Prince Among Men!!

Go on, make a joke that I like Prince I will retort by telling you that he has more talent then any pop performer of the 1980's. He could easily blend Pop, Rock, Funk, and R&B and make it sound like a gem of a tune or an a great album. I must admit though if you asked me to get into Prince back in early high school days I would have thought you were crazy. I took a chance about midway through my High School years and bought the soundtrack he did for Batman. It was good, but not enough to warrant me going out and buying his music. It was not till right after High School I started to listen to his music. The album I am talking about is his Love Symbol Album. This album is the most diverse and the some of the innovative music of his career.

As I mentioned above, I started liking Prince in 1992 or so. I always heard him on the radio and thought he was just a novelty act. I mean I saw my friends with his albums and thought that he was not even a performer. I thought he was this pop guy that just was so much the definition of the 1980's. in 1992 I took a chance and actually bought an album of his. I bought Diamonds and Pearls and was actually quite impressed. I must have been more impressed because I started buying his early albums too. Those were full of Funk, Soul, Rock and any other creation that he made.



He was actually talented then I thought. His early albums were a lot more on the less commercial side, but they were very well done. Then I picked up Purple Rain, and it all changed. I was very impressed. Not many people could make a concept album like that. It was done so well. Around the time of collecting these albums he put out a new album. I quickly picked up. I was impressed by The Love Symbol Album because it had sixteen tracks and each seemed to be complete of what made Prince. If I recall there was video for one of the songs. It was very eccentric and it was full of Prince style. I bought the album thinking it was going to be typical Prince. I was wrong on the first note. This album was full of complex pop songs, funk (and heavy funk too), Rock and Soul. It was not what I was used to, but going in you cannot think Prince will act like himself.

At this point he made a point that he was not called Prince, so that was something non typical. While he was saying that he mentioned his name really was Prince on the first song. He yells out MY NAME IS PRINCE . In typical fashion he proclaimed all that hoopla surrounding him was just that. The song is full of hard edged rock, hip-hop and funk. That would be enough for one person, but with prince he was just getting started. The next song had a short hand for a title. Good think because the whole world would have been in an up roar. It's called Sexy M.F. in short for Sexy Mutha' Fucker. This song is full of Funk, Soul and some R&B. It has the styling of a James Brown original and a Prince classic. It has horns and cool organ.



I could go on and on about how great these songs are. Sadly though, this was the last of his great work for a while. He put out Gold Experience and that was great and it was more Rock and Roll. People call it the Purple Rain of the 90's. It still has one of my favorite Prince songs on it. "Endorphinmachine" a song of Hard Rock, Funk and good old Prince. I will still go back to The Love Symbol Album . Some of his B-sides from this album deserve a chance too. The B-side to "My Name is Prince" was called "Peach." It still is one of the best non album tracks Prince has ever done. Prince's guitar work is the best and stakes claim that he can actually do something.



I suggest if you want to start digging on Prince go with the early albums, but they all lead to his last fling at Warner Bros. The early 90's Prince is amazing and some of the music he put out was some of the best ever. I am glad to listen to him I thought he was wonderful and has the ability to be. The Love Symbol album is a full album with a lot of gems and I am sure, like me, you will be hooked. Listen closely to a man who still is a contender. I bet when you hear some of these songs you will put them in your most played on your Ipod.

Enjoy a man who may be odd and different then most, but he is an amazing, and you have to give him credit for that. I have seen him three times and he put's on one hell of a show. He to me is the reason they create live performances for. Enjoy!!