'verbal penetration', by jesse johnson, is much better than prince's mediocre albums like 'planet earth' or 'rave'... actually, jesse has become really fabulous!

[Edited 8/7/10 9:51am]

vitalbacon said:

'verbal penetration', by jesse johnson, is much better than prince's mediocre albums like 'planet earth' or 'rave'... actually, jesse has become really fabulous!

[Edited 8/7/10 9:51am]

1. Wrong forum.

2. Rave came out 11 years ago and Planet Earth came out 3 years ago. By the title of this thread, you need to be comparing "Verbal Penetration" to "20TEN".

3. I love me some Jesse, but "Verbal Penetration", though it does have a handful of killer tracks, is too long, too meandering, and too scattershot. It's not anywhere near as good as "20Ten", or "Lotusflow3r/MPLSoUND", Prince's album from last year.

I disagree. I think VP is better than any CD Prince has done in the past 10 years or so. Its not scattered. You have to understand the connection to get it. And how in the hell is it too long and yet Lotusflower is 3 discs? GTFOH with that.

Prince can do it but no one else is allowed to, right?

[Edited 8/7/10 10:57am]

BlaqueKnight said:

I disagree. I think VP is better than any CD Prince has done in the past 10 years or so. Its not scattered. You have to understand the connection to get it. And how in the hell is it too long and yet Lotusflower is 3 discs? GTFOH with that.

Prince can do it but no one else is allowed to, right?

[Edited 8/7/10 10:57am]

Don't play dumb.

It's too long because at least TEN tracks on there are intros/interludes/skits. It's too long because even the biggest Jesse fan (like myself) does not need to hear entire songs of Jesse being interviewed or random-ass commentaries on Astrology.

Don't get it twisted and act like I don't get it. I love cuts like "Sheila Rae", the title track, "100 Watts of Funky", "U & I R We R Us", etc. Cut it down to 1 disc without all the random ass interludes and talking and there's potentially a classic album there.

Lotusflower is two discs, not three. Bria's album is it's own entity that just happens to come with the Prince records.

And guess what? There's no intros or random fucking interludes, or tracks of Prince being interviewed, and only ONE instrumental on the "Lotusflower" set.

Jesse made the mistake of disappearing for 15 years and hence he had NO idea about how to make a consistent record. It sounds like he went through a bunch of musical stages in the last decade, picked a few cuts from each phase and threw them all on a double album. Like I said - scattered.

Furthermore - he pretty much ignored the hardcore "MPLS" fanbase that made him successful in the first place. I personally can dig the rock and neosoul sounds he's doing now, but cats like minneapolisfunq on this very forum prove that there are people out there that feel abandoned by what Jesse is doing now, and those feelings are valid too.

Again - Prince has shown that you can make fresh, exciting new music that doesn't abandon your roots either. Jesse needs to have a listen to "Lavaux" or "Sticky Like Glue", go out and get himself some Oberheims and throw down some jams like he did back in the day.

I mean damn - I didn't count a SINGLE ridiculously loud, industrial-sounding snare on "Verbal Penetration" - that was Jesse's freakin modus operandi back in the day!

At the end of the day, this is the cat that made "Be Your Man", "Free World", "Can U Help Me", "Blueberry Gossip", "Undress", "Trapped In Phases", "Wasn't I Good To Ya", "Fast Girls", "Baby Let's Kiss".......... and I know for damn sure he can still throw it down like that.

I agree!

"Verbal Penetration" musically trumps every released album by Prince from this decade except the piano version by "One Night Alone" & "The Rainbow Children".

To me I think Jesse's REAL good discography started with "Bare My Naked Soul". I'd say her revived himself musically from that point on. I just hope he won't make a habbit out of taking these long hiatuses.

Militant said:

BlaqueKnight said:

I disagree. I think VP is better than any CD Prince has done in the past 10 years or so. Its not scattered. You have to understand the connection to get it. And how in the hell is it too long and yet Lotusflower is 3 discs? GTFOH with that.

Prince can do it but no one else is allowed to, right?

