Prince Album by Album Thread

Has anyone mentioned how the 1999 riff sounds similar to Monday, Monday by the Mamas and the Papas?

 

I believed it was commen knownledge that Phil Collins was 'inspired' by Prince's 1999, as in he copied the basics and made his own song out of it. Definitally not a coincidence.

 

Much has been said about the lenght of some of 1999's tracks. I differ from what's been stated before. It's actually the extended duration of the songs what makes them real funk jams. Funk is a genre that lives a lot on a rhythm progression towards a climax. For such purpose, the 3-4 minute song format isn't enough. There are many examples of Prince songs were the 7"s doesn't match the power of the album version. Someone already mentioned Controversy. I would also add, as we'll see later on this journey, that many times the longer, extended 12"s, were even better than the shorter, album and 7", versions.

 

So other then the additional track, are there any mastering differences between the various target versions and the currently available CD?

 

I agree to a point - I find the lengthy experimental tracks on 1999 all interesting, and they all add to the mood of the album. I'm not sure the more straight-ahead funk jams like "D.M.S.R." and "Automatic" are good enough - or actually deliver a payoff - to justify their length, though. Whereas the New Wave tinged "Controversy" more than justifies its run length.

They don't "ruin" the record for me, but they do pull it down a notch.

 

I might have seen the same tvshow. Anyway, that video had a huge impact on me. I was really intreagued by the energy of it. The song 1999 still sounds fresh to me, I never seem to get sick of it. The ending with the rhythm guitar could go on for minutes longer without a problem. There are a lot of different 12" issues worldwide, I recently acquired the very rare Australian blue cover. I also really like the green Portugese single album cover.

1999 is in my top 3 of Prince albums. I am not good enough in eglish to express myself as well as some others have, but the coldness and the long songs is what attracts me also. You can make a companion cd with period outtakes that would be almost as good as the main album. If only Prince had the inclination to remaster his albums, what a glorious 4cd-box 1999 could be...

 

BTW, there's a live version of "Something In The Water" from his '84 birthday show, which is quite different and very groovy. I love it!

You can listen to it here (at least for now): http://yourlisten.com/anthony.battaglia.9461/prince-something-in-the-water-does-not-compute-live

 

So close to a masterpiece. Some of the second half material isn't on par with the first half, but none of it's bad. The album starts off with its three best tracks ("Little Red Corvette" alone is one of the great singles of the '80s) and making the album a double LP probably makes it feel even more top loaded.

Also, "Little Red Corvette" has some of my favorite Prince lines. "And the ride is so smooooooth…..you, must, be, a, limousine!" (To be fair, his delivery is possibly 90% of the appeal)

 

Kinda funny how everyone on here loves Little Red Corvette and Prince hates the song, though I have no idea why.

 

He likes to love em and leave em fast?

 

We need a new direction... It's time for jazz to die.

My listening room is all torn down right now so I'm revisting these Prince albums in a way I haven't before - through headphones. There's a ton going on on 1999 - so much that I was actually a little surprised. And very impressed. This is actually quite a listen through cans.
Some observations :

Even the long club jams are incredibly structured. That's something that those who are commenting on the length of some of these tracks may have lost sight of - these are dance tracks above all and I was surprised at how they held my interest in spite of that fact.

I think that as double albums go, this one is unusually easy to get through in one sitting despite it's length and the several long cuts which are interspersed throughout it. It's a tribute to the craft involved that these cuts and the album as a whole can hold one's interest as well as they do.

From an audiophile POV, this album actually sounds quite good as well which is a real plus.

Others have mentioned how this album is really front-loaded, with four consecutive killer tracks leading off. The fact that there are several other tracks interspersed throughout the record which are equally good or better is a tribute to how far and how fast Prince was progressing as an artist. As well, you can really sense that Prince was going to be making a different sort of records moving forward from this point - his pop sense was influencing his songwriting more and more. Little Red Corvette is an awesome bit of work even if the writer himself has grown tired of it for whatever reasons he has.

The songwriting is exhibiting all of the Prince-isms we will see a lot more of in the albums to come - the ecentricities, the unabashed sexuality and spirituality ( sometimes co-existing within the same song ), the layering of tracks belying the pop sensibilities Prince brought to a lot of his work - there is a lot going on here musically as I mentioned at the outset and the complexity of some of what's going on here is intriguing. We see lyrical themes that we will see recur as we get to the next albums. The slow jams are beginning to reach that stage which would begin to build Prince's reputation as a master of the slow song...

