stillwaiting said:

I think what makes it so frustrating for me, is that Shelby actually can sing, and has talent. Why she is being forced by Prince to engage in self-parody makes no sense to me. Shouting "Put Your Hands Up," 10 times a night is corny. Doing it over 50 times is self-parody and hard to believe.

See this is the truth-she can sing, but her talents are wasted with all this fuckery. I mean give the lady a cd and let her sing. When she sung Misty Blue it was beautiful. I just cant stomach all the foolishness I mean damn her voice even overshadows Prince

lavaux is a gorgeous tune, truly has an aire of nostalgia & future soul song live is the business.

[Edited 5/13/12 18:38pm]

Future Soul Song was his best slow song since the 90's in my opinion. The album though lacks in comparison. I think it's one of his weakest albums. Not nearly as good as Planet Earth or LotusFlow3r. Not as bad as Rainbow Children though

nursev said:

stillwaiting said:

I think what makes it so frustrating for me, is that Shelby actually can sing, and has talent. Why she is being forced by Prince to engage in self-parody makes no sense to me. Shouting "Put Your Hands Up," 10 times a night is corny. Doing it over 50 times is self-parody and hard to believe.

See this is the truth-she can sing, but her talents are wasted with all this fuckery. I mean give the lady a cd and let her sing. When she sung Misty Blue it was beautiful. I just cant stomach all the foolishness I mean damn her voice even overshadows Prince

Yeah, it's not quite as bad as Tony M, who had no talent at all. Mountains, for example, sounded wonderful, but Prince was whispering in the mic, I could barely hear him. He put his heart and soul into Musicology, but he's played that song a billion times since 2004. He had maybe played Mountains 30 times or so EVER. So he finally does it, and he doesn't sing. I felt like I did when my ex left me!

aardvark15 said:

Future Soul Song was his best slow song since the 90's in my opinion. The album though lacks in comparison. I think it's one of his weakest albums. Not nearly as good as Planet Earth or LotusFlow3r. Not as bad as Rainbow Children though

Planet Earth was only...bleh to me.

stillwaiting said:

nursev said:

See this is the truth-she can sing, but her talents are wasted with all this fuckery. I mean give the lady a cd and let her sing. When she sung Misty Blue it was beautiful. I just cant stomach all the foolishness I mean damn her voice even overshadows Prince

Yeah, it's not quite as bad as Tony M, who had no talent at all. Mountains, for example, sounded wonderful, but Prince was whispering in the mic, I could barely hear him. He put his heart and soul into Musicology, but he's played that song a billion times since 2004. He had maybe played Mountains 30 times or so EVER. So he finally does it, and he doesn't sing. I felt like I did when my ex left me!

Aww I'm sorry that happened Maybe he can't sing as strong as he use too and just uses shelby for filler. I listened to him sing Kiss in Sydney and you could barely hear him-something is going on with his voice. Tony M was just a waste of time, cd and space. Shelby at least can sing, but after years of hearing this chick im tired.

smoothcriminal12 said:

aardvark15 said:

Future Soul Song was his best slow song since the 90's in my opinion. The album though lacks in comparison. I think it's one of his weakest albums. Not nearly as good as Planet Earth or LotusFlow3r. Not as bad as Rainbow Children though

Planet Earth was only...bleh to me.

I loved Planet Earth. Sure, his later albums have more filler than the older ones, but he's still making a considerable amount of songs. I just wish he would play the best songs from these new albums live. For Musicology he played the title track and Life O The Party every night. He never played A Million Days or Reflection, and only played Call My Name at one of the 7 shows I went to in 04. Musicology is not a bad song, but I got tired of it quickly. Life O The Party was probably the worst on that album.

6 shows for W2A, and not one from 20Ten. LA, of course, at least got Laydown, and Future Soul Song. At least the Musicology tour was just Prince singing, other than the one song Chance sang. That tour was fantastic. Sure, an over analyst like me always has minor complaints, but that tour was so good. W2A sounds really cheesy.

smoothcriminal12 said:

aardvark15 said:

Future Soul Song was his best slow song since the 90's in my opinion. The album though lacks in comparison. I think it's one of his weakest albums. Not nearly as good as Planet Earth or LotusFlow3r. Not as bad as Rainbow Children though

Planet Earth was only...bleh to me.

