Prince..... the exact point where it all started to go horribly wrong.

Very great. I should listen to it again, been a while.

If we look at our Prince history, we note that in 1988, Prince was to release "The Black Album," a funky follow-up to "Sign O' The Times." Then, he ended up doing Ecstasy with Ingrid Chavez, freaked out, saw God, and decided that the album was the wrong move. Check Per Nelson's excellent "Dance Music Sex Romance" for more information.

Then he puts out "Lovesexy." It's a brilliant record, and if you buy the CD you get the entire album as one track. You have to take the album as a whole. It works brilliantly for those who listen... it's the last great Prince album.

For a guy who always looks forward, his next move is perplexing. He decided to do a Purple Rain sequel. Most of the songs on the soundtrack are OLD SONGS re-recorded ("Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" and "We Can Funk" were originally recorded with the Revolution, and "Tick Tick Bang" dates from the 1999-era). Since the album features too many guests (Tevin Campbell, The Time, among others), the record doesn't work on it's own. It's too bad, because the movie SUCKS. Unlike "Parade," which is my favorite Prince album of all time (at least it is this month), you can't ignore the film and listen to a kick-ass album.

At this point, Prince begins to try way too hard to be both on the charts and somewhat relevant. "Diamonds and Pearls" may have sported some great songs, but listening to tracks like "Jughead" 10 years later, you realize that he was competing with MC Hammer. The O)+> album again features some great songs, but there's just too much bad rap and it's a bad "concept album."

From here on out, there are moments of brilliance. I buy every Prince album for those moments, but he's consistantly failed me with each release. His recent experiments with "jazz" (actually lightweight instrumental jams) are promising. It shows that he's more interested in music than sales or hits. But it's all pretty boring.

Looking back, the Revolution (or more specifically, Wendy and Lisa) had a huge influence on him. After they left, he continued to produce some brilliant music, but quickly ran out of ideas or went for the cheap hit. I just want him to release some Revolution tracks from the Vault, without modern overdubs. Then i'll be happy.

As for the acoustic disc, Truth, it just seems sorta gimmicky to me. Like he just wanted to prove that he *could* do this jazzy folk thing if he wanted to (he's always been up front with his infatuation with Joni Mitchell). And the aforementioned trebliness of the mix also doesn't sit well in my ears - it sounds too clear and crystalline, doesn't have any warmth really. I could be wrong, I haven't listened to it in years and really only heard it a few times, but it really didn't appeal to me.

My moment of when Prince lost (even if made good stuff afterwards - Gold Experience) was with Diamond and Pearls when he deliberately wrecked his songs to make them more commercial. Also he stopped having extended singles/bsides which really need to be rereleased (but will never happen) as it is now forgotten history.

-- Naive Teen Idol"

I did forget Batman. I can defend Batman. It's simply a soundtrack, an interesting side project almost. There are some great songs on there ("Vicki Waiting," "Electric Chair," "The Future," etc) and some clunkers ("Batdance," "Trust"). Still, it's not really a Prince album, don't you think? It's simply a soundtrack... the fact that he put so much thought into it shouldn't matter. He did a good job identifying with Bruce Wayne's character, not to mention the Joker. It's a no-brainer... he's always had the duality thing going, being a Gemini. God/Sex, Camille/Spooky Electric, Male/Female, Black Album/Lovesexy, etc.

But my overall point, that he blew it with Grafitti Bridge, still remains. ;)

I've retroactively decided he blew it with 'The Most Beautiful Girl' because a. he initially managed to obscure how horribly irritating it actually was with a good chorus b. I was 12 in '94 and didn't know no better and c. it's dated like a carton of milk released in the same week.

My main problem is the dated production on Batman, it's by far the most trend sounding production which actually might be considered the turning point as he wasn't ignoring trends. Also he left off lots of good songs of Batman (the bsides Sex, 200 Balloons, and Feel U Up as well as outtakes Dance With The Devil, & Rave Un 2 The Joy Fantastic).

Personally, I think the love symbol album was the beginning of the end. Despite a few good tracks, it just doesn't hold up like his earlier material does. And after that the downhill turn was even steeper.

Oddly my fiancee, who is a waaaaay bigger Prince fan than I am, said she thinks "Around the World in a Day" was the turning point, but too much great stuff followed for me to agree.

AND... I got Crystal Ball today!!

Rock on, Sean! That's one of those albums I'm dying to hear but not actually spend money on.

"she thinks "Around the World in a Day" was the turning point"

Jesus, Sign O'The Times came after that and it's his crowning glory. I'm not detecting much love for Parade around here either which is a tad disconcerting.

Not as good as "Purple Rain" nor "Sign "O" The Times", but still really, really, really great.

If only for the second side Starting with the champagne funk of Mountains then the over the top cabaret of Do U Lie then jumping into the contrasting Kiss which segues into Anotherloverholenyohead before ending with Sometimes It Snows in April.

I much prefer Crystal Ball to Emancipation.

Also, weren't snatches of every song except "Lemon Crush" and "Batdance" used in the movie? I distinctly remember "The Future" and "Electric Chair" in there somewhere.

The point where I started going "uh-oh" was Diamonds And Pearls . It was obvious he was scared of losing his commercial appeal at this point and it shows in the music. Once he put the wack rapper/dancer guys in as part of the NPG, everything just seemed to go wobbly.

I still love Come and Chaos & Disorder . I think they're cool glimpses into how dark his mind was at the time -- "Solo", "Papa", etc.

I don't think I've ever heard "The Gold Experience," "Come," "Chaos & Disorder," "New Power Soul," "The Rainbow Children," or "N.E.W.S." in full, although I've heard bits of them all except the last. Liked what I heard of Come, TGE and TRC, pretty much hated all the rest, ISTR.

1. Purple Rain
2. Sign "O" The Times
3. Parade
4. Grafitti Bridge
5. 1999
6. Around The World In a Day
7. Lovesexy
8. Controversy
9. Dirty Mind
10.The Black Album
11.Diamonds And Pearls
12.Prince
13.Emancipation
14.Come
15.(Symbol)
16.Batman

Yes, even in spite of all those guest acts (some of whose contributions aren't too bad IMO), "Grafitti Bridge" is up there among my fave Prince moments.

Is this normal?