Prince

[dipstick]

As Prince has been gone a few years now, I'm curious about what you think of his career. What were your initial thoughts of his music? Has your opinion changed over time? Are there highs and lows for you? Examples are welcome!

["BING E BONG"]

Decent songwriter, shit records

[DarknessFish]

I've never liked Prince at all, to be honest. Probably doesn't come as much of a shock to those of you who know my music tastes, but I can appreciate a bit of pop music for what it is, and I just don't get the Prince thing. The sound of his records is so dry, so dead, they don't seem to fit with the popular consensus of his virtuosity. I'm not disputing his virtuosity, indeed, I don't care a jot about his technical ability, but there's very little that seems obviously musically out of the range of mortals in his recordings.

[Deleted]

A lot of his stuff I like a lot, but some stuff is dreadful.

I was telling my son recently how much his music is showing up online and in a major TV commercial. His estate must be making a mint, which is funny since he was so protective during his lifetime. He'd pull down any video of his music on YouTube, even homemade videos.

Part of Prince's prowess was him doing his own songs, but I'd love to hear a tribute or covers album by someone where all that '80s production stuff is stripped away so the power of his songs come through.

[Deleted]

I'm inclined to call myself a major fan but can't really justify it as I don't have that many albums. When he was good he was god-like. And to be fair the stuff I don't much like now is just because it's dated or heard too much (or noodly).

Will post more later ...

[Reactionary Rage]

The last great genius of popular music.

[toomanyhatz]

Diarrhea of the tape spool, similarly to Zappa, Ryan Adams for a while, the Dead, etc. - we don't need your every recorded moment.

No question that the best of it is great, he just didn't seem to always know when he'd gotten there.

I went with casual fan.

[loveless]

His best work is among my favorite music of all time, but...like any number of prolific artists, he didn't always shine as brightly as I'd have liked.

So.."MAJOR FAN" of what I love, but "CASUAL FAN" if we're talking "the full monty".

[jeffk]

I went with casual fan too. There's no denying the man's talent and he's had more hits than misses.

[Deleted]

I guess slightly above casual fan...I like a lot of his stuff, but know there's a ton of garbage in his discography...

[guye]

I voted Casual Fan. There was a time when I was a Major Fan, but that feels like a long time ago.

[Deleted]

Jan 25, 2019 18:06:21 GMT toomanyhatz said:

No question that the best of it is great, he just didn't seem to always know when he'd gotten there.

Good way to put it.

[Deleted]

May as well stick this here ...

[Deleted]

I'm into him now a lot less than I was in the 80s. In some ways I think we overrated him back then.
He's a lot like McCartney in that he's just got this very natural musical brilliance but he doesn't quite know how to use it often.
Still he wrote some wonderful pop songs and we shouldn't forget that.

[Deleted]

Well he's besties with Larry Graham (who got him into being a Jehovah's witness) and he plays a lot with Prince - so you probably *do* hear Sly and the Family Stone in there.

*In fact in that clip I just played, there was definitely some Larry-style bass slapping, to the extent I was surprised to see it was a woman.

**Eh?  This was into a post where someone said they could hear too much Sly & The Family Stone in his music - post's disappeared!