My ratings from 1 to 10:

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 8
Chocolate Box - 7
Dance 4 Me - 8
U're Gonna C Me - 7
Here - 6
Valentina - 8
Better With Time - 6
Ol' Skool Company - 9
No More Candy 4 U - 9

I really wanted to like this album. "a return to the classic Prince sound"

But it is just awful, every single song just awful.

They'll Never Be Another...8.5
Chocolate Box...7.2
Dance4Me...7.4
U're Gonna C Me...7.1
Here...7.9
Valentina...8.2
Better with Time...7.6
Ol' Skool Company...8.5
No More Candy 4 U...8

OnlyNDaUsa said:

And yet the song itself doesn't live upto the hype of the lyrics, like all the songs of this type (Y Should I Do That, Undisputed).

i'm surprised to see that so many people actually rate "better with time"
quite highly.

it's just such a bad ballad. compared to his other ballads it doesn't go
anywhere at all. the melody is cheesy and half assed, the lyrics are just
horrible, even the falsetto is somehow off.

just because it's a slow song doesn't make it another "adore" or even a
second "scandalous".

IstenSzek said:

I so agree. It's made even worse by how Prince starts the song by complimenting himself.

NouveauDance said:

this one's pretty accurate

peter430044 said:

Never Be... - 5
Chocolate Box - 6
Dance 4 Me - 7
U're Gonna C Me - 7
Here - 6
Valentina - 7
Better With Time - 6
Ol Skool Company - 8
No More Candy 4 U - 8

Efan said:

indeed. so typically prince i think kirsten said it in some
interview, that out of them both only he looks like he did back in
the days of under the cherry moon.

but prince just had to emphasize that

he would have been better off writing her a better song imo

I think there are certain lines in this song that display excellent lyrics.
It's not the best tune but the lyrics do make up for it. Not many get better with time, but these lines are particularly endearing.


So young and so naive , That eye never once believed
That the memory of you would go thru ,Like wind goes thru the trees

Eye don't know if this is a bore, But eye just can no longer ignore
This fact so sublime, U get better with time

U can claim u're humble and hide , But when it's true my dear
It's not pride

This might seem absurd, 2 someone so cultured
And 2 one who would grace any stage

When the hair that frames that face , Dark brown or silvery lace
What is age but a cage? never mind
U'll b blind 2 not know that you get better with time

Bohemian67 said:

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 5
Chocolate Box - 8
Dance 4 Me - 10
U're Gonna C Me - 5
Here - 5
Valentina - 9
Better With Time - 5
Ol' Skool Company - 7
No More Candy 4 U - 9

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 5
Chocolate Box - 8
Dance 4 Me - 10
U're Gonna C Me - 9
Here - 6
Valentina - 7
Better With Time - 8
Ol' Skool Company - 7
No More Candy 4 U - 9

NouveauDance said:

Im sick of the egotistical lyrics, they are so played out. Enough already, if you have to tell people how awesome you are, rather than them saying it on their own, its a major problem IMHO

My ratings from 1 to 10:

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 6
Chocolate Box - 5.5
Dance 4 Me - 5.5
U're Gonna C Me - 5.5
Here - 7.5
Valentina - 5.5
Better With Time - 7.5
Ol' Skool Company - 6.5
No More Candy 4 U - 6

shytown said:

Its not even that so much that where is the creativity in it? The song "Cream" is so much lyrically inventive than 'Never B Another...'

shytown said:

Its not even that so much that where is the creativity in it? The song "Cream" is so much more lyrically inventive than 'Never B Another...'

peter430044 said:

Zero all the way through. Looking at the titles, half of them I can't recall (they're that bland and unremarkable). The ones I do remember are just rubbish. He's done the EXACT SAME THING ten years ago (Rave) and it was shit back then. Stale, uninspired, tossed off.

What makes it worse is that most of the songs is him boasting about how great he is. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

IstenSzek said:

I think it could do with being about half as long, and then it wouldn't be quite so very cloying.

I prefer Lotus

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 3 - another cocky song/ & not a good one

Chocolate Box - 3 - another cocky song/ & not a good one

Dance 4 Me - 9 - I dig the cheesy sounding voice w/ the effect

U're Gonna C Me - 8 - something about it grabs me

Here - 9 - this one grew on me a lot

Valentina - 9 - my wife is in love w/ Selma so i think it's funny that line he said about even girls adore her & I think it's a funny song to begin w/

Better With Time - 9 - just like the song says

Ol' Skool Company - 10 - if u don't like this what's the matter w/ u?

No More Candy 4 U - 10 - top notch, loving this song
[Edited 11/10/09 5:56am]
[Edited 11/10/09 5:56am]
[Edited 11/10/09 5:58am]

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 6 - I like it, but it misses something
Chocolate Box - 9 - great song, nice lyrics by Q-tip
Dance 4 Me - 9 - Great song, i've got no words for it...
U're Gonna C Me - 8 - nice, i like it more than the one nite alone version
Here - 6
Valentina - 6
Better With Time - 5 - not really nice
Ol' Skool Company - 10 - amazing gangsta song
No More Candy 4 U - 8 - great take on the genre

It's a good album
He should of put the two together somehow
With more effort and courage it could have been a strong double album

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 1. Worst song on album by a wide margin.
Chocolate Box - 7. Funky and fun.
Dance 4 Me - 9. Classic Prince.
U're Gonna C Me - 7. Lovely.
Here - 7. Nice, but not particularly memorable.
Valentina - 9. Fun and funky.
Better With Time - 6. Meh... it's ok but nothing extraordinary.
Ol' Skool Company - 8. A little too long.
No More Candy 4 U - 9. Again, classic Prince.

There'll Never Be Another... - 7.5 (goes on a little too long)
Chocolate Box - 7
Dance 4 Me - 9.5
U're Gonna C Me - 7
Here - 10 (quirky classic, creative, curveball) loved it upon first listen, stuck in my head)
Valentina - 7 (has grown on me. Musicianship is real good, content only okay
Better With Time - 9.5 (along with S.H.O.E. from P.E., his best ballad in years)
Ol' Skool Company - 9.5 (funky, intelligent)
No More Candy 4 U - 7 (funny, truthful, colorful)

Solid album for me overall

Dance 4 Me
Ol' School Company
No More Candy 4 U

Only those three remain on my Itunes.

MPLSound =

I like them all bar Another Like Me which is not great at best, i would take that off and put Turn me Loose on and now you're talking.

I've compiled all votes in this thread and have calculated the average vote for each song.

Average vote for the songs on MPLSOUND on a scale from 1 to 10:

1. (There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 4.7
2. Chocolate Box - 5.2
3. Dance 4 Me - 7.5
4. U're Gonna C Me - 6.2
5. Here - 6.9
6. Valentina - 5.4
7. Better With Time - 6
8. Ol' Skool Company - 7
9. No More Candy 4 U - 6.7

55.6/90 = 62%

38 people voted for all songs. 1 person only voted for songs number 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, which means these songs recieved 39 votes.

Any comments on the result?

My impression is that there were many mixed opinions about several of the songs and the album as a whole.

Interestingly, metacritic.com who compiles an average album vote based on newspaper reviews, has a 62 out of 100 vote for MPLSOUND based on 14 reviews. That's the same as the 62% approval the album got in this thread.