Is the Party Over on Prince's Career?
He's Gone From A Multi-Album Masterpiece to a Multi-CD Dud
May 9, 2009
1999 featured the classic title track, which preached party-like defiance in the face of Armageddon, as well as "Little Red Corvette", "D.M.S.R" and "Automatic". The latter two cuts both clocked in at over eight minutes yet still got plenty of airplay on the radio and were concert staples.
1999 Served Notice, Purple Rain Signaled His Ascension
Of course, if 1999 was his coming-out party, Purple Rain was the defining moment of his time on the throne. The movie and soundtrack were semi-autobiographical and while most viewers/listeners weren't musing on the chaotic events that summed up Prince's life they were certainly wearing out the soundtrack. "When Doves Cry" became a hit twice in a six-year span thanks to the magic of sampling and an Oakland-based rapper. The title track showed Prince could set a guitar on fire (figuratively only unlike one of his idols) amidst an R&B backdrop. "Darling Nikki" gave Tipper Gore something to do.
Those two albums also gave Prince more creative license. Eventually the Revolution, which more than ably backed the Twin Cities Titan on those efforts, would be disbanded and the New Power Generation would come aboard in its place. That combination produced Diamonds and Pearls, an underrated classic, but since then there has been an icier reception to Prince's work.
Since The Symbol Nothing's Been The Same
Was it a marketing gimmick or an honest attempt to break free from a corporate conglomerate? Probably a bit of both.
When Prince turned himself into a symbol in the mid-1990s he claimed he did it to break out of his Warner Bros. contract. The move proved to be successful but that may have been the last significant thing he became known for - until recently.
His recent release, lotusflow3r, sounds pretentious - and is. Tipper Gore rode "Darling Nikki"'s shock value all the way to a Senate hearing on offensive lyrical content, which enhanced Prince's popularity. Though he's become a Jehovah's Witness and doesn't sing that or similarly risque songs anymore it doesn't mean he's not capable of producing breakthrough music.
Then again, maybe he isn't. Writer Paul Yamada (rock'sbackpages, Yahoo!, 5/7/2009) referred to his latest work as "(reminding) his longtime fans of Purple Rain. Or at least Purple Rain without anything as exciting as "When Doves Cry," or the more surging, ecstatic moments of "Let's Go Crazy." Yamada later went on to refer to another CD that is coupled with lotusflow3r as "BORING". Ouch.
Should the Purple One Abdicate The Throne?
Prince has done so much quality work that it's hard to tell him to stop. Besides, he wouldn't listen anyway. But a back-to-basics approach, or at least an approach that harkens back to his glory days, would be more than welcomed by fans and critics alike.
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