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Finally hearing it in its entirety. A whole lotta cool stuff going on here. It's gonna take awhile for it all to sink in. But dig it.   |
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Just got my digital versions of both albums. Does anybody know how to download them to iTunes? I'm not having any success with it. Thank you. | |
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After listening to both albums a few times my take is that if you take the best from both you get one decent album but it would still pale in comparrison to his 80s/90s output. I'd rather just listen to his live recordings. | |
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After reading a handful of U.S. reviews, I'm calling it now: AOA is going to go through the same re-evaluation in the coming few years that Parade did in the decade that followed its release. Many reviewers (in America) gave Parade middling praise and with the exception of Kiss (and to a far lesser extent Mountains), the pop singles were DOA, which only furthered the notion of disappointment. Hell, the lukewarm response drove Prince himself to comment that he didn't have enough good material ready at the time of recording. Time has taken care of all of that foolishness, though, and today Parade is rightfully considered a masterwork. . I sincerely believe that AOA is going to follow the same trajectory. Once the critics have lived with it for a time and mined all of its many treasures, there's going to be a shift in the way it's talked about. Critics who rated the album 2.5 stars out of 4 will, for example, start writing lines like "New album X doesn't meet the high standard Prince achieved on 2014's funktastic AOA..." and you'll know the transformation has begun. I truly expect that AOA will be considered a Prince classic when all is said and done. | |
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I'd say it's a lot less than love with the..."Art Official Age has an element of trainwreck wackiness that at least keeps it interesting."...part. But hey, they didn't say it's BLAND, right? I knew from the start that I loved you with all my heart. | |
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I must say no matter what I am buying it,however;From the Samples of a few songs not sure I'm gonna be thrilled with the New Albums. It seems like He's been throwning us bones from Music scraps. When have we heard new ideas From Prince? As a long time Prince listener I'm looking for Musical growth (which we know he has) and age appropriate music. I've been expecting a meal and he keeps feeding us Candy. Candy is good but you can't grow from It or live off of it. He seems to still enjoy making goofy music out dated pop tunes it's such a let down after classic Albums such as Madhouse,ONA,ARTWIAD,Rainbow Children,Sign O Times,Lovesexy & Parade Lately he's been short changing us with a few good songs on weak Albums The Breakdown is the only song I found satisfying. We all want a big hit again because
we want to relive the Hysteria & Pandemonium we experienced when Purple Rain was Hot. Actually, he doesn't care if it happens again or not. | |
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Listened to the whole album. OUt of the 13 songs I do love Clouds, FunkRoll, Time, Way Back Home, Affirmation III. But "Clouds" is my jam!!! Dont know what it is about this song but its so catchy, puts me in a good mood. | |
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Just listened finally. And OH MY GOSH. Fantastic. It's truely fantastic. I'm speachless. Thank you Prince, thank you so much. | |
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Maybe its becuase you got a kiss on the neck, that you didn't expect, didn't expect Got some kind of love for you, and I don't even know your name | |
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AOA is now officially available worldwide. There is no territory that has to wait for a preorder anymore. So, with that said, do WB (and Prince?) have the guts to go all-in and back this album up with some hard marketing cash? FNR video? FNR pushed to the commercial radio and TV stations? Or will they let it sink and forever be remembered as a fan favourite but very little else? |
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So great to finally have this and PE in my hands. AOA is fun, challenging and experimental. He has clearly been inspired by the collaborations and moved to produce something in a new direction. However, if there is a concept it doesn't come across because the tracks are jumbled. The ironic nod to the past, The Gold Standard, should be the start of the concept with Time and the Affirmations/Way Back Home at the end. The cliche-ridden AOC and excruciating FUNKNROLL remix should have been ditched. Some great moments throughout though. I wish there was a booklet and more info on the tracks. | |
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Or there's the possibility that hardcore fans will re-evalaute their raves once they get past their excitement over a "pretty good" new Prince album after a long break. But, could be either, truly |
