Fenwick said:

As my title suggests, it's been approximately 5 years since this group of his final four albums came out, and I had not given them a proper listening to in quite some time. I thought it might be as good a time as any to dust them off and re-visit them.


From memory, my expectations PRE-listening were as follows:


AOA - 5 out of 10 - A solid, but unspectacular album featuring one mammoth tune (The Gold Standard), and some other decent tracks.


Plectrum - 6 out of 10 - A nice counter balance to AOA, a full band production without a lot of solid songs, but few clunkers.


Hit n Run One - 2 out of 10 - An utterly vapid disgrace with two tunes at the end being moderately bearable.


Hit n Run 2 - 8 out of 10 - An absolutely astounding end to a magical career, featuring at least three songs I would rate as perfect. A real gem of an album.

Then.... I listened......

AOA - new rating = 2 out of 10. I was completely astounded to find this a soulless, lifeless album. There are a LOT of people on the Org communtiy who think this is a great album. And while I don't begrudge them their opinions, this is 100% not what I am looking for in music from anyone, let alone the Mozart of our times.

The opening track was insufferable. A dreadful opener. Clouds got us back on the right track as a nice, if not unspectacular song. Then we got to the Breakdown.

I had forgotten about the lasers!!!!!


I literally spit up my water. Laser beams.... activate!!!!!! Wow. What a disaster. Any atmosphere the song was trying to create was completely decimated by that silliness.


What follows for me, is Prince's last gem from an album outside of HnR2. The Gold Standard. Years ago, I think I referred to this song as the result of post Controversy/Pre 1999 Prince, hooking up with the Black Album Prince and making a baby. It's like a mash up of Turn It Up and SuperFragiCali. It's a totally and completely splendid master work. I wish it went on for 10 minutes.


After that, my ear can tolerate Funk n Roll. Nothing more. It saddens me to say, this album has dated FAR more poorly than I could have ever imagined.


Plectrum - new rating = 3 out of 10 It's funny. I had romanticized this album in my head a bit too much. I distinctly remembered the song Marz and thinking to myself, "this is kind of Prince's modern day Dirty Mind record". Prince is putting a less polished, "garage band" feel to this album as a counter point to AOA.


Man - WAS I WRONG.... First off - the playing on this album was FAR BETTER than I remembered/gave it credit for. In particular, Ida is a BEAST on bass. But the songs just aren't there.


Wow is an interesting, but at times lumbering 6/8 tune that overstays its' welcome. Fixurlife and Funk n Roll are respectable.


But the rest ranges from pedestrian to insufferable. Boy Trouble is just about the worst thing I've heard on a Prince record save for.......


Hit n Run One - 1 out of 10 - I mean - There's nothing to say. This is worse for me than any other album in the catalog except Karmasutra and maybe NPS.


The entire album is based around beats and relies on the rhythms/cadence behind the delivery of the vocals. Melody is absolutely nowhere to be found. A ghastly album from stem to stern. The Emancipation castaway (X and O) is certainly bearable, and June is interesting in that "A Life in the Day" Outkast sort of way.


Which brings us to HnR2. - New rating = 9 out of 10


Now - taking apart each song, this album would rate a little lower. But as a full body of work, (even though I know it's a compilation), it still feels very much like a cohesive album.


The opening track is the only song that flat out doesn't work for me. Perhaps extracting the anthemic chant and the misguided salutation to Michael Brown might make it work a little better for me. But at best, it's an OK song.


Summarizing the good songs: Rock and Roll Love Affair, 2Y2D, Xtralovable, Groovy, Screwdriver and Big City all range somewhere between pedestrian (Groovy) and excellent (Rock and Roll)



That leaves us with four master works:


Stare - 9 out of 10 The delivery of the lyrics, the horn stabs, the chorus. What a magnicient track. The incessant slap bass is the only thing keeping this from receiving a 10 from me.



Look at You, Look at Me - 10 out of 10 - Good Jesus. What a song. The subtlety of the horns. The delivery of the vocals. E-e-e-e-e ven Ray Charles can see (Stevie Wonder can too).. . Master class performance.