Lady Cab Driver is a real work-out. Bangin' good track. Can't believe it comes in at over eight minutes in length.

All in all, I'd say this is a really strong effort - one of the highlights both of his career and of the Eighties pop canon.

D.D.

 

I agree with Prince

 

Controversy - My first exposure to Prince was the title track single edit playing on WTIC-FM in Hartford CT. I thought it was a European New Wave group, probably gay, as they had that line in the song ("Am I straight or gay"...if the singer was straight, I knew he wouldn't be asking himself that). I was pretty surprised to find out it was a black guy from the U. S., although the outfit comported with what I expected. Overall, a great song, the first time Prince really established himself in a band context. The album is like that, too, but I find it less essential than Dirty Mind, which just goes from strength to strength.

1999 - Seeing the video for the title track on MTV was mind-blowing. Just a giant step forward, though he was working more overtly in a soul/R&B context, especially notable on the singles. He had all cylinders firing, and I knew there was nowhere he could go from here than down. And I was right!

 

Great version, thanks for sharing. I think he changed the chords. And the guitar parts make it sound much more common than the quirky synth version on the studio album. It's a totally different version. Prince is one of those rare artists who make good studio tracks and than blow me away with awesome live versions.

 

For me, 1999 marked the beginning of Prince's "genius" period. 1999, Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Parade, and Sign o' the Times were the greatest run of albums in the 1980s. Not because other artists weren't doing great work during that period, but because of how prolific Prince was during those years.

1999 isn't perfect; a few of the songs aren't winners, but the ones that are really blow everything that came before out of the water. "Delirious" is my favorite track on the album. I refused to buy this album on CD in the early days, since the CD omitted "D.M.S.R." Once the rereleased version came along with all the songs, I snapped it up. As far as I was concerned, omitting a song from an album just to make it fit onto a single CD was the worst thing the record label could possibly do, and I'm glad the problem was rectified a few years later.

 

I have to clarify that it is not the sound of the Linn that I have a problem with, and on other albums where it is integrated into the mix and there are other rhythmic elements around it, it works for me, on Controversy or What Time Is It? I don't even think about if it's there or not. But on 1999 a rudimentary rhythm is often laid naked with just some synth pads around so, or there's lots of space in the arrangement, so it becomes like a drum machine concert (for example five of the tracks starts with just a drum machine, and several of the song also have sections where it breaks down to almost just the drum machine). Also I have never been fond of the aestethic of productions (generally, not Prince) that started around this time, and got worse, where drums, live or programmed, were mixed super loud.

When it comes to the sounds on the album though it is rather the synth sounds that I have a problem with, but I do acknowledge that the sounds and the production were very influential (for better or worse)...

Same thing with duration, it is not the length itself that I object to, and I love long funk jams, but something has to happen to warrant the length and I guess I just don't like the grooves of tracks like "D.M.S.R." and especially "Automatic" enough to hear them go on for that long, and I don't think they are really that funky anyway. I agree that the single edits are always too edited down, but you don't have to choose between 8 minutes or 3 minutes, there is a middle ground, and most often in other cases that is the album version. But I think I was thinking more along the line that I would have wanted the songs to have been arranged and constructed from the start in a way that made them more compact, rather than have them chopped up aftwards.

Something that hit me is that one thing I am missing on this album is bass playing, there often is no proper bass, at least not bass guitar (although there are bass register synth etc.), and when it's there it often plays some quirky upper register stuff. For a Funk track to work I need heavy and good bass. Because of that it is very refreshing when "Lady Cab Driver" comes along, and I have to take back what I said there, in that case the length is warranted, great groove. (B.t.w., what is that squeeking sound that happens now and then in the spoken part of the song?)

I am pretty certain that there are no different masterings of anything, except the tracks that are included on compilations. (Didn't we do this earlier in the thread?)

 

He likes the 2007 Piano version he did of it. As well as the 2009 - current version.

 

The DR data for the Japanese SHM CD and the HD Tracks version show different masterings. All other CD (re)issues are probably the same. You can check it yourself at the Dynamic Range Database website.

I don't experience that loudness on the standaard 1990 (Made in Germany) CD, and also the DR data shows it's fitting right in with the other tracks... Maybe you own the Japanese SHM version (or another Japanese release), where DMSR is compressed from DR14 to DR11 and it's RMS is indeed the loudest??

