so that explains my diarrhoea today.

Love it! It's the Business and the Hotness rolled into one.

EyeJester7 said:

It's the album that really opened the beginning of my fascination to Prince. I remember someone giving a review of the album on Youtube, and I started to listen to each song after they broke down their personal review of the songs. I enjoyed thoroughly "Beginning Endlessly" and to my surprise the whole album took me IN! I can listen to 20Ten with ease, and it's a great album to kill time with. The quality of each sound is sheer perfection. It's like you are in the studio, so the production is flawless! I listen to all the songs pretty much; when I feel the songs speaking to me; with the exception of Act of God & Everybody Loves Me. LOL. I do love the work of these songs though! Lately listening to "Everybody Loves Me" I realize the production in terms of instruments; reminds me of his earlier work; which is flawless...The lyrics are whack as heck, YET still it's not as lame as I thought it was when I first heard it.

The standouts on the album are exceptional which for me included "Future Soul Song, "Lavaux", "Walk In Sand", "Beginning Endlessly", "Sticky Like Glue...(If ONLY the rap section was cut out completely! Haha"). I manage to find these songs in repetition in my head while listening to them now. It brings me to the place that eye started to see the genius in this man. This album is somewhat like a 1 year anniversary of me being a Prince fan, the more I think I about it. I feel as if I have been a fan all my life..Like I grew up with him, because of the connection I have with his music, but it was not always this way. LOL. It started with the intrigue of this and the cover art he wore on his outfit during the BET awards when they honored him. Eye remember seeing him & remembering vague images of PR and what I remembered of him when I was young...BUT it wasn't until this album I started a heavy intrigue and respect for him. I appreciate 20Ten for these reasons more or less. SO It's Happy 20Ten for me in terms of the memory attached! I would not call the album FANTASTIC ALL TOGETHER, But I am not here to review anything, as I already did reading over this...Haha.

BUT I would call it FANTASTIC in that; it provides heaps of joy for me to hear them and remember the time that created my admiration for him!

Peace & love....

WOW..Long Tangent I went on here..lol

Happy anniversary! I love the album, and it was such a treat to hear a few of its songs live on the US leg of the tour. That's what breaks my heart about his output from these past couple of decades. We don't always get to hear the album's material live anymore, and that's how I used to discover a lot of songs that I dismissed in the recordings. You're right, what we love has everything to do with the associations we make to that moment in our life when we hear something. Glad you're enjoying his music now.

robertgeorgeakabob said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Ugh! What an awful beginning to Prince appreciation. But whatever. I guess it doesn't matter what brought you there, as long as you're there.

As I'm sure you've done by now, heavily invest in collecting his 70s-1990 albums FIRST, and don't forget the live shows and outtakes. Once you take all that in, you'll probably be like, "20what??" Lol!

if he's this excited about 20ten, he must be coming in his pants listening to sign o the times etc.

That, and 20Ten will be one of the first albums to get deleted to make more space for boots on his hard drive!! And if he's got the CD, he's got a cheap ass coaster provided by the paper!

It is a somewhat forgettable and harmless album but a few pleasant songs. It's nice that Prince is still recording and releasing music...like hearing from an old friend again. So be thankful for what it is and not too critical of what it isn't.

robertgeorgeakabob said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Ugh! What an awful beginning to Prince appreciation. But whatever. I guess it doesn't matter what brought you there, as long as you're there.

As I'm sure you've done by now, heavily invest in collecting his 70s-1990 albums FIRST, and don't forget the live shows and outtakes. Once you take all that in, you'll probably be like, "20what??" Lol!

if he's this excited about 20ten, he must be coming in his pants listening to sign o the times etc.

Hahaha..Yes, the beginning is kind of low class considering the other great works he has put out in the past. I am glad to be here now though..even from the medium of 20Ten! I have been in HEAVY rotation in picking up all of those albums from the 70's-90's and even now. I have a lot of the bootleg material although I need the live shows, THAT I am missing. A lot of material still exist out there! I am glad the vault isn't released yet, because I have a lot to cover, yet my quest is far from over. SOTT is one of my favorite albums by him hands down. lol. It's an landmark album, and I got to say I have jizzed in my pants off it. hahaha JK. But it has birth out some mysterious & creative realities for me. Lovesexy, the Dream Factory, etc...it's amazing to see what he created all of these years. He has literally done so much, And it's hard to believe it sometimes, this comes from one man. With the help of The NPG, & Revolution.! it's fantastic!

tomato said:

EyeJester7 said:

It's the album that really opened the beginning of my fascination to Prince. I remember someone giving a review of the album on Youtube, and I started to listen to each song after they broke down their personal review of the songs. I enjoyed thoroughly "Beginning Endlessly" and to my surprise the whole album took me IN! I can listen to 20Ten with ease, and it's a great album to kill time with. The quality of each sound is sheer perfection. It's like you are in the studio, so the production is flawless! I listen to all the songs pretty much; when I feel the songs speaking to me; with the exception of Act of God & Everybody Loves Me. LOL. I do love the work of these songs though! Lately listening to "Everybody Loves Me" I realize the production in terms of instruments; reminds me of his earlier work; which is flawless...The lyrics are whack as heck, YET still it's not as lame as I thought it was when I first heard it.

