alexnvrmnd777 said:

No he was talking to Prince AND the fans who dig this CD and he was and still is wrong as shit to talk to us like we are stupid for liking this CD.
[Edited 4/6/09 11:22am]

Love Chocolate Box

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

You know, I told my stepbrother the same exact thing when I first heard Dance 4 Me. Great ear.

Review of MPLSound on a scale from 1 to 5

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 2.5
The chorus is good but the uninspired verses drag down the overall impression.

Chocolate Box - 3
I like the edgy sound. The part between 2:06-2:48 is really cool. That could've formed the core of a different and better song. The song gets repetitious, 4 minutes would've sufficed.

Dance 4 Me - 3.5
It's fun, it's funky and it actually picks up a notch in the latter half unlike the other songs on this album. Definitely the best song on MPLSound.

U're Gonna C Me - 3
This song takes a while to get into but then it's a good song. It feels original and positive.

Here - 3
Slightly better than U're Gonna C Me. The sound feels light and natural. The lyrics are emotionally complex and the best on the album.

Valentina - 2.5
A slightly uneven song with a good chorus and not so good verses. Also, he could've skipped the part in the middle starting with the lyrics about the guitar up until the guitar solo.

Better With Time - 2
Better With Time sounds like an unsuccessful attempt to make a sophisticated ballad. Instead of sophisticated it comes off as bland and diluted.

Ol' Skool Company - 3
The first song I heard when I heard it on Leno. Still like the Leno-version better. It's funky but it's not above average and nothing interesting happens the last half. Had more hopes for this song but it doesn't grow on me.

No More Candy 4 U - 3
Freaky sound, it's a fun song.

Conclusion - 3
There are several good and average songs but no real highlights. The album never takes off to higher levels like other Prince-albums.

Mplsound has grown on me the more that I listen to it. However, I am not as crazy about it as I am about Lotusflow3r. I think I dig about 2/3 of it. I still cannot listen to the first two tracks in entirety. They just do not do it for me at all.

However, once Dance4Me comes on, things get rolling! This is my JAM!! I wish he had shot a video for this and used it as the concert opener instead of Chocolate Box. CB goes on forever and loses steam in the last couple of minutes. Also, the "chorus" is so annoying to me. He could have shot a hot video for D4Me that would set a concert off. It's not too long, and it just kicks. It's not too late to do a video for this one P.

Another track that I like is "Valentina." Although, the pseudo-rap hurt the song. Also, the lyrics are weak. Most of the lyrics on this album seem like throwaway lyrics, though. I think the focus was more on the party vibe.

I love the melody of the chorus of "U're Gonna C Me." This is a really pretty song. I also like the mood/sentiment of "Better with Time." Again, the lyrics could have been better. This had the potential to really be a smoker. It falls a bit short, but I still listen to it often. Overall, I prefer the PE ballads to these. They are more soulful. FBM might have been perfect on this album, especially following "Valentina."

Ol' Skool Company is fun and reminds me of Parliament Funkadelic. It's a nice little jam. It was a nice way to kick off the concert in L.A. The audience was digging it.

Overall, Mplsound is not a great album, but it is a good one. However, I am glad that it came packaged with Lotusflow3r rather than as a single release because I do not think it holds up as well on its own.

REDFEATHERS said:

I deserve to be spoilt my adonis has abandoned me - I need a bit of P instead to keep me going !!!!

LittleNicci said:

very very true, he is full of surprises!

LittleNicci said:

LittleNicci said:

How earth have u managed to sneak ur mr adonis on a MLPsound thread? that was crafty

mypancakeplaces said:

I never thought I would Hear aPrince fan say"the song was 2 LONG"
I guess u hate "I would die 4 u ext ver? Or Gett off?
2 long that what Prince is about!
I love evey NOTE!

catpark said:

P is always sneaking things into me so I just thought I would return the favour hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehheh

DMSRCMC12 said:

I'm so with you on that. And I'm also baffled at people saying a Prince jam is too long. People are weird, especially on this site.

purplecam said:

Because some songs are just long and go nowhere. They needlessly drone on, and probably should've never been started in the first place. Case in point, Chocolate Box. I Would Die 4 U would take you somewhere (several places, actually), along with America 12". But this one boringly goes on and on.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Different strokes for different folks. Chocolate Box takes me somewhere the same way the America 12 inch or I Would Die 4 U does. They make me bob my head and dance. In fact, I was listening to Chocolate Box on the subway going to work this morning and the last part went perfectly with my train ride. The train was fast like the song and it made the ride that much more fun. Plus it helped that we didn't make any stops during that part of the song too. Long jams like this one are perfect for me.
[Edited 4/7/09 8:21am]

alexnvrmnd777 said:[quote]

purplecam said:

Because some songs are just long and go nowhere. They needlessly drone on, and probably should've never been started in the first place. Case in point, Chocolate Box. I Would Die 4 U would take you somewhere (several places, actually), along with America 12". But this one boringly goes on and on.[/
I understand what u are saying,BUT I do not agree with u at all.When Prince makes a song HE has the final word on what it sounds like.HIS word is "GOLD" so if HE puts it down as a final track.Then it is correct,that is how it should sound that is ride it should go on.What u think and I think does not matter,because HE is alway Correct.DIG?????

I understand what u are saying,BUT I do not agree with u at all.When Prince makes a song HE has the final word on what it sounds like.HIS word is "GOLD" so if HE puts it down as a final track.Then it is correct,that is how it should sound that is ride it should go on.What u think and I think does not matter,because HE is alway Correct.DIG?????

Okay. After listening to the cd's over and over I have to say that this is my favorite. I just wish that Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful was on this cd.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

that's exactly what I think. If the uptempo songs on lotusflower, that's the one that would fit mplsound.

