Post a controversial music opinion

Stockhausen is another link.

That's a very good call.

the Prince hagiography is getting to be a bit much

if anything it's not enough

That ain't Lake Minnetonka!

the thing with Prince is, it's really not hyperbole to point out how comprehensive and sui generis he was. There's literally no one else that's ever had his combo of skills and hit-making ability. At least not that I can think of ie., virtuoso multi-instrumentalists/producers with a sustained string of classic (and popular) albums over the course of a decade.

Joni comes (kind of) close, although I've never thought she was all that incredible a pianist/synth player

also couldn't play drums afaik

but could he play the mandolin as well as peter buck

hell, I can play the mandolin as well as peter buck

Love Joni but Prince laps her several times in terms of sheer skill and virtuosity. But Shakey 100% OTM that the Prince hagiography isn't nearly as strong or widespread as it should be. Bowie is the one that's getting tiresome - are we going to be hearing choral covers of "'Heroes'" in movies, shows, and commercials forever now?

ye

the Bowie and Prince love can flow eternal, keep it coming.

hunky dory changed my life

I will always love Bowie but Prince was a different animal imo. I don't think anyone would credibly argue that Bowie was an amazing instrumentalist - he was good enough to put his songs over and smart enough to rely on virtuoso collaborators to flesh things out instead. And while he was a good vocalist (again, making the best of his natural limits), he sure as shit didn't have Prince's range. On the whole I'd say he was maybe a better lyricist than Prince.

Prince is maybe the only guy I can think of that seems literally inhuman from a performance standpoint. Peak period live footage is on some "how does one person DO that" level shit. And he could do all that and still be funny/make it look easy.

but did prince write fantastic voyage

music is how it makes you feel, mannn :P

Mitchell's main instrument isn't piano, although she's much better than competent: it's guitar, where her chords are amazing.

the thing with Prince is, it's really not hyperbole to point out how comprehensive and sui generis he was. There's literally no one else that's ever had his combo of skills and hit-making ability. At least not that I can think of ie., virtuoso multi-instrumentalists/producers with a sustained string of classic (and popular) albums over the course of a decade.

Stevie Wonder

Are we really comparing Prince and Bowie now? For the love of god why.

Never forget this classic thread:

TS: Prince or Bowie?

absolutely otm LBI

the thing with Prince is, it's really not hyperbole to point out how comprehensive and sui generis he was. There's literally no one else that's ever had his combo of skills and hit-making ability. At least not that I can think of ie., virtuoso multi-instrumentalists/producers with a sustained string of classic (and popular) albums over the course of a decade.

Stevie Wonder

― nba jungboy (voodoo chili), Tuesday, September 25, 2018 5:59 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all of this also applies to Paul McCartney

Stevie Wonder

Stevie's close, yeah. if only he could play guitar.

Macca = lol gtfo

kate bush!

jesus...really...

Macca's a virtuoso on one instrument and we all know which one that is

LOL

Are we really comparing Prince and Bowie now? For the love of god why.

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, September 25, 2018 5:59 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they’re both dead

Also, until he died, I had never met anyone who had bought a Prince album after Under The Cherry Moon or D&P

fwiw, for me, Prince solo >>> Macca solo but like it or not the comparison is apt

it's true Prince was much better when he was in the Beatles

Macca's a virtuoso on one instrument and we all know which one that is

― Οὖτις

yeah, he's fantastic on lead guitar

Also, until he died, I had never met anyone who had bought a Prince album after Under The Cherry Moon or D&P

― Paul Ponzi,

Because they were two years old?

You moved goalposts. You knew no one who bought SOOT or Parade?

seeing as Paul McCartney is not yet dead, i think we should hold off on comparing him to Prince and Bowie. won’t be long though (hopefully)

xp No, everyone I knew bought those (me too)

My point--which you've just proven--is that dude's reputation was based almost entirely on his early work (and, err, Chappelle) until very recently

well, sure, that's the case for most artists

Prince was great from ~81-89. Sign O' the Times is one of the greatest album ever made by anybody. But he lost it in the 90s and 00s. He produced about two CDs' worth of good material in his last three decades of life.

Bowie has no front-to-back great albums. He was at his best from 1977-79, but I could go the rest of my life without ever needing to hear the Berlin-era instrumentals again, except maybe "V-2 Schneider." Blackstar was his first great album in 35 years.

actually agree w all that

Macca also has no front-to-back great albums, with the possible exception of "Ram"

Prince has, idk, three? SOTT, 1999, Purple Rain

Bowie and Prince comparison is obvious, even before their dizzyingly close, sudden deaths. Both are popular and respected across so many demographics and borders of taste, both had imperial phases that neatly fit into the entirety of the 70s and 80s respectively, both known for reinvention and unpredictability and singularity, both icons of androgyny. But again, Bowie wasn't even close to the musician that Prince was. Neither is Joni, who is a brilliant guitarist, but she cannot do what Prince could do seemingly effortlessly on every instrument he picked up and then threw into the air.

This thread's going in a weird direction. We're knocking Mitchell because she chose not to play drums, bass, and synths with Prince's virtuosity? She didn't fucking want to! She wrote Ladies of the Canyon through Hejira, a sequence of albums adored by...Prince.

otm

not knocking her, just making the case that Prince was sui generis and compared to the amount of Bowie tributes & covers & references, Prince has not gotten his due.

Depends where you live. Maybe I have a bias because I participate in those 2016 tributes to Bowie and Prince; with each man the good writers delineated what made each man different.

Macca's a virtuoso on one instrument and we all know which one that is

Trumpet. His own one.

every single dance track that samples kate bush is unforgivably awful and demeans us all every time it is played by anyone anywhere.

Speaking in pop terms Bowie is more iconic in looks than Prince, but Prince’s music has way more pop appeal than Bowie.

I guess Bowie’s catchiest songs are “rebel rebel” and “heroes” but as pop singles they are weak against something like say, “kiss” which has that timeless, immediate pop hit sound.

Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, 20/20, Sunflower and Surf's Up are all extremely enjoyable albums with, at worst, one or two subpar tracks that I don't think would seriously ruin anyone's overall enjoyment of them. I'm sure even casual BB fans have listened to and enjoyed other albs that aren't flawless from soup to nuts and besides, weird/creepy is a pretty essential part of the overall BB aesthetic imho.

― Ward Fowler

i agree about weird/creepy being an essential part of the beach boys aesthetic! but i don't agree that it's an aesthetic everyone can be expected to enjoy. even "wild honey", which is a really solid and consistent album, is very much an album out of its time and off-kilter in a much more off-putting way than "magical mystery tour". they're short albums, they come off as unambitious, spookily skeletal, not making A Statement. god knows when i got into the beach boys i was looking for Big Statements like "pet sounds" and "smile". you think i knew what to do with a fucking brilliant song like "i'm so glad", let alone their putting a _cover_ on an lp in '67? hell no. obviously i've come around but immediate appeal is something strikingly lacking from post-"smile" beach boys.

Ilx generally speaking has horrible taste in music