gwen Stefani). "Musicology" and "3121" similarly high profile moves ("Musicology probably the best of his 21st Century work).
The truth is I find pretty much everything from '96 on to be fairly pedestrian. Clearly, not Prince's fault. The line to aim for is so high, not only based on what he has done, but you have to compare any new Prince album to what his disciples can do. A new Prince album needs to be as good not only as Purple Rain, but also as good as Andre3000, Lenny Kravitz, D'Angelo, and Janelle Monae.
In which case, one gets the feeling that Prince can go into a studio and crank out Princemusic all day and all night. "Art official Age" is certainly competent, but it's never going to be the first Prince album you grab for.
There's plenty of ballads, plenty of "Black Album" style rock, and the best thing about it may be that Prince wrote a song around the "This could be us but you playing" meme, which is like meta...
"Art offical Age" is getting plaudits, though it will be interesting to see where that reputation stands 5 or 10 years down the road. I think it will stand as another 'near miss'.
For me, i like "Plectrum Electrum' a bit more.
Leave it to Prince to blur gender lines in that is most "cock rock" album of his career is performed by a trio of female musicians.
"Plectrum" isn't perfect, but it does nod to some of the obvious influences like Hendrix, Sly Stone, and Funkadelic and certainly Prince himself makes that list. I didn't like the first song I heard when it hit the internet earlier last year, but "Plectrum" is an album that sort of depends on where you drop the needle.
At times, it is a 'big dumb record' and it doesn't offer much more than "big and dumb", but other times it does go off in some interesting directions.
