I had already listened to both Beyonce's and Sam Smith's albums and knew they were great records. Beyonce's is really the stunner of the two, I had expected a contemporary R&B album from her, but it far more than that. It's not "contemporary" as in, what's current, it's contemporary as it's doing it's own thing. It doesn’t play it safe. Partition and Drunk in Love are modern classics. This is not the music that is supposed to sell millions, it's the kind of music critics used to rave about but that wasn't mainstream enough to sell.

Sam Smith's album is just great songs, great singing and great production. Putting it down because he is white or because it sold well is racist and ignorant. Period.

Now, I just finished listening to Beck's new album "Morning Phase. I had avoided for some reason, and I love Beck.

It is a GORGEOUS album. You can feel how hard they worked on it, yet if feels effortless and warm.

Kanye is an ass, and listening to this album made me feel for Beck, a sweet soul here making beautiful music having to put up with that silly infant.

Now all of these albums couldn’t be more different from one another. But the one thing you can hear and feel is passion and love for what they do. You can tell they cared for every nuance to be exactly the way they wanted. They share a high regard for great production. Anyone who has honestly listened to these three albums and still think that the cheesy AOA deserves to be in the same league is crazy. A lot us here are partial to Prince, myself included. I am biased towards Prince but can still see how talented other artist are and give them the respect they deserve.

Art is subjective, but c'mon, we're talking about an iconic artist that could care less about music production and the ART of music in his old age. We are talking about artists who care, vs one that feels entitled.

laurarichardson said:

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is there a wikipedia page listing each of the chronological "new purple rain"? hozier was alright but i liked annie lennox better with the eurythmics, that dave stewart is a talent too