[Edited 8/7/10 10:57am]

Don't play dumb.

It's too long because at least TEN tracks on there are intros/interludes/skits. It's too long because even the biggest Jesse fan (like myself) does not need to hear entire songs of Jesse being interviewed or random-ass commentaries on Astrology.

Don't get it twisted and act like I don't get it. I love cuts like "Sheila Rae", the title track, "100 Watts of Funky", "U & I R We R Us", etc. Cut it down to 1 disc without all the random ass interludes and talking and there's potentially a classic album there.

Lotusflower is two discs, not three. Bria's album is it's own entity that just happens to come with the Prince records.

And guess what? There's no intros or random fucking interludes, or tracks of Prince being interviewed, and only ONE instrumental on the "Lotusflower" set.

Jesse made the mistake of disappearing for 15 years and hence he had NO idea about how to make a consistent record. It sounds like he went through a bunch of musical stages in the last decade, picked a few cuts from each phase and threw them all on a double album. Like I said - scattered.

Furthermore - he pretty much ignored the hardcore "MPLS" fanbase that made him successful in the first place. I personally can dig the rock and neosoul sounds he's doing now, but cats like minneapolisfunq on this very forum prove that there are people out there that feel abandoned by what Jesse is doing now, and those feelings are valid too.

Again - Prince has shown that you can make fresh, exciting new music that doesn't abandon your roots either. Jesse needs to have a listen to "Lavaux" or "Sticky Like Glue", go out and get himself some Oberheims and throw down some jams like he did back in the day.

I mean damn - I didn't count a SINGLE ridiculously loud, industrial-sounding snare on "Verbal Penetration" - that was Jesse's freakin modus operandi back in the day!

At the end of the day, this is the cat that made "Be Your Man", "Free World", "Can U Help Me", "Blueberry Gossip", "Undress", "Trapped In Phases", "Wasn't I Good To Ya", "Fast Girls", "Baby Let's Kiss".......... and I know for damn sure he can still throw it down like that.

So, in other words, because Jesse is not doing what you and a few others want him to do and because he's not constraining himself to an all but dead song format (album), he's not cutting it? Please. First off, Verbal Penetration (title song) is very much old school Jesse. You could have stuck VP on the Grafitti Bridge soundtrack right next to Skillet and Blondie and it would have fit perfectly.

I find it funny how Prince is allowed to grow, change up his style with every different set of musicians he hires and do whatever, whenever and yet Jesse is supposed to still be playing music from 1984. I would be disappointed if an artist like Jesse didn't grow and change. And lets not talk about the king of musical meanderings himself - Prince. You really can't comment on Jesse's interludes when Prince, who has been releasing every musical riff that comes off the top of his head, has had a TON of interludes and transitions over the years. One set of rules for Prince - another for everyone else, eh? Why not respect the fact that Jesse is his own artist and decided to do things his own way? He didn't do another "Bare My Naked Soul" because he did that in 94', which by the way, was what his fan base wanted him to do at the time. Everybody kept saying how they wished Jesse would do a rock album, so he did one. He went deeper into his soul roots on this one, as many artists who have had time to reflect on their work do. He's already done the MN funk records and he even did a bit of it on this record. You can't expect people to lay around in time capsules. He expressed himself according to where he is now. Just like I have done with Prince, if you don't like it - ignore it and listen to his old shit. No harm, no foul. I think VP is a great piece of work in its entirerty and I hope he makes another great disc soon.

To be honest about it, Verbal Penetration is a significantly better album than anything Prince has released in the last 10 years. I don't even think its a close call.

BlaqueKnight said:

So, in other words, because Jesse is not doing what you and a few others want him to do and because he's not constraining himself to an all but dead song format (album), he's not cutting it? Please. First off, Verbal Penetration (title song) is very much old school Jesse. You could have stuck VP on the Grafitti Bridge soundtrack right next to Skillet and Blondie and it would have fit perfectly.

