ZAZA2 said:

They must not have heard the whole album becuase I've never heard anything like Xpedition or Xpand while sitting in the doctor's office.

FlyingCloudPassenger said:

And don't get me wrong... I respect your view of the album too. But, throughout everything you said, you're essentially confirming exactly what I said. Xpectation was not and is not a Madhouse style album from beggining to end. You said that compared to Madhouse 8 and 16, Xpectation has no oomph! and that it's just not Xciting, and I'm saying in so many words, "maybe that's the whole point". There are clearly a couple of Madhouse style songs on the album, but there are also many other songs that are anything BUT Madhouse style. It's like you're comparing a race car to a luxury Rolls Royce, and you're getting in the Rolls Royce saying "hey, this car doesn't growl and kick the way my race car does" and I'm saying, "exactly!" That's the whole point - it's different by design. So even though you say that you're expectations weren't being held captive, clearly they are because time and time again you keep referring to Madhouse as your benchmark for what a "Prince" jazz album should sound like in order to satisfy you. So to me, that clearly says that you have not surrendered your expectations.

Also, I think you're confusing the word "different" with "ground breaking". Something can be different without being ground breaking. You cannot tell me that "Xhalation, Xcogitate, Xotica, Xogenous, and Xosphere" are all songs that were written and performed in a style that we've heard from Prince before. So what if he's used violin and strings before??? so what if Blackwell used the same drums that he always uses??? What's your point?... that Prince had to go out and create all new instruments that no one has ever heard before just to be different??? It's the style and vibe that's different, and whether you realize it or not, you keep reiterating that point by reminding us that it does NOT sound like Madhouse.

But I respect your opinion, and I realize that Xpectation is not going to appeal to everyone. I just wanted to be one of the voices that let it be known that I really love the album and I also listen to a lot of other jazz so I do have a taste for jazz itself and it's not like I like it just because it's Prince.

The test is this. Play some of the Xpectation songs for people without telling them that it is Prince and see if they guess the artist. I doubt they will. I remember when Madhouse 6 was being played on the radio, people were still saying "hey, that sounds like Prince". But, they won't be able to make that same claim with most of Xpectation.

ZAZA2 said:

They must not have heard the whole album becuase I've never heard anything like Xpedition or Xpand while sitting in the doctor's office.

The second time round when I played it to a friend it didn't sound so hot, just a little cheesy.

justanotherasshole said:

Sorry. But then, the playlist could have been made at any time. Has nothing to do with the production of the music so no big mystery there.

I think the death of Prince's father might have prompted him to do a jazz album like Xpectation. Sort of a tribute to his father? Jazz has always been lurking behind all of Prince's music, so it was only a matter of time before a true jazz album was made.

I love Xpectation, especially Xpedition and Xpectation!

Can't wait to hear what Prince is gonna do next! During "Alphabet St" on ONAL he says "I like country music too!" Let's hope he's not working on a country album... heh heh

Well, actually, it's almost a month.

I listened for the 3rd time to the tracks today.

And I have to say that for m personally, I feel the Xpectation tracks...are...boring.

I just couldn't get into them. I THINK, these are dare I say it, the most dull Prince tracks ever.

The only song that had excitement was Xpedition. I dig John's Jazz drumming at the beginning and really dig the organ motif jam towards the end of Xpedition. It had a Madhouse/Santana feel towards the end.

The Violin, especially on Xhalation, I don't know...didn't do it for me. I cringed a little. I mean, the violinists talents are appreciated but...

Xpand just had this GoldNigga NPG style that I just doesn't appeal TO ME.

Xpectation had this great Madhouse-like feel that was a treat.

I mean the album is produced very well, it has a clean sophisticed sound. But it's really rather bland.

In contrast to previous Prince "Jazz" albums like both Madhouse albums, the Madhouse albums had this "pop", a sense of underlying raw, fierce Funk, and the songs had more personality to them.

Everytime I put on ANY Madhouse album, I feel satisfied, envigorated, and wanting more! But Xpectation falls a little short of MY expectations.

=-=-=-=-=


As a side note I also wanted to point something I noticed about the tracks right after I downloaded them.

If you notice, the creation dates of the actaul mp3's for Xpectation are April 18th, 2001. Now, I downloaded both sets, Xpectation and The SoundCheck tracks on January 6th and my browser does NOT change the original creation dates of the files it downloads.

So could the Xpectation tracks originally had been recorded sometime in early April 2001 or early in 2001 or maybe even earlier. Perhaps as part of the Rainbow Children sessions? Hhmmm, interesting to note, huh?

The SoundCheck tracks have a more current date of creation of January 2nd. which would be more inline with them being recorded after the Japanese and European legs of The One Night Alone Tour, soon after ripped into MP3's.

See a pic of the files below. Just a curiosity and something to ponder.

That little syncopated off beat rhythm that sounds like the record skips a beat in Xotica is just plain sick! Who else would write such a thing into a song EXCEPT Prince???