Hey guys i was wondering, since this album sounds alot like the 80's era songs he made. I think the songs he released where from the vault. I mean the way the sound and drum noise in this album sounds alot like the 80's. what do u guys think ?

Hell naw!!

But seriously no, this album is almost pathetic in comparriosn to his 80's work, I think compared to any other album it's his weakest, Don't get me wrong some songs r really good I.E: Future Soul Song but it's still an extremely weak album definetly not including 80's leftovers

You missed the point. Prince brought back his synthpop on MPLsound and 20Ten to remind people that he is the grandfather contemporary 80s synthpop. Unfortunately most of his new synthpop is unlistenable drek and he didn't promote either album much in the USA, so nobody other than old Prince fans noticed.

Does anyone hear the actual sampling or riffs from older albums on 20ten?

That synth-bass line from Compassion sounds like it was taken from either Dirty Mind or Lets Pretend We're Married.

And then there's several other tracks that sound like they're taking stuff from older albums.

The probem with 20ten is that it's really just a week collection of b-side worthy material.

I wouldn't be surprised if Prince hasn't released any new material from recent recordings and we're not just getting stuff from the vault that's been touched up.

....I sure hope it's not the good stuff from the vault.

I didn't hate this album but I never listen to it so I guess that says something

jpnyc said:

You missed the point. Prince brought back his synthpop on MPLsound and 20Ten to remind people that he is the grandfather contemporary 80s synthpop. Unfortunately most of his new synthpop is unlistenable drek and he didn't promote either album much in the USA, so nobody other than old Prince fans noticed.

just prince by himself eh?

jpnyc said:

he is the grandfather of contemporary 80s synthpop.

No, Kraftwerk is.

It sounds more like 1998 than 1980s IMO. Those Linn samples aren't fooling anyone (except the OP evidently )

a year later and i still love this record. i wish he wouldve paired this with Lotusflow3r instead of that gross MPLSound record.

TheDigitalGardener said:

Drum sounds aside I think it sounds nothing like the 80's. If this was Prince's intention then imo he failed.

If he'd added more echo to the tracks, I bet they'd sound more 1983/84 .

And yeah, I agree this album, imo alongside MPLSound are perhaps his weakest of all, weak attempts to invoke the sound of his commercial glory years - Just mostly without the good songs, cool guitar, sense of risk, invention and passion that his great '80s music had.

I do wonder if Prince himself has realised that some of his recent releases (excluding Lotusflower, imo his best album since Rainbow Children) are below par (by his standards), hence his apparent decision not to release anything new for a while.

Though as we know, with P, he may change his mind tomorrow and wanna bring out something before Christmas lol

Lotusflower, the PFunk track and parts of 3121 imo show he still has it in him to make some great stuff though, he probably just needs to release less material less frequently, say every 3 or 4 years, so he has a bigger stockpile of quality stuff when he comes to compiling and releasing his albums.

NouveauDance said:

It sounds more like 1998 than 1980s IMO. Those Linn samples aren't fooling anyone (except the OP evidently )

Couldn't have put it any better myself. 20ten has almost no similarities to his 80's music. Not in sound, style, or inspiration

Actually I think he's been pulling out vault tracks and revamping them in a few cases, stripping off 80's style reverb, etc and putting them out there on some of these albums. And maybe laughing when people say it's not as good at used to be.

"Act of God" seems like it's old but revamped a bit.

Since the drums are a very important part of the sound of the tracks it's a bit silly to suggest that the songs sound nothing like the 1980s. That's a bit like saying the drums aren't part of the music itself. I don't have anything to complain about the drum sounds - those sounds are still far more appealing to me than most of the stock samples in the current workstations and drum machines. He could mix them a bit differently though.

I don't know why people on this site seem to think that for something to sound "like the 80s" it has to sound like it came off the Purple Rain or 1999 albums. I think it's quite evident that he's been using ideas mostly from the Controversy and Dream Factory eras on more recent albums like 20Ten and Planet Earth. It's more of a subtle 80s reference. The songs could be better in overall, but I'm glad he hasn't done some sort of full-on kitschy revival stuff. Leave that to the younger artists like Chromeo, Bastian or Dam-Funk who are able to feel genuinely nostalgic over the music of that era.

