Yes, he's nuts. But he's a genius.
Written: Oct 27 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Extremely gifted, Extremely prolific, Slightly imbalanced
Cons: Extremely gifted, Extremely prolific, Slightly imbalanced
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| anildash's Full Review: Prince |
There's just too much lunacy. You have to grade Prince Rogers Nelson on a curve, with his talent balancing out the fact that he is completely loony, perhaps unstably so.
Now, I might have my own delusional beliefs, (like, for instance, I think the symbol-as-a-name gambit was not just a pure publicity stunt, but rather that the idea of empowering oneself by assigning a logotype/icon as one's name is genius. And that's not even getting into the fact that it has no pronunciation -- how profound, a man whose job is making sound, has a name with *no* sound! But I digress...) but you have to put his aside and focus on the music.
Boundlessly influential, in the 80's for his music and in the 90's for his artistic independence, he has a stable of over 20 albums, with a handful of essentials, a handful of truly bad albums, and a lot in the middle.
At his best, Prince/The Artist/O(+> is compared to Marvin Gaye, Sly Stone, the Beatles, Hendrix, Bowie, James Brown, and doesn't suffer the comparison poorly. Albums such as 1999, Sign O' The Times, the 3-CD Greatest Hits set, and Emancipation serve to bolster this reputation. Not to mention Purple Rain, which transcends mere "excellent pop album" status to become one of the iconic (there's that word again...) representations of its decade.
Of course there are clunkers. And how. But with a career this prolific, the compensation is that there's plenty else to choose from if you don't like a song.
And grant him this: He's brave. He's even put out songs that *he* wasn't sure he liked. And with an ego like his, that's saying a lot. Some of those he was right on, and some he underestimated even his own formidable talents. If you care to hear his (admittedly slanted) side of things, visit love4oneanother.com .
If you'd prefer to interact with fans who are among the most knowledgable in all of Internet fandom (and do so on an extremely well-designed site) visit prince.org .
But do yourself a favor, beg, borrow, or steal one of Prince's albums. Remind yourself that before the fame, and the freakiness, that surround his becoming a household... ahem... name, he was then, and still is, truly The Artist.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
anildash
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Member: Anil Dash
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 17 members
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