The standouts on the album are exceptional which for me included "Future Soul Song, "Lavaux", "Walk In Sand", "Beginning Endlessly", "Sticky Like Glue...(If ONLY the rap section was cut out completely! Haha"). I manage to find these songs in repetition in my head while listening to them now. It brings me to the place that eye started to see the genius in this man. This album is somewhat like a 1 year anniversary of me being a Prince fan, the more I think I about it. I feel as if I have been a fan all my life..Like I grew up with him, because of the connection I have with his music, but it was not always this way. LOL. It started with the intrigue of this and the cover art he wore on his outfit during the BET awards when they honored him. Eye remember seeing him & remembering vague images of PR and what I remembered of him when I was young...BUT it wasn't until this album I started a heavy intrigue and respect for him. I appreciate 20Ten for these reasons more or less. SO It's Happy 20Ten for me in terms of the memory attached! I would not call the album FANTASTIC ALL TOGETHER, But I am not here to review anything, as I already did reading over this...Haha.

BUT I would call it FANTASTIC in that; it provides heaps of joy for me to hear them and remember the time that created my admiration for him!

Peace & love....

WOW..Long Tangent I went on here..lol

Happy anniversary! I love the album, and it was such a treat to hear a few of its songs live on the US leg of the tour. That's what breaks my heart about his output from these past couple of decades. We don't always get to hear the album's material live anymore, and that's how I used to discover a lot of songs that I dismissed in the recordings. You're right, what we love has everything to do with the associations we make to that moment in our life when we hear something. Glad you're enjoying his music now.

Thank you! Haha, Happy Anniversary to you too! I enjoyed the performances of Laydown the first time I saw it on George Lopez. Also "Future Soul Song" Live it was amazing! You are right, he does not play them live as much as he use to. Thank you, I am glad too! It's a roller coaster! I will always be a fan of his! I love it all though, so many reasons to look back and remember this is what started it all!

Peace & Love

I still like the strong songs on it (Future Soul Song, Walk In The Sand, and Laydown is ok as a live song or as an intro during shows) but I find the songs that I didn´t like just as bad, or maybe worse, as I did back in 2010 when they came out. Stuff like Everybody Loves Me and Compassion is embarrassingly bad, and Lavaux is kinda ok but I can´t relate to the lyrics, nor do I feel like spending time in Lavaux after listening to it. I bet the people of Lavaux love that song though.

Act Of God is decent but his smartass lyrics don´t really grab me. But the album is not as bad as people think. Future Soul Song and Walk In The Sand are songs that I really, really like and I play them very often. Very strong songs.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

robertgeorgeakabob said:

if he's this excited about 20ten, he must be coming in his pants listening to sign o the times etc.

That, and 20Ten will be one of the first albums to get deleted to make more space for boots on his hard drive!! And if he's got the CD, he's got a cheap ass coaster provided by the paper!

Hahahaha, That was funny. LOL. Thinking about it, the first to be deleted would be New Power Soul.Hahaha Jk. ( NPS is an album that might grow on me, as with a lot of Prince songs have done to me.) It would be 20Ten I would delete...Haha. but thankfully I do have the physical copy of 20Ten. I want to hear everything good or bad..Haha. The cover art was kind of whack in that it looks like a colorful, bright, flamboyant; utopia. LOL. Nothing is wrong with that it just did not seem to match with any of the songs except Future Soul Song, & Compassion. I don't know..the cover was just too happy! Haha, I excepted a little bit more edge, and mystery! Haha

tomato said:

Happy anniversary! I love the album, and it was such a treat to hear a few of its songs live on the US leg of the tour. That's what breaks my heart about his output from these past couple of decades. We don't always get to hear the album's material live anymore, and that's how I used to discover a lot of songs that I dismissed in the recordings. You're right, what we love has everything to do with the associations we make to that moment in our life when we hear something. Glad you're enjoying his music now.