And one more uptempo song is the one thing missing from the album IMO.

oh my goodness.....Dance 4 Me is f-f-f-f-f-funky. oh my. i need to hear this on a LOUD system.

Valentina is an awesome groove but it's kinda creepy: Prince talking to a little girl about her mom. ick.


Old Skool Company is so bad. I can't take it. I wish I wasn't at work listening to this.
[Edited 4/7/09 13:16pm]

For me,being a mostly 80's Prince fan,Mplsound contains the most tracks(4 in total) that i have liked for a looooong time!!!

Dance 4 me is the def favourite track-vintage Prince/Camille closely followed by No more Candy 4 u-which could have sat nicely on Controversy

Ol skool company and Valentina r the other two on my list

I can't stand the Lotusflower lp-the songs,for me anyhow,r really lacking and the production and mixing drives me mad.They sound too much like the straight to Dat stuff from the 90's

But that's just me!!!

NDRU said:

I think I'm going to have to make my very own 2 cd set:

MPLSFLOWER & LOTUSOUND

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

It's always tempting, like Musi21earth

I actually think the flow of MPLSound is pretty good. I just think that for it to be a great album it needed one more fast song. And it's impossible to think of the 3 discs as one album. If I could, I might say it's great.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I do that all the time.

Ever heard "The Chocolate Slaughterhouse" or "NewPowerFantastic?" Never even mind the single "Emancipation" CD that I, and probably a lot of others, made. You should hear "Exodus" without the segues and 'Cherry Cherry" while we're at it.

I like this approach from Prince better - when he just releases a shit-ton of new stuff and lets us all weed out what we like as opposed to him just feeling his latest "thing" or "directions" or "discovery" or whatever and demanding that we feel it. In the case of these 3 new records, there seems to be a lot more flowers than weeds for some reason.

Even as a Prince fan who has been loving his work (well most of it), some of his best work is the hardest for me to digest at first listen. With that said, I am liking MPLSOUND more and more as I listen to it. Most of the songs have that ... ew I have heard this before and he is just ripping out of his old music... sound in the 1st few bars of the songs. Then you let the songs begin to wind up, and they turn into kool new sounds and nuances.

You have to LISTEN to his music, he places so much detail in so many areas that enhance what is going on. I only ask for entertaining songs, because that's all we are really recieving. I have enjoyed MPLSOUND. Not his greatest work ever.... but good enough to ride out the summer.

Between Lotusflow3r and this one...I'm liking MPLSOUND better.

From beginning to end it's a stronger album.

I need a few more listenings before I can officially rate it, but Chocolate Box, Valentina and Dance 4 Me.

I didn't read all the posts here, but I do want to address Vainandy's post;

Dude - the Prince of old isn't coming back. For the past 20 years I've been waiting & waiting & waiting for another album with the energy & genious of "LOVESEXY" or "BLACK".
"" came close, and "The Rainbow Children" made me hope that a return to brilliance was "just around the corner". (sorry - couldn't resist)

But I've stopped waiting for another masterpiece, and have accepted the fact that he will make music as he deems fit to play. When it's bad, I will say it's bad, and when it's good, I will say it's good. But I've stopped pining for "Lovesexier" and have saved myself some heartache.

Mostly.

Riverpoet31 said:

I agree with you. Surprised that Prince calls the album MPLsound. Other than the Linn Drum sounds and Camille voice, the songs don't feel like any of his 80s songs...

I was hoping for another great beat like 777-9311, Glamorous Life or Dance Electric...

coolcat said:

remember though on Old School Company he says "Prince and the NEW Minneapolis sound, we can't be beat" not the old minneapolis sound.

Prince wouldn't just try to repeat what he'd done before, he'd always try to make it better. I think that's what this album is. He uses his classic instrumentation, but the music incorporates things he's learned over the last 25 years.
[Edited 4/8/09 11:23am]

PsychedelicMama said:

haha...love it...

I'm actually starting to like Valentina a bit, once it gets to the second chorus.

Still the idea of a Mexican bombshell conquering the west doesn't quite work for me. I know technically it's no big deal, but wouldn't we normally say that about someone who was NOT from the west? Like maybe someone from China?

Other lyrics also bug me "There's never a time I find/That you don't ever cross my mind." Could he have over-complicated that line any more? How about "you are always on my mind?" Poetry is about saying things in the best way, not the most complicated or flowery way. I hate these rhymes which are so simple, basically cliche, and yet still sound forced & awkward.

Here is probably my favorite song from this album.
[Edited 4/8/09 12:38pm]

Who's waiting for the Old Prince to come back. Yeah, I was waiting in the late 1980s. But when the 1990s arrived I knew he would never come back because he would never be successful with that sound again since the style of mainstream music by all artists had changed. And at least what he was doing in the 1990s sounded better than what any of the other mainstream artists were doing. Yeah, he's had a shit hop track here and there in the past but that shit hop attitude is all over this album. It's kinda like he's completely sold out with this one.

I can tolerate the orchestras on "Parade", I can tolerate the stripped down accoustical stuff on "The Truth", I can tolerate the jazzier type songs he has made. I may have preferred he do something else but I could at least tolerate those styles because they were in fact "music". Shit hop or it's attitude is something I absolute don't tolerate at all anymore because it is what has ruined music for the last 20 years. I would be as big a hypocrit as Prince is if I gave him a pass when I didn't give Rick James, The Barkays, Cameo, or any of the old groups a pass when they sold out on new albums. Actually, I'm much harder on Prince than I am on those other groups because Prince is the one that has been going around shooting his mouth off for years about the state of today's music. If someone is going to preach, they need to practice what they preach.