Good or bad, I don't think a Prince album release has ever caused as little impact as the latest project.

Coupled with the fact that it was two full albums, and I would have expected a lot more buzz around here.

What happened?

Is Prince entering his "living in America" JB phase?

Is it poor material? A bored fan base? Modern throwaway culture?

Why do you think that the latest release has made such a small impact?

SquirrelMeat said:

Just for context: I'm not one of those, I'm still listening to all three CDs.

I'm not sure everyone has taken the time to completely understand the song lyrics this time, they're subtle which requires a different type of ear.

Also, even though fan(m)s talk "its all about the music" they want to see him perform.

Believe me, as soon as another concert date is publicized this board is gonna go crazy.

A lot of it is modern throwaway culture, but that is accentuated by the artist's (seemingly) lack of interest in the project after the first month.

In this particular case, I think the fact that it didn't reach No. 1 is why Prince lost interest so quickly. The evidence of him losing interest in LotusFlow3r is obvious considering he performed a Planet Earth song on his 4th Leno night. We were very lucky to get him on Leno 3 nights in a row performing new songs.

The music itself is not poor material ... much better than Planet Earth (which only caused a stir because of its distribution model in the UK).

What is disappointing is that this is a strong set to promote and tour behind.

I am also one of those who listens to the 2 Prince discs (not Bria's - not my thing).
[Edited 6/17/09 16:25pm]

Prince's lost interest, so did everyone else.

Out of the entire set. LOTUSFLOW3R I love the BEST! I think if he released this by it's self, and promoted it with singles, videos. He would of had a hit in his hands! MPLS was alright. Just too much filler. Bria's "Elixer" was only good for "Everytime". The rest was meh.

I'm still listening to LotusFlower...And still listening to the other cd's. Sometimes we take a break from things and get back to them.

http://therelapse.com/#/?room=entrance

I'm feeling this...even though its creepy, it still has alot more than we got and its free. Im sure it will be updated on the regular.

I'm still loving it. there have been a lot of complaints about the way it's been distributed in other places but I don't know or care about that.

Se7en said:

It seemed odd Prince would play a Planet Earth track on Leno but maybe it was a request from Leno or something Prince wanted to sing for someone, Somewhere Here On Earth. I don't think we can count out a tour yet
like jazz
[Edited 6/17/09 19:19pm]

SquirrelMeat said:

Hey, Living in America got some radio play lol

I played it so much that I had to give it a break, but the other day my girlfriends were over and My friend asked me to 'play that one song' and it was the song HERE that she wanted and she said the carnival song, 'Doesn't it sound like a carnival?' and I hadn't thought of that before but it totally does, anyway Since she asked me to play it 2days ago I now haven't stopped playing it,
it's playing right now

I love the album set.
Hell, I'm even surprised to say that Love Like Jazz is really starting to grow on me over the past week or so. Go figure...

Also I think the Prince Fan Community is still digesting his latest output,
but I know what you mean; there's so much awesomeness that it might take some more listening to soak it all up

In fact I just realized that Valentina is a grower~
I was not into it at first but now I do like it

I think there is only one reason why this 3CD set has "dropped into the abyss" and that reason is...Prince. If he's not interested in promoting this set, why should the casual man on the street give a damn?

Prince seems to badmouth the record industry, radio, music TV, the current state of music, complains in his songs and interviews that there's no real music out there (about 80% true) and Prince doesn't want to pay radio and TV to play his stuff(like other musicians do), he regularly turns down invites to perform on music award shows, he turned down an offer from Guitar Hero (not enough cash). Anything that would give him mainstream exposure to the public he seems to run away from...then turns around and blames the system!

I love Prince's music and I respect him as a musician and I was always quick to summarize Prince's biography and musical achievements whenever somebody put him down...but I've since stopped doing that. It's not my job to promote Prince. Remember those emails from NPGMC to "Spread The Word". Why? Spread the word yourself, Prince. They're doing the same now on Lotusflow3r.com. "Tell your friends". No. It's up to you to tell the world you have a new album out. What about the world outside the U.S? The world outside the internet? How many people actually know Prince has a 3CD set out? Not many, I'd say.

(Sorry 'bout the rant, people.)

