I know this is a little late, but perhaps others feel the same.

The new Jesse Album is cool but disappointing. I did not buy or download it. I tried listening to samples again and it did not hit me.

It's too Maxwellish, Curtis Mayfieldish and D'Angeloish. Verbal is a very soulful album, just to mellow for me. I am sure there are some GEM tracks, just not what I like.

It seems like he went away from Funk and did a rock album Bare My Naked Soul,
then went back to hard core black Funk record.

He can't seem to make up his mind?

I like his southern rock funk sound myself (re. Bare My Naked Soul).
Peace Be With You is probably the closest on this album to the sound I like Jesse to play.

Maybe Vol. 2 will be all rock! I hope so. Leave out the talking over the music though.

It's the least Jesse can do after all I saved Jesse's life on the set of Graffiti Bridge!


What are your thoughts? What can you recommend to me on this album that I may like?

I feel guilt for not liking it....

nothing to feel bad about i dont like every song that Michael Jackson or even Prince for that matter records and i dont feel the least bit gulity at all I personally that the Jesse album was a nice album

muskiediver said:

I think I agree. I did expect a bit more rock. It was obvious that Jesse was out to prove something with this outing. It isn't nearly wroth a 2 disc set as the second disc is more than 50% filler and annoying spoken word pieces which aren't really that good. That disc shows where Jesse was simply attempting to stretch his prolificness to an extent that should only be attempted by Prince or maybe Terence Trent Darby.

I met Jesse right after he released his first solo album and I have been a devoted fan since. But I was a little disappointed with this album and I dont feel guilty for not liking it that much. YOu shouldnt either.

I think it sucks.

Every Jesse fan knows that he is a beast on the guitar. why did he feel the need to prove this over and over with a bunch of slow songs that emphasize his playing.

The female vocalist that was copy/pasted onto a handful of tracks was the iceberg that sunk my titanic.

Jesse needs 2 get over his ego. (i know, it sounds ironic)

His insecurities pertaining to Prince comparisons have caused him to stray from the style that brought him the most success musically and financially.

Despite some filler on CD2 I absolutely loved this album. I don't like rock, though.

muskiediver said:

Sounds like you really aren't into soul and funk music. The album is fantastic.

I do not understand how or why you would compare Jesse to D'Angelo, his career was going and doing "okay" waaaayyy before D came around and thought about making an album himself. If you didn't like the album, just say you didn't like it. Why make a comparison? That's just me but if that's how you feel, that's how you feel.

I have the album, listen to like 3 tracks and was not blown away either, unfortunately.

funksterr said:

Verbal Penetration is far from funky.

if you don't like it...so what? Why all the teeth gnashing about it? Hell- I was a devoted- "sell Prince to every person that asks about music" for more than two decades. Now I haven't bought a record of his since ...um....had to look...RAVE. For the very same reasons you state. And I don't feel bad about it at all. Hoping to have something again I feel is worth my $$, but it's been a looong time. Jesse on the other hand..I bought it. And still play the first disc.

minneapolisFunq said:

Bullshit. Better give it another spin.

funksterr said:

For real.If the title track,100 watts of funky,and
Slo Burnin don't get you movin you just don't have
a pulse.

That album flows slower than syrup on toast.

I couldnt catch a groove on any track.

3 funky jams out of 29 songs is not a very good ratio, even if I agreed with your opinions I would still be dissapointed. (unless those jams were extremely revue-esque)

Jesse hasn't done a Revuesque album in 25 years so
why would he do one now. I dug Every Shade of Love but it was
hardly Revuesque like the first two albums as
there were no Revue band members playing on that album.
[Edited 4/11/10 21:54pm]

phunkdaddy said:

"Revuesque"? What the hell? LOL. Simply adding "-esque" on the end of words isnt always right.

funksterr said:

No, I love funk. I like D' Angelo, Parliament, Fishbone, Prince etc.. I don't like artists like Maxwell...too mellow. Puts me to sleep. Although he sounds very talented....just not my cup of tea.

I like funk that causes restless leg syndrome or makes your head bop without even thinking about it.

I don't like mellow soul. I don't like things contrived...and maybe that's what Jesse's album is too me is contrived.

I love Jesse's guitar playing. I prefer his rock funk sound over his earlier albums because I feel it is not contrived and is more his style and what he loves to play.

I think his new album suffers from egotistical thinking and he is trying to prove something.

I have been waiting for Jesse’s new album for a long time, and I guess it just was not what I expected.

As hard as I tried to like Verbal, I could not. I listened to samples and I just did not feel it. The last song (mentioned earlier) was about the closest to what I liked). I don't need all that sweet singing stuff. I mean one or two songs is cool but not practically the whole album. Bare My Naked soul is a classic album for Jesse. Verbal is someone trying to prove something.
[Edited 4/12/10 6:47am]

Brofie said:

It makes perfect sense in this case.

I want 2 hear some mplssound based jams.

VP failed 2 deliver.

minneapolisFunq said:

I agree that VP failed - but so did that word you invented

muskiediver said:

This is as much a soul record as it is funk. I don't know why you say mellow soul is 'contrived' but done properly it shouldn't sound that way. My best guess is you are like I was and you just don't 'get' the record. I didn't at first. I was on another thread complaining about it. "I want Jesse to give it to me like it's 1985." It was going to take a truly special album for me to look past my expectations and accept Verbal Penetration. And that is exactly what VP is. It is a modern day Songs In The Key Of Life. It kicks Sign O The Times' x-rated-can't-listen-to-it-at-work-or-with-my-kids-around azz. If you get the entire record, instead of just the samples, and spend some time with it I doubt you will be disappointed.

