purple1968 said:

SoulAlive said:

I still disagree this album doesn't sound like a Prince-produced album.Prince isn't even into these types of sounds (Timbaland's distinctive electro-pop,Pharrell's minimalist funk..the disco-sounding tracks....).The only Prince influence I hear is in Robin's vocals,and only at certain times.

Timberland and Pharrell have done a lot of production that sound Prince like. You guys can hate all day P has had a big influence on these two.

Newsflash: not every artist or producer is trying to copy Prince Timbaland and Pharrell have done a good job of coming up with their own sounds and beats.

ThickeGirl said:

AlexdeParis said:

I think Thicke should be teaching a class on releasing consistently good albums, because he might be doing it better than anyone else in the last 10-12 years.

Yes!!! Robin has a knack for consistent and excellent production

Disagree. I've followed Thicke since 2002. He's only made one truly cohesive album; the rest seemed to be stuck in neutral.

purple1968 said:

Se7en said:

To the public, Prince has a unique but generalized sound . . . almost a caricature of what he really sounds like.

.

Bands that try to sound like Prince actually sound like this caricaturized sound. The Jets, Ready For The World, etc. including impersonators and those who have been influenced by his sound such as Timberlake and Thicke.

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Does any one of their songs sound like a direct Prince song? No. But overall, they do have "Prince-isms" that are undeniable.

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There are only a few songs that DIRECTLY sound like Prince to me. D'Angelo's "Untitled" and Natural Selection's "Do Anything" being two of the best ones.

Since 1984 I have a 100 songs that directly sounds like Prince.

More than that...............

namepeace said:

ThickeGirl said:

Yes!!! Robin has a knack for consistent and excellent production

Disagree. I've followed Thicke since 2002. He's only made one truly cohesive album; the rest seemed to be stuck in neutral.

We're gonna have to agree to disagree there. The fact that I don't even know which album you think is "truly cohesive" says a lot to me.

AlexdeParis said:

namepeace said:

Disagree. I've followed Thicke since 2002. He's only made one truly cohesive album; the rest seemed to be stuck in neutral.

We're gonna have to agree to disagree there. The fact that I don't even know which album you think is "truly cohesive" says a lot to me.

NBD.

namepeace said:

AlexdeParis said:

We're gonna have to agree to disagree there. The fact that I don't even know which album you think is "truly cohesive" says a lot to me.

NBD.

I am still curious, though. I definitely have it narrowed down to the first 3 albums. I suspect the eclectic nature of the debut eliminates it as well (although I personally feel it holds together quite nicely). If I had to guess, I'd pick Something Else over The Evolution because the former has fewer songs, fewer guest appearances, and none of the Latin-styled detours he took on the previous two albums ("Vengas Conmigo" and "Everything I Can't Have"). Am I right? (FWIW, I definitely think Something Else is his best album.)

the only Robin Thicke album that I'm not crazy about is Sex Therapy.That one was a misstep,but even that album has a handful of good songs.

AlexdeParis said:

namepeace said:

NBD.

I am still curious, though. I definitely have it narrowed down to the first 3 albums. I suspect the eclectic nature of the debut eliminates it as well (although I personally feel it holds together quite nicely). If I had to guess, I'd pick Something Else over The Evolution because the former has fewer songs, fewer guest appearances, and none of the Latin-styled detours he took on the previous two albums ("Vengas Conmigo" and "Everything I Can't Have"). Am I right? (FWIW, I definitely think Something Else is his best album.)

I agree...Something Else is Robin's masterpiece.....a truly tight,focused album from beginning to end...and only one song with a guest artist.

AlexdeParis said:

namepeace said:

NBD.

I am still curious, though. I definitely have it narrowed down to the first 3 albums. I suspect the eclectic nature of the debut eliminates it as well (although I personally feel it holds together quite nicely). If I had to guess, I'd pick Something Else over The Evolution because the former has fewer songs, fewer guest appearances, and none of the Latin-styled detours he took on the previous two albums ("Vengas Conmigo" and "Everything I Can't Have"). Am I right? (FWIW, I definitely think Something Else is his best album.)

