This guy nails just my impressions of this album. Near-flawless for me as well.

Replica said:

Aerogram said:

I get what you're saying but what would happen if he did that is very predictable : any success with be attributed to the other big name. So many have said that his best years were due to Wendy and Lisa being around, he knows his worst critics would feel vindicated he did have a hit record with well-known programmer -producers.

Choosing someone like Josh ensure at least some insurance people won't conclude he needs the help that much. Having fooled around with drum machines for many years, I can see how someone like Prince would get bored with all the work it takes to do it well nowadays and indeed just let someone else do the tedious tweaking under his general direction.

The album is not sonically perfect from beginning to end but it holds firm to one unifying sonic vision, gehuine care seems to have been taken in creating a sonic journey. I hear songs like What It Feels Like and it's even better than I thought it would be from all the reviews I had read. And it's just that one song among many others on the album that seem to be a thoughtfully put together soundscape -- despite the things people complain about, you have to reckon the lasers and chipmunk voice make way more sense in the context of the album.

As it turns out, listening to AOA the first few times has turned out to be very much like putting the pieces of puzzle together. Suddenly the things I found odd sounded just right -- and it actually got better. It's fun to have this experience again about a whole album.

True what you're saying. Actually I think he would be able to do it himself if he just wanted to spend some time on it. Actually I enjoy this album very much despite what I'm noticing. And that's saying something. I'm not a purist when it comes to tweaking your own sound at all. I'm just noticing that he doesn't care about it as much these days, probably because those parts of song writing is not what he is focusing on. I'm not hating, just observing. And yeat, you're probably right with Josh. He is not very known, and people won't say he is the reason why Prince is sounding so good now. When Prince is sounding good on top of hit and miss production, has written some pretty damn good songs.

Fear not, I enjoy your balanced and well informed contributions.

Artificial Age is one of the better the best album i've played this year. thank you prince!!!!!!

[Edited 10/4/14 16:45pm]

bonatoc said:

Aerogram said:

As it turns out, listening to AOA the first few times has turned out to be very much like putting the pieces of puzzle together. Suddenly the things I found odd sounded just right -- and it actually got better. It's fun to have this experience again about a whole album.

Precisely.

I don't care about the overall sound so much. It's the usual hyper-realistic "Rave un2" pursuing. But this time it's getting closer to the bone, not despite, but in spite of the FX sounds.

This whole album is about aging, about time, about some personal turning of page.
The further you progress into the songs, the more modern they become in their structure, and bare in their feelings.

It's an album of Electronica-1979, it's Electronica-Funk, and eventually Electronica-Gospel.
He finally got the "Aura" concept right.
The segues don't preach anymore, they pray.

Much praise to Andy, who is the first to really walk into Wendy & Lisa footsteps, in terms of getting the relaxed Prince out. And we all know how he can be good when he simply forgets about his persona. Or when he fully embraces it. Who knows? Who cares?

This is an album I'm happy to simultaneously piss and question the neighbours with, who could ask for more in two-zero-one-four?

[Edited 10/4/14 13:49pm]

[Edited 10/4/14 13:57pm]

Great stuff -- it may well be one of Prince's most personal albums, bit of a roman à clef on his life. He seems contrite about something -- interestingly, he's of fronting a vaguely feminist band instead of having the usual scrumptious protégée. Something's been going on -- maybe those who say it's 45 years into the past may have a point, cuz he's sounding like someone who had some counselling.

Aerogram said:

Replica said:

True what you're saying. Actually I think he would be able to do it himself if he just wanted to spend some time on it. Actually I enjoy this album very much despite what I'm noticing. And that's saying something. I'm not a purist when it comes to tweaking your own sound at all. I'm just noticing that he doesn't care about it as much these days, probably because those parts of song writing is not what he is focusing on. I'm not hating, just observing. And yeat, you're probably right with Josh. He is not very known, and people won't say he is the reason why Prince is sounding so good now. When Prince is sounding good on top of hit and miss production, has written some pretty damn good songs.

Fear not, I enjoy your balanced and well informed contributions.

Very interesting observations indeed....and I learned much about Flying Lotus too,

XxAxX said:

Artificial Age is one of the better albums i've played this year. thnak you prince!!!!!!

That's why I don't have a cow and threaten suicide when he releases something I don't particularly care for.

I know that Prince is gonna do something I love sooner rather than later.

