All of this is true in hindsight, but at the time the consensus was that even though Prince was a major talent and made great singles, his albums were getting too self-indulgent and weird to sustain him as the kind of superstar he seemed to be right after Purple Rain. People were really confused by ATWIAD and Parade and both records got pretty tepid reviews in a lot of places. 20+ years later you look at his career and say "what slump" but at the time people definitely thought he had fallen off or at least was on his way down.
Folks that wanted Purple Rain 2 instead of ATWIAD werent real fans in the first place.
All of this is true in hindsight, but at the time the consensus was that even though Prince was a major talent and made great singles, his albums were getting too self-indulgent and weird to sustain him as the kind of superstar he seemed to be right after Purple Rain. People were really confused by ATWIAD and Parade and both records got pretty tepid reviews in a lot of places. 20+ years later you look at his career and say "what slump" but at the time people definitely thought he had fallen off or at least was on his way down.
Kinda the same thing with the Rolling Stones and Exile On Main Street.
In 1972, coming off of Sticky Fingers, a lot of people thought that it was a big bloated mess. Now here it is late 2010 and you know damn well that if some magazine or blog compiles a "200 Greatest Rock Albums" list tomorrow, five of those records will be Stones records. And one of those, without fail, will be Exile.
Comments
Folks that wanted Purple Rain 2 instead of ATWIAD werent real fans in the first place.
Many artists have a hard time following big hit lps. Prince never had that problem.
Few artists have been as consistent as Prince was from his first WB LP up till and beyond his leaving the label.
There are loads of people recording who never have and never will realize the artistic and commercial success of a slump like Parade.
Kinda the same thing with the Rolling Stones and Exile On Main Street.
In 1972, coming off of Sticky Fingers, a lot of people thought that it was a big bloated mess. Now here it is late 2010 and you know damn well that if some magazine or blog compiles a "200 Greatest Rock Albums" list tomorrow, five of those records will be Stones records. And one of those, without fail, will be Exile.