skyhigh said:

target.com Buy yourself a copy while you're at it!
[Edited 3/30/09 12:45pm]

vainandy said:

Yes... Agree with highlighted especially.

Regarding his falsetto, I've said it about the past few albums, I think it's just his age, he can't pull it off any more, so I don't particularly blame any lack of effort on his part for the weak falsetto.

Anxiety said:

To me this album sounds like a carefully constructed Vault album. Throwaway tracks that are nonetheless very good & the song order is well conceived.

the album as a whole is quite disappointing. it seems to lack any substance, a bit throwaway. the songs sound like tired retreads over the years with the linn used as a prop. it reminds me of emancipation if you took the linn sound out, and nps/rave. ive heard most of this before i heard it. the only thing getting away from that contemporary boring sound is the last song, candy 4 u. prince can do better than this as a dance artist.

Just listening for the first time on Joe Kelley's radio show...

- love the studio of OSC... the Camille voice and synth work great

- not a fan of Dance 4 Me... his voice sounds worn out and the lyrics are lazy

I said this in another post...

There are folks in these threads that are on some revisionist history shit...lol

The same guy that wrote "Hot Thing" is now not allowed to write fun, silly, songs.....

Yall acting like Prince is on some Bob Dylan shit...lol...Prince was always a dude capable of writing smart, quirky songs along with simplistic, in-the-groove songs...

murph said:

Exactly. This is the guy who plainly stated, "I don't really wanna be your man. I only wanna feel you up" before. He has always had a playful and simple quality to his lyrics, and I think MPLSOUND mostly recaptures that.

I think that all three albums styles mixed into 10 solid songs would have really fulfilled it for me... so you take the electric guitar psychadelia and concept scifi lyrics mix it over the linn drums and pop confectionary synth hooks and then put those in cohesive mature song structures with a specific voice and target (that's elixer) and you would have a solid album...

but it cool to listen to all three (and I think I do like Elixer a lot more than most people here)

PurpleKnight said:

I've never said this before....But I honestly believe that folks dismissing or calling out "Dance 4 Me" for simplistic lyrics are full of shit...lol


These are the same folks shitting on a "dance 4 me" and praising say a track like "Boom" (I dig a lot of the rock joints on Lotus...But that aint one of 'em...)...Ridiculous...lol...And very telling...

I got my own gripes with this album ("Never be Another Like Me (sp) is lackluster as all hell...)...But I'm also able to sit down with this Prince project and give it up to the man when he's turned in some pretty good work...As a whole this is Prince's best work since Emancipation...I don't expect everyone to agree with my view...

Just make sense (and be sincere) with your criticism....

PurpleKnight said:

I love the lyrics to Feel U Up. Like you say, they're simple, but witty and playful. Same thing with Hot Thing.

But when he just repeats something like "you're sexy," that's just lazy to me.

(And I have no opinion on Boom as I haven't heard it yet.)
[Edited 3/30/09 18:21pm]

BanishedBrian said:

What was witty about "Hot Thing"?...lol...That was a horny song with a weird, cool, locked in groove...But it wasn't "witty"...

By the way, I wasn't getting at you...your problem was with Prince's voice on "Dance 4 Me", something I still don't agree with, but seems sincere...

Cool homie?...

Peace...
[Edited 3/30/09 18:36pm]

Gohi said:

Totally, I've gone through the same thing. I played it for some dubious "old school" fans thinking they'd hate it. They loved it, and it was sounding pretty good. I sometimes feel he's become such a solo-listening experience for me that I forget how good he can sound in more of a party context.

she wants a b.o.x. of choco lat..ever ree day

shellyann said:

Did you know whitney houstens debut album, simply entitled....

You have hit the spot

Sorry...but where the h+ll do I find the mpls-album from the lotusflow3r-site?! Lotusflower album is there, the videos, the performances and it´s all good!, but MPLS - where?

WaterInYourBath said:

I like '(There'll Never Be) Another Like Me.' I also enjoy how long it is.

Not feeling 'Here' either. It's right after 'U're Gonna C Me' which lingers with me into 'Here.' I still don't know what the beginning of 'Here' sounds like. lol

'Better with Time' I'd have preferred to see on Lotus Flow3r. Switch with 'Love Like Jazz.'

livewire said:

Fans have heard Prince do this before. A few times . . . . It's nothing new for fans is why they are dismissing it.
I like it.

Brofie said:

I wouldn't say ALL THAT.

Wall said:

My greatest criticism of Prince as a songwriter. Why torture lyrics to force a rhyme?

SUPRMAN said:

I´d love to give my input to th coversation but it´s impossible cos I can´t find the dam album! Where is it in the lotusflower-site? Please, I´m desperate.

skyhigh said:

When you enter the site you will see the three worlds. Click to the right of your screen to go to MLPS. Then click on the bird. A guitar will pop up, then play the guitar near the top. Good luck!

skyhigh said:

Click the back arrow(Symbol) then click/drag to the sides for the other worlds.

NDRU said:

Same here.

Finally a screem, Dr. Fink keyboards & a Base line No More Candy is the Only true Prince song in 8 years!

I miss him I guess we don't get anymore candy bring back the Dirty Mind sound!

wheres Disco Jelly Fish?

MPLSOUND - Prince does Fruity Loops. Thats the first thing that comes to mind when listening to this plastic production of an album. For a few years now Ive been wondering what has happened to the reverb sliders on Prince's mixing console. Every sound and voice seems to be at the forefront of the mix and the crisp, clean production of every layer makes the overall sound seem lifeless.

