If you are not a "super-fan" why would you buy the Super Deluxe Edition or join in the conversation where "super-fans" are discussing it? You clearly do not like the album because you're willing to chop it up and throw out half of it. Why not just stream the record instead of gaslighting the people here who really like Sign 'O' The Times? Look, I like the Beatles but I do not love them. When the White Album came out a few years ago I did not buy the deluxe edition but I did grab the standard edition. I did not grow up listening to the Beatles but I really enjoyed a few tracks from the record. There were a few tracks that did not grab me but I thought it was fascinating coming here to gain perspective from others who "eat, sleep and etc." the album. I approached the White Album thread as a pupil excited to share in the excitement of all the "super-fans" waiting for the album to drop. I would have never joined the discussion proclaiming the album should not have been a double album and that half the tracks were garbage. You have a right to your opinion and the freedom to express it but is it necessary to disrupt the discussion on a thread where the majority disagree with you, and believe the work is profound and deserving of the Super Deluxe treatment? How would you feel if the tables were turned?
Sure, for some of us it’s longer. As a longtime and massive fan, going back to when the only place I could hear Prince’s new single Controversy was on the black radio station out of the distant big city that would only barely come in on my cheapo Panasonic boom box if I held the antenna just so, Emancipation still hasn’t stuck with me, certainly not in its entirety. (And I do like some of his later-period stuff to, particularly 3121 and the two Hit n Run albums.) Emancipation could’ve used a bit of (plenty of?) editing, but of course that’s just the opinion of this particular 35+ year Prince fan/m. As Prince’s own hero Sly Stone once said, “Different strokes/for different folks/And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee” Now the SOTT box, considering that it has the entire original album, plus 3 discs of Vault tracks and two separate shows, improves on the album by addition as far as I’m concerned. I don’t mind the omissions of the tracks that were on the 90’s Crystal Ball since I already have that and the two shows will make great companions to the SOTT tour rehearsal boot$&@ that is still one of the highlights of my pretty oversized Prince collection. Bring it on!
I'm not a "super-fan" and I'm buying the set. I'm just a fan of this era. Just sayin'. Edit: I have the entire Beatles catalog, including the '87 CDs and the '09 reissues. I passed on the White Album deluxe as it's never been a favorite of mine. However, I jumped on the Abbey Road Deluxe because I love that album.
I never meant to imply that Black people were all the same. Sorry if it came across that way. Slang goes in and out of fashion. That term apparently missed you. Maybe it's regional. I don't know. I was simply making the observation that I have heard the term since the 1970's. And I was just a bit irritated that someone, however glibly, called the term - which I've always associated with the Black community - "stupid." That's all. And perhaps I was being overly defensive and critical / confrontational as a result. Apologies to anyone my comments may have offended. And yes, I hope that we can spend more time talking about Prince and the SOTT box. The problem is, on threads like this, the time between the initial announcement and the actual release is so prolonged that it's easy to get sidetracked and derailed by off-topic posts and bickering / infighting. I mean, how much more is there to say about this release, at this point, until it actually comes out?
I don't think you have to like all of an artist's material to qualify as a fan. I like Sign "O" the Times (and Emancipation), but for some reason, I've never really been able to get into The Rainbow Children (or C-Note or N.E.W.S.). I'm just not much of a jazz fan, and those sets are a bit jazzy for my tastes. But I own everything Prince has ever officially released, as well as a few things that are a bit less official. So, I consider myself very much a fan. But being a fan doesn't mean you have to like everything an artist has ever done. YMMV.
Amen. I’m a lifelong Prince fan. I have a crazy large collection, including lots of stuff that most fans haven’t heard yet. But there are some of Prince’s releases that I don’t love or even enjoy. C-NOTE, Xpectation (?), and NEWS being some of them. I find those albums tedious. Give me Madhouse any day!
I second this . I’m also a huge fan but I also don’t believe on an artist’ cult . Regardless how great he was , he still was able to produce 6-7 embarrassing albums. I kept buying them, but it gave me a hard time defending him from those who had wrote him off
New Power Soul Both Rave albums Slaughterhouse Chocolate Invasion News Xpectation Planet Earth HitnRun I
I wouldn't call Hit n Run embarrassing. There is some good stuff on it. News and Planet Earth are really bad albums. Like awful. Prince released way too much stuff without proper quality control. WB was right to limit him at a certain point. Not everything you put out is going to be good
Hit n Run Part One is pretty bad. It has two keepers on it (together, they would've made a very nice 45), but I wish they were saved for a better context instead of that turd of an album. Most of Planet Earth is mediocre, but I'm still reluctant to place it among Prince's absolute worst because it does have three good tracks: "Guitar," "The One U Wanna C" and best of all "Chelsea Rodgers." Again, I wish he saved them for a better album...if he had delayed 3121 by another year, they could've easily fit in, replacing the weakest tracks for a pretty solid album.