Enough with the subliminals already blaqueknight.

I'm at question of what funk is because I prefer a more modern sound?

what a joke of a comment.

Dont try to tell me what I like, "Funk Rock" is only one piece of the puzzle.

I enjoy a wide variety of funk music but my preference is 80s based.

Your bias has caused you 2 disregard my opinion because "I dont know the history".

please drop the bullshit, if anything you are making yourself look like a complete hypocrite by implying that MPLS influenced jams arent "real funk".

you are just sad.

you posted a youtube link to a song in a recent thread i created titled "you havent done nothin" as some type of snipe at my personal preferences.

Get over it, I never had a problem with you before so why would you go out of your way 2 create static?

moving on.....

JJ is a founding father of the mplsound, should I not be dissapointed if he doesnt even give me a taste of it?

VP is just too slow for me, even the "funky?" songs lack the energy I was expecting on at least a couple of songs. Of course the guitar work is masterful on tracks like merciful but it frustrates me when one of the last artists capable of bringing some select funk my way totally ditches the idea.


lol@u dissing Prince. I'm not biting the bait. sry.

Your opinion is completely biased and ego driven.


why cant funk have synthesizers and drum machines? whats the problem here?

The 80s were a different era, just because you consider it "funk lite" doesnt mean it has any less power.


As I have stated before, all I asked for is at least ONE throwback jam, instead I get completely shut out.

minneapolisFunq said:

I'm sure jesse is missing your support. I am in agreement with BlaqueKnight, Prince has grown static and that whole MPLS debacle was TERRIBLE! He can't even do is own sound well anymore. Drums WAY too loud, mixes were terrible. It's one thing to have invented a sound, it's another to get stuck in it. As I tell people who like a group at a certain point in their career - enjoy it! But you don't have to go out of your way to begrudge them some growth artistically. Sheesh- I recall saying that a LOT about Prince back in the late 80s!

BlaqueKnight said:

What i've been saying all along. Verbal Penetration represents growth in a
positive way musically and vocally from Jesse. Vocally he's never sounded
this good. I dug the classic Mpls sound too but come on man i don't want to
hear Free World or Can You Help Me version 2010. Mint Condition did well
to establish their own sound after Jimmy and Terry put them on and not
get stereotyped as another Prince sounding band.

Take into consideration that I am most likely considerably younger than you guys and I cant look forward 2 new funk as you may have back in the 70s and 80s.

I dont want to see the music I love just die out due to the originators completely abandoning the sound.


"Growth" usually causes an artist to drift from the sound that fans supported them for in the first place.


(Since you guys want to drag Prince into this we can use him as an example)

I understand where you coming from Minneapolis Funq but there
has to be a little progression from that era as long as you
don't have veteran acts trying to crossover into hip hop
which would be pathetic. I didn't see that with Jesse's latest album.
He probably didn't amp up the funk the way you liked but he sure
as hell didn't sell out to hip hop like some acts do.

minneapolisFunq said:

Don't get it twisted. That's not what I'm saying. Quote where I said that.
I'm not trying to change your tastes; I'm just telling you how it was back then. There was sooo much funk going on in the late 70s and artists like Prince helped usher in new sounds because they brought in technology into the mix. You had artists like Zapp, Midnight Star and the like coming in with new sounds and artists like Soulsonic Force and the Jonzun Crew building on what Kraftwerk started. There were a bunch of things happening at the same time. Hip-hop was starting. Funk was considered a 70s sound and the newer guys (like Prince at the time) were trying to disassociate themselves from funk in the same way that the newjack swing artists tried to disassociate themselves from the 80s artists and the neo-soul artists tried to distance themselves from the contemporary R&B that was going on in the "Babyface era" (mid to late 90s).
Synths changed the game, yes. Synths were around in the 70s and Stevie and Parliament showed just how funky they could be.
I'm a big fan of the 80s synth funk, too but its not just MY opinion that it was not as funky as the 70s funk; its a fact known by those creating it because at the time, people were trying to create newer sounds. Go back and listen to "Grace" by the Time. "Funk is dead; funk is something you can learn in school - and ain't nothin' funky about bein' cool" - that was the mindset of Prince at that moment, since we know he wrote the lines. All I'm saying is that there was a difference. In the 80s, everybody was trying to sound different and incorporating other elements and styles and coming up with new styles to utilize the technology.

BlaqueKnight said:

That's it. Well said Blaque. I totally agree.

I still miss some of Jesse's signature guitar funk rhythm playing on the new record. I bought the CD before it even came out and I am not sorry to have it. I don't really care if it uses the 80s synths and drum machines or not, even though those are fun to hear. I love his playing from jazz to rock to funk. But there is something I really love about his funk rhythm sound and playing - like the breakdown on She Won't Let Go, or the rhythm playing on I'm The One, or the time he brought back Be Your Man even cooler than the original in one of his other remixes (can't remember which one) or him messing around on guitar at the very beginning of Da Krash's record. There's tons of other examples - it's all over his first three records and the ones he produced. This playing to me is one of his signatures and is totally different from Prince's rhythm playing and sound, even though some of the signature chords are the same. I would love to hear a lot more of that and it's what I missed the most on the new record.
[Edited 4/23/10 11:26am]

I was thinking yesterday while listening to this album in the car: if Prince had released this, we would still be reading about the demise of his career and what a pretentious, overblown, egocentric mess it is.