it lacks solid FUNK

I don't have an opinion, but I enjoyed reading your thoughts on MPLSound.

For me, Musicology and 3121 were too safe. There was nothing that seemed impulsive or whimsical about those records. The Rainbow Children was certainly ambitious and undoubtedly displayed some of his strongest, most sincere songwriting in a while. But much like how I view Lovesexy, I see TRC as a collective whole rather than individual tracks to enjoy. It's not the kind of album where you go "I think I'll just pop on Digital Garden"...
I enjoyed Planet Earth and Lotusflow3r but haven't found myself going back much for repeated listens.

MPLSoUND is the first Prince album since the 90's where I've found myself playing it everyday and still finding new things to appreciate about each track.

Dance 4 Me reaffirms my faith in Prince's abilities as a genius writer of catchy pop hooks. This is one of the first Prince songs in quite some time that has actually made me want to get up and dance. I feel this is what Love from 3121 was aiming for, but to me, it fell short of the mark.

Prince's indignation at todays music scene is far more convincing on Ol' Skool Company than his previous attempts. For a start, it always helps when the song itself kicks serious ass! With a song like Musicology, his commentary on the ills of music in the twentyfirst century falls flat on it's face when the very song expressing these sentiments is a bog-standard, luke-warm affair. Lyrically it may have a cocky exterior, but it makes it's point and it does so with style.

No More Candy 4 U is exactly the kind of whimsical nonsense I've come to miss from his recent output. It's completely goofy and makes me want to dance around the room like a John Cage scene from Ally McBeal.

The only track which leaves me cold is the opener which seems to slip dangerously close into NPGMC-era territory (which, lets face it, wasn't his finest hour).

Aside from that (and perhaps the pointless inclusion of U're Gonna C Me) I think MPLSoUND is Prince's crowning achievement of the 00's.
[Edited 4/21/09 16:26pm]

In February, every bone of my body said that Lotusflow3r would be the "proper" new album, and MPLSound would be a throwaway nostalgic trip.

Much as I became a fan in the 80’s, and that I think it was P’s creative peak, I have no desire for him to go backwards in his sound. I always want him to invent, not reinvent.

Couple that with the fact that I have always preferred Prince’s "rockier" side, in theory, for me anyway; it should be a one horse race. Lotusflow3r should have been my album of the year.

But.....

I have found Lotusflow3r to be nothing more than an unfocused homage to Hendrix, Santana and Led Zeppelin. It has some good tracks, but its Prince’s least focused album to date. It sounds thrown together, and uninspiring.

MPLSound however has really surprised me. Instead of it sounding like a retro homage to himself, it feels like Prince has embraced what made him, and ran with it. Yes it retro, but it doesn’t sound old. Yes its old school, but its fresh.

If I could sum it up best, it would be on one point. The guitar solos in MPLSound are fresh and exciting. Yet the solo’s on the "rock" album of lotusflow3r do nothing more than continue the NPGMC 70’s vibe.

Prince has clearly borrowed from both the 70’s and 80’s here, but it’s his reinterpretation of the MPLsound that keeps spinning in the car, and revealing new things every day. A real surprise, but a great little gem of an album.

SquirrelMeat said:

I like Lotusflow3r, and don't think it's uninspired or thrown together, but other than that I totally agree on your take.

I have been very surprised that I like MPLSound better ad think it's much stronger, despite the fact that it sounds very superficial on first listen.

NDRU said:

my biggest beef with mpls sound is the slow tracks.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Yeah I could agree with your take that is should be basically all uptempo with maybe one slow track, but I think the slow tunes are fairly strong, and the flow is not bad. So I like what is there.

But as a standalone album it feels a little too short. One or two more killer uptempo numbers probably would solidify this album as "great" to me.

luvsexy4all said:

-----
Please explain what that means?

I have found Lotusflow3r to be nothing more than an unfocused homage to Hendrix, Santana and Led Zeppelin. It has some good tracks, but its Prince’s least focused album to date. It sounds thrown together, and uninspiring.

iloveannie said:

No you can not because it's Tchaikovsky

For me, Musicology and 3121 were too safe. There was nothing that seemed impulsive or whimsical about those records. The Rainbow Children was certainly ambitious and undoubtedly displayed some of his strongest, most sincere songwriting in a while. But much like how I view Lovesexy, I see TRC as a collective whole rather than individual tracks to enjoy. It's not the kind of album where you go "I think I'll just pop on Digital Garden"...
I enjoyed Planet Earth and Lotusflow3r but haven't found myself going back much for repeated listens.

MPLSoUND is the first Prince album since the 90's where I've found myself playing it everyday and still finding new things to appreciate about each track.

Dance 4 Me reaffirms my faith in Prince's abilities as a genius writer of catchy pop hooks. This is one of the first Prince songs in quite some time that has actually made me want to get up and dance. I feel this is what Love from 3121 was aiming for, but to me, it fell short of the mark.

Prince's indignation at todays music scene is far more convincing on Ol' Skool Company than his previous attempts. For a start, it always helps when the song itself kicks serious ass! With a song like Musicology, his commentary on the ills of music in the twentyfirst century falls flat on it's face when the very song expressing these sentiments is a bog-standard, luke-warm affair. Lyrically it may have a cocky exterior, but it makes it's point and it does so with style.

No More Candy 4 U is exactly the kind of whimsical nonsense I've come to miss from his recent output. It's completely goofy and makes me want to dance around the room like a John Cage scene from Ally McBeal.

The only track which leaves me cold is the opener which seems to slip dangerously close into NPGMC-era territory (which, lets face it, wasn't his finest hour).

Aside from that (and perhaps the pointless inclusion of U're Gonna C Me) I think MPLSoUND is Prince's crowning achievement of the 00's.
[Edited 4/21/09 16:26pm]

I have found Lotusflow3r to be nothing more than an unfocused homage to Hendrix, Santana and Led Zeppelin. It has some good tracks, but its Prince’s least focused album to date. It sounds thrown together, and uninspiring.

Fhunkin said:

I think iloveannie has gone into hiding. Oh, the shame...

I'll disagree.

I think LotusFlow3r is much closer to being worthy of that title.

MLPS sounds rough, and incomplete to me. I think he just threw it in as a bonus. ...Lacks live drums, and has lyrics on tracks one and two that make me cringe too much to enjoy the groove.

I do like "Here".

bobsteezy said:

Are live drums an essential componant for an album? Did 1999 or Dirty Mind have any live drumming? I can't actually remember, but I don't think they do.

I disagree that it sounds thrown together. I actually find it to be one of his more cohesive records of late.
[Edited 4/23/09 15:05pm]

Fhunkin said:

Double whammy!


Did I spel whammy rite?

"Why I think MPLSoUND is Prince's crowning achievement of the 00's."


This statement says a lot about the '00s.

I could give a crap what anyone thinks about the music I like because I'm the one listening to the songs. It's for MY listening pleasure. So for all those haters who try to tell ME what good music is to ME...
[Edited 4/24/09 7:57am]

NDRU said:

F.U.N.K would have been perfect instead of U're Gonna C Me

I actually like Bria's album the most