I find it funny how Prince is allowed to grow, change up his style with every different set of musicians he hires and do whatever, whenever and yet Jesse is supposed to still be playing music from 1984. I would be disappointed if an artist like Jesse didn't grow and change. And lets not talk about the king of musical meanderings himself - Prince. You really can't comment on Jesse's interludes when Prince, who has been releasing every musical riff that comes off the top of his head, has had a TON of interludes and transitions over the years. One set of rules for Prince - another for everyone else, eh? Why not respect the fact that Jesse is his own artist and decided to do things his own way? He didn't do another "Bare My Naked Soul" because he did that in 94', which by the way, was what his fan base wanted him to do at the time. Everybody kept saying how they wished Jesse would do a rock album, so he did one. He went deeper into his soul roots on this one, as many artists who have had time to reflect on their work do. He's already done the MN funk records and he even did a bit of it on this record. You can't expect people to lay around in time capsules. He expressed himself according to where he is now. Just like I have done with Prince, if you don't like it - ignore it and listen to his old shit. No harm, no foul. I think VP is a great piece of work in its entirerty and I hope he makes another great disc soon.[/b]

No, that isn't what I said at all. I don't mind if Jesse isn't throwing down MPLS grooves as long as the songs are good. And the songs on VP ARE good, as I said - I dig them a lot. What I don't dig, as I said, is all the random ass intros, skits, interludes, and unnecessary tracks of Jesse being interviewed and pointless speeches about Astrology.

If I want to hear someone talking about Astrology, I'll listen to a podcast by an Astrologer who knows what he's talking about. I don't need that on the first album an artist I LOVE has released in 15 fucking years.

And I CAN AND WILL comment on those pointless interludes and unnecessary rambling speeches and interview songs without it being a double standard regarding Prince. It's not a double standard because I'd call Prince out on it, too. But the last time he did it was damn near 10 years ago on The Rainbow Children - an album I can BARELY listen to.

Just like the thread title says, "LATEST jesse johnson vs LATEST prince".

Last time I checked - there were NO random intros, skits, interludes on "20TEN", "Lotusflow3r", "MPLSoUND", "Planet Earth", "3121" - Oh look! I just listed everything Prince has released in the last 5 years!

It isn't one set of rules for Prince and another for everyone else. Maybe some fans put their points across that way, but that ain't me, and I've been around this site for long enough and had enough conversations with you in enough different threads for you to know better, so don't talk to me like I'm some sort of blind fam who is heavily biased towards Prince all the time.

The title track is funky for sure but it doesn't sound like a MPLS groove to me. At all. Nothing on the album does. And I'm not expecting to him sound like he's stuck in 1984 either, but SOME acknowledgement of it would be nice, mixed in with other sounds. Prince can do it - listen to "Lavaux" - it sounds fresh as hell and it's quite clearly a stone cold MPLS groove at the same time and it doesn't sound like it's from 1984.

The fact that you ended your post with "if you don't like it, don't listen to it", shows that you didn't even read my post, where I stated more than once that I DO dig the album. But it ain't better than what Prince is doing. It ain't even better than Jesse's own previous work. Doesn't mean it's not good. But it is what it is.

I don't understand how U became a fan of Jesse in the first place if U don't like his earlier music.

I have already stated in previous threads discussing VP all I wanted was atleast one throwback jam and I walked away empty handed.

VP was too mellow 4 my liking and those damn backround singers ruined my experience. (Prince has a habit of throwing unecessary vocalists on songs as well)

Maybe asking 4 a danceable groove was unrealistic, but a searing rock song could have sufficed.

Lotusflow3r easily trumps VP

The various range of styles, the songwriting, the cohesion, and the guitar work are put together very nicely.

20ten? Sheiit

Lavaux,Act of God,Sticky Like Glue,Laydown

Those trax all slam

Militant said:

No, that isn't what I said at all. I don't mind if Jesse isn't throwing down MPLS grooves as long as the songs are good. And the songs on VP ARE good, as I said - I dig them a lot. What I don't dig, as I said, is all the random ass intros, skits, interludes, and unnecessary tracks of Jesse being interviewed and pointless speeches about Astrology.

