i used to wonder if he was in a capsule not knowing what was current or hip in contemporary culture. but after studying the PR/UTCM rehearsal tapes i realize he was extremely aware of what was going on in contemporary music (demos are where you can always tell where the hearts lie: you can hear jackie jackson at the tail end of the "shake your body down to the ground" demo tell mike "that's BAD man, i can't WAIT til the bee gee's hear THIS shit!!!")---so in playful "let's take it to the stage" mode i see that during 1999 rehearsals kool & the gang were often on his mind. my assumption with the purple rain rehearsals is that warners often sent him promo items by his label mates of which i assume he had a special place in his heart often quoting talking heads during songs when he got bored.

however come "dead on it" we saw the beginning of "the end" although it took a while for it to settle in.

i mean i would find occasional indifference in some prince songs: i might skip "jack u off" or maybe "paisley park" or "venus de milo" but i still respected where they fit in the grand scheme of things its just maybe sometimes im not in the mood to hear THAT particular song at that moment.

but "Dead On It" was the first time i was like "hmmmm....i dunno man"---ignored it for a couple of years but then i started to notice that my blind faith wasn't what it used to be.....

"lemon crush" was the song that i remember saying "i HATE THIS SONG" so when i would make comp cassettes i would leave that off....and because tapes were 90-100 mins....then i would leave off "trust" and "arms of orion".....and the next thing you know "the future" & "vicki waiting" was the only songs i'd include off batman in my "prince jams"

gotta admit i let rolling stones highly lauded @@@@1/2 star review sway me when Bridge came out. and i got the feeling that if the movie were halfway decent (i consider cherry moon halfway decent kinda like an inside joke that "real folk" dont get....i mean i know its a bad film, but since i get that minneapolis humor its cult status with me---and parade kicks ass)---so if the movie was decent i woulda gave it a chance or at least expanded the parenthesis in my mind that his streak was from 78-90---but the movie left such a bad taste in my mouth i can't even consider Pandemonium a worth Time album even though there were awesome moments on both those soundtracks. i just rode the denial train like i didn't know the difference tween the 1986 songs and the 1989 songs. so i feel like if there wasn't a leak and i didn't know any better i coulda etched in my mind that "can't stop this feeling", "question of you" (although he really shoulda fleshed that song out with 3 verses) "we can funk", & "joy" were just as awesome----instead i see them as reminders and confirmation that this train is about to stop rolling....

the day diamonds and pearls came out (the same day PE's Apocalypse 91 came out i remember that being an EXTREMELY heartbreaking day in which i felt both acts gave me diminished returns on their product. at least with PE they gave me an intro song ("Lost At Birth" that i felt rivaled their best work as a nice parting gift ---and there were gems--) but man...i know Prince was on his "on to the next one" steeze and it hurt to hear the results: i did not like his texture/tone/patches on ANY of the songs: prince's greatest gift was he created his own SOUND.

so i often hear that album (and the subsequent albums after) in a WWPD state of mind---like man. what if "Money Don't Matter" (the ONLY song i loved the way i loved the magic streak period) was recorded by Susan Rodgers in 84 with the same mix given "Take Me With U"---but given that he made 500 songs during this period i can see how he got bored but of course we know the hip hop issues (im sure it burned him that Hammer was the new king in town) and the "im still black" issues harmed his decision making.

i mean i know this whole post is full of the same ideology so i wont get redundant---

it is kinda weird though that he went back to "the sound" for 20ten and i was like "yeah but now the songs aren't there!!!!!"

im cool with it now: i mean of ALL the artists in the world he is one of the rare cats whose unreleased ish rivals his released ish and there are at LEAST 50 gems in that pile that will keep me satisfied for life....so this isnt a dig written in jest like "SMH, what happened to THAT mofo"---i understand that an artist or NO human being can swish 300 3 point shots in a row.

so that said i say had he just stayed the course and let hip hop be he coulda extended the streak a lil longer. cause truth be told? i consider "The Truth" his last perfect album (all acoustic!) so i don't have doubt that he still has fire in him. but im not holding breath either.