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(Longer attempt -- probably also somewhat unfinished and filled with errors as I continue to listen and edit. For those who hate the music it will probably always be found in error. And that also could be very true. Haven't written in this forum more than about a dozen times in the last 4 years (you're welcome) but was inspired while listening to this album. Artist: Prince Album: Art Official Age Release Date: September 30 If "The Rainbow Children" is at least a tiny bit inspired by DeAngelo, I think "Art Official Age" deserves the same credits for Janelle Monae. And it might not be too far a reach to equate "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" with its concept of class and its ringing bells to have been inspired in some small way with the same class concept here replaced with with a basketball horn. And no doubt dozens of other influences, including, and perhaps most importantly, his youthful counterparts that have perhaps allowed him, inspired him to once again be a playful, bizarre, freaky spirit in the studio, masterfully concocting a choir of a hundred voices that feels much more the embodiment of "Lovesexy" than "The Rainbow Children". I don't think he's on a pedestal here looking down at the great unwashed, rather it feels like he's sitting in the grass (while some are even smoking it) celebrating the awesome potential. I believe he's using modern tools and techniques to show how it can be done, to reinforce the theme of a caged generation that has sometimes forgotten how to fly. Quite a turn from the old man who once yelled at the Internet for getting in his backyard. The old man confessional Prince might someday shine through on an even newer side. But first I think he had to find a deeply connected way back to resolving his past magnificence, which in the previous 10 years, despite its moments of brilliance here and there, at least to me, always, or eventually, came across a bit like ill-fitting Lycra. In contrast to most of his days spent searching for completeness with his past, especially with the harder music, it's refreshing to me to hear something not related to religious conversions or instrumentals that sound better than the sum of their parts. This album is able to entwine and perhaps sometimes piece together a futuristic tale set 45 years in the future, pronounced as a kind of warning about the loss of potential seen through human separation brought about by technology. Positioned directly on the dance floor is the albums fervent starter, more of a wildly imaginative uptempo intro than an actual song, "Art Official Cage" sets both the lyrical foundation and the distance from basic formula (track 1, track 2, track 3...hike). A brief rap/draft by Prince blows up "Lady Liberty" before unleashing maniacal thrusts of guitar, grinding machinations, and operatic vocals not far removed from either "TRC", "N.E.W.S." or "3 Chains O' Gold", but much fresher than simply dutifully saluting. Twisting a radio dial leads us into our second frequency, a rather sunny promise that turns into perhaps the new R&B classic "Clouds", music which will ironically be uploaded exactly there endlessly, even as it speaks to the need for more human contact. Prince wonders if giving something to his girlfriend even matters if it's not shared for the consumption of others. Shortly thereafter Lianne La Havas starts crooning then talking in a very qualified, reassuring British accent (she will return) to the orbiting future "Mr. Nelson". Apparently you'll be able to upload even the physical in the next few decades. Turns out Bob George is not dead and neither is the "Black Album" and some of its edge, which seemed to almost vanish from Prince's vocabulary these past nearly 20 years. But Bob isn't worried about TV dinners and skinny mother you-know-whatters, he's New Power sliding, shaking it nude while swinging in step with the rest of the punks. This song announces its funk with such an sick urgency -- even with its non-blonde roots clearly showing -- that it could only end as it does. Someone bubbling on a bong while trying to maneuver ever closer inside what you can probably figure out on your own. Almost 35 years after he created The Time a new dance is here. Everybody just shake. The last track on the first side shows Prince at perhaps his most forward thinking. He takes a sample from Mila J and constructs a darkly revolving futuristic dance stunner in mid-tempo, the kind of thing that hints at future subfloors and lends brief thoughts to building codes. Rewind the tape to get this one. Then continue with your head down, holding hands and sweating. This one has me trying to crawl into tighter spaces as my ears ring the music by heart. He could certainly drop a bigger name, but I don't think he could produce much bigger music. At this album's worst the music still comes across as fairly memorable and substantial to me, although perhaps forced a bit into a concept like with the "Sign 'O' The Times"-flecked morning mahogany of "Breakfast Can Wait" or the anthemic "Breakdown" that leads to pangs of depression and eventual banshee-like screams of rage over superficial longings that lay traps on former paths. But perhaps some of that negativity in me is based on living for months with these two tracks, both of which serve to fill out the rest of the front side. And if it stopped playing right there it would be a really nice mention, but it's on the flip side where I begin to go full bore on that hole in my leg. Starting with the seventh track, "This Could Be Us" the album's most obvious instant learner from an album that I believe often needs quite a bit more from you. But that doesn't mean it gets boring fast. It effortlessly melds the worlds of pop and R&B all the way to the front pew with a gloriously cheerful keyboard and vocal hook that could talk a suicide off a bridge. "You're the cage to my dove", he sings, finding an amusing way to both reiterate the theme and glint his motorcycle riding hip hugger. Heavy slap bass and Prince vocals lead out next to a enchanting duet with Andy Allo, first slowing, then twirling the dance floor in a trancelike back and forth, give and take, push-pull affair. Biblical names ride