Woke up to the album Monday morning and got to listen to it all before starting work. Liked it from 1st listen. Certainly flawed, but the happiest I've been about a Prince release since TRC (3121 could be included in that, but found that needed more time to grow). I enjoyed AOA and the direction he was taking, but it lacked up-tempo songs and focus. This is fast, in-your-face and dirty.
Breakdown: 1. Million $ Show: Samples aside (the sample sets are tiresome live, I don't need them on an album as well) this is an enjoyable opener, even if it does sound like Beyonce produced this. Judith Hill sounds great, it's just a shame it progresses away from its positive vibe in the way that it does i.e. 'hater' lyrics towards the end. Could have been fleshed out better. 6/10 2. Shut This Down: 90s style P opener, aggressive and nasty. Great to hear this kind of P again. Special mention to the bass; absolutely disgusting bass playing Kid, more of that please. 8/10 3. Ain't About to Stop: This and the following track are the 2 weakest on the album. Far too noisy and far too much use of layering and repetition. Breakdown is wicked and Rita sounds fine, just needed reeling in. 5/10 4. Like a Mack: Really enjoyed this track on 1st listen, but it hasn't grown on me since. Girls are fine, there are good hooks and horns to complement, it just sounds a bit throwaway. 6/10 5. This Could B Us: I've been playing the album from this point more often than not as this is where it gets real good. Prefer this version over the original. Has a much darker tone and the 2nd half is bombastic. Just a shame it's a rendition of a song we got last year. 7/10 6. Fallinlove2nite: Very catchy. Prefer this without Zoey. Great track to listen to whilst getting ready to go out would totally get me in the mood. Loving the synth line! 8/10 7. The Xs Face: Love it! Got an industrial vibe to it. Would dig an album in this style from P, would really interest me. Flows well into Hardrocklover. 9/10 8. Hardrocklover: Brilliant. Great guitars (lead/bass), vocals and screams. Progresses well too. 9/10 9. Mr. Nelson: I like this track, but it does feel like a segue/interlude in this short form. Perhaps we'll get the 12" extended remix on phase 2 7/10 10. 1000 Os & Xs: This song is sex! Wow, wow, wow. Relevant, sexy and needs to be released as a single and properly promoted! Best song from P in the 2000s (and ironically it's one he wrote in the 90s). 10/10 11. June: Dreamy/trippy ender to a fast album. Perfect comedown and further insight into Ps loneliness as he daydreams on his bday. 9/10
At 37mins, it doesn't outstay its welcome, whether it can be enjoyed by all is certainly debateable. It's polarizing, but for once I'm actually genuinely excited that I might be hearing a new sound from P, rather than covering the same ground. If god one day struck me blind,
Your beauty i'd still see. | |
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"The password is what." | |
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Do NOT make me come over there...... Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise. | |
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"The password is what." | |
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1. Shut this down 2.Hardrock 3.1000 4.June "We just let people talk & say whatever they want 2 say. 9 times out of 10, trust me, what's out there now, I wouldn't give nary one of these folks the time of day. That's why I don't say anything back, because there's so much that's wrong" - P, Dec '15 | |
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[Offensive video snip - luv4u] | |
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HitnRun is Prince for the younger generation and anyone young at heart.
The first track is a strange idea, but I guess he's announcing that he got a lot of help on this one, not even singing lead on the first track of "his" new album.
Then Shut This Down starts and it's one hugely programmed song after another. all presented unceremoniously like a remix collection.
[Edited 9/11/15 19:59pm] | |
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. it's all good. you feel what you feel and that's what experiencing art is all about. i've noticed different people are having really different reactions to the album. myself, i love it. it's fresh. . i confess, i don't find the 'over-production' gimmicky, i think of it as baroque in a modern way. ornamental touches all over the place like classical yet dance floor style. . so far i enjoy the overall product the 3EG/prince project has given us. i noticed in another thread somewhere that prince said he works wiith josh because he likes josh. it's good thinking they're having fun somewhere, and i think the album reflects a fun spirit in general. just my 2c .
[Edited 9/11/15 19:55pm] | |
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right..
June is off da chain, jus like Moments In Love..
Neither outweighs the other..
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sad..
that was the real test... | |
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I think Phase One was meant to rhyme with HITNRUN, you know RUN+ONE..
I doubt if it will be a Phase Two, if so, the title will be different, something that rhymes with Two.
We all know Prince is good at throwing loops...lol
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I have to admit I am LOVING this album. Here is my song rating breakdown
1. Million $ Show: 8/10 2. Shut This Down: 9/10 3. Ain't About to Stop: 10/10 4. Like a Mack: 10/10 5. This Could B Us: 6/10 6. Fallinlove2nite: 8/10 7. The Xs Face :10/10 8. Hardrocklover: 9/10 9. Mr Nelson: 9/10 10. 1000 Os & Xs: 8/10 11. June : 8/10
This is actually the first album since Chaos and Disorder that I have liked EVERY single song on a Prince album. The Rainbow Children and Lotusflower were very close but there was always 1 or 2 on those that I didn't care for. This album came out of nowwhere and just rocked my world!! Thank you Prince!! I hate to see so many people on here not digging it but it really doesn't surprise me. This album is more current than probably alot of Prince fans would like as it is a younger album but I think its GREAT!! I hope he has some more of this in his bag for the future [Edited 9/11/15 22:37pm] | |
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So is this legit? how come you have got it? | |
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dadeepop said: When you look up "perfect mid-tempo R&B song" in the dictionary, you'll find 1000 X'S & 0'S. [Edited 9/11/15 14:54pm] Totally with you 1000 X's & O's. I have to hit repeat on this. Love his vocals especially near the end. As you say this and Hardrocklover are top level Prince | |
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Just watched "The Gene Krupa Story"...