I could not agree with you any more! Look no further than the 2009 Montreux performance of "When I Lay My Hands on U" for an example of a song that was given new life by a live performance. I realise that during arena shows Prince needs to play a healthy percentage of the hits but it would be great if rather than doing covers he tried to sneak in a few more new songs.

KoolEaze said:

I still like the strong songs on it (Future Soul Song, Walk In The Sand, and Laydown is ok as a live song or as an intro during shows) but I find the songs that I didn´t like just as bad, or maybe worse, as I did back in 2010 when they came out. Stuff like Everybody Loves Me and Compassion is embarrassingly bad, and Lavaux is kinda ok but I can´t relate to the lyrics, nor do I feel like spending time in Lavaux after listening to it. I bet the people of Lavaux love that song though.

Act Of God is decent but his smartass lyrics don´t really grab me. But the album is not as bad as people think. Future Soul Song and Walk In The Sand are songs that I really, really like and I play them very often. Very strong songs.

I love that one! I don't necessarily think it's a fantastic song but there is something about the way it sounds that I find extremely agreeable.

I like the album, it's got 7 songs that I appreciate in one way or another. Some more than others of course, but I couldn't realy complain about the album. I think it's his best since TRC.

All the albums in between have a song or two that are somewhat good, but the rest was average at best. For me 20Ten is a very enjoyable Prince album. Yes, it is on the safe side, but the tracks are well executed IMO, and it's a nice CD to play in the car.

So for me it is "happy birthday 20Ten"!!! I wouldn't mind a "20Eleven" in the same vein at all.

The tracks that I like are:

• Compassion
• Beginning Endlessly
• Future Soul Song
• Sticky Like Glue
• Act Of God
• Lavaux
• Everybody Loves Me

I liked Future Soul Song, Sticky Like Glue, and Laydown.

I enjoyed seeing Future Soul Song live @ the LA shows, it was a really beautiful piece. The Twinz wrapped him up in a sheet. Laydown is also cool live.

I still love Laydown, so sue me, LOL

[img:$uid]http://pic80.picturetrail.com:80/VOL2084/9118410/23349317/390140643.jpg[/img:$uid]

20T3N is simply a masterpiece !!!!

2 bad no 20T3N Deluxe !!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary! 20T3N

My copy of 20TEN came in a paper sleeve. My friend comes over and right away goes "DUDE, you need to immediately put that CD into a jewel case because that cardboard sleeve is going to damage it!" I told him a couple scratches wouldn't bother me and he said NO that there is actually a chemical reaction with the paper.

You were right in adding the question mark in the thread title.

NouveauDance said:

You were right in adding the question mark in the thread title.

Hehehe..

I jest, but it's interesting how 20Ten and PE, as giveaways, were received quite differently.

For me, 20Ten comes from the same well as NPS or MPLSound, it's Prince doing a Prince impression. There's a couple of good tracks, but overall it's just not good enough - lack of efffort, very little twists and turns or surprises in the tracks - 30 seconds in, you've heard all there is to offer. Stick in some sound-a-like samples and think everyone will be happy with it.

It still boggles my mind how the first track was so well received - were the Linn samples really that hypnotising as to take away from sounding like an NPS out-take? Same goes for No Candy 4 U and that type of thing - samples aren't the key. Is Prince looking to recapture something, is that why he's doing this kind of thing?

NouveauDance said:

I jest, but it's interesting how 20Ten and PE, as giveaways, were received quite differently.

For me, 20Ten comes from the same well as NPS or MPLSound, it's Prince doing a Prince impression. There's a couple of good tracks, but overall it's just not good enough - lack of efffort, very little twists and turns or surprises in the tracks - 30 seconds in, you've heard all there is to offer. Stick in some sound-a-like samples and think everyone will be happy with it.

It still boggles my mind how the first track was so well received - were the Linn samples really that hypnotising as to take away from sounding like an NPS out-take? Same goes for No Candy 4 U and that type of thing - samples aren't the key. Is Prince looking to recapture something, is that why he's doing this kind of thing?

I totally agree, i'm not a fan of either album really, but I have found myself returning to Planet Earth on a few occasions since it's release. It just sounds a lot more organic than 20Ten.

I listened to 20Ten about 4 or 5 times the week it was released, but just the other day was the only time I had played it since then and it just done nothing, I do like FSS, I like the vocals in it but I don't like anything to do with this recapturing the past shite by using old drum samples and all that.

I wonder how 20Ten would have sounded like recorded with a live band, easier to digest or just an album of shite songs played with a real band?

