2020 said:

SOTT was generally regarded as a masterpiece in the UK. Which was seen as the most important market critically at that time. The music journos and mags LOVED it.

SquirrelMeat said:

Yeah, it's not like Parade was NME's record of the year. Oh wait, IT WAS.

Parade and SOTT were recognized as amazing albums at the time, even in the kiddie pop mags.

But Prince fans will happily make up shit to avoid admitting that there will be a LOT of reviews like this one, and that they themselves agree with most of what this guy wrote. They certainly will when the next Prince album drops, a time at which plenty of fans suddenly remember they never really liked the previous output.

he lost all credibility at the rainbow children dislike...never mind the rest of your points.

when he was criticising lotus, that sounded more like positives then negatives!

only WE can review the set fairly. critics have no idea about music...they cant do it, so they choose to criticise others who can.

All,
I saw the following review on Yahoo http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...hTsA9xFb8C

Review: Prince's 3-CD set is wildly uneven

By JOSH L. DICKEY, AP Entertainment Writer Josh L. Dickey, Ap Entertainment Writer

Prince, "LOtUSFLOW3R"

Of the 31 tracks on Prince's new three-CD fire sale, only a handful will glint in the eyes of loyal fans who still sift his newer material for rare gems. To those awaiting a free sample on the radio, sorry you aren't going to get one this time around, either.

It's been 15 years since a Prince single cracked the Top 10 ("The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" charted No. 3 in 1994), and nothing from these three discs sounds in danger of breaking that streak.

The rare die-hard who understood "The Rainbow Children," Prince's wildly conceptual Jehova's Witnesses manifesto from 2001, may be able to translate the shifting language of "LOtUSFLOW3R," the central record in this effort. It's heavy and esoteric at times, jaunty and jammy at times, and highly indulgent all the time.

Thing is, if you're going to listen to someone indulge themselves in genre-bending psychedelia, it may as well be this guy.

The best track is "Boom," with its melody that descends like a dazzling meteor shower, ponderous slabs of wet bass crashing all around and light saber-buzz guitar to slice through it all. The song embodies the dark yet delicate surrealism of the new fan site that Prince helped design, lotusflow3r.com, from which "members" can download all three albums as part of a $77 annual subscription fee beginning Tuesday.

The deal includes a T-shirt, dibs on concert tickets, access to a vast archive of concert video footage and other digital geek-out goodies. (The three-CD set is being sold in its physical form exclusively at Target for a much more earthly $11.98.)

On another guitar-heavy highlight, "Dreamer," Prince unabashedly echoes Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" in fact, the better part of "LOtUSFLOW3R" careens around the edges of the bluesy, spacey trail that Jimi blazed. But its unevenness is its undoing; weird mumbling, random atmospherics, dissonant touches and an unnecessary cover of "Crimson and Clover" punch gaping holes in the cosmic seriousness with which the record takes itself.

Thank goodness, then, for "MPLSoUND," much of which may be the artist's greatest gift to fans in many years.

The disc starts out as an old-school romp that sounds as if Prince rolled up the rusted door of a warehouse behind Paisley Park, surveyed the dusty, vintage synth gear, and said to the posse behind him: "Fellas, let's make a funky record today."

The first few tracks could almost be mistaken for "Controversy" outtakes: You'll recognize the dry, flat pop of primitive electronic drums, campy whirl of analog keyboards and wild-eyed vocal stylings that ground an edge on Prince's early stuff. But sure enough, even "MPLSoUND" gets bogged down in throwaway slow-jams and shuffles that suck nearly all the fun energy from a promisingly rowdy start.

A third CD, entirely sung by new protege Bria Valente, is so lifeless and irrelevant as to hardly merit mention here. "Elixer" is a wholly forgettable trudge through generic R&B plodders that would drag down the most dynamic of singers; and Valente is not one. Her breathy whispers and naughty good looks, for that matter are more reminiscent of Ashley Alexandra Dupre than Apollonia.

The good news is that at $11.98 for all three, you can afford to rip the good tracks from "LOtUSFLOW3R" and "MPLSoUND" to your iPod, then use "Elixer" as a mirror to work on your air-guitar face. Because you're going to need it.

BobGeorge67 said:

Check ur facts, TMBGITW cracked the top 10, before reaching number 1 the following week.

His last top ten was the release of 1999 (Pepsi Chart).

Sam

BartVanHemelen said:

Bart, when you spew your bull, you should stick to trying to pass it off on the newbies, rather than getting caught out like a jerk.

Parade was not universally recognised as a classic. It received extremely mixed reviews. With the majority leaning to the negative. Pop press was good you say? Melody Maker, Smash Hits, Look In; All mediocre reviews. Rolling Stone sat on the fence.

As for NME? Album of the year you say? Classic? Here are some excerpts:

NME

April 12, 1986
Sometimes it pisses down in April

I actually think 'Around The World In A Day' was the better record. For all its neo-psychedelic silliness it had three great songs, which is about three more than 'Parade' has - nothing here as witty as 'Pop Life', as mournful as 'America', or as anguished as 'Condition Of The Heart'. The worst thing about Prince's "maturity', if we can call it that, is that he has given up writing great songs - songs like 'When You Were Mine' - as a matter of course.