Black Muse - 10 out 10 - Two brilliant songs in one. Unlike the on the nose lyrics of Baltimore, this song hits so much harder. So much more uplifting.The mid section/transition to the outro is probably 15 seconds too long. But good heavens when the second part of the song kicks in.... tears of joy



Revelation - His last master work released on an album while he was still with us. Seriously. 1 zillion out of 10. This is a desert island song. Everything about it is p.e.r.f.e.c.t. The sparseness of that guitar solo. There are no words needed.



I will forever be grateful this beyond magical album was released during his lifetime. I've already re-listened to the album three more times.


As for the other three...... I might need another ten years before I can try again!!!!!

I'd love to hear some thoughts if you have recently re-visited this part of his catalog!!!!!

I love this, and agree with much.

The title song of AOA, and the laser beams, are both unfortunate, but every other song on the album reaches the same quality level to my ears: pretty good. I don't mind any of them more or less than the others, they all reach interesting places. I wish they were a little more alive, tinkered with here and there, but I can just sit back and relax with them. I love Time, Way Back Home, and one of those mellow affirmation songs on the tail end.

I have a hard time with Plectrum. It's grating. For me, it's the songs themselves, which are either not kickass enough, or too chirpy. I like Another Love, and can stand Wow, and Marz could be part of a cooler album, but this one is a chore.

Hit and Run 1 is a disaster to me, and I have a hard time even understanding what P was going for. It's just a misfire, on almost every level. It's ends well, though, and I enjoy the last two songs? June could have been something special.

Hit and Run 2, I agree with you, is great. I love the tone, song choice, and everything about it. I think it's under rated, and is easily the best of the bunch.

RJP1205 said:

Fenwick said:

gandorb said:

Mintchip said:

AOA and HnR2 are great albums from start to finish, for me

PLEC and HnR1 could both have been very strong EPs. as whole
albums they do feel like they have a few odd song choices and
miss another amazing song, or two.

still, even the 'bad' songs are songs that on occasion, i'll enjoy so
i'm glad to have them anyway

databank said:

Mintchip said:

I think this POV is interesting, with the added caveat that...this already IS an open space. I'm sorry if this sounds childish or obvious, but...that's just what it is. An open space, for anyone to come, and post their takeaway, whatever it is. That's what the entire internet is. So while there might be two competing visions of the org, it's relevant to point out that one of them is of something that doesn't exist and never did, and other is sitting here, being used in good faith by however many people.

Much, much easier to just not read and respond to what you're not interested in, right?

I understand and realize you're right. In general (i.e. not in regard to this specific OP) my better half and me are often horrified by some of the things we read on message boards and social networks. We can't help but wonder if it's reasonable to give certain people the right to be a media (see what I wrote above) and potentially influence thousands of other people. We know it's impossible and that it would probably create more problems than it would solve but we sometimes wish people would need to obtain a license before they're allowed to express themselves online, as well as before they're allowed to own pets or have children (the very notion that everyone on earth is simply entitled to have and raise children troubles us tremendously).

Upon reflection, I would like add to my initial response to your elite reviewer concept. I imagine you were also including orgers who are interested in the knowledge that a few folks have here that really adds to all of our knowledge, such as perspectives in sound engineering, slight differences noted in different versions of the same song, dates that might apply to certain bootlegs and their roots, etc. I do appreciate those who share that type of knowledge and I am sure many others do as well. This type of knowledge seems to me different than a person's emotional reaction to a song, which seems incredibly singular. You might have someone super knowledgeable about music and/or Prince agree with a newbee and disagree with another expert. That's what I love about music. It is so democratic and can bring all sorts of people together rather than divide them into various elite groups. Sorry if I was over-reactive on my first response to you.

[Edited 8/1/20 12:53pm]

IstenSzek said:

I don't share a lot of your feelings on these BUT:

-Right there with you on the lasers

-Right there with you Revelation

I had higher hopes for PLECTRUM because I love 3rd Eye Girl so much. I think a lot of the record is great but Boy Trouble and Stop This Train (Which I will main to my dying breath was a Bria throw away) are low points for me. I think the whole 3EG project overall worked better as a live act.