Planet Earth is actually in my top 10 albums of his. So is NEWS

aardvark15 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Planet Earth was only...bleh to me.

Planet Earth is actually in my top 10 albums of his. So is NEWS

NEWS I like, but Planet Earth?

nursev said:

stillwaiting said:

Yeah, it's not quite as bad as Tony M, who had no talent at all. Mountains, for example, sounded wonderful, but Prince was whispering in the mic, I could barely hear him. He put his heart and soul into Musicology, but he's played that song a billion times since 2004. He had maybe played Mountains 30 times or so EVER. So he finally does it, and he doesn't sing. I felt like I did when my ex left me!

Aww I'm sorry that happened Maybe he can't sing as strong as he use too and just uses shelby for filler. I listened to him sing Kiss in Sydney and you could barely hear him-something is going on with his voice. Tony M was just a waste of time, cd and space. Shelby at least can sing, but after years of hearing this chick im tired.

Well, on some songs he sings with passion and power. On Kiss, he generally sings part of the first verse, and then holds the mic out for the crowd to sing. I don't like that either. $324 for a ticket to hear the crowd sing?

Now, he might be trying to save his voice. If that was the case, I'd rather have him get The Time on board for a short opening section, and then a middle portion of Prince's concert, and maybe Madhouse for an instrumental set.

smoothcriminal12 said:

aardvark15 said:

Planet Earth is actually in my top 10 albums of his. So is NEWS

NEWS I like, but Planet Earth?

Some songs have horrible lyrics and the vocals are kinda boring but other than that I love it

SchlomoThaHomo said:

I totally agree. I loved it when it came out and I still love it. I don't get why it's so hated here.

After Cause & Effect and Hot Summer, I was expecting a truly shitty album. But what a great surprise 20Ten was! Maybe that was the master plan. Put out 2 shitty songs to lower expectations for the actual album. I guess it didn't work though because it seems like most people here hated it.

Future Soul Song has one of the best melodies and one of the best vocals of his career.

Sticky Like Glue is so funky, smooth and swaggy in a way I didn't think he could be anymore.

Beginning Endlessly is fantastic. The live version from LA was wonderful and made me like it even more.

Act Of God, Lavaux, hell...even Everybody Loves Me. They all bring a smile to my face and I don't care who knows it.

stillwaiting said:

nursev said:

See this is the truth-she can sing, but her talents are wasted with all this fuckery. I mean give the lady a cd and let her sing. When she sung Misty Blue it was beautiful. I just cant stomach all the foolishness I mean damn her voice even overshadows Prince

Yeah, it's not quite as bad as Tony M, who had no talent at all. Mountains, for example, sounded wonderful, but Prince was whispering in the mic, I could barely hear him. He put his heart and soul into Musicology, but he's played that song a billion times since 2004. He had maybe played Mountains 30 times or so EVER. So he finally does it, and he doesn't sing. I felt like I did when my ex left me!

20ten sums up very well why prince is where he is at musically.

A song like Future Soul Song or Laydown should be hits, but they can't be hits and here is why.

Future sould song is beautiful and should be sung at weddings except nobody is going to sing .. "this is the future soul song" to anybody at a wedding. It just sounds stupid. And all the other lyrics are too new age trippy dippy for anyone to bother trying to figure out what he is saying. But the melody and music and the ooh eee oohs .. all brilliant.

Laydown .. pretty catchy hook but the rapping is atrocious .. super califragisexy expialidocious .. coulda been a hit with the young kids but it cant because it isn't and we all know it won't.

It's the lyrics, thats what makes or breaks these records. Compassion, another great idea that just doesn't seem fleshed out. This is the sort of song that the revolution could improve and make crazy good like the old days.

When prince says his band can't play his sampler set because the band was prince that made those records, it make me know why the revolution was so important to prince. The revolution could sound like prince did on record. Perhaps the lovesexy band came close as well, even tho they avoided the gritty sound of earlier revolution. But simply put, no other line ups could adequately reproduce the prince on record sound like the revolution could. I don't want to hear blackwells dull jazz thud where a linn fat ass snare should be. I don't want to hear a watered down keyboard line where that pre scrillex fat distorted full keyboard line once was. I don't want to hear horns play guitar solos. I want to hear prince with a band that could sound like prince live.