If I want to hear someone talking about Astrology, I'll listen to a podcast by an Astrologer who knows what he's talking about. I don't need that on the first album an artist I LOVE has released in 15 fucking years.

And I CAN AND WILL comment on those pointless interludes and unnecessary rambling speeches and interview songs without it being a double standard regarding Prince. It's not a double standard because I'd call Prince out on it, too. But the last time he did it was damn near 10 years ago on The Rainbow Children - an album I can BARELY listen to.

Just like the thread title says, "LATEST jesse johnson vs LATEST prince".

Last time I checked - there were NO random intros, skits, interludes on "20TEN", "Lotusflow3r", "MPLSoUND", "Planet Earth", "3121" - Oh look! I just listed everything Prince has released in the last 5 years!

It isn't one set of rules for Prince and another for everyone else. Maybe some fans put their points across that way, but that ain't me, and I've been around this site for long enough and had enough conversations with you in enough different threads for you to know better, so don't talk to me like I'm some sort of blind fam who is heavily biased towards Prince all the time.

The title track is funky for sure but it doesn't sound like a MPLS groove to me. At all. Nothing on the album does. And I'm not expecting to him sound like he's stuck in 1984 either, but SOME acknowledgement of it would be nice, mixed in with other sounds. Prince can do it - listen to "Lavaux" - it sounds fresh as hell and it's quite clearly a stone cold MPLS groove at the same time and it doesn't sound like it's from 1984.

The fact that you ended your post with "if you don't like it, don't listen to it", shows that you didn't even read my post, where I stated more than once that I DO dig the album. But it ain't better than what Prince is doing. It ain't even better than Jesse's own previous work. Doesn't mean it's not good. But it is what it is.

I did read your post. I know you aren't some mindless fanbot. I've leistened to 20Ten and I like Lavaux but let's be real here - Prince had abandoned his own sound for quite a while there himself. Honestly, it should be no suprise that Jesse would be the one to differ from the rest of the MN crew. Jesse has always been the rebel. Maybe his next album will be a return to MN form? I don't know. I think Verbal Penetration is a good record. I like where he went with it and I like the fact that he took some chances. I loved the "credits". Since CDs are all but done, that was a good way to give answers to some of the questions the download crowd would have. The interview just seemed like Jesse having fun. He gave a solid record whether you like it or not. You can easily make a folder on your mp3 player of the ones you like. I think Jesse knows this because of how he did the credits. He seems pretty aware of the state of music. He had some stellar guitar work on this record. Jesse is eating Prince alive on guitar. We just have different opinions on the material. If you want to comapre latest Jesse vs. latest Prince, I'll take latest Jesse. Aside from Lavaux and maybe Sea Of Everything, I won't even give 20Ten another listen. Sticky Like Glue is weak to me. Most of Prince's lastest work has been dull to me. I'll take Jesse.

I'll take Jesse VP over Lotusflower and 20ten.

I found 2 tracks on 20ten that i would consider fresh.

Most of 20ten to me sounds like stuff Prince has had

on the shelf for several years. Contrary to the belief of a select few,

VP does have elements of Minneapolis funk on it. Slo Burinin sounds

like it was conceived during the Shockadelica period. Propaganda

sounds like it came from the Every Shade of Love Period as well

as the title track VP. You're just plain lame if you can't feel the groove

of the title track which is vintage Jesse.

BlaqueKnight said:

I disagree. I think VP is better than any CD Prince has done in the past 10 years or so. Its not scattered. You have to understand the connection to get it. And how in the hell is it too long and yet Lotusflower is 3 discs? GTFOH with that.

Prince can do it but no one else is allowed to, right?