PE was always a headscratcher for me.

I seem to recall that in the (very long) run-up to its release, Prince was regularly talking about the musicianship of this band and about rehearsing repeatedly to be able to record as a band in one take.

This gave me the impression that we'd get an album that sounded like a live studio album (ala 'Somebody's Somebody (Ultrafantasy Mix), only more rock-oriented). But, very little of that come's across in the finished product, except on the title track.

This might be because they ended up being too good/polished or it might be that Prince changed his mind about the direction of the album. After the deal with Koch fell through, he may have decided he wasn't willing to give a better album to Warners, despite still wanting it released.

The material heard on Third Eye TV was far more organic and representative of what I expected of the album and had some of that been released, would possibly have been a better counterpoint to AoA in the way that HnR2 is to HnR1.

I'm also in the low-score camp for HnR1. I like half the album, but it contains some true atrocities. As much as Josh seems to have become the scapegoat, some of this has to come down to some bad songs. That said, I love Mononeons recordings of the live band rehearsals of the material on this album. Prince might have been able to have salvaged the reputation of this album live.

Huge AoA fan. It's not perfect, but it's a good RnB album by Prince. I think 'Way Back Home' is one of his most honest, open songs. There's a moment when his voice breaks slightly and it almost sounds as if he's about to cry.

HnR2 is a satisfying album to finish on, very organic and consistent. However, despite 'Revelation' being in my top five Prince ballads, I find the saxaphone slightly annoying (reminds me of 'Temptation' for some reason), in a similar way to the lasers in 'Breakdown' and the cowbell in 'Endorphinmachine'.

gandorb said:

databank said:

Mintchip said: I understand and realize you're right. In general (i.e. not in regard to this specific OP) my better half and me are often horrified by some of the things we read on message boards and social networks. We can't help but wonder if it's reasonable to give certain people the right to be a media (see what I wrote above) and potentially influence thousands of other people. We know it's impossible and that it would probably create more problems than it would solve but we sometimes wish people would need to obtain a license before they're allowed to express themselves online, as well as before they're allowed to own pets or have children (the very notion that everyone on earth is simply entitled to have and raise children troubles us tremendously).

Upon reflection, I would like add to my initial response to your elite reviewer concept. I imagine you were also including orgers who are interested in the knowledge that a few folks have here that really adds to all of our knowledge, such as perspectives in sound engineering, slight differences noted in different versions of the same song, dates that might apply to certain bootlegs and their roots, etc. I do appreciate those who share that type of knowledge and I am sure many others do as well. This type of knowledge seems to me different than a person's emotional reaction to a song, which seems incredibly singular. You might have someone super knowledgeable about music and/or Prince agree with a newbee and disagree with another expert. That's what I love about music. It is so democratic and can bring all sorts of people together rather than divide them into various elite groups. Sorry if I was over-reactive on my first response to you.

[Edited 8/1/20 12:53pm]

Now we're cool, I didn't feel attacked at all, we're just talking and I totally feel your perspective on the matter

[Edited 8/2/20 11:59am]

AOA is great, minus the opening track. I love it. It has some of the most personallly revealing and vulnerable tracks I've ever heard Prince record. Listening to it in retrospect, I'm almost convinced he knew he was ill and was concerned about dying.

PE is fun and I liked him doing a rock album but some of the vocal work held it back along with a few clunker songs. I like it.

Hard for me to hate too much on H&R 1 too much because I love Shut This Down, June, 1000 x's and o's and especially Hard Rock Lover.

H&R 2 was rather solid. Revelation is beautiful. Xtralovable, Black Muse, Look at Me, Groovy Potential...it's a pleasant listen with some clever songs on it and is one of the rare discs of his that you can run all the way through (at least since the name change). Similar to 3121 that way.

Truthfully though, SO MANY of Prince's albums for the last 20 years of his life were spotty and beholden to individual taste(s). Almost all of them went like:

2 or 3 great tracks

2 or 3 good ones

2 or 3 OK ones

2 or 3 bad ones

and 1 absolute stinker

None of them were as visceral as 1999, PR or SoTT as he got older.

