I feel you on that. I hope there is more promotion for this CD cause it deserves it.

Gohi said:

you like it.
cool.

wish i was so easily impressed.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

It is a Prince masterpiece requiring a more advance musical vocabulary for full appreciation.

Brofie said:

Ah. I see.

Ok, everyone who disliked "The Rainbow Children" album has to leave and come back once their tastes have become "advanced" to the point that they consider it a masterpiece.

Then we can all talk.

I'm really digging it.
Need to listen to it a few more times to post favs and dislikes.

$ is really nice.

...and as someone who grew up with Julio Iglesias and Camilo Sesto playing on mom's stereo...I'm really digging "77 Beverly Park". Cosmic posted that it has an "italian" sound, but I'm thinking it's more like the 70's Spanish ballads that I grew up with.
I definitely give the album a big

purplecam said:

I buy a lot of cds in a year in all genres new and old, if he can get a record buying, hard to please curmudgeon like myself back on board says a lot i think.
I think he needs to get on the boat because it has sailed when it comes to kids and kiddie pop. He will never ever win them over.
He needs to concentrate on winning back serious record buyers, not just the fan base.
He should bypass the reviewers and promote this record directly to listeners, ala Coachella by creating organic buzz that is impossible to buy. This audience doesn't care about age, or genre, just that you kick their ass, If he gets this audience talking again they will promote this album for him.
[Edited 4/6/09 16:26pm]

Coachella was an excellent move, but he didn't play any of this Lotus material did he? Shame. So what's the NEXT move? Play more festivals? I'm still intrigued at what one of these songs could do on the right movie soundtrack...

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

It is a Prince masterpiece requiring a more advanced musical vocabulary for full appreciation.

Coachella was an excellent move, but he didn't play any of this Lotus material did he? Shame. So what's the NEXT move? Play more festivals? I'm still intrigued at what one of these songs could do on the right movie soundtrack...

Brofie said:

I've studied both jazz and "legit" music AND music composition at the college level. This is in addition to many years of intensive independent study. I can play several instruments very well. I also know my way around a recording studio and feel absolutely comfortable recording using modern recording equipment as well as 2" tape, (Ol' Skool 2 Foolz). I have a very good ear and I could listen to TRC and tell you what is happening in the music in a very detailed and technical manner AND write it down on manuscript paper if asked. I have a musical vocabulary that I would say is highly advanced, (which is very subjective and can ONLY be my opinion) and I STILL don't care much for TRC. It's all about what the individual likes. It has nothing to do with being advanced. It has nothing to do with any kind of "higher" education. I like that it's different for him, (musically, at least) but if you consider a song to be 50% music and 50% lyrics with equal effort being put into the creation of both, you might find these songs to be 50% good AT BEST. Unlike you, I realize that my tastes in music are not the universal standard by which all must be judged, so let me just say that my dislike of TRC is only my personal opinion, (even if it's a fairly well-informed one) and nothing more. My opinion is no better or worse than your opposing view. Make sense? Good. There is no right or wrong when it comes to enjoying or enjoying ANY kind of art. Your hubris and self-regard are amazing. Good night.
[Edited 4/9/09 1:19am]

The music is good, but Colonized Mind is barely a song. It's a performance, and a good one, but barely a song.

NDRU said:

I disagree. And i just got done lauding you for your post in the MPLSound thread.

"Colonized Mind" is one of the best songs he's written this decade. It reminds me a bit of "Stairway to Heaven" (or even "Purple Rain") in the way that it builds and builds and builds (not that I'd I'd put it quite in the category of either of those - and it pains me to use such cliche tunes for comparison).

But by the end of CM, like the other songs I mentioned, the whole tune is just blistering like a good orgasm and makes you wish you could play it on Guitar Hero; although I could have used some more drums in the mix at the crescendo.

I even like how, for a change, Prince is coming off as serious, meaningful and from the heart in a way that doesn't sound silly, overblown or theocratic, like so much of "The Rainbow Children" did. It reminds me more of the old days, ("Sign o' the Times") when his religious pontifications were more general, all-inclusive and not nearly as rigid and so specifically defined. It's more of a critique on the modern political structure, the things we give vs. the things we get, the way we raise our kids, the people and things we look to for leadership and guidance, and a recognition of a "higher power" that need not necessarily be named "Jehova." You can say "we reap what we sow" and "I believe in THIS" without mashing a King James Bible in my face, and I think he's done it successfully here.

I think it's a masterpiece and one of the best songs on the record. There's a song there. It's the riff. The riff IS the song. You could play it acoustically around a campfire without all of the bombast and it would still work. That's how you know.

You want to find an album with "no songs" on it, check out "Planet Earth".
[Edited 4/9/09 14:35pm]
[Edited 4/9/09 14:37pm]

herb4 said:

I actually like Colonized Mind as a track. I mean it's not much of a composition in terms of melody & chorus, etc. But it's a good piece of music, and a great performance. Perfect buildup. Actually similar to Purple Rain, as you say, which doesn't have much of a melody either (and I'm obviously not going to try to say THAT's not great).

I like the music on Lotus a lot, and I like how it fits together and builds as a whole album. I was really referring to songs as compositions like something another person might cover (like Crimson & Clover). Future Baby Mama, for all the negatives you can attach to it, it more identifiable as a song than, say, From the Lotus. I prefer From the Lotus, actually, but was noticing that the best compositions (in my opinion at least) are at the end of the album. Hopefully that makes sense.

But that's also what makes the album cool is that it's not bound to the typical structure of songwriting but out to create a bigger soundscape.

And Colonized Mind must be strong, because I was sort of off put by it in the beginning, and found myself being moved by the music.

and thanks for your comments on the other thread, I know it's not as interesting when you find out, but NDRU is my name, Andrew

It's all relative...

steakfinger said:

Your opinion is still wrong.

NDRU said:

Herb is my name, so there you go.

I like your critical thinking, so out of curiosity, what's the last really good SONG you think Prince has written himself?...Especially since you're citing a cover as one of the strongest tracks on the new record. I'm one of those fans who thinks his song writing has suffered a lot over the last decade or so.

herb4 said:

'Valentina'?

SUPRMAN said:

Thanks, but I meant a song from before these new records. I think the songwriting is much better here than it has been.