right alongside Facebook modern-day romance. She lilts and quivers sexy like. Here's hoping the next relationship status is as coordinated. It's perhaps a moment of much needed anti-reflection here in the face of what has been and what will be when the urgent screams of "Funknroll", the album's third-to-last number start calling. Initially it sounded too on-the-nose to me, like an old man trying too hard and ending up spraying literal all over the floor. But subsequent listens reveal another substantial roar of authentic rolling bass thump (if you want cheese, probably wait for the video). This one seems destined for what he does best, getting you up off the floor to forget for awhile. Then at 2:55 all goes totally bizarro and perfumed models start their catwalks across your inhibitions. Prince doesn't "really care what you all been through", and stuff is likely to get tossed about What follows this onslaught is a quiet phone call seemingly made from the loneliness of the road triggering an attempted communication between him and his significant other (home). It's the second and final duet with Andy and it's as bumpy and urgent as anything Prince has ever touched. If you've ever entertained thoughts of picking up a bass perhaps there is no better "Time" then this album's penultimate moment of deep longing for something different, something more. By the end it has perhaps drizzled out to nothing more than phone sex as the music totally aborts, causing him to quite aggressively punch in the horns, perhaps from a live tape review that has him feeling so missing, so out of place. I'm out on the porch with my friends -- we're rocking, nodding, smiling and reminiscing about better times in the face of these beautiful blues. This is the stuff of legend. Finally comes the proof of show. Prince attempts in spoken word with the fifth-to-last track through to the plaintive, vibrating fourth-to-last song and ultimately the angelic album closer in reprise -- "Affirmation I & II/Way Back Home/Affirmation III" -- to turn the selfish "me" or "mine" into the universality of "you". And how much you like or relate to this triptych, this path he has chosen, might go a long way towards determining this album's ultimate success or failure in your eyes. To me it's an epic rush of success so new and bold that it makes the cries of "Breakdown" seem slightly miscast in a fit of envy and blush. If every great album needs an anchor, a color to sway to, this is it. Profoundly beautiful. Considering the artist here, a much more obvious way to end the proceedings many would probably tell you would be to make "Purple Rain" extended, not reprised. I like the different, the unpredictable adventure, even though early on I was somewhat disappointed not to have an obvious move I could embrace. At the very beginning a Danish spoken word piece welcomes all "kings and queens and everything in between". And that's exactly how the album feels: Inclusive, warm, lost, nostalgic, and a bit lonely while parsing through our current predicament in an earnest search for a way back home. It's kinda like "Musicology" to me, only with a few more levels of depth and success. If you're someone who places the ultimate premium on the new, the different, the total reinvention, I would guess that you might only be partly satiated. To me there is enough new here to build on in future campaigns. Others may feel it's either lost too much in the past or selling out way too far in the present. But to me it mostly just works. In other words, I don't think it's the best Prince album since fill-in-the-blank, I think it's a new fill-in-the-blank. | |
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'A legitimately magical Prince album':
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/legitimately-magical-prince-album
Overall, these are the most positive reviews Prince has received in years.
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So I've only had time for one listen so far. I tend to find I enjoy any form of art more over time when I have the chance to appreciate rather than trying to, but I was instantly enjoying most of this.
Yeah, we've heard a lot of similar stuff before from Prince - that ain't so bad, right? The Gold Standard, FunkNRoll, Time, Breakfast Can Wait - similar to stuff that's come before, but pretty damn good nonetheless.
Clouds, AOC, U Know - a little bit experimental, a little different - that's always the case as well.
However, there's got to be that magical moment, that song that reminds you why Prince is part of your life forever now. For me, that moment is Way Back Home.
I was instantly gripped by the haunting, beautiful, searching sound of that song. It ended way too quickly for me - I want more.
Maybe you need to have listened to a lot of what's come before to truly appreciate the sound, message and art behind Way Back Home, but again, that's a good thing, surely? So look into the mirror, do u recognise some1? Is it who u always hoped u would become, when u were young? | |
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I am 4 songs into AOA and all I can say is W.O.W.
LOVIN' IT! "I like to watch." | |
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IMO....
Not his best album ever, if that is what you are looking 4.
But it is the best, in a long while.
Not so thrilled with Art Official Cage Or The Gold Standard, maybe they will grow on me.
This version of Breakfast is good.
FunknRoll is fun, wish it had been longer, was getting good right at the end.
affirmations are lovely.
Clouds is good, U know is good.
Break down is good.
What It Feels Like will need to grow on me.
Way Back Home and Time are probably the best songs on the album, and I favor Time.