I spent a good minute splicing together tracks from albums in ways to suit my needs and individual taste(s) sometime around the name change and received almost all of his albums in the way I describe for a long while (COME, NPS, Rave, LotusFlower, MPLS, Musiciology, Emancipation, Chocolate Invasion, Slaugherhouse, TRC, 20Ten). I had to edit them all to get what I Needed From Them.

The last album of his I dug all the way through was Exodus (minus the segues) and then AOA genuinely surprised me near the end there. Not sure what people's problem is with that one since I tend to understand the issues with some of the other albums we're knocking around but AOA had an intimacy and honesty to it that still strikes me to this day. Some of it genuinely moved me to tears and a lot of it brought back that old "goosebump" feeling I used to get with his new releases.

To each their own and all that of course.

databank said:

I'd assume RJorion was having a bad day

Nah. He/she does that fairly often, even though I've sometimes find his/her posts fun to kick around.

More than enough snobs around here telling us "what's good" and they never shut the fuck about it or miss a chance to lecture us for liking what what we like. It gets old but it is what it is. Some weird competition to prove who's the best and most knowledgable Prince Fan is a weird thing to waste time on to me.

I like songs that are routinely the butt of jokes around here but who gives a shit? RIght?

I keep telling folks that It's OK to like an album but some people Have to Be Right, especially on the internet. This is Serious Business, apparently.

Arguing about music I mean.

*YAWN*

databank said:

I would say that AOA is his late period masterpiece

jenst said:

Haha, entertaining reviews, thanks for that!

A recent listen gave me some very similar ideas. PlectrumElectrum wasn't as good as I remembered. Probably because I desperately wanted to love the Prince-hard-rock album. I do think Anotherlove is a fantastic cover. Whitecaps doesn't really fit the album, but it's an overlooked nice song.

I'm a bit more forgiving for AOA, as I like the atmosphere of the suite on the b-side. Too bad they squeezed Funknroll inbetween.

HNR1 is bottom of the barrel, can't say much more about it.

My biggest critisism of Phase2 is that it's suck a mixed bag, it feels like a bunch of songs thrown together without much idea. And it honestly is.

But the songs themselves are just all at least good, although Screwdriver sounds like it's taken from a cassette. But Groovy Potential, Look at Me, Look at U, Black Muse,... Love it! Oh, and that 'That's It!' as his final statement always touches me.

Hey Jenst!


Appreciate the comments. PE was without a doubt the biggest suprise to me. I really thought I would like it a LOT more on re-visit. Based upon the comments in here, I AM going to re-try AOA again soon. Maybe this weekend.

Phase 1 requires no such re-examination for me!!!

Krid said:

Great review. I must admit the last four albums were the ones I have listened to probably only a couple of times when they came out, as nothing really ignited any fire within me. But - I attribute this to me now being a middle-aged person, not a teenager anymore who listened to music (and mostly Prince) like a thousand hours at a time... I find it harder nowadays to really feel blown over by music in general ... Don't we all think the musical masterpieces came out when we were teenagers unti maybe mid-twenties...

But anyway, not to stray away, I did like the last album when I (briefly) listened to it, but thought it more of a blast from the past, some nice leftovers from different times in Princes career. Certainly not something I put on repeat a lot of times...

But for my way home from work today, I have quickly assembled a playlist and will listen to the Gold Standard and the four "gems" from the last album, to see if they touch me again.

Hey Krid! Hope you come back to the thread and give an update on your assembled playlist.

Mintchip said:

I love this, and agree with much.

The title song of AOA, and the laser beams, are both unfortunate, but every other song on the album reaches the same quality level to my ears: pretty good. I don't mind any of them more or less than the others, they all reach interesting places. I wish they were a little more alive, tinkered with here and there, but I can just sit back and relax with them. I love Time, Way Back Home, and one of those mellow affirmation songs on the tail end.

I have a hard time with Plectrum. It's grating. For me, it's the songs themselves, which are either not kickass enough, or too chirpy. I like Another Love, and can stand Wow, and Marz could be part of a cooler album, but this one is a chore.