 

Huge Prince fan. When I have the time I will definitely be contributing and following this thread.

 

I'm not sure if the SHM CDs are really remasters. It seems they are just EQed a little, to give them more punch and clarity. I actually like them for that, especially "Controversy", which also has the channels reversed, which seems to be a correction of the earlier CD version (all other versions of "Controversy" on the Hits compilation I have, have the channels like the SHM CD, so I guess it's the right order).

My current favourite digital version of "1999" is the hi-res download (which I'm listening to right now ).

 

No, I have the standard CD, and I am mostly just going by what I am hearing. I don't mean it is loud as in compressed (I always thought "loud" was a bad word to describe compression anyway), but it is loud as in the overall sound level of that track is percivably louder than the others, and it also has a different sound quality than the rest of the tracks. I have seen peak levels posted, but I can't find that now, but I found this post: Prince's 1999 10 track

 

I´m far from an expert, but I wonder if there was any DR differences between the "non DMSR" cd and the one that was released later and actually included the song (reparing a crime)

 

You can always click on the link in my previous post and find out for yourself.

 

OK, for those interested, here are the DR values of the different versions I have.

First the standard CD (Made in Germany), which I bought in the late 90s, I guess:

foobar2000 1.3.8 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-08-03 14:05:29

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Prince / 1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR13 -2.11 dB -18.17 dB 6:16 01-1999
DR11 -3.70 dB -18.50 dB 5:04 02-Little Red Corvette
DR13 -3.27 dB -19.41 dB 4:01 03-Delirious
DR14 -1.82 dB -17.43 dB 7:21 04-Let's Pretend We're Married
DR14 -2.13 dB -17.96 dB 8:16 05-D.M.S.R.
DR13 -2.62 dB -19.65 dB 9:28 06-Automatic
DR13 -3.11 dB -20.24 dB 4:03 07-Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
DR15 -2.18 dB -21.47 dB 5:08 08-Free
DR16 -0.58 dB -18.82 dB 8:18 09-Lady Cab Driver
DR15 -3.96 dB -20.75 dB 6:00 10-All The Critics Love U In New York
DR16 -2.78 dB -22.44 dB 6:38 11-International Lover
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 757 kbps
Codec: FLAC

Nothing remarkable about Peak or DR values here.


Now the SHM CD:

foobar2000 1.3.8 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-08-03 14:11:38

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Prince / 1999 (SHM)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR14 0.00 dB -15.72 dB 6:21 01-1999
DR11 -1.20 dB -15.92 dB 4:58 02-Little Red Corvette
DR13 -0.77 dB -16.91 dB 4:01 03-Delirious
DR13 0.00 dB -14.93 dB 7:22 04-Let's Pretend We're Married
DR11 0.00 dB -12.77 dB 8:17 05-D.M.S.R.
DR13 -0.12 dB -17.18 dB 9:28 06-Automatic
DR13 -0.61 dB -17.74 dB 4:03 07-Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
DR15 0.00 dB -18.98 dB 5:08 08-Free
DR14 0.00 dB -16.35 dB 8:19 09-Lady Cab Driver
DR15 -1.46 dB -18.25 dB 5:59 10-All The Critics Love U In New York
DR16 -0.28 dB -19.94 dB 6:38 11-International Lover
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 800 kbps
Codec: FLAC

And finally the hi-res download:

foobar2000 1.3.8 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-08-03 14:21:16

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Prince / 1999 (24/96)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR13 -1.39 dB -16.87 dB 6:16 01-1999
DR11 -3.03 dB -17.15 dB 4:59 02-Little Red Corvette
DR12 -2.58 dB -18.00 dB 3:59 03-Delirious
DR13 -0.38 dB -15.79 dB 7:19 04-Let's Pretend We're Married
DR14 0.00 dB -16.13 dB 8:18 05-D.M.S.R.
DR13 -1.26 dB -18.10 dB 9:25 06-Automatic
DR13 -1.33 dB -18.61 dB 4:01 07-Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
DR15 -0.65 dB -19.72 dB 5:07 08-Free
DR16 0.00 dB -18.98 dB 8:16 09-Lady Cab Driver
DR15 -4.55 dB -20.84 dB 5:56 10-All The Critics Love U In New York
DR15 -2.91 dB -22.53 dB 6:37 11-International Lover
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 96000 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 2594 kbps
Codec: FLAC


Hope that helps.