The Feature Formerly Known As Friday Canon: Prince

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

By a kind of popular demand, here is the hugest Friday Canon yet, dedicated to the Purple One (now on a comeback tip I hear), Prince. Of course because the Friday Canon deals with UK top 40 hits, some of his best songs can't make it here (I'm particularly sad not to see "Dirty Mind") but there's plenty here to be going on with. Inventor of textspeak, and by some reckonings the most talented man of the 80s - by the one-third rule you get THIRTEEN picks across his career: use them wisely.




[Poll #683904]

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think because Madonna still has huge hits - a lot of the later Prince stuff only got to no.30 or so.

Also it was remarked upon LOADS at the time, the reviews of his early 90s albums ranged from handwringing to derisive.

There are lots I dont know too.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, also I think Madge derision has had two stages - presumably the Evita stage (and everyone seems to diss Erotica, probably because of That Book) when she seemed to have lost all her pop marbles, and right now, when people are able to laugh at her for the Kabbalah nonsense and bad clothes, but simultaneously accept that her albums are great.

I don't actually know any sort of Prince album chronology! I only oqwn the obvious ones (Sign O The Times, Purple Rain, Diamonds & Pearls, a Greatest Hits)

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Dude! Go and buy 1 x Dirty Mind right now! For serious, it's thirty five minutes of PURE GENIUS!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

What are the singles off it?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

"Dirty Mind" and "When U Were Mine"

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I don't think I know either of those! I'm going to have to dig out the Best Of, I haven't listened to half of it because I always seem to just get stuck looping my favourites.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

I dunno which were singles (apart from the title track), but the tracklisting is as follows:

Dirty Mind
When You Were Mine
Do It All Night
Gotta Broken Heart Again
Uptown
Head
Sister
Party Up

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah!

You need Parade and Around The World In A Day too, you might not like ATWIAD so much but it's got "Pop Life" on it!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's it, that the derision isn't to a percieved slip in quality as much as a unrelated personal mentalness. See also Bad-era Michael Jackson, though obviously we all hope things don't come to such a pass here.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

There is a massive decline in quality here - I ticked pretty much everything in the first tranche and then almost lost interest altogether. Madge is more up and down I think.

Although neither of them will match the Michael Jackson poll for STAGGERING collapse in form post 1990 or therabouts.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

The drop-off in his acclaim hit far sooner in the states than in Europe - he lost the Yanks after Sign of the Times, whereas he remained more popular here for at least three more albums (Lovesexy, Batman, D&P) after that.

Although interestingly his more recent so-called renaissance (which I think is extremely overrated) has had far more success over there than over here.

Oh and one final thing re. the Madge comparison - Prince's reputation was always almost as much based on his live performances as his recorded output, and most people would agree that while he lost it big-style on record, his live performances are as strong as ever (although I for one miss the days of him performing in trenchcoat and thong)

[sbp.livejournal.com]

But also Madge never had a big argument with her record company re ownership of masters and so on, leading to a hiatus where records weren't put out for ages.

Funnily enough, Frank Zappa had a similar issue with the same company, Warner Brothers, when they wouldn't accept that he'd completed his contract by delivering three different albums at once.