I wasn't too interested in most of the stuff he released here and there for the past few months on various sites during the big scavenger hunt thingy but for the most part, I'm loving the way this complete album hangs together.

babynoz said:

XxAxX said:

Artificial Age is one of the better albums i've played this year. thnak you prince!!!!!!

That's why I don't have a cow and threaten suicide when he releases something I don't particularly care for.

I know that Prince is gonna do something I love sooner rather than later.

I wasn't too interested in most of the stuff he released here and there for the past few months on various sites during the big scavenger hunt thingy but for the most part, I'm loving the way this complete album hangs together.

me too! some of the tracks are still growing on me; prince is one of the few musicians who can do that to my ears. he's about three steps ahead of me in that regard, takes me a while to catch up. overall, i love the spiritual message of the work.

XxAxX said:

babynoz said:

That's why I don't have a cow and threaten suicide when he releases something I don't particularly care for.

I know that Prince is gonna do something I love sooner rather than later.

I wasn't too interested in most of the stuff he released here and there for the past few months on various sites during the big scavenger hunt thingy but for the most part, I'm loving the way this complete album hangs together.

me too! some of the tracks are still growing on me; prince is one of the few musicians who can do that to my ears. he's about three steps ahead of me in that regard, takes me a while to catch up. overall, i love the spiritual message of the work.

I tell ya...it's like expecting to get a nice scarf but you open the box and there's a diamond bracelet inside.

i've given both albums a good listen

i've come to the conclusion that it's highly unlikely prince will ever release a new album that i like... that's ok... it's just how it is

this is the last one i'll just buy because it's prince

for me, the thing that really drew me to his music all but disappeared a long time ago... there's no edge/mojo/whatever to his music anymore

i doubt i'll ever listen to this album again... there's so much music out there by other artists that i'd rather spend my time with

again... that's ok.... i'm grateful to him for the huge amount of music he's done that i dig

Did anyone catch Prince's curse in 'Art Official Cage'? He says Shhh and he says city but it comes out sounding like Shitty. "I woke up in the shitty..."

Listen.

Bad Boy Prince is back!

I love this album. It is awesome. My favorite tracks are U know and Time. I love when the bass kicks in on Time as it is right on time. "An animal half my age"...right?!

babynoz said:

Replica said:

Josh is a pretty good introducing Prince to new styles. However no matter how much I like this album, I hear ALOT of presets and cheap over used "modern" drum samples. If he worked with Flying Lotus on the mix and sounds, then we'd probably see a modern classic. He'll probably do the opposite though. Ever since the late 80s, Prince has been in love with bad digital sounds and samples. Thankfully alot of the songs are so good, that it makes up for bad choice of sounds. In the early to mid 80s, Prince was teaching everyone how to make cool sounds.

Thanks for the input. I don't mind admitting that my knowledge of presets, drumsets and Flying Lotus is limited. Since I have no idea what you're referring to I'm off to wiki and youtube to educate myself.

My main concern however remains Prince having his own distinct identity. Maybe that means that I love bad digital sounds?

.

Good convo. I just wanted to shine a light on Josh, since I think he played a pretty big role on an album many of us seem to be enjoying very much. I think Prince using another producer is significant. It's resulted in an excellent album and a lot of promise for future projects.

[Edited 10/5/14 6:49am]

Prince shows his inventive side on two new albums

Prince shows his inventive side on two new albums being released simultaneously. (New York Times)

Every few years, some new artist is venerated as the “new” Prince – Bruno Mars being the latest example – and every few years, that artist proves incapable of living up to such hype. Even Michael Jackson, for all of his success, pales in comparison to Prince, who is an extreme talent as an instrumentalist, producer, arranger, sonic provocateur and songwriter. In terms of sheer musical ability and command of the groove, Prince really has few, if any, living peers.

And yet, the guy can’t seem to catch a break, as odd as this might sound. Because of his startling uber-success in the ’80s, nearly everything he has released in the time since is met with a critical sniff and a rolling of the eyes. “Not as good as he once was,” is the mantra, which basically translates as “I want him to be that guy in ‘Purple Rain’ again.”

But not wanting to be that guy in “Purple Rain” again has been a prime motivator for Prince over the decades, as he released albums with fewer and fewer concessions to the mainstream, some of which were brilliant, and all of which were at the very least interesting. For the past decade or so, he has been a bit of an ephemeral presence – popping up to slay us on a televised awards show, or showing up for brief spurts of touring and then fading back into the mythical playground that is his Paisley Park compound in Minneapolis. It was beginning to look like the guy would never release a full album again, preferring instead to parcel his wares out gradually.