20Ten, to be totally honest, is definitely no favorite of mine. The fact that it was never properly released goes to show already how much effort was put into it. However, like on several other Prince CD's that aren't my favorites, it definitely does contain a couple of pretty good tracks.

Future soul song for example, especially after hearing it live this weekend at the North Sea Jazz Fest, is a really good song I think. Sticky like glue is definitely funky, esp. the guitar parts and Laydown def. rocks, while Walkin Sand is a very catchy melody. However, to my taste, the composition, arrangement, performance and production of these tracks still lack a lot of effort, inspiration and imagination. Basically the high quality that I expect of Prince (and that I, as well as many others, probably got spoiled with over the years).

20Ten all sounds kinda cheap, hasty and lazy to me really, and most of all like it could have been much better. Worse, the other songs on the album, especially the first three, I still just can't get into, at all. I hope I am so wrong about these tunes and that one day I still may find to like them after all, like I have experienced with many other Prince songs before, but these still sound to me like some dude in his basement trying to recreate the old Prince from the early 80's in the year 20Ten, however with songs that are totally not compatible, with the wrong instruments, the wrong production and in a completely uninspired way..sigh...

Whatever it is or may be with 20Ten or me, I think that it's most definitely true that this album proves, that ever since Emancipation, there has entered a sort of 'schism' in the type of music Prince releases. From then on, there's the Prince that you could call "the plastic Prince" on much of the music on Emancipation, Crystal Ball, NPS, Rave, 1999 TNM, The NPGMC years (High, The Chocolate Invasion), Musicology, 3121, MPLS Sound and 20ten.

And then there is what you could call "the organic Prince", with much of the music that is on Chaos & Disorder, The Truth, The Vault Old friends for sale, The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone, Xpectation, C-note, NEWS, Planet Earth and Lotusflower.

This 'schism' I think was lurking before already (since GB and D&P), but from 1996 on, it was in full effect. And while there are definitely songs on the first set of albums that could fit on the latter and vice versa ('When Eye Lay my Hands on U', 'Here', 'The Word' or 'The Dance' for example come to mind vs I Rock Therefore I Am, Mellow, Mr. Goodnicght and $ ) the difference I think is mostly in the style of music, the use of instruments and the type of (sound) production.

On the "organic albums" it's mostly real, live drums and bass as opposed to contemporary sounding drum machine and bass sounds (plus attempts to recreate the linn that don't work out), the use of horns and organs as opposed to kinda cheap sounding synths, lots of (rock, jazz, and funk) guitar vs. barely a little or just some funky stuff here and there, as well as many rich, soul and colourful voices vs more plastic, produced, soulless R&B and hiphop voices.

The musical style of much of the songs differs too; mostly R&B/soul, hiphop/funk type of stuff vs. mostly (latin) jazz, rock/funk and soul/gospel. However, most of all, on the "organic albums" there is a sound production that is 'warm' and 'natural' to the ears, as opposed to kinda 'chilly' and 'plastic'. Yet, also the style of the lyrics even differs. Tho' of course this could be up for debate too, there is more meaningfull, in depth stuff on the 'organic' albums, in my opinion, as opposed to much more superficial, meaningless drivel on the 'plastic'. Logical too, even, considering the type of music.

This division in 'the church of Prince music' I believe, also strongly reflects in his fanbase and what type of Prince music a certain type of fan prefers. There truly are a lot of fans that prefer the post 96 'plastic Prince' more than the other, while there are truly a great deal too that don't like it all or only partly (put me in the latter category). It's actually a very interesting musical and perhabs also even social phenomena, here in the Prince community, I think. It really shows how diverse Prince and his fans actually are.

[Edited 7/12/11 21:32pm]

funkaholic1972 said:

I like the album, it's got 7 songs that I appreciate in one way or another. Some more than others of course, but I couldn't realy complain about the album. I think it's his best since TRC.

All the albums in between have a song or two that are somewhat good, but the rest was average at best. For me 20Ten is a very enjoyable Prince album. Yes, it is on the safe side, but the tracks are well executed IMO, and it's a nice CD to play in the car.

So for me it is "happy birthday 20Ten"!!! I wouldn't mind a "20Eleven" in the same vein at all.

The tracks that I like are:

• Compassion
• Beginning Endlessly
• Future Soul Song
• Sticky Like Glue
• Act Of God
• Lavaux
• Everybody Loves Me

I actually like Beginning Endlessly

Sticky Like Glue

Lavaux

Not living in UK I was only able to listen to it on Utube when it was there, and I really liked it! Happy that I just won it on eBay, can't wait to get it and enjoy it more.

Trashcat said:

so that explains my diarrhoea today.