Matt Wilson wrote:I'm sorry, John - but I've given up on older men for the moment, unless they make considerably more money than me.
Priorities are important.
Matt Wilson wrote:I'm sorry, John - but I've given up on older men for the moment, unless they make considerably more money than me.
Pansy Puff wrote:Princes last album, Hit n Run Phase 2 had some great tracks too.
Diamond Dog wrote:Nice contribution Matthew!
The Write Profile wrote:The perils of being a musical genius affected both.
Jonny Spencer wrote:fange wrote:I've got my quad pants on and i'm ready for some Cock.
By CHRIST you're a man after my own sideways sausage, Ange!
Jimbo wrote:I guess I am over Graham Nash's politics. Hopelessly naive by the standards I've molded for myself these days.
The Write Profile wrote:It's a really tough choice, because I admire both equally, for different reasons. Stevie Wonder's best stuff- and that includes the material he wrote in his late teens leading up to that imperial run of albums from Music of My Mind to Songs in the Key of Life- had a real openhearted warmth. That could spill over into sheer schmaltz at times, but there's something really humane in tracks like "I Believe When I Fall In Love...", "All in Love is Fair", "Love's In Need of Love Today"...all those songs really should set my teeth on edge, and yet there's a way he had with phrasing, and his use of synthesisers that made it sound organic, for want of a better term. He could also successfully bring the hard funk ("Superstition", "Higher Ground", "Living for the City" "Boogie On Reggae Woman" to name but three) and make it sound strangely comforting. I don't think he ever released a totally perfect LP, as much as I admire his "imperial phase", there are longueurs on even his tightest records (many of the songs on Songs in the Key of Life run a minute or two too long), but by the same token, it didn't really matter that much. I mean, those records are made to be immersed in.
Prince is more impressive in the sense that there's something so hard and even strident about his best material, whether it's the puerile (and it's actually a compliment) lo-fi funk of Dirty Mind , the art-pop of 1999, the epic, bordering on ridiculous of Purple Rain or the Beatlesque eclecticism of Parade, I'm kinda made to feel intimidated by his talent. There was something about his persona that makes it difficult to warm to him, as much as I like his best stuff. There's also the contradiction that for such an autodidact, he was often heavily reliant on his support band (be it the Revolution, and to a lesser extent the New Power Generation) to bring his vision together. I don't think you can discount the work of his band on something as monstrously funky as "Mountains". It's not just about him. And yet there's something almost solipsistic about a lot of his work, even the message like "Sign O The Times" (the song) feels like he's addressing himself as much as the outside world. Again, this doesn't matter: the sheer skeletal funk he wrings from that track (it's almost minimalist) overcomes any misgivings I might have.
I really can't pick a winner.
Footy wrote:
The Who / Jimi Hendrix Experience Saville Theatre, London Jan '67
. Got Jimi's autograph after the show and went on to see him several times that year