can we talk about the cd?

3121 - Worse live performance
Girls and Boys - retwurk
Song of The Heart - pretty cool sound off the cuff
Delirious - Joke interlude
Just like u, monologue - talking about personal exp of dislike of cameras, MJ reference
Satisfied - cool lil tune
Begging Women Blues - sounds jus like Satsfied, could use guitar work
Rock Steady - LOL buying a Prince CD with a cover = WACK track choice
Whole Lotta Love - not as good as the other sets, but def some redubs, prob best song on CD - diff guitar tone for prince
Astreet - usual with bass work - nice bass work by Josh, laugh the wya the song was built
Inights - Get on the boat for dummies
Misty Blue - pretty nice
Baby Love - two Shelby J songs back to back = Wack
The One/Suite - This has become Prince's modern day Purple Rain, prob his best moments puttinb these songs together, on this version too much horns
All the Critics - great way to end


as usual not enough instrumental work from Prince
sound is awesome
band sound ok, no character
kinda fun in parts, inda lame

[Post your opinions here. Any review threads created will be locked and redirected to this thread. Thanks. - luv4u]

mediocre like his last album and I miss the Date of Recordings

What is this - is this supposed to be a review, ridiculous.

You effectively relegate the greatest showman on earth to this - how disrespectful.

It is great that Prince is releasing some more official aftershow music, especially from the stunning sets he did at Inigo2 last year, I was there at three of them, they were all awesome. To have this is perfect production sound quality, and an official selection from Prince, and some class tunes is really great - it could only be better for me if he did this with every night from Indigo2.

Let me tell you I have heard a lot of the material from those shows, there is some special stuff in there... I am absolutely sure this selection will be special too.

If you are going to do a review, give some constructive criticism, not just this nonsense.

Nuff said, laters.

My review of alamines review = wack

Alamine said:

Can we talk about lazy ass posts?

Marrk said:

Hopefully I will have the cd by the 1st. of October.

Alamine said:

That's funny!

I'm totally digging the CD at the moment!

Marrk said:

I agree. What kind of review was that?

It will be OK.

Then I guess "Turn Me Loose" is from the new album next year?

The "Turn Me Loose" release may follow the 3121 pattern. A Fall single, a winter single, Spring album, summer tour, etc.

I could use a new Prince album right now.

RedKite said:

Yep, I need a new coaster (My PE CDs are all ruined)

I´m a bit underwhelmed by the choice of songs .Come on , a couple of cover versions, some lame ass songs like Satisfied and Song Of The Heart ?
WTF ?

KoolEaze said:

he's gotta give us summink 2 winge about!
[Edited 9/26/08 17:54pm]

I'm aghast that the purple ponce hasn't got anything from the Aug 28 show on the CD. Big mistake...

need 2 make up my mind. Am going 2 buy the book & Cd or not? procrastinate 2 much.

KoolEaze said:

The CD is meant as a bonus for the book -- it is not meant as an album release on its own. Plus, if he does have a new album coming out soon, the new stuff should be saved for that CD.

I got a Jimi Hendrix book this past Christmas that included a CD of bonus tracks. Those tracks are good, but nothing I haven't heard before (just different versions). So, almost the same format.

Chasing said:

That was the first thing on my mind. I'm gonna wait for this cd and make up my own mind.
We should be happy that he gave us a cd with the book because I think we all bought the book without knowing a cd would come with it.

And it's just waiting for that new CD, right P.?

the main problem with the album is trying to edit down 21 nites of aftershows to one cd of music. with so much great stuff played live it's hard to do without missing great stuff off

it's an interesting listen, and great to have, but there were other performances that i personally would have chosen over most of those listed. the long speach was interesting in the flesh, but perhaps not the best choice for repeat listening on a cd, and likewise cock eyed woman (which isn't the rules - learn to lift the toilet seat, etc)

i didn't think all the critics was all that either. as a long jam it's fine in the flesh, but it doesn't transfer so well to a cd, so to take that and miss out other great stuff is an unusual choice

baby love and love changes were played most nites so i expected those, shame we didn't get love changes, and prince said misty blue was one of his favorite songs, so no surprise there, but i think it's a bit too much of other vocalists. rocksteady was fine in the flesh, but doesn't work the same on cd. i'm sure one of the other versions they did of rocksteady was better. the same rocksteady jam is used as the basis for whole lotta love, which is instrumental

i would have loved a version of love is a losing game, particularly the amy winehouse vesion from the final nite, which is the basis for half the cd, the first half made up from the 16th september show. the cd is compiled from just 2 shows, rather than tracks from the 2 month stretch

i guess having been there i can say that it is a decent representation of the nites, but not of the best of the nites. stratus was another high point for me, along with many other cover versions, but it would be unrealistic to expect so many covers, and many fans may also object

as part of the book package, it's a great deal. the only complaint people are having is the cd just makes you want more, and more. some people won't be happy until they get it all, so most prince official live cd's are going to dissapoint in that way

The album is a true reflection of an aftershow these days; lots of jams, lots of band member solo's, lots of Shelby on vocals. It's long streches of jams without much structure. People that like clear cut compositions will not like this album much.

I understand that whatever I say won't matter much, as everybody will read into it what they want anyways. If I say "there's lots of horns on there", the peeps that don't like the use of the multitude of horns will moan.