Dude showed no mercy on them drums...
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http://www.suffieldtimes.com/entertainment/album-review-prince-works-hard-on-hitnrun-phase-one-he-hits-and-misses/113670/
Weirdest review i've read. Do you reckon it's been google-translated from another language? "Ain't about 2 cease"? ha ha ha. | |
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"The password is what." | |
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8.3333/10 | |
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1000 X's and O's reminds me of a Michael Jackson song. The rhythm, the vibe, the vocal delivery. MJ could have knocked that one out of the park. "Drop that stereo before I blow your Goddamn nuts off, asshole!"
-Eugene Tackleberry | |
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Let's go loopy!
Yeah...this is either a retranslate or one of those new-fangled journobots with artificial stupidity
“I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions.”
-Robert Anton Wilson | |
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I thought I'd never play the opening track twice but I did and it improved. Apart from it (and it does a good job of introducing the album overall), this was a lot of fun to listen to as well as providing a constant stream of sonic surprises. I'm really liking the 'ambient underbelly' on it which reminds me of a lot of nineties electronic stuff but not Prince. My only feeling is that Prince's 'vocal harmony-stacking', which is always over done, especially when it's to echo a line that the main vocal just delivered, is, here, totally superfluous. Someone get him away from the remote control on the ADAT “I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions.”
-Robert Anton Wilson | |
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Seconded! Prince has a had a few nervy attempts to get back in the game but he's been foot-faulting by not wearing his high heels.
“I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions.”
-Robert Anton Wilson | |
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will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. | |
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KCOOLMUZIQ said:
Hee hee! "Drop that stereo before I blow your Goddamn nuts off, asshole!"
-Eugene Tackleberry | |
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I initially listened to this and hated it - skipping from one song to the next. Too much like Prince trying to compete with the kids on the charts. I kinda liked AOA but thought this was going further down the same track. I still prefer the real instrument sound though. However, I've given it some more listens and actually enjoy a few of the tracks. Like a Mack, x's face, hugs & kisses and June are really good and fresh. Still not too convinced on the others. Overall it's ok. I'd prefer him to not try and sound so contemporary as its a bit weird from a man in his late 50's to try and sound so hip. I'd love him to do a stripped down album along the lines of the song June. That is a great Prince song. One that I could see standing the test of time for lifelong Prince fans. Not had too many of them recently. | |
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For my revised sequencing I have Like a Mack followed by 1000 XOs and it fits perfectly!
Oh Josh such an amatuer! The greatest live performer of our times was is and always will be Prince.
Remember there is only one destination and that place is U All of it. Everything. Is U. | |
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Bring on phase 2. "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato
https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0 | |
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TOP TIP: I think these three albums sit nicely together and relate to the Emancipation set as a certain Prince 'mode' “I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions.”
-Robert Anton Wilson | |
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I just now finished my first listen. I had not even listened to the preview snippets on the Tidal website, much less signing up for Tidal. So this whole listening experience was fresh for me, and I like to consider my initial gut reactions. I know that some songs can grow on you with time (or annoy you in time), but given the way this has been trashed here on the message boards, I was listening to see if anything stood out to me. And honestly, a few things did. Here are a few quick thoughts/reactions:
1. I'm wondering if the sum is better than the parts. As a quick/short album of practically half the length of a single disc of "Emancipation," the most striking thing to me was the flow of the tracks and the journey it took me on. There are some songs on here that I don't care for much at all individually that fit the ride of the whole album and the sequencing. So that might be my favorite part of all of this. Prince has been vocal in the past about prioritizing the album over the single (before comically contradicting himself by sporatically releasing singles from no album). This one seems to fit in with that premise, that desire to be an "album artist" in a culture that is over it.
2. I think AOA did a better job of making Prince sound contemporary while still maintaining a strong Prince flavor. This one felt more like a fight to me between Prince and Joshua. I wish I knew more about Joshua to know what his "sound" is, but I guess I know as much as anyone because there's not much of a previous career here to speak of. And since I know what Prince sounds like, it's not hard to tell where the give and take is happening. Consequently, you get songs like "Like a Mack," which are basically terrible but then there'll be one element that got shoved in there (such as that song's horn solo near the end) that make you go - wait a minute! And then the song is no longer complete garbage. I suppose this induces a great deal of frustration. Like a lot of you, I liked the songs more when Joshua's production was less of a focal point (if that's even possible on such a heavily-produced album).
3. I'm not one of those folks on the org who complains about absolutely everything. I seriously wonder why some of you torture yourselves when you already own everything you're ever going to love by Prince and might be happier listening to that instead of complaining about everything that happened after about "The Gold Experience." I'm also a long-time fan with the good sense to understand that none of these recent albums are completely measuring up. So I guess I'm looking for a few little gems in each Prince release. I'm happy with the much-too-fast output because although the albums suffer, I'm finding a few things I like on each one, and I still feel the thrill of picking up each new release and listening for that first time to discover which songs are going to jump out for me and be added to the eternal playlist.
Just based on ONE listen, I'm really digging: SHUT THIS DOWN, HARDROCKLOVER and 1000 X's & O's. My "next level tracks" are: X's FACE and JUNE MILLION $ SHOW and MR. NELSON work in context as transitions. I like them in that context. The rest of the songs have an aspect or a moment I like, but I'm not digging the songs as a whole (AIN'T ABOUT 2 STOP, THIS COULD BE US, FALLINLOVE2NITE). And the goose egg for me is LIKE A MACK. Every album seems to have a monumental clunker, and this is it for me. Just feels lazy.
Guess I'll listen again and see if my snapshot reactions evolve while I wait for Phase 2!
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