[Edited 8/7/10 10:57am]

I agree!! and Bare My Naked Soul to me is better than ANY guitar rock music Prince has done yet. I love what Jesse is doing!! I liked him in the 80s but he really reeled me in with the Bare My Naked Soul cd. I love VP and I think it is better than anything Prince has done SINCE leaving WB. Now VP against the WB catalogue is a different story

the interviews on vp aren't interviews, but funny and even exciting pieces of music. same about the astrology-lecture, which is a rap. and the interludes on vp aren't irrelevant, they're beautiful.

i agree that with 'latest prince' i couldn't mean 'very latest' prince, because indeed, lotus en 20ten are quiet amazing records, thank god;

yet: it's absolutely dishonest that 'planet earth' or 'rave' or 'musicology' got so much more attention than verbal penetration. in europe, you cannot even buy it in stores...

[Edited 8/8/10 2:18am]

I'll say that the best stuff on Jesse's cd is better than the best on Prince's. They both have filler - just different kinds imo. At least I feel Jesses has evolved. 20ten feels like forced nostalgia.

Zannaloaf said:

I'll say that the best stuff on Jesse's cd is better than the best on Prince's. They both have filler - just different kinds imo. At least I feel Jesses has evolved. 20ten feels like forced nostalgia.

I agree with that statement. Jesse does have some filler. He could have just released one cd of pure classics. I think VP is miles ahead of Prince's last ten years though. Come on P get some freaking desire and passion for the music again!! Listening to VP you can tell Jesse put a lot into this cd. Its an excellent release!! Prince stuff is just stuff that sounds like its thrown together last minute with no effort or thought. I was even noticeing how ALOT of his songs now start with that intro beat now which is just laziness if you ask me. It does make me laugh everytime i hear it. I know i am weird. That is a pet pieve of mine and I try not to ever do that on my music.

Zannaloaf said:

I'll say that the best stuff on Jesse's cd is better than the best on Prince's. They both have filler - just different kinds imo. At least I feel Jesses has evolved. 20ten feels like forced nostalgia.

I think you guys need to re-examine what filler is. Filler material is throwaway tracks - tracks that artists know are second rate but put them on the CD because they need to have enough songs for a complete CD instead of only having 3-5 singles they plan to push.

There is NO FILLER on Jesse's disc. He put more than enough tracks on the disc to be a single CD. If you condensed his discs down to one, you'd have a CD full of singles. He was trying to say something through his music. Some may not like what he had to say but that doesn't mean that what he put on there was filler.

[Edited 8/8/10 15:53pm]

I gotta agree wih the VP side. It's best tracks are easily better than its rivals on 20TEN. Prince hasn't played guitar like Jesse did on VP in quite awhile. And the lyrics?? What happened to Prince's lyrical content? That psuedo-rap on "Sticky", especially the way it ends, is brutal.

- JD

Depends on what u like. I dig Jesse but VP is basically a lead guitar played over primarily a bunch of 4 bar loops. I don't know why u would compare this 2 the type of music Prince does which is constructed with bridges, changes, temp moves and all kinds of stuff.....many time in the same song.

2 COMPLETELY different type of artist in my opinion. I really do like Jesse's lyrics though.

Graycap23 said:

Depends on what u like. I dig Jesse but VP is basically a lead guitar played over primarily a bunch of 4 bar loops. I don't know why u would compare this 2 the type of music Prince does which is constructed with bridges, changes, temp moves and all kinds of stuff.....many time in the same song.

2 COMPLETELY different type of artist in my opinion. I really do like Jesse's lyrics though.

I'm saying.

About half of the Verbal Penetration album is just lazy throwaway, and yes, filler.

And I love Jesse, so I'm not just saying it to have a dig at him or to counter the folks that think this stuff is better than what P is doing. I'm saying it because I KNOW Jesse is capable of more than what he has displayed with this album.

And it's not just a MPLS thing either, because Bare My Naked Soul was a great record.

VP has it's moments, sure. But I don't think it's a GREAT album. It's just a fairly good one.

On a different note, can any other Jesse fans on here tell me exactly when the song "Vibe" was recorded? On Jesse's Greatest Hits CD liner notes it simply states it's previously unreleased, but I'd like to know when it's from.

It sounds like it's from the 90's, to me. I dig that song much more than anything on VP.

