Here’s how I laid down the “Xpectation” CD:

Xpectation (runtime = 71:20)

01 – Xhalation – 2:03
02 – Xcogitate – 3:33
03 – Xemplify – 5:53
04 – Xpectation – 4:01
05 – Xotica – 3:05
06 – Xogenous – 4:11
07 – Xpand – 6:10
08 – Xosphere – 3:34
09 – Xpedition – 8:23

(15-second pause to separate the album from the bonus tracks)

10 – Tokyo – 5:09
11 – Copenhagen – 10:07
12 – Nogoya – 8:53
13 – Osaka – 5:53

A beautiful 71 minutes of progressive neo-classical fusion, if you’re into or open to such stuff. The album ends with the cry of the birth of a new direction in Prince music and the final bonus track ends with the soothing sounds of rain caressing the rice fields of Japan (or is that caressing a traditional Japanese bamboo house?)

This album to me is the best to-date example of Prince’s abilities on the keyboards (far superior to that of the playing found on the “One Nite Alone” piano album). And there are also a few moments of inspired Prince jazz guitar (check out track 6 in particular, especially when Prince and Vanessa playfully take turns stroking the melody on their respective instruments.) And track 9 will be allowed to hang musically with anything that gets released in 2003.

I’m on about my 15th listen and this stuff just keeps getting better and better, unlike his late 90s material that was just the opposite; started out good and then with each subsequent listen would start to sound less and less interesting.

And now I’m going to be singing “Tow-keee-oh” in my sleep for weeks. Gorgeous stuff and it’s about damn time he finally got around to adding violin to his sound.

"Madhouse" and "Kamasutra" were Prince practicing for the real thing. He's fused the two worlds and gone deeper, with a more organic presentation and richer playing.

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[This message was edited Sun Jan 5 17:02:21 PST 2003 by Brendan]

Got the same problem - I keep hearing Prince sing Tow-kee-oh. Its stuck there.

HAHA!

Freaky! I actually made the exact same CD (including the pause), except I switched Copenhagen with Nagoya.

savoirfaire said:

Yeah, I wasn't sure which way to go with those two, and I'm not sure it matters. But what does make it feel much more artistic is to start and end in the rain with Tokyo and Osaka respectively.

I just hope Prince is getting his chops ready to tour the Spring and Summer jazz festivals that take place around the country and around the world. Talk about getting a new vibe on things, boy I'd love to see him tour a jazz ensemble.

Ya - touring Jazz Festivals would be great. Montreal 2001 was incredible! Let's hope!