I liked the debut, originally titled Cherry Blue Skies, okay, but it seemed as if it was pulled in several different directions. The album was delayed for some time, so it could have been a "too many cooks" situation.

Evolution is, to me, his best outing to date. Nicely balanced, well-paced, etc.

Something Else bored me. Sex Therapy, same. "My Life" has been my favorite song of his, of late.

And please don't get me wrong, I like him.

[Edited 8/18/13 15:05pm]

namepeace said:

AlexdeParis said:

I am still curious, though. I definitely have it narrowed down to the first 3 albums. I suspect the eclectic nature of the debut eliminates it as well (although I personally feel it holds together quite nicely). If I had to guess, I'd pick Something Else over The Evolution because the former has fewer songs, fewer guest appearances, and none of the Latin-styled detours he took on the previous two albums ("Vengas Conmigo" and "Everything I Can't Have"). Am I right? (FWIW, I definitely think Something Else is his best album.)

I liked the debut, originally titled Cherry Blue Skies, okay, but it seemed as if it was pulled in several different directions. The album was delayed for some time, so it could have been a "too many cooks" situation.

Evolution is, to me, his best outing to date. Nicely balanced, well-paced, etc.

Something Else bored me. Sex Therapy, same. "My Life" has been my favorite song of his, of late.

And please don't get me wrong, I like him.

No, I got you. (Don't understand how you could be bored by Something Else though.) In many ways, I think Evolution might be even more chaotic to me than the debut. I'm still not sure "Wanna Love You Girl" really fits after they cut a lot of the similar type songs.

My favorites are still "Would That Make U Love Me" and "You're My Baby" because I think they both have a cool Marvin vibe, which is now kind of ironic.

AlexdeParis said:

namepeace said:

I liked the debut, originally titled Cherry Blue Skies, okay, but it seemed as if it was pulled in several different directions. The album was delayed for some time, so it could have been a "too many cooks" situation.

Evolution is, to me, his best outing to date. Nicely balanced, well-paced, etc.

Something Else bored me. Sex Therapy, same. "My Life" has been my favorite song of his, of late.

And please don't get me wrong, I like him.

No, I got you. (Don't understand how you could be bored by Something Else though.) In many ways, I think Evolution might be even more chaotic to me than the debut. I'm still not sure "Wanna Love You Girl" really fits after they cut a lot of the similar type songs.

My favorites are still "Would That Make U Love Me" and "You're My Baby" because I think they both have a cool Marvin vibe, which is now kind of ironic.

Can't explain my indifference to SE either, I wanted to like it but didn't. And, "Wanna Love You Girl" I think was the "jolt" that made the difference in TEORT. Probably still my favorite Thicke song.

databank said:

I listened to this album and I really like it but... Prince??? Gimme a break!!! It's funny how people assume things sound like when they don't... Just because a dude sings R&B in falsetto doesn't mean that they "sound" like ! This album sounds NOTHING like ! I can't hear a single thing in it that makes me think of let alone think it sounds like he may have produced it... No offense to the OP but it says a lot about his knowledge of music and his capacity to analyze it, which would be ok if he hadn't the nerve to claim who's relevent and who's not

Um. Agreed. I finally got through the whole record...and I have no idea how it sounds like Prince, unless you think Prince invented falsetto.

namepeace said:

ThickeGirl said:

Yes!!! Robin has a knack for consistent and excellent production

Disagree. I've followed Thicke since 2002. He's only made one truly cohesive album; the rest seemed to be stuck in neutral.

There are different sides to production. I am not talking about how the songs are put together on the album, but the quality and production (composition, mixing, etc) of each individual song

In terms of cohesiveness, I think TEORT might be more "cohesive." I think Love After War is his masterpiece. Both Love After War and ABW fit who is truly is as an artist and songwriter

Robin's main influence from the start has always been MJ, not Prince. And then add a heavy dose of Marvin and a touch of Teddy Pendergrass, Frankie Beverly, R. Kelly, and of course Brian McKnight.

Don't forget this one below.

And now this.

MJ, MJ, MJ.

Anyways, I enjoy the album for easy listening hours.

[Edited 9/8/13 3:05am]