Graycap23 said:

Depends on what u like. I dig Jesse but VP is basically a lead guitar played over primarily a bunch of 4 bar loops. I don't know why u would compare this 2 the type of music Prince does which is constructed with bridges, changes, temp moves and all kinds of stuff.....many time in the same song.

2 COMPLETELY different type of artist in my opinion. I really do like Jesse's lyrics though.

Prince has been doing songs with 4 bar loops for over a decade and sometimes

with out the lead guitar but it doesn't diminish some of the work he's done.

There's been hits and misses.

phunkdaddy said:

Graycap23 said:

Depends on what u like. I dig Jesse but VP is basically a lead guitar played over primarily a bunch of 4 bar loops. I don't know why u would compare this 2 the type of music Prince does which is constructed with bridges, changes, temp moves and all kinds of stuff.....many time in the same song.

2 COMPLETELY different type of artist in my opinion. I really do like Jesse's lyrics though.

Prince has been doing songs with 4 bar loops for over a decade and sometimes

with out the lead guitar but it doesn't diminish some of the work he's done.

There's been hits and misses.

What % of Prince's music is 4 bar looped base? I'm sure he has some and I just have not been paying attention. With Jesse's VP, it is more obvious I suppose.

Truth is VP is a very good piece of work, but to compare it to Prince is crazy when Prince's influence is all over it. VP has a good sound a feel to it, but it's nothing new or cutting edge about it (don't get me wrong...it's good...really good), but Prince is already passed that and as always is ahead of other artist when it comes to music.

The student has not become the master!

HeyJay said:

Truth is VP is a very good piece of work, but to compare it to Prince is crazy when Prince's influence is all over it. VP has a good sound a feel to it, but it's nothing new or cutting edge about it (don't get me wrong...it's good...really good), but Prince is already passed that and as always is ahead of other artist when it comes to music.

The student has not become the master!

um- no it's not. Prince NEVER sounded like that. Maybe some Curtis Mayfield and Hendrix, but I don't hear ANY Prince.

20ten sounds to me like me Prince has nowhere new to go.

"20Ten" is Prince's best album in years, with the exception of that rediculous bullshit shit hop nonsense track at the end of it which he needs his ass beat for making. I didn't even buy Jesse's latest album because all I heard in the samples was neo stool which is a genre I also despise for keeping R&B dull.

I give credit where credit is due though. Jesse kicked Prince's ass up, down, sideways, and all up the street from 1985 to 1988 when he was throwing down the jams while Prince's head was off in La La Land somewhere making shit that sounded like it came from India or Paris, France or something. But Prince got it right this time and kicked Jesse's ass with this one.

I guess it all comes down to who is the hungriest which always seemed to be Jesse. Jesse was hungrier than Prince in the late 1980s so he played what the general public wanted to hear, which was the Minneapolis style funk that had made him famous. That was all great back then because that kind of music is good music. But apparently, he's still hungry because now he made an album that the general public might go for which is neo stool. Well, that's not fine with me because neo stool is dull so I didn't buy it just like I don't buy or support any other artist that makes something from a dull genre. If you support a dull genre, that just gives the artists that make it more sales and the dull genre will never die. My goal is to see both shit hop and neo stool either completely die or go underground so that something good can take over R&B. That will never happen if you give an artist you love a sale for making music from a genre you despise.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/25/10 8:08am]

I have to agree totally with Militant regarding Jesse's album, if all the waffle was cut out and pared down to one album, it would have been brilliant but as it stands it's just an ''alright'' album. Much preferred Bare My Naked Soul.

HeyJay said:

Truth is VP is a very good piece of work, but to compare it to Prince is crazy when Prince's influence is all over it. VP has a good sound a feel to it, but it's nothing new or cutting edge about it (don't get me wrong...it's good...really good), but Prince is already passed that and as always is ahead of other artist when it comes to music.

The student has not become the master!

I'm going to ignore the first line of your post and dismiss it as some fanbot groupthink shit and ask you to show and prove what you said. I guess we're pretending that Jesse wasn't part of the MN sound and that he's somehow copying what he helped build, but okay whatever.

