prince

the original alice smith version of another love on plectrum electrum is worth checking out. i really liked princes version of it and thought it was his own, until i heard hers, and actually prefer hers now, mainly as it doesnt have that last 'eye hate u'-ish spoken part that prince put into his one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA4F5P9defI

I definitely ride hard for hit n run II. Have not connected strongly with AOI; something about the soundworld of it bothers me

*AOA

Even though AOA went thru the motions for the most part it's the freshest for me of his last albums. The 3rd Eye Girl stuff always seemed to me like Prince letting his rock n roll side run as wild as it could with one of his most mediocre backup bands gumming up the works. AOA was at least a fun listen in spots. But then again I always preferred studio boffin Prince post 1990 ( bar "Rainbow Children" - with possibly his last excellent band )to the Vegas horns and rote arrangements "Musicology" / post- "Musicology" Prince. I saw him twice on the "Musicology" tour and he was a masterful performer but the "essence du Prince" was considerably stifled by then.

Aoa=prince after listening to janelle monae. Agree though, it does feel like he was trying with that one, compared to PE. Also helps that he had someone else producing.

via our own fact checking cuz, had no idea this existed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHdE5BVAUDk

diamonds and pearls deluxe edition coming out later this year from the looks of it.

:-/

should have been parade (35th anniversary!), but im guessing its the 30th anniversary of D&P too so that wins out. one of his biggest albums after all. cant say im on the edge of my seat to hear outtakes from this period, BUT i really want to see/hear an interview with tony m to see what he makes of this period and prince's incorporation of hip hop.

Going by sales, it makes sense - IIRC it's 3x platinum, higher than even Batman, and the only albums that sold more already had a super deluxe reissue. But I agree, Parade would've been preferable.

“I sincerely want to shimmy the taste out of your mouth... can you relate?”

Xposts

Tina Turner released that as a b-side twice and it was on the 2nd disc of the comp she put out in 1994 (which also contains covers of "Ball of Confusion", "Whole Lotta Love", and "Legs")

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collected_Recordings_%E2%80%93_Sixties_to_Nineties

I heard her Whole Lotta Love and Legs, but never LPWM

Damn that comp looks righteous, I’m going to go find that

Will be curious to see how D&P deluxe sells. I know it was a big hit but I don’t know that it has aged well at all. Is it Prince’s New Jersey?

bummed that Parade is pushed back for this, that's the one I'm most excited for

Prince has had multiple New Jerseys: Batman, Love Symbol, Musicology, arguably Emancipation

its also the 40th anniversary of the controversy album. but i guess i will have to make do with a CD of multiple house mixes of gett off and cream :( as its the 5th anniversary of his death, they could have released three deluxe editions (in my mind at least) but im guessing they are drip feeding us.

D&P was his big 90s album. nothing else sold as much after the 80s. its kind of like his lets dance.

imo Love Symbol is his New Jersey zenith purely in commercial terms when looking over his career in terms of before and after

(allowing for relative commercial dips and resurgences 1985-1991)

What is Come then?

fucking great iirc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicology_(album)

^^^ went platinum

With roughly 95% of those copies (if not more) having been given away to concertgoers.

was that the newspaper giveaway?

He debuted two albums as free newspaper giveaways in the UK; Musicology was just given away on the seats for that year's tour.

^ Planet Earth (2007) and 20Ten.

musicology had "call my name" on it so i'm sure plenty of ppl actually bought it rather than a concert ticket lol

Reflection on musicology (with wendy on guitar as it happens) was the best thing on there.

Batman is too weird and good to qualify as a NJ

I feel like Lovesexy is his New Jersey

it had a huge hit in Alphabet Street, still felt like a new Prince album was an event, but also felt like the end of the classic era, he'd have hits after that but it always felt like a legacy artist having hits

at the time Love Symbol almost felt like a comeback

some of this is "how old were you when you first watched SNL"

Lovesexy was my first Prince LP and is often still my favourite

i'm not saying it's bad, it's a good album

but it's the end of the era

hmm tho diamonds and pearls is messing up my theory..i forget how big that album was just because i think it pretty much stinks

It does stink

Eric Weisbard got it right re Lovesexy: "more okay God pop."

D&P remains an excrescence

Lovesexy is the end of the imperial run; even if it is overused, “1980-88” will probably be a part of Prince conversation til the end of time

Releasing it as one long track was easily one of the biggest mistakes he ever made.

At least on vinyl you can drop the needle

There's actually quite a bit I like on D&P when looking at the tracklist again. But yes, the overall impression is that it's very ungood.

Diamonds and Pearls is high school to me so i don't get the hate. I still unreservedly love most of the album, particularly Money Don't Matter 2 Night, Strollin, Thunder, Insatiable, Get Off, Willing and Able...

High school for me too, and I still l thought it sucked aprt from the second and fourth singles and "Walk Don't Walk." Prince wanted R&B hits again, he got them.

Walk Don't Walk is good too! Cream ain't bad either! It's just a handful of zonkers on there imo.

I think you all are underestimating exactly how bad "Jughead" is

Ranking the singles:

Money Don't Matter 2 Night
Cream
Insatiable
Gett Off
Thunder
Diamonds and Pearls

Gett Off is embarrassing. Otherwise otm

Songs i will not readily rep for on D+P: the title cut, jughead, push.
Live 4 Love is sprawling but has some good batman energy and Daddy Pop is totally a too-long b-side but I have some nostalgic love.
Three bad tracks out of 13 on a prince album is to be expected!

My main memory of the album will always be this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-h4UK2G8B0

This was the first "maxi-single" i ever bought and it kinda blew my little teen age mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-CHzzvJTMg