I am waiting for the tour, it must be right around the corner, he's probably busy practicing, hold your purple hippie pantz up brothers and sisters it's comin~

I think the small impact has to do with just an overall lack of promotion and activity from Prince himself. With musicology you had the tour going on, with 3121 he was doing the vegas stint, and with planet earth he was in london. Lotusflower has gotten nothing but a few tv appearances, only one where he actually talked. Sure he had the 3 shows in L.A., but that was one day, not something over an extended period of time like the others.

Leo777 said:

well said

Prince is old news. It has nothing to do with his "art". It has every thing to do with culture, age, and hype. If you have the music and enjoy the music that should be enough. We don't all have to hi-fiveing each other and turning cartwheels. And we shouldn't need to hear Prince's name on everybodies lips and see his face on our tv screens all the time.

To many of u seem to want prince to be validated by the culture at large all the time. If u need all the hype and extra to feel satisfied then it really is not about the music for u.

The albums came out, we listened, we discussed, we watched him perform them on tv. What else do u want? fireworks? Once the music is released it is with us and beyond us (and Prince) for all time. The road is long.

skywalker said:

Fantastic post.

As for the albums, im still playing all 3 and consider Lotus to be among his best work and Mpl to be his most up to date, bangin' album since forever.

I speak of them all the time, just not here because of the reasons stated in the quote and more.

I'm still listening with much much pleasure to one the greatest albums he has ever released (Lotusflow3r) and one of the most fun and funky albums he has released in years (MPLSound)

I dont care about chart position, promotion, or media hype. This is an absolutely golden year for Prince.

SquirrelMeat said:

-----
Speak for your self. I am still listening to two of the disc and they recently moved back up the charts.

Two of the disc are some of the best stuff P has done in a long time but, he is 51 and young people are not going to be drawn to an artist his age. In addtion, CD sales are low for everyone and P has not exactly done a lot to promote the CD.

That being said there is nothing wrong with the actual music.

tricky99 said:

-----
Cosign some people on this board are much too concerned with keeping up with the jones.

skywalker said:

Great post. The evidence of this is in the amount of "why isn't Prince promoting this more?" posts. I really don't care about that, because him promoting it would only benefit himself... it doesn't affect me at all. The music is there 2 absorb, enjoy, groove 2.

Personally, the 'Lotusflow3r' and 'MPLsound' albums R still in high rotation, with me generally listening 2 'Lotusflow3r' at home, on a full blown stereo system on CD, and 'MPLsound' in the car, loud.


.
[Edited 6/18/09 8:55am]

tricky99 said:

NICE.

SquirrelMeat said:

Has a Prince cd ever been ONLY sold in 1 retail outlet?

jill4life said:

Yep agreed...still playing this 3 x CD set .... buy the end of the year everyone will be talking about it again... summer is just kicking off ....Dance 4 Me will create an underground buzz for sure...

I listened to MPLSound for the first time in a while the other day and I still loved it. I just wanted to listen to Dance 4 Me but before I knew it, I was listening to the whole thing again. Prince has only done part of his job. Yes the music is out there for us to enjoy and talk about when it's time to do so but part of the fun is seeing him out there promoting his work. I love Prince dearly but he sucks ass when it comes to promoting himself and he's doing the same stuff he keeps on doing again. This is not 1987 where the music can do all of the talking for you, this is 2009 where people will think of you one minute and forget about you the next, if they didn't forget about you before that first minute ended. The internet has changed so many things about people and life itself, let alone how we listen to music and Prince still seems to use 20th Century tactics in a 21st Century world. Now I don't know what's in his head or what's going on with him for him to not promote his stuff at this moment. We just hit the halfway mark for 2009 so anything could change but I been in Purple World too long to not know how things tend to go. I hope that he is well but I hate seeing great music not being heard by the masses and I wish that Prince would do more for those that are the hardcore. Whatever, I'm glad we have the music but there should be more. Sorry for being long-winded but its just my opinion.

I also agree with Leo77's post too.
[Edited 6/19/09 9:23am]

LondonStyle said:

Yeah. I can never grow tired of "Dance 4 Me". That's the JAM.

Giovanni777 said:

Yes it is. It shows that Prince hasn't lost it at all.