But now, as if arriving from nowhere for no particularly tangible reason, we have not one, but two new fully actualized Prince albums. And no, this double-release is not the folly of some rich, cloistered and egomaniacal pop personage badly in need of an editor – think Axl Rose and Guns ‘n’ Roses “Use Your Illusion” I & II – but is rather a representation of twin sides of the man’s estimable gift. “Plectrum Electrum” represents the diminutive inferno’s peerless funk and rock credentials, and is a guitar-heavy affair performed entirely by Prince and the all-female power trio 3rdeyegirl. “Art Official Age” is a bona fide Prince solo album, by contrast, and as such, fulfills its brief by being stylistically all over the place, its conceptual continuity provided solely by the fact that it’s all Prince and it’s all good.

“When life’s a stage/in this brand new age/how do we engage?” ponders the Princely one during “Art Official Cage,” thereby framing the thematic material addressed throughout the “Art Official Age” album, namely the diminishment of genuine human interaction in an era enslaved to technology, and the attendant reduction in our abilities to discern the wheat amongst the chaff. And even if this opening gambit is funky as all get out, it’s not a throw-back to ’80s Prince, preferring instead to turn contemporary EDM on its head, and to marry the “out there” aspects of Radiohead to a far less European groove.

Throughout the balance of “Art Official Age,” it’s easy to trace Prince’s influence on pretty much every pop/R&B star who has come down the turnpike in the post-“Purple Rain” world. You can hear what Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars are going for when Prince grabs ahold of a ballad like “This Could be Us” or “Breakdown,” but the differences are many, the most prominent being that these tracks are incredibly well-written, and no team of songwriters needed to convene in aid of their composition, as Prince himself is a songwriting army of one.

On the other side of the coin, we have “Plectrum Electrum,” an album that acknowledges the simple and often transcendent pleasures inherent to killer funk grooves and Hendrix-like guitar solos. The album is simply overflowing with both, and yet “Plectrum” sounds like the work of a full-fledged band, one whose front man and songwriter happens to be seemingly incapable of writing songs devoid of memorable hooks. There are no dogs here, no in-studio jams disguised as songs, no throwaways. Drummer Hannah Ford Welton , when she isn’t making for a most convincing Cindy Blackman Santana doppelganger in the drumming department, also handles lead vocals, and rather effectively during the sultry “Stopthistrain.” The tireless and exuberant funk takes a break in acknowledgement of some superb balladry here, most notably during the sensual sway of “Tictactoe,” a song that, during a different age, would’ve been a massive radio smash.

Already, these albums have come under fire from members of the media who, it seems, refuse to forgive Prince for growing older, preferring he stay in the late ’80s forever, dropping pop-funk gems like “Let’s Go Crazy” and “1999” into a world that would have no context for receiving them. Let them gnash their teeth. Meanwhile, Prince is making music that applies to the present day, just as “Purple Rain” made sense in its own milieu. And he remains a startlingly inventive artist.

Local review of new Prince albums!

MoBettaBliss said:

dadeepop said:

babynoz said:

Thanks for the input. I don't mind admitting that my knowledge of presets, drumsets and Flying Lotus is limited. Since I have no idea what you're referring to I'm off to wiki and youtube to educate myself.

My main concern however remains Prince having his own distinct identity. Maybe that means that I love bad digital sounds?

.

Good convo. I just wanted to shine a light on Josh, since I think he played a pretty big role on an album many of us seem to be enjoying very much. I think Prince using another producer is significant. It's resulted in an excellent album and a lot of promise for future projects.

[Edited 10/5/14 6:49am]

We don't know exactly what role he played, but obviously it was large enough to break the mold of the "composed, arranged, performed, and produced" stamp. And the results are there. Something brought out the best in Prince

dadeepop said:

babynoz said:

stuff

.

I just wanted to shine a light on Josh, since I think he played a pretty big role on an album many of us seem to be enjoying very much. I think Prince using another producer is significant. It's resulted in an excellent album and a lot of promise for future projects.

[Edited 10/5/14 6:49am]

Co-sign. The influence of an outside producer on this record is palpable. I haven't made up my mind yet if the effect is entirely positive and if being more "contemporary" sounding is a good thing but at least it's different somehow and infinitely more interesting. Prince's stuff has suffered from bad production for some time now, starting with Emancipation. I think the production on this album is more even an less heavy handed. Or something. The effects don't overwhelm me or take over the songs and they're consistently applied for the most part.

