...however, Prince was a much more "edgy" and "interesting" artist in his prime whereas Stevie is more of a great craftsman. NORMALLY, I prefer the edgy and interesting over the craft but there are a handful of artists who have injected so much spirit and personality of their own into their craftmanship that they manage to transcend the craftmanship artist.

For example, people like McCartney, Elton John or Yngwie Malmsteen have NOT managed to transcend it; they are merely-yes, *merely*-about craft for its own sake-people like Stevie, brian Wilson or hendrix on te oter end have.

And while it's rare, people who achieve that combo are unbeatable.

Regardless of his skills as a musician, Prince never struck me as a craftsman, more a "throw shit at the wall and see what sticks"-type dude. Sometimes, it works and then it's amazing as evidenced by a good deal of his 80's albums starting with "Dirty mind" (which I like just as much as most-NOT all-Stevie records). After "Sign..." it didn't. I'm not the type of dude who wants to argue why so I leave that to the stans...