Hit and Run 1 is a disaster to me, and I have a hard time even understanding what P was going for. It's just a misfire, on almost every level. It's ends well, though, and I enjoy the last two songs? June could have been something special.

Hit and Run 2, I agree with you, is great. I love the tone, song choice, and everything about it. I think it's under rated, and is easily the best of the bunch.

Hey Mint!

Very enjoyable response! Thanks! Other than part of your AOA assessment, it looks like we are right in line here.


I just replied to another Orger that am going to give AOA another spin this weekend. I have VERY low expectations but I will give it another try. The "wishing it were more alive" comment is really THE thing for me. The whole album blends together in a non-organic/digital space kind of way for me. THat's why I feel like it's soulless and hard to enjoy, regardless of the individual tracks.

Your comments on PE are pitch perfect in relation to my own sentiments. It IS grating. Marz was the one song that had me thinkng the album was more a garage band project. And you're completely right. It feels like it belongs on a different album.

RJP1205 said:

RJP1205 said:

AOA - 9/10 The only thing on this album I'm not a fan of is the lasers in Breakdown. PLEC - I've never made it through the whole album, not my fav. I'll have to revisit. HnR1 - 6/10 I love Fall in Love Tonight and 1000 X's and O's. The rest isn't horrible, I just don't love it. HnR2 - 9/10 The only song I'm not a fan of is 2Y2D. The rest is stellar!

................ UPDATE: I've been listening to PLEC on my drive to & from work and I am pleasantly surprised with the 2nd half. I knew I liked Another Love (guitar is so good) and I LOVE TicTacToe! Marz, FunkNRoll and Wow are all good too. Happy I took another listen.

Hey RJ!

Glad you re-visited and are digging it more now.


Even if you are wrong in doing so!!!!

BlackCandle said:

I'm also in the low-score camp for HnR1. I like half the album, but it contains some true atrocities. As much as Josh seems to have become the scapegoat, some of this has to come down to some bad songs. That said, I love Mononeons recordings of the live band rehearsals of the material on this album. Prince might have been able to have salvaged the reputation of this album live.

This. This. And....... this!!!!!

Josh definitely deserves some of the "blame" for the production style being authored, but the songs themselves are the material being produced/massaged/edited etc.....

herb4 said:

Truthfully though, SO MANY of Prince's albums for the last 20 years of his life were spotty and beholden to individual taste(s). Almost all of them went like:

2 or 3 great tracks

2 or 3 good ones

2 or 3 OK ones

2 or 3 bad ones

and 1 absolute stinker

None of them were as visceral as 1999, PR or SoTT as he got older.

I spent a good minute splicing together tracks from albums in ways to suit my needs and individual taste(s) sometime around the name change and received almost all of his albums in the way I describe for a long while (COME, NPS, Rave, LotusFlower, MPLS, Musiciology, Emancipation, Chocolate Invasion, Slaugherhouse, TRC, 20Ten). I had to edit them all to get what I Needed From Them.

The last album of his I dug all the way through was Exodus (minus the segues) and then AOA genuinely surprised me near the end there. Not sure what people's problem is with that one since I tend to understand the issues with some of the other albums we're knocking around but AOA had an intimacy and honesty to it that still strikes me to this day. Some of it genuinely moved me to tears and a lot of it brought back that old "goosebump" feeling I used to get with his new releases.

To each their own and all that of course.

I 100 million percent agree with this sentiment regarding his recorded output. For my personal tastes, I think this goes all the way back to Lovesexy.


That is the last of the perfect stretch of albums before things began adhering to your spotty comment IMO.


For me, the only post Lovesexy albums I would rate extremely highly are ONA Piano and Hit and Run 2.


That's not to say there aren't a TON of albums that have a lot of great/killer material. (TGE, Come, Lotus). Heck, even Emanciaption is about half full of GREAT songs. It just means there are 90 minutes of questionable material diluting 90 minutes of exceptional stuff.


I really like the way you put the "edited the albums to get what songs you needed from them" bit. Perfect....

leecaldon said:

I would say that AOA is his late period masterpiece

co-sign. I think it's amazing.