I remember Prince in an interview said something along the lines of "I don't always give my best songs to the record labels", I just read that interview last week but in a quick search am struggling to find the link to that exact interview lol. It was in the last few years of his life though, maybe circa 2014? If I find it I will link it here Of course Prince's mind was very complex, but I don't think it was pure coincidence that his albums started getting a bit more spotty when he started having issues with the record labels and started churning out larger quantities of albums in short amounts of time. I think a combination of that, and wanting to bring in the sounds of the day into the music (90s generic sounding electronic drums on many albums, generic modern production on Hit N' Run Phase 1, etc.) as opposed to following his muse and making his own sound such as manipulating the LM-1 sounds via guitar pedals to what he wanted, meant more generic tropes. There are a lot of later-era Prince albums I find fantastic though: Lotusflower, 3121, Musicology, Hit N' Run Phase 2, The Rainbow Children, and parts of 20ten
i almost agree. i do like rave in2 enough that i think it could have been a really good 10 track album new power soul had 3 good songs. "come on" being the best planet earth i don't remember a lot of it so that says something but looking at the tracklisting i think 4-5 good songs hitrun I i'd say maybe 4 good songs. i almost didn't buy II because of I and boy i'm glad i bought II
The thing is, P being a genius, was always able to sneak a couple of gems even when he was far from his best. So we had Wasted Kisses, Tangerine, The One U wanna C, Chelsea Rodgers , Supercute, etc even during his weakest moments
That's a pretty accurate list. I might throw C-Note in there, as well. And I agree that some of these albums had a few good songs each (particularly Planet Earth and Rave In2), but the majority of even those albums is pretty bad. Enough that, at least compared to his best work, they could certainly qualify as embarrassing.
Yeah, replace "Incense and Candles," "The Word," and "The Dance" with "Guitar," "The One U Wanna C," and "Chelsea Rodgers," and you've got an album that could arguably be on par with The Gold Experience, which is his greatest album post-1987, IMO. I remember a critic in the early aughts describing the consistency of Prince's latter-day material by saying that "It seems his crap-detector is perpetually on the fritz." And I'd say that sums it up pretty accurately.
Yeah, "Wasted Kisses" is excellent, and the title couldn't be more apt - he wasted a great track but burying it (and burying it deep) as a hidden track on a crappy album that went out-of-print fast.
Not only that but it seemed like he was fixated on these proteges that went no where. He was infatuated with churchy singers like Shelby J. Can those type of singers sing? Yes, but by 2010's that hard ass singing style was dated. Then he got bogged down with recreating funk. But it was Vegas lounge funk. Like 72 year old James Brown live show funk. Add in Larry Graham (an alltime great but his sound and ear was stuck in 1974) and these are the results. Prince was stubborn to the end. He could have had a Santana type renaissance with some outside producers and collaborators but he wanted to do it his way. I still think he had a lot left in the tank musically but his ideas were getting stale.
Because i'm a collector. Because this thread isn't specifically for super fans or, as you put it "fams". Again, you cannot define a fan. Na uh! I never said I didn't like the album, just half of it. Most of the songs I can do without are too long and boring. I am allowed to have my personal taste in music as you are allowed to have yours. I haven't gaslighted anyone. I didn't grow up with the "White Album" either. I first ever heard it in 1987 when I blindly bought the CD version. I don't like all of it, but it is a favorite album of mine now. I bought the deluxe edition because I wanted the remix, which I like. I have been a Prince fan ever since he hit with "I Wanna Be Your Lover" in 1979. As I mentioned before, I do not care for the albums "1999" or this one. "Purple Rain" is good, but I think it is overrated. I prefer "Parade" much more. I did not buy the "Purple Rain" remaster because I think the remastering sounds bad. With "1999", I was one of the first people in my town to buy the album. No one I talked to was interested. Still, I only liked parts of the album. Fast forward to last year. I was unsure about weather to buy the remaster, and what version of it to buy. I mainly wanted it for the bonus tracks. So, I bought the 2-CD set thinking I could just download the lossless tracks I needed to save some money. I didn't care about the DVD. Well, I wound up having to download the other three CDs because if i'm going to have the album, I can't just have half of it, I want the entire set for completeness. But, I still do not play the original album configuration. I didn't disrupt your thread. Re-read your own thread title. It says nothing about it being for super fans of the album.
When the Beatles "Abbey Road" Anniversary or deluxe edition or whatever came up, I recall that the gorts wouldn't allow discussion of it so far in advance. People, correct me if I am wrong. It was probably more to avoid tons of mis-information and the side-tracked bickering. Saying that all Black people know what "Fam" means is as offensive as saying all Blacks like rap music or speak Ebonics. I know you meant well, though.
I just think it's a bit odd with so many high quality outtakes from the sessions to choose from that two of the singles had LP tracks as B-sides. Power Fantastic would've made for a killer B-side (the 12" version could've had the lengthy piano intro intact).
Don't you mean Power FAMtastic? Are you not a TRUE fan? [I always think that Power Fantastic sounds perfect after Crystal Ball like Yin & Yang.]