I mean, if he can find time to bestow a morsel like 'Manic Monday' on four desperate California chicks who will probably never have another hit record in their lives, surely he could craft the odd decent tune for himself.

'Kiss' then takes its isolated place in the remorseless parade of overdone semi-ideas.

I dunno. Is it possible, or even advisable, to take Prince seriously ? Do I have to watch Dynasty to have an attitude? I find this record laboured and trite and self-satisfied and won't be listening to it again.


Is that the album of the year review you are referring to Bart? No, I guess you were referring to the review in Bart World, rather than the real one.

Stop trying to pass yourself off as someone who can do battle with facts and knowledge, because you are clearly unarmed.

cracked the top 10, before reaching number 1 the following week.

His last top ten was the release of 1999 (Pepsi Chart).

Sam

dont worry Brenda. just keep fucking him. its where women like you belong.

WHYSOJEALOUS said:

Rolling Stone actually took off several album reviews, no ATWIAD, Parade or D&P at all.

http://www.rollingstone.c...ce/reviews

SquirrelMeat said:

Here is the Rolling Stone year end readers and critics best list 1980-present

http://www.rocklistmusic....ing.htm#80

Here are some others
http://www.rocklistmusic....0.htm#1981
http://www.rocklistmusic....2.htm#1982

i could go on and on but i think you get the picture


On "Rolling Stone"Prince is listed on both readers and critics list til 91,... nothing from there to present.

kinda makes you getting caught out like a jerk.
[Edited 3/21/09 22:00pm]

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

Sorry but you did not get it at all.

Many of these big music magazines smashed Prince when he was at the top then had their reviews rewriten according to his albums' success.
It used to kill me to see some famous critics following the trend and changing their mind a few months after P's releases.

I have a huge collections of magazines and reviews from this era and when you read these articles 20+ years after, it's quite funny and it says a lot about "journalism".

Of course there were as well critics who enjoyed Prince stuff instantly.

Putmarroussia said:

My point was that Prince's 80's career was always in critics and readers top year end "best of lists" and his post 80's has not.

You can cherry pick reviews if you like, throughout the 80's he was always a critical darling.

SquirrelMeat said:

Here is the Rolling Stone year end readers and critics best list 1980-present

http://www.rocklistmusic....ing.htm#80

Here are some others
http://www.rocklistmusic....0.htm#1981
http://www.rocklistmusic....2.htm#1982

i could go on and on but i think you get the picture


On "Rolling Stone"Prince is listed on both readers and critics list til 91,... nothing from there to present.

kinda makes you getting caught out like a jerk.
[Edited 3/21/09 22:00pm]

harveya said:

It was only Hit and Run... according to Wikipedia:

# 03/03/1986 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, USA
# 03/04/1986 - Metro - Boston, USA
# 23/05/1986 - Warfield Theatre - San Francisco, USA
# 30/05/1986 - Wiltern Theatre - Los Angeles, USA
# 06/06/1986 - Masonic Temple Auditorium - Detroit, USA
# 07/06/1986 - Cobo Arena - - Detroit, USA
# 10/07/1986 - Freedom Hall - Louisville, USA
# 01/07/1986 - Sheridan Convention Center Holiday - Sheridan, WY, USA
# 03/07/1986 - McNichols Arena - Denver, USA
# 02/08/1986 - Madison Square Garden – New York, USA
# 03/08/1986 - Madison Square Garden – New York, US

Nothing like what he did in Europe.
[Edited 3/21/09 10:06am]

NuPwrSoul said:

Still hints at a tour to me... And the UK never got a SOTT tour - did some rehearsals here though...

Wow, thanks for the links. It validates my view of Rolling Stone as a whitebread, ethnocentrist-leaning, narrow-minded mag. They have had a sickening paucity of black and female music journalists and critics over the years. They singlehandidly built the critical mass around BS, U2, Neil Young, etc. Compare how many covers Prince has been on RS to the aforementioned.

Get your facts straight goofball - SOTT was not recognized as an amazing album nor was Parade - the reviews were quite similar to the ones we are seeing now

jdcxc said:

so because RS and many other publications critics and readers choose Prince in their year-end best of lists!

lol, give it a rest
[Edited 3/22/09 11:03am]

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

You obviously didn't read it close. Dirty Mind, Controversy, Parade, ATWIAD didn't even make the RS critics lists. And Prince had no album top the list. Meanwhile, everything by the RS regulars (ie Boss, REM, U2, Mellencamp, Young, Dylan, Stones, etc.) made or topped the list every year. Anyone looking at their slant, without a bias, would notice the dearth of female and artists of color on their critic's lists.

The RS folk rock "classic" regulars release albums with the same boring ass simple arrangements that they have recycled for years and Rolling Stone treat them like gods.

jdcxc said:

The critics and readers did list singles from Parade and ATWIAD

purplecam said:

Kool. My memory is going the way of the Edsel.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

Wow, thanks for the links. It validates my view of Rolling Stone as a whitebread, ethnocentrist-leaning, narrow-minded mag. They have had a sickening paucity of black and female music journalists and critics over the years. They singlehandidly built the critical mass around BS, U2, Neil Young, etc. Compare how many covers Prince has been on RS to the aforementioned.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

From the ATWIAD era on, many critics have been constantly harsh on him.