Fenwick said:

herb4 said:

Truthfully though, SO MANY of Prince's albums for the last 20 years of his life were spotty and beholden to individual taste(s). Almost all of them went like:

2 or 3 great tracks

2 or 3 good ones

2 or 3 OK ones

2 or 3 bad ones

and 1 absolute stinker

None of them were as visceral as 1999, PR or SoTT as he got older.

I spent a good minute splicing together tracks from albums in ways to suit my needs and individual taste(s) sometime around the name change and received almost all of his albums in the way I describe for a long while (COME, NPS, Rave, LotusFlower, MPLS, Musiciology, Emancipation, Chocolate Invasion, Slaugherhouse, TRC, 20Ten). I had to edit them all to get what I Needed From Them.

The last album of his I dug all the way through was Exodus (minus the segues) and then AOA genuinely surprised me near the end there. Not sure what people's problem is with that one since I tend to understand the issues with some of the other albums we're knocking around but AOA had an intimacy and honesty to it that still strikes me to this day. Some of it genuinely moved me to tears and a lot of it brought back that old "goosebump" feeling I used to get with his new releases.

To each their own and all that of course.

I 100 million percent agree with this sentiment regarding his recorded output. For my personal tastes, I think this goes all the way back to Lovesexy.


That is the last of the perfect stretch of albums before things began adhering to your spotty comment IMO.


For me, the only post Lovesexy albums I would rate extremely highly are ONA Piano and Hit and Run 2.


That's not to say there aren't a TON of albums that have a lot of great/killer material. (TGE, Come, Lotus). Heck, even Emanciaption is about half full of GREAT songs. It just means there are 90 minutes of questionable material diluting 90 minutes of exceptional stuff.


I really like the way you put the "edited the albums to get what songs you needed from them" bit. Perfect....

I'd throw 3121 in there in terms of consistency anyways. But yeah. For a good long minute his offical releases were all over the place quality wise and this board proves it. Some of it boils down to individual taste(s) but fuck me if my man didn't often seem to be intentionally holding The Good Stuff back and burying it.

Glass Cutter, PFUNK, Turn Me Loose...none of those are on an album. I could probably rattle off 50 more that should have seen the light of day, or at least been more front and center. He made us really dig for the gold a lot of times.

[Edited 8/3/20 14:47pm]

I love the lasers.

RJOrion said:

herb4 said:

Ha! Great reviews. I mostly don't agree but still a good read.

AOA I was iffy about when it came out but it grew on me. It's far from perfect, and the concept is half-baked, but it's still a very strong album imho. U Know is my highlight.

PE I like, ish. I've never understood the hatred people have for Girltrouble, I mean it's just a groove with some shouting on top, right? I'm a big fan of WOW.

HitnRun1 is alright. The best tracks are near the end but I find the whole attempt to sound modern at least intriguing if not especially successful. 1000 X's and O's and June would go on any latter-day Prince compilation for me, even if 1000 X's and O's was, what, 25 years old?

HitnRun2 is also alright. I've always found it enjoyable but it also always sounded to me like the kind of thing he could do in his sleep. At least on HitnRun1 he was trying something new. It's a little Prince equivalent of dadrock I guess. S'good though.

My first impressions of the last 4 albums have not changed much.

I thought AOA was a complete masterpiece, and still do. I love the whole album, the concept, the songs themselves. And I prefer this version of FunkNRoll.

PlectrumElectrum . . . ho hum. It has a few good songs (I think Anotherlove is the only "great" song - and it's a cover) but it's almost 1/2 mediocre or bad. I don't listen to this album much, and for me it's in his bottom 5 albums. I do appreciate that 3EG re-energized him though.

HitNRun Phase 1: I don't hate that Prince tried something different, but having said that it's not one of his best outings. I enjoy most of the tracks though, even if I don't listen to it often. I appreciate it more after his passing than I did before. It's in his bottom 5 albums, IMO.

HitNRun Phase 2: Obviously it's a much more accessbile group of songs, and this feels more like a "Prince" release than Phase 1. I listen to this quite often. Still feels like a "collection of songs" rather than an album, but that's OK.