I doubt that Prince took that album seriously since there's nothing 'official' about it...it was basically a giveaway to promote the gig. I personally love the album, but it's very Prince by numbers. Even though Planet Earth was basically the same thing in the beginning it got an official release which leads me to think there was something on it he wanted people to hear...same with Lotusflow3r. I think one of P's main problems is that he longs for the way it used to be. I read somewhere that he said something to fact about artists not having to earn it these days which is somewhat true....especially when every other story is centered around what some 'artist' says or what they do in their private lives. There is good music to be heard these days true enough, but gone are the days when all you had to do was turn on the radio to hear a good song (imo).

ufoclub said:

Actually I think he's been pulling out vault tracks and revamping them in a few cases, stripping off 80's style reverb, etc and putting them out there on some of these albums. And maybe laughing when people say it's not as good at used to be.

"Act of God" seems like it's old but revamped a bit.

Well, if this ever was the case, when he re-does the tracks with how he produces and arranges all of his tracks of today, they're gonna sound crappy. He ends up stripping away what POSSIBLY made the song work in the first place. His whole musical mindset is different now than it was then. Back then, he was hungry, and he had all of this talented infulences in his camp. Today, he's stubborn, "rich", and sitting on top of the world with what he feels as nothing left to prove. And that laziness just shows through the music.

To me none of the songs seem like vault material when you listen to the lyrics and musical arrangements. They all seem to make sense in the continuity of recent work and just his way of playing around with the MPLSound direction.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

ufoclub said:

Actually I think he's been pulling out vault tracks and revamping them in a few cases, stripping off 80's style reverb, etc and putting them out there on some of these albums. And maybe laughing when people say it's not as good at used to be.

"Act of God" seems like it's old but revamped a bit.

Well, if this ever was the case, when he re-does the tracks with how he produces and arranges all of his tracks of today, they're gonna sound crappy. He ends up stripping away what POSSIBLY made the song work in the first place. His whole musical mindset is different now than it was then. Back then, he was hungry, and he had all of this talented infulences in his camp. Today, he's stubborn, "rich", and sitting on top of the world with what he feels as nothing left to prove. And that laziness just shows through the music.

Youre tripping. You act like 80's Prince didn't write songs that people would consider filler today. We all know thats not true. Say what you will of the album as a whole, 20Ten has tracks stronger than what he put out on MPLSound and at least one (I'd say two) songs that many consider among his best in a long time.

-hearing all the song, I can't quite find anything wrong with,

-the lyrics, the composition of the order the songs are in, the music,

-the instruments, his voice, his style or even the album art.

-I guess because i am most grateful that there is an album.

-as a fan of music, it is my duty to understand the artist I am listening to.

-I have always believed in music.

-Practice does make for perfect and I have theories up my ass about Prince's music.

-The ONLY thing I find wrong is that the length of the duration of the cd rotation,

-in my cd player is way too short, about an hr. or so worth, and I don't like to seem like

-some Prince music junkie but DAM! Prince doesn't want to put out any more music right now.

lezama said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Well, if this ever was the case, when he re-does the tracks with how he produces and arranges all of his tracks of today, they're gonna sound crappy. He ends up stripping away what POSSIBLY made the song work in the first place. His whole musical mindset is different now than it was then. Back then, he was hungry, and he had all of this talented infulences in his camp. Today, he's stubborn, "rich", and sitting on top of the world with what he feels as nothing left to prove. And that laziness just shows through the music.

Youre tripping. You act like 80's Prince didn't write songs that people would consider filler today. We all know thats not true. Say what you will of the album as a whole, 20Ten has tracks stronger than what he put out on MPLSound and at least one (I'd say two) songs that many consider among his best in a long time.