I feel like prince is slowly edging toward better music but he is not there yet. I like 2010 as much as anything from rainbow forward. Each record has some cool things about it but also they have so many cringing lyrics and prince horror stories like AUTO TUNE .. a sure sign of the apocolypse .. that they are mostly unlistenable .. I felt like "here" "dance 4 me" "ole school company" and the 3 above mentioned are all steps in the right direction but comparatively i would say laydown future soul song and compassion have far worse lyrics than "here" etc .. there fore it takes a back seat to mpls sound .. even tho mpls has has real bad stuff like no more candy and never be another and chocolate box on it .. ugh .. he's getting there tho ...

I've always considered it (along with MPLSound) to be one of the worst albums he's made.. though I guess I'll give it another listen tonight.

My favorite songs were "Compassion", "Future Soul Song", "Sticky Like Glue" and "Lavaux".. but overall the album bored me.. the songwriting and guitar playing was adequate, but the album just seemed really bland to me.. at least MPLSound stood out as unique in his discography, even if most of the songs were dreadfully embarrassing. On first listen, I felt like I'd already heard every song on 20Ten.. I agree with everyone who said it was Prince on auto-pilot.. his playing, songwriting, and especially singing felt incredibly uninspired to me.

I think "Laydown" at the time of release was the worst song he'd ever released*, though since then he's bottomed himself with "Rich Friends" ( ).

(* I don't even count "Purple and Gold" as a song.. no more than 'Raspberry Sorbet' from the muppets..)

[Edited 5/14/12 0:30am]

CrabalockerFishwife said:

nursev said:

Imma get alotta hate for this, but Prince really needs to ditch Shelby and get another singer and go back to HIM singing. I can't stomach this chick anymore. Im bout to hang up my purple slippers If I hear her say clap your hands or put your hands up one more damn time. Imma be a mad bitch if he comes to Texas and I gotta sit through 2 hours of this chick-damn!

off topic...

nursev said:

stillwaiting said:

I think what makes it so frustrating for me, is that Shelby actually can sing, and has talent. Why she is being forced by Prince to engage in self-parody makes no sense to me. Shouting "Put Your Hands Up," 10 times a night is corny. Doing it over 50 times is self-parody and hard to believe.

See this is the truth-she can sing, but her talents are wasted with all this fuckery. I mean give the lady a cd and let her sing. When she sung Misty Blue it was beautiful. I just cant stomach all the foolishness I mean damn her voice even overshadows Prince

I dont hear her at all on 20ten..

Romeoblu said:

I think it's a highly enjoyabl album. I'd give it a 8.

Agree.

thepope2the9s said:

nursev said:

See this is the truth-she can sing, but her talents are wasted with all this fuckery. I mean give the lady a cd and let her sing. When she sung Misty Blue it was beautiful. I just cant stomach all the foolishness I mean damn her voice even overshadows Prince

I dont hear her at all on 20ten..

At that point we were mentioning how awful she is used live. If you can't hear Shelby on Compassion, then you have not listened to 20Ten. She's also on other tracks, but used properly as a background person. Live she is way too much involved, and not used as a talent but as a flunky trying to hype up the crowd all night.

The best thing about 20Ten was the price.

I enjoyed 20Ten. It was fresh and had several outstanding compositions and good tunes. Some may not care for the lyrics but the music is undeniably excellent.

NeonCraxx said:

20ten is okay to me, but it's not his best in a while. The Lotusflow3r cd that came for this was gagillion times better.

This is exactly how I feel. To me, 20Ten sounded like a demo record. It was almost like a bunch of ideas thrown together to make an album, but they never got completed.

I still don't understand the appeal of "Future Soul Song." I hear everyone say how much they like it and I just can't get with it.

nursev said:

Imma get alotta hate for this, but Prince really needs to ditch Shelby and get another singer and go back to HIM singing. I can't stomach this chick anymore. Im bout to hang up my purple slippers If I hear her say clap your hands or put your hands up one more damn time. Imma be a mad bitch if he comes to Texas and I gotta sit through 2 hours of this chick-damn!

No it wasn't, sounded rushed like it had been done in a day.

It was a big let down after the excellent Lotusflow3r set which you could hear Prince had put real time and effort into IMO...

[Edited 5/14/12 13:49pm]

20ten had a few good songs but the album as a whole is just "Ok"... just like the rest since The Gold Experience in 1995...

