>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.