[img:$uid]http://i40.tinypic.com/2d1n6o8.jpg[/img:$uid]

Why does an artist have to "evolve" and be "ahead" of everyone including himself?

VP sounds nothing like Prince (to me atleast)

I wonder when/if Jesse will release a new album

Militant said:

vitalbacon said:

'verbal penetration', by jesse johnson, is much better than prince's mediocre albums like 'planet earth' or 'rave'... actually, jesse has become really fabulous!

[Edited 8/7/10 9:51am]

1. Wrong forum.

2. Rave came out 11 years ago and Planet Earth came out 3 years ago. By the title of this thread, you need to be comparing "Verbal Penetration" to "20TEN".

3. I love me some Jesse, but "Verbal Penetration", though it does have a handful of killer tracks, is too long, too meandering, and too scattershot. It's not anywhere near as good as "20Ten", or "Lotusflow3r/MPLSoUND", Prince's album from last year.

YOu said it all - Jesse fans were so excited by the breadth and depth that Jesse attempted wit his last project after so many years since Bare My Naked Soul, that they grossly overrated the album. It does have some killer tracks - but they are almost negated by the amount of pretentious crap that surrounds them. THe second disc is almost unlistenable with all the spoken word hippie garbage and the most bogus sounding, self serving, staged interview I have ever heard - its not clever enough to be parody or interesting enough to be entertaining. Even Prince wouldnt actually devote a huge chunk of an album to this.

I love Jesse. Always have. Had the chance to meet him a couple of times. Stood in line ot get an autpgrpahed when his first solo album came out and played te grooves off the record. I own 3 coplies of Bare My Naked Solo and a couple of conerts from that tour. And, after Prince, he is my fav guitar hero (as Hendrixis in a sepreate category that only he can occupies in my mind). I wanted the new album to be great - but Jesse reached for too much and it shows. VP doesnt showcase an artist who is prolific enough for a doulbe album. Only Prince can really do that now. I dont even know if Stevie WOnder could get away with it today.

When you boil both disc down, you get about 3/4 of a solid single album.

[Edited 8/30/10 8:09am]

[Edited 8/30/10 8:18am]

Spandau said:

Militant said:

1. Wrong forum.

2. Rave came out 11 years ago and Planet Earth came out 3 years ago. By the title of this thread, you need to be comparing "Verbal Penetration" to "20TEN".

3. I love me some Jesse, but "Verbal Penetration", though it does have a handful of killer tracks, is too long, too meandering, and too scattershot. It's not anywhere near as good as "20Ten", or "Lotusflow3r/MPLSoUND", Prince's album from last year.

YOu said it all - Jesse fans were so excited by the breadth and depth that Jesse attempted wit his last project after so many years since Bare My Naked Soul, that they grossly overrated the album. It does have some killer tracks - but they are almost negated by the amount of pretentious crap that surrounds them. THe second disc is almost unlistenable with all the spoken word hippie garbage and the most bogus sounding, self serving, staged interview I have ever heard - its not clever enough to be parody or interesting enough to be entertaining. Even Prince wouldnt actually devote a huge chunk of an album to this.

I love Jesse. Always have. Had the chance to meet him a couple of times. Stood in line ot get an autpgrpahed when his first solo album came out and played te grooves off the record. I own 3 coplies of Bare My Naked Solo and a couple of conerts from that tour. And, after Prince, he is my fav guitar hero (as Hendrixis in a sepreate category that only he can occupies in my mind). I wanted the new album to be great - but Jesse reached for too much and it shows. VP doesnt showcase an artist who is prolific enough for a doulbe album. Only Prince can really do that now. I dont even know if Stevie WOnder could get away with it today.

When you boil both disc down, you get about 3/4 of a solid single album.

[Edited 8/30/10 8:09am]

[Edited 8/30/10 8:18am]

Prince can barely get a single album worth listening to anymore. I agree I can live without a certain amount of what is on the album, but if I keep my fave tracks it's a solid cd. It's not even about the guitar to me-it's about the songs, and I like a lot of the ones on VP.