This album would be almost perfect if not for the SEGUES

Hate, hate, hate, the SEGUES, just in general

It is incredibly solid throughout and grows on me every listen

MOST FAVORITE: Clouds

LEAST FAVORITE: This is what it feels like

I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

herb4 said:

dadeepop said:

I just wanted to shine a light on Josh, since I think he played a pretty big role on an album many of us seem to be enjoying very much. I think Prince using another producer is significant. It's resulted in an excellent album and a lot of promise for future projects.

Co-sign. The influence of an outside producer on this record is palpable. I haven't made up my mind yet if the effect is entirely positive and if being more "contemporary" sounding is a good thing but at least it's different somehow and infinitely more interesting. Prince's stuff has suffered from bad production for some time now, starting with Emancipation. I think the production on this album is more even an less heavy handed. Or something. The effects don't overwhelm me or take over the songs and they're consistently applied for the most part.

.

And a co-sign to your comment, comrade. When Prince plays nice with others it tends to turn out well. (Think the Revolution era.) I was shocked to see Joshua get co-producer credit on AOA. (As opposed to the usual "Every imaginable credit possible: Prince" )

.

NDRU: "And the results are there. Something brought out the best in Prince."

^ exactly

I will say this... This music demands at least decent speakers. If you are only piping it through ear buds, then u will not get how great this music really is. Now, I could pic nic.

In the Gold Standard, great music, but the lyric 'upper echelon groove', that just sounds kind of goofy, I know Prince could have found a cooler way to say that.

But that's the thing with Prince, one of the reasons I keep coming back, everyone once in a while, he does not compromise his vision. and let's it flow right on out when it's working.

I like his music better when he writes and sings from his real feelings, not from his moral trappings.

He has, in a few recent albums we all know, seemed to censor himself.

I think 'newfriendssale' should call it the "Prince: self censoring era- Musicology thru 2010"

There is still a touch of that here, but Prince once gave his music and lyrics the good ole "Sling the Paint and to Hell with the results as long as they are they truth"

And it's just really hard for any of us to say anything honest when we censor ousrselves. It just doesn't come out genuine.

theums said:

controversy99 said:

XxAxX said:

Artificial Age is one of the better the best album i've played this year. thank you prince!!!!!!

[Edited 10/4/14 16:45pm]

It's ok. Probably his best in years although that is not saying much. My advice: get out there and listen to more music!

mynameisnotsusan said:

controversy99 said:

Good point. The segues don't make much sense at all.

I think they're almost worth it just to hear him being called Mr Nelson

It's just another album that only his fanatics will care about.

theums said:

This album would be almost perfect if not for the SEGUES

Hate, hate, hate, the SEGUES, just in general

It is incredibly solid throughout and grows on me every listen

MOST FAVORITE: Clouds

LEAST FAVORITE: This is what it feels like

I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

But doesnt Clouds essentially contain a segue?

jjazznola said:

XxAxX said:

Artificial Age is one of the better the best album i've played this year. thank you prince!!!!!!

[Edited 10/4/14 16:45pm]

It's ok. Probably his best in years although that is not saying much. My advice: get out there and listen to more music!

thanks for the tip but i'm way head of you there. i listen to a lot of music on radio, youtube, albums and elsewhere. prince still tops my list.

controversy99 said:

mynameisnotsusan said:

I think they're almost worth it just to hear him being called Mr Nelson

That's true. Hearing "Mr. Nelson" is entertaining.

This is really the first album where I like the seques. They fit without being preachy and overpowering. They simply add flavor.

This album just keeps getting better and better. Songs that seemed mediocre at first, likely due to the absence of obvious hooks and soul searing guitar solos, are slowly revealing their beauty.

Clouds is just off the charts excellent. The bass, the vocals, the piano stabs after the segue and that guitar solo is soooo sublime - that lower note piece really punches me in the gut.

I co-sign the earlier comments that this needs to be heard on quality headphones or speakers. There are so many layers of funkiness that don't get picked up otherwise.

Bravo Prince.

[Edited 10/6/14 11:09am]

One of the better reviews of the two albums:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-prince-review-20140929-column.html

"Clouds" and "U Know" are favorites, but "Time" is the one I keep going back to. Even "Breakfast Can Wait," which I didn't like at first, fits in the context of the entire album.