I do enjoy the experimentation in most of the music, and for this, we can say, welcome back Prince, you have been missed.
It is an enjoyable album, haven't enjoyed one this much since 3121.
So for that, thank u sir.
Wish it had been released at beginning of the summer.
We are all so full of  here | |
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There is a lot you could say about AOA in a negative light. Bland is not the correct adjective. The album has a clear sound and character about it.
The production has had a lot of negativity - but not from anyone capable of articulating what they mean. Comparing it to Emancipation is dumb. Even if you look at tracks like human body which is about as "dance" as Emancipation gets. It's nothing like AOC or FunknRoll.
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Time Magazine: Prince is revitalized on Art Official Age and Plectrum Electrum http://time.com/3445767/p...melectrum/
On a pair of new albums, the Purple One is more relevant than he has been in decades
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Finally had a real listen through:
I think this feels like a real "Prince" album but I felt the same way about 20ten (about which im puzzled why it doesnt get more love here given its 80s sound in the first couple of tracks).
"Time" is the real keeper here, a new classic.
Clouds, U Know, This Could Be Us and Way Back Home are all new songs Prince should be proud of and show he's still got some pop sensibilities.
Gold Standard, Breakdown, Breakfast Can Wait and Funknroll are songs he's done much better a million times before, so I dont think they'll stick in my playlists.
"This is what if Feels Like" puts me to sleep. Jeez, talk about "filler" and ART OFFICIAL CAGE is brutally awful. Brings back bad memories of "Thunder", "Rave" and some of Prince's worst attempts at sounding "current' yet showing how terribly out of touch he really is. He acts like he's come up with something so clever. Does he realize that he's not the first to turn this play on words?
If had to rank right now, in comparison to his 2004-Present output I'd rank somewhere near or slightly above Lotus/20ten but surely above Planet Earth, 3121, Musicology, MPLS. [Edited 9/30/14 7:50am] |
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Probably a tad premature but I have only heard Art Official Cage (trying to listen to it at work) and it already sounds more inspired than anything he has done in a decade. All good things they say never last... | |
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10 spins in I am enjoying this more than anything he has released since Sign. I am not skipping anything. It just gets better and better. I am very happy for him and selfishly myself. | |
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Was anyone else surprised by the bass drop in AOC? I really wasn't expecting it but it was friggin awesome! | |
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I was wrong. I was one of the biggest haters of the project and now that I heard the full album I think it is his best since Rainbow Children. Way Back Home/Affirmation is the best song that he has had since Last December. This song makes the album a classic. Time, Clouds and Goldstandard are my next three favorites. There is not one song that I don't like because it all fits together. I actually love Art Official Cage because it is edgy. I am guilty of not realizing what I really wanted in a Prince album. All of the great Prince albums had an edge and took us in a different direction. This is it. Make no mistake about it, this album was written, produced and performed by Prince and only Prince. He is giving love to others and that is cool, but this is a Prince album from start to finish. | |
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Took the day off to listen to AOA. Yep my own private listening party. I was not prepared for when I got to "Way Back Home". I was shedding tears and I could not stop. It is not the lyrics that hit me in the song but the "feeling". I have been a fan since the beginning and the fact that he can bring tears to my eyes at his age of 56 is something else. This song will mean to me something different than it does to others. For me, I am six years younger than Prince, but I can see my whole life changing all at once. Finding my way back is very spiritual in nature as I am almost out of the rat race (chasing jobs, money, possessions etc.) where life truly has meaning again. Thank you Prince for this awesome cut and making me "feel" something in a song. | |
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donnyenglish said: I think it is his best since Rainbow Children. Way Back Home/Affirmation is the best song that he has had since Last December. This song makes the album a classic. Time, Clouds and Goldstandard are my next three favorites. There is not one song that I don't like because it all fits together. I actually love Art Official Cage because it is edgy. I am guilty of not realizing what I really wanted in a Prince album. All of the great Prince albums had an edge and took us in a different direction. This is it. Make no mistake about it, this album was written, produced and performed by Prince and only Prince. He is giving love to others and that is cool, but this is a Prince album from start to finish. wholeheartedly Agree!! Stand Up! Everybody, this is your life!
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Way back home had me in tears --the lyrics really hit home Stand Up! Everybody, this is your life!
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Me too. He slayed me with the second half of the album in general, but 'Way Back Home' floored me. And when it returned so hauntingly in Affirmation 3 I broke down again. | |
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Already been spinning my "preview copies" since Thursday, picked the discs up this morning. Not dead, not in prison, still funkin'... |
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