For one, tracks that may have been considered "filler" on his 80s album are, at the very LEAST, on par with his BEST tracks of what he releases today, if not slightly better because his heart isn't into his newer music like it used to be. And you can hear it!! Second, I never said that 20Ten wasn't better than MPLSound (to which I agree), but that's not really saying too much.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

For one, tracks that may have been considered "filler" on his 80s album are, at the very LEAST, on par with his BEST tracks of what he releases today, if not slightly better because his heart isn't into his newer music like it used to be. And you can hear it!! Second, I never said that 20Ten wasn't better than MPLSound (to which I agree), but that's not really saying too much.

I know what you're saying... Ive said it to myself many times before as well. And i think he knows it too, because he's mentioned in interviews about the process of sitting down and writing a "hit" as opposed to just turning out songs. So he understands what he's putting out. For me though the quality of his late 00's filler is a lot better than the 90's filler. He doesn't put out songs that violently hate very often since 3121. But I'd have to agree, none of it has the fire or originality of his 80's filler. If I defend 20ten is only because I'd listen to 20ten in its entirety before I would many other of his late-90's early 00's stuff.

Do not confuse "80's sound" with "80's music". ESPECIALLY in when it comes to Prince.

lezama said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

For one, tracks that may have been considered "filler" on his 80s album are, at the very LEAST, on par with his BEST tracks of what he releases today, if not slightly better because his heart isn't into his newer music like it used to be. And you can hear it!! Second, I never said that 20Ten wasn't better than MPLSound (to which I agree), but that's not really saying too much.

I know what you're saying... Ive said it to myself many times before as well. And i think he knows it too, because he's mentioned in interviews about the process of sitting down and writing a "hit" as opposed to just turning out songs. So he understands what he's putting out. For me though the quality of his late 00's filler is a lot better than the 90's filler. He doesn't put out songs that violently hate very often since 3121. But I'd have to agree, none of it has the fire or originality of his 80's filler. If I defend 20ten is only because I'd listen to 20ten in its entirety before I would many other of his late-90's early 00's stuff.

Gotcha. I will admit that it IS indeed better than that period you mentioned. So, I hear ya!

i like 20ten

Terrible cover and terrible marketing...but I am still listening to many songs from this album and I must admit that I am still enjoying it quite much!

Compassion = Not one of the best ones from the album but still ok. Fun theatrical song with a very catchy hook. My mother 63 years old has always loved Let's Pretend We're Married, and she loves Compassion because she thinks it reminds her of L.P.W.M.

Beginning Endlessly = Catchy and cheesy in a good way and the latter part of the song has some great moments and variety, some part reminds me of When dove cry and in a good way.

Future Soul song = Great voice and great melody.

Sticky like glue = Love this song. Retro and fun...smooth funk and great backup vocals. One of his strongest melodies for years. Dont like "the host" rapping though!

Lavaux = Tribute to 1999 and Automatic by Sister sledge. Simple, but simply catchy and fun!

Act of God = Ok song, but I really like the instrumental part of the song.

Walk in Sand = Very nice melody and this one has grown on me.

Sea of Everything = Ok, but not too impressed.

Everybody Loves Me = Fun song but probably should have been a "b side" song or a bonus song. Should have been a bonus track instead of Laydown.

Laydown = Good funk, melody perhaps a little too simple but still ok.

I did not mean to write a review! But overall this album is good and I am not afraid to admit that!

jpnyc said:

You missed the point. Prince brought back his synthpop on MPLsound and 20Ten to remind people that he is the grandfather contemporary 80s synthpop. Unfortunately most of his new synthpop is unlistenable drek and he didn't promote either album much in the USA, so nobody other than old Prince fans noticed.

If by "didn't promote much in the USA" you actually mean, "didn't release 20Ten in the USA" then yeah, spot on.

Since his "golden age" in the 1980s, he has always taken older songs and reworked them for later albums. "Strange Relationship" is a good example. Since none of us know exactly what is in the vault, especially from more recent years, it's possible that some of the songs on 20Ten were several years old but reworked for that release. But I doubt they actually came from the 1980s, as we know pretty well what wasn't released from that period.

aardvark15 said:

Hell naw!!

Priceless

& Ive never heard 20ten in its entirety as an album, like track alignment, blah blah blah, but it just sounded like Prince not necessarilly from one certain era or time, But again I dont own 20Ten so...

aardvark15 you deserve an applause