Ps don't call me a hater for telling my opinion..

Lavaux - Has become one of my favorite songs for some reason! I just can't get enough of that track! It's JUST SO GOOD!!! Where is the longer version of it? It has to exist!!

Compassion - Is one HELL of a tune! It is one of his best! It sounds so crisp, and fresh. Music like this, won't ever get old or sound dated. It just contains the elements of funk, rock, pop, and everything else you are looking for right in a unique song!

Beginning Endlessly - Amazing Title, wonderful song mixed in with everything I like! THIS IS OFFICIALLY. THE FIRST SONG THAT MADE ME BECOME A FAN OF PRINCE. WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT..I WAS SEARCHING EVERYWHERE FOR MATERIAL FROM THIS GUY. I DID NOT UNDERSTAND HOW GOOD A SONG COULD BE...BUT THIS STARTED MY ADVENTURE..TO BEGIN ENDLESSLY IN HIS CANON OF WORK. LOL

Future Soul Song - Just dreamy and trippy! The 'Utopian' song of the "00's"..he had to had one this this decade. He had Paisley Park in the mid 80's...Calhoun Square in the '90's' now he gave us 'Future Soul Song'..Just brilliant stuff! Very Utopian and dynasty like!

Walk In The Sand - I have always loved this ballad. One of the stickiest ballads for me, I think he totally delivers here. I shared it with a couple of my friends, and to my surprise it stuck with them. It's just a nice ballad, it does not go anywhere really...but that's what I like about it. It's chill!

Sticky Like Glue - JUST amazing! I could go without the rap...but it only lasts for about 10 seconds, once it's over..you don't even realize it. LOL. You grow with it, but still wished it was erased...I remember someone uploaded this song on Youtube without the rap, and it was pretty SOLID. lol. It gives me the same feeling "Love 2 The 9's" does..(BY NO MEANS ON THE SAME LEVEL) But when he interrupted the flow for the 'Booty Boom' part..is just cringe worthy. I hate it when he does that, but you learn to accept it. I mean what else can you do? I guess you can edit it out, but that's too much work..lol

Act Of God - Hated this song at first! Now I've grown to love it. I like it when he sings in this register. It's almost like he is straining his voice..That's what I like about it. The guitar is pretty in your face funky too!

Laydown - Funky insane! Seeing it live, made me appreciate it more. I love the guitar and trip to this.

As For: Sea Of Everything and Everybody Loves Me, they both should have been on MPLSound. These are the weakest songs on 20Ten, because they fail immensely for me. Sea Of Everything is like a brother to 'Somewhere Here On Earth'. It's very slow and does not do anything really for me. I can listen to it..but still wish he did not attempt to create a song that sounds so similar to 'Somewhere Here On Earth'.

Everybody Loves Me...HATED it at first. Now it sounds the closest to anything from '1999/Controversy' let me explain. LOL..He has not done anything that close to the MPLSOUND since "Everybody Loves Me". IMO. The synthesizers are all in your face and and drum pattern is sick. It's just the title, tone of his voice, and the lyrics that really bring this down.

I reckon, if this song was replaced with a title like "Everybody Loves Her" or something like that. Along with a register reminiscent of Tick, Tick, Bang, Bang..With some nasty lyrics cleverly placed. This would have won over a lot people. Because the production of the song is not bad. But the vocal delivery sucks, lyrics are lame.."If your the king of hate, or the queen of misery"...LAME! Haha...But try listening to the sound of this absent from the tone, lyrics, and delivery. ALSO Shelby, and whoever else is adding to this song..should just leave. Haha

It's safe to say, this was the album that caused me to become a massive fan of Prince. I still don't know why it's named '20Ten'..I mean I get it, but another concept would have worked..? I don't know..Anyways...lol. I give this a 8 And A Half out of 10. lol

EyeJester7 said:

Future Soul Song - Just dreamy and trippy! The 'Utopian' song of the "00's"..he had to had one this this decade. He had Paisley Park in the mid 80's...Calhoun Square in the '90's' now he gave us 'Future Soul Song'..Just brilliant stuff! Very Utopian and dynasty like!

I love how he made "Calhoun Square" seem like this grand Utopia in the song when in actuality, it's this shitty little mall across the street from where the NPG Store used to be.