Minniapolis sound? I dont think so. Sure, there is the Linn Drum but anyone can sequence a drum machine to repeat the same beat over and over again. In the past the MPLS sound was raw. The drums, whether real or machine produced, were processed and twisted to sit perfectly in the mix. Reverb on the voices and instruments was used in abundance giving warmth to the overall sound. Remember Princes screams back in the day? They sounded distant yet big and came flying out of the mix without muffling everything else in the song. The sythesizer sounds combined with clever guitar work, again processed and tuned to fit the mix are blatently missing from this so called MPLS sound. Sure, there is a slight funky feel to a few of the songs, but they are less Minniapolis sound and more generic funk - funk by numbers. Throwing in a speeded up voice does not bring back the nostalgia of Camille, it instead brings a feeling of someone painting by numbers and trying too hard to sound like he did back in the day.

These days Prince's voice always sounds crisp and clean and at the very front of everything. And the layering of his voice seems to be done so lazily these days. The big Prince choir sound used to compliment the song, these days it just drowns everything out. Prince has always layered his voice in his music, the difference is it now sounds dated and thrown together quickly. Adore is a great example of using many layers of his voice to create a sound that is part, not all of the song. I suspect these days he records himself a few times singing the same line and then uses clever software to do the multi layering of those same voice tracks to create a "big choir" sound. It just sounds too over produced. And in the case of MPLSOUND, it sounds way too Fruity Loops and Pro Tools rather than a sound that is uniquly Minniapolis.

MPLSOUND is a poorly produced r&b album more akin to NPS than to anything Minniapolis. Everything sounds plastic and everything seems to be fighting for space in the plastic mix. The vocal arrangements are lazy and the lyrics embarassing in places. The whole album seems devoid of inspiration. It seems to me that Prince has bowed to fan pressure and tried to give them what they want by creating the old sound. Unfortunately, it sounds like his heart just really wasn't in it and in order to try and get into the groove of the project, he couldnt help but try to update the sound and try and make it sound current. I wouldnt be surprised if he just raided the vault, "updated" the songs by removing any trace of reverb, added a stupid vocoder in places and tried to make it sound contemporary. Prince, if youre going to give us the old sound then give us the old sound. If youre heart isnt in it then dont do it. But please, dont try and make something retro sound current by adding some DAW tricks and a sample pack of Linn Drum hits.

As for a review on all the tracks on this album - bollocks, thats what they all are. Big, hairy, aging bollocks. The only exception is No More Candy 4u, possibly the closest song to the MPLS sound and seems to be produced differently to the rest.

Lotusflow3r on the other hand does have some substance.

Well I've had all the 3 albums on CD from the wav files for a few days now and after listening at home and in the car the one that I keep going back to is MPLSOUND. After hearing "(There'll Never B) Another Like Me" a month or so ago I did not have the highest hopes for this disc. I do like the NPGMC 2001 tracks and Emancipationm, and don't really give a flying fudge for what type of production is used. For me it's all about the feel of the track, the music, and does it connect. There'll Never B Another sounded too much like the non-connecting bragging Prince (that NuPwrSoul mentions on another thread).

...then the press reviews started to come in and I was like hmmmm, MPLSOUND is getting the best response. Could I trust these non-Prince fan heathens? Then, once we all got to download and burn and listen, most people here were going a bit nuts! Well it turns out most people were right IMHO. I think it's the most interesting and exciting of the 3 discs (at least for me - at this moment in time).

My faves so far are

Dance 4 Me - starts off like George Clinton & Prince on Paradigm with a bit of New Power Generation (Graffiti Bridge) style choppy syncopated keyboard punches, and a small helping of When Doves Cry double Linn snare/claps. I was grooving around the house to this one . You can't help but dance for yourself. If you resist you are just missing out. Shut your eyes, loosen up, and let yourself go people.

U’re Gonna C Me - love this re-recorded version. Lush and lovely synth strings and orchestration. A memorable hook and chorus line. I actually think he should have done this one on Leno to get it stuck in the public's heads.

Ol’ Skool Company - Just amazing. I've watched the Leno live version a few times now and thought it was a typical Prince funk workout but the studio version just blew me away . The groove on this is so crisp and clean. The funky guitar licks and Camille-esque vocals. All the silly ad-libbing and talking to himself. THIS is the bragging cocky kind of Prince I like. And the fact that it is set over that classic mid-tempo MPLS funk groove. Let your head bob ...SUCKAS!

No More Candy 4 U - When this one kicked in I was like "WTH?" , this is reminiscent of Gotta Stop Messin About/Jack U Off/Horny Toad/Delirious. The amusing lyrics and the discordant piano seems like a FU to everybody who is negatively critical. But it's knowing too. How can he stop giving out candy to them ole' naysayers too. Like a bird he'll keep on singing...

Valentina is cool too, very memorable, and does make me giggle. But doesn't connect quite as much as the 4 above for me.

MPLSOUND is the big pleasant surprise for me. I love it. Thanks Prince.

Rebeljuice said:

As you'll see from my post above I disagree with your views almost completely but Better with Time certainly reminded me of a New Power Soul 1998 style ballad.

vainandy said:

I was wondering what you would think of this album.
I felt pretty much the same way but thought,.. hey this is the album he made for Vainandy among others! guess not.

I liked Lotus quite a bit, so I went back to listen to this album twice since it was getting better reviews by some critics than Lotus to see if I was missing something, that i wasn't giving it a fair shake, but I had the same gag reflex as i did on first listen.

I tried several times more to listen to this thing but i kept having the same involuntary gag-cringe reflex. It reminds me of TRC in that respect.

I'll stop trying to listen to because I'm sure I'll probably get hives or something next.
Definitely not for me.