Hello!

lyrics anywhere?

I received my CD today direct from the States although strangely it was minus the Digi booklet, it just had a gold CD in a digipak minus the pack LOL

I'll have to chase that up.

At first I was wary of this, esp. after hearing that 30 sec snippet of Superconductor earlier this year, I thought 'oh no, sounds like Rihanna or other commercial stuff'. Thankfully that snippet was only part of the song, it's actually pretty good.

Anyhow, pleasantly surprised with this. It has Prince all over it, it's lovely, it has some amazingly mellow thoughtful songs, they deal with more spiritual issues than sexual ones which is a divergence from his last few associated album artists as well as the fact they are not so obviously chasing radio play.

There are some nice musical flourishes and arrangements, often borrowed from earlier albums which chime in nicely.

It reminds me slightly of 'The Truth' with its raw acoustic sound but happily this is interspersed with some real funky songs as well.

Andy's raspy smoky voice comes across well and adds a lot.

Early stand-outs for me are The Calm, Nothing More and When Stars Collide.

This maintains my belief that Prince's associate artist albums are often on a par if not better than his own ones....they allow him to be 'freer' musically and to express ideas and music not usually compatible with his more racy 'Prince' persona.

I think the fact he releases so many associate artist albums also has the advantage that the attention isn't as much on him, it's on the artist who wants it.

RECOMMENDED FOR ALL FANS.

[Edited 12/20/12 9:12am]

TheFreakerFantastic said:

I received my CD today direct from the States although strangely it was minus the Digi booklet, it just had a gold CD in a digipak minus the pack LOL

I'll have to chase that up.

At first I was wary of this, esp. after hearing that 30 sec snippet of Superconductor earlier this year, I thought 'oh no, sounds like Rihanna or other commercial stuff'. Thankfully that snippet was only part of the song, it's actually pretty good.

Anyhow, pleasantly surprised with this. It has Prince all over it, it's lovely, it has some amazingly mellow thoughtful songs, they deal with more spiritual issues than sexual ones which is a divergence from his last few associated album artists as well as the fact they are not so obviously chasing radio play.

There are some nice musical flourishes and arrangements, often borrowed from earlier albums which chime in nicely.

It reminds me slightly of 'The Truth' with its raw acoustic sound but happily this is interspersed with some real funky songs as well.

Andy's raspy smoky voice comes across well and adds a lot.

Early stand-outs for me are The Calm, Nothing More and When Stars Collide.

This maintains my belief that Prince's associate artist albums are often on a par if not better than his own ones....they allow him to be 'freer' musically and to express ideas and music not usually compatible with his more racy 'Prince' persona.

I think the fact he releases so many associate artist albums also has the advantage that the attention isn't as much on him, it's on the artist who wants it.

RECOMMENDED FOR ALL FANS.

[Edited 12/20/12 9:12am]

The digital booklet is a pdf. file on ur cd....They should have noted it...

^ Yes it is, thanks. Odd that it's not referenced anywhere on the packaging.

^ Yes, I was told to do the same, and the instructions to see the song lyrics/pics/credits, should have been noted somewhere on the cd packaging.

[Edited 12/21/12 11:56am]

Where else did you expect a "digital booklet" to be?

^ One could assume that it is the same as a 'digipak' which is basically a CD with a booklet in the cover. Odd there's no reference to it on the coverart. Shame it wasn't printed out in full as that's often why ppl buy CD versions.....still seen it now...nice pics would have looked good printed out!

I've been listening to this album quite a lot. I really, really like it. I don't think I've enjoyed a Prince album* so much since Emancipation. He seems to be writing in the moment now instead of trying to recapture something that has passed. The lyrics are much more meaningful too. In a rational world "People Pleaser" would be a big hit.

*Yes, I know this isn't officially a Prince album, but come on, "If I Was King?" If Prince didn't write that then Andy must be trying to tell us she is bi.

^ Agreed there seems to be a depth, honesty, maturity and meaningfulness in this album compared to many of the others he has done with proteges.

As to writing, listening to it I would say it's safe to say Prince wrote or co-wrote all of it, in fact the song that sounds least 'Prince' is Long Gone, one he is actually credited for.

The clue is in the title Superconductor and in the definition printed in bold in the CD Inlay:

Superconductor (n)

To have no resistance, a perfect superconductor can carry an electric current without losses.

Songs like If I was King and When Stars Collide and especially the lyrics of Nothing More seem to apply more to Prince's stage of life than Andy's.

Lets hope he continues in this direction of depth and thoughtfulness, it's great.......

[Edited 12/22/12 3:51am]

I think this would work really well as a soundtrack album. Not for a Prince movie, but for a romantic comedy aimed at a female audience. Preferably starring Maya Rudolph. Is there going to be a Bridesmaids II?

Maya Rudolph would be perfect for SuperConductor"......