Prince playfully guides his band through long jams that include snippets of his songs; one jam consists of Girls And Boys, Song Of The Heart, Delirious and Just Like U, all in one go. Jam, throw some lines in and you got a song (Delirious). I also cannot distinguish if Prince's rant on Delirious/Just Like U is serious or a Tricky-like mock-up or actually serious. I got the feeling he is moaning about the toll of fame. Even though he is right, it is a tat silly to try to make a stand about it.

So. If you like the rather messy free form jams of the aftershows these days, you're in for a treat. But the album prospers where Prince takes his time on a song, like Satisfied, which was one of the highlights of the O2 mega shows. And it's still a great song, even though it's got Mike Philips (?) doing a sort of Morris Day routine, which detracts a bit of the sexiness of the song.

Most highlights are Prince featured on guitar, freaking out or him on vocals, guiding the audience through his trademark choires.
But I keep saying it, mashing up them horns on top of everything just makes Prince's jams sound too frantic. They overpower every other instrument, most other band members. I rather would have heard some more Renato Neto, who all the time he was with Prince never got to shine in ways I know he can, just cuz of Prince's infatuation with freaky horns.

So it's a fun album, but not an album I will play often because of it's messy nature. Except maybe the instrumental Whole Lotta Love, with it's soaring guitar. And even though he played the song waaaay better a few years back, when he did actually sing on it.

Even though there will be a LOT of fans that like this, once again Prince delivers something he THINKS we want, musically, but it's a long shot. I never understood why he would want to make albums that satisfy a small portion of peeps, in this case the 'swallow-it-all-fams', instead of producing a hot 'in-your-face' live album that you can push out commercially and make a buck by letting it stand on it's own. Even though I think including it as an extra in a book is exactly what it is; it is not an album, just a sketch of the fun he had while playing London and I suppose that's what it was meant as.

"Just fun, nothing ethereal"

So do u have to buy the book in order to get the Cd

jodi081630 said:

Yes.

i like it. but i am crazy about horns, so funky! it does take a while to get into the jams.

i think the cd shows great great musicianship. the sound quality is not bad at all.

the special thing is of course that i was there (second half of the disc).

It's interesting, I like it.
Just using 2 nights makes it flow better than dipping in and out of the nights would have.

You could quibble over the song choices, but it is effectively a bonus, a curio, and I think the choices recreate the aftershow feeling pretty well, which surely is the point. Hence the covers.

Anyhow, it got my little girls dancing like crazies this morning!

Listened to it once... thats more than enough

"Now I'm going to the store to buy some tampons for my Mom"

CJanssen said:

Yup. Plus, It is a live 'AFTER' show. It's not ONA it is an after show that he wanted to give us. It's not a live show with all the production. It's not a studio album....it's an after show. Plus, He didn't have to give us anything.

A wise person once said to me "give someone a finger, they want the whole arm".

HamsterHuey said:

Exactly my thoughts.....more Renato, less ( and more subtle ) horns like back in the days with Eric Leeds, less jamming and , please (!) more structure...and what´s the deal with all those cover versions when he played so much of his own stuff, like Empty Room and many other great songs from his repertoire?
And yes, Whole Lotta Love was cool when he first did it, in 2002, with the vocals, especially at the Bataclan and Paisley Park 2002, but now ?
For someone who releases live albums so rarely and who has such a huge repertoire ( as he displayed during all those aftershows) , this CD is a bit too messy.
And don´t get me started with the teasing and butchered sampler versions of classic songs during the main shows...WHY did he do that ?

Se7en said:

I never even expected new stuff on this CD, in fact, I don´t even like some of the new stuff he did during those shows ( I find Satisfied, The Rules, The Couch, and a lot of those songs in that style pretty boring, this also goes for that other new song he did at the Tonight Show...it was so boring that I can´t even remember the title right now).
All I´m saying is that, even as "just" a bonus, this CD´s tracklist could have been much, much better and is another proof that Prince thinks he knows what his listeners like, but he doesn´t really seem to have a clue these days.
Lots of teasing, edited and watered down versions of his best songs, horn inflation, lots of endless jamming....

No wonder most folks here prefer some old, poor sounding 1980s rehearsal over stuff like the ONA Live album or the Aladdin DVD or this release.
I think his release don´t do his legacy and talent any justice, that´s all.
There´s always a HUGE difference between the live experience and the released stuff, and sometimes, the released and official version of a live event doesn´t even remotely come close to the quality of the actual event, like the Aladdin DVD or some of the ONA stuff.

what?..mine hasnt come yet

I just listened to the entire CD, and the two words that come to my mind are "worthless" and "wack."

Half the songs at the midpoint of the disc aren't even songs; they're just Prince talking about nothing in particular. There are even two Shelby J (lol) songs back to back. Why include these? I've always hit "skip" on these songs when listening to the complete after shows, anyway. Nothing on this "live CD" shows Prince to be a great musician or a great performer. For someone who spends his life creating and performing music, he simply can't put together a worthwhile studio or live album. What a huge disappointment.

Once again, if you want the true experience of the after shows, finding a bootleg is the -only- way to go. In this economy, buy a tank of gas instead of this abomination.

Grade: F

Chasing said:

Prince may be the greatest showman on earth, but you can't tell that from this CD., This CD is a muddled mess of two nights. Once again, the tracklist is weak. If Prince is relegated at all, it's because of this CD he created, not the reaction/reviews of it.