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Maya Rudolph would be perfect for SuperConductor"......

Or just change the title of her next movie (whatever it is) to "When Stars Collide."

electricberet said:

I've been listening to this album quite a lot. I really, really like it. I don't think I've enjoyed a Prince album* so much since Emancipation. He seems to be writing in the moment now instead of trying to recapture something that has passed. The lyrics are much more meaningful too. In a rational world "People Pleaser" would be a big hit.

*Yes, I know this isn't officially a Prince album, but come on, "If I Was King?" If Prince didn't write that then Andy must be trying to tell us she is bi.

Yes, I wasn't sure what I thought of it when I first heard it, but it had been growing on me and then I decided to review it, so suddenly had to listen to it a lot more. Now, rather than being sick of it, I'm really into it. Definitely a grower of an album.

I totally agree about 'If I Was King' - very difficult to believe that she wrote those lyrics (apart from the obvious problems, who else uses terms like "17 measures"? ) but it's a fantastic song either way.

I agree with FreakerFantastic too about 'Long Gone' sounding least like a Prince-penned track. Those crazy kids...

If you're interested, the review is here - http://www.noise11.com/ne...d-20121221

Chiquetet said:

Many have noted the resemblance between "Nothing More" and "The Love We Make," but an equally close sibling-song is "Pink Cashmere." Listen to them back to back...

I really adore when she does those two acoustic songs. Really For You outtakes bliss there. She learned from P on those. Obvious she actually cowrote much of it.

Certainly is a better album than 20Ten. Slightly better than Planet Earth. Decent album. I like her unique voice too.

I am 62 yo. From age 9 to 16.5 I was raised on an Oklahoma Panhandle farm. I loved to listen to black performers-Diana Ross and The Supremes, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressiosn, Marvin Gaye, later Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Shirley Bassey, Michael Jackson, Prince, and more.

I have therefore been spoiled by the best. Andy Allo in this album falls way short of those early black American singers. At times her voice ceases to sing, and just speaks her message, and it almost cracks on some of the songs. Some are good though and she does have a delightful soprano tone.

Still not the quality it should be for the work that has been put into bringing her up to par.

totally loving "long gone" right now

funkyrake said:

I am 62 yo. From age 9 to 16.5 I was raised on an Oklahoma Panhandle farm. I loved to listen to black performers-Diana Ross and The Supremes, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressiosn, Marvin Gaye, later Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Shirley Bassey, Michael Jackson, Prince, and more.

I have therefore been spoiled by the best. Andy Allo in this album falls way short of those early black American singers. At times her voice ceases to sing, and just speaks her message, and it almost cracks on some of the songs. Some are good though and she does have a delightful soprano tone.

Still not the quality it should be for the work that has been put into bringing her up to par.

I got in so much hot water for playing this record. Loved Dionne Warwick and really loved Alfie.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...oNtj27a6Rk

funkyrake said:

funkyrake said:

I am 62 yo. From age 9 to 16.5 I was raised on an Oklahoma Panhandle farm. I loved to listen to black performers-Diana Ross and The Supremes, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressiosn, Marvin Gaye, later Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Shirley Bassey, Michael Jackson, Prince, and more.

I have therefore been spoiled by the best. Andy Allo in this album falls way short of those early black American singers. At times her voice ceases to sing, and just speaks her message, and it almost cracks on some of the songs. Some are good though and she does have a delightful soprano tone.

Still not the quality it should be for the work that has been put into bringing her up to par.

I got in so much hot water for playing this record. Loved Dionne Warwick and really loved Alfie.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...oNtj27a6Rk

Yes, I know it's pretty bad. I am even not sure what style that is. To me it does not sound anything like Soul or Funk, maybe a crap mesh up of both?

Boring, boring, boring, boring. I will gladly pass.

Looking through the thread...am I missing something? Might have to listen again.

smoothcriminal12 said:

Looking through the thread...am I missing something? Might have to listen again.

I admit, it has completely grown on me. I had mixed feelings about it until I had to listen to it a number of times to review it, and now I keep going back to it.

Chiquetet said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Looking through the thread...am I missing something? Might have to listen again.

I admit, it has completely grown on me. I had mixed feelings about it until I had to listen to it a number of times to review it, and now I keep going back to it.

I also returned to the samples, but using my ear bud on this netbook. Sound was much better. Still

some songs are better than others. High tones (soprano) are really fabulous and creative.

She might want to work on texture, voice inflection, staccato, fortissimo, range, etc.

Update:

I just found my payment for the CD which I ordered from the States has been fully refunded so effectively I got it for free....there was no email about it...just saw it in my account....hmmm....

could it be because I asked about where the digital booklet was?!? There's no reference to even the original transaction taking place in my Amazon account ?!

Great customer service if that is the case or a surprise mystery present from P and the band ?

Still loving the CD...

[Edited 1/2/13 15:15pm]