...will be good, based on the various soundbites/influences you've heard thus far (band members' remarks/interviews, Superconductor's production, horns, bass, Michael B. etc )?

love,

Spirit

i think it will be like a chaos and disorder meet rave unto the joy fantastic. hopefully im dead wrong.

oh geezus, not you too anj

rdhull said:

Oh I'm so behind! What are those soundbites/influences you've heard thus far (band members' remarks/interviews, Superconductor's production, horns, bass, Michael B. etc?

I know we've got that little snippet of Screwdriver, what else was there?

NouveauDance said:

Oh I'm so behind! What are those soundbites/influences you've heard thus far (band members' remarks/interviews, Superconductor's production, horns, bass, Michael B. etc?

I know we've got that little snippet of Screwdriver, what else was there?

I hope its good. I know some folks think Mr. P hasn't done anything good since...what the 90s? 80s? 2000s? But he still cranks out good, decent tracks with good melodies or lyrics or whatever, like any pop legend worth a fart.

I mean even 20TEN that "everybody hated," you had some good stuff. "Laydown," "Act of God," "Compassion," "Lavaux."

You know you're not behind, NouveauDance.

I was expecting a far more scathing response from you.

Are you softening in your old age?

love,

Spirit

SpiritOtter said:

You know you're not behind, NouveauDance.

I was expecting a far more scathing response from you.

Are you softening in your old age?

love,

Spirit

Dude, I'm emm-effing behind. You seem to have the jimmies on everything since the Screwdriver sample so let us poor saps know it all.

Screwdriver live sample got me all wet, screwdriver studio sample left me high and dry, so what else is new. I mean really, what else is new Mr.Otter?

SpiritOtter said:

rdhull said:

oh geezus, not you too anj

rd, What's the opposite of cynicism? Deep down, it is you, too. love, Spirit

Oh, no. Please don't be another Prince fan who copies his style of writing in condescending prophetic riddles!

This kind of post is just like that story Kevin Smith told where Prince gave him this long-winded speech about big snakes and little snakes.

As for the album, I've only heard one full song and a tiny bit of another. All I personally have to go by is his string of pop albums from Musicology to the present day.

Out of five stars, this is what I consider each one:

Musicology: **

3121: **

Lotus Flower: **1/2

MPL Sound: **

Planet Earth: **

20Ten: **

Judging by this and the fact that RRLA is the most boring single he's ever released, I'm expecting another album somewhere in the ** range.

I´m with PurpleKnight here and basically agree with most of what he said in his post.

The rehearsal snippets were ok but for some reason, they just don´t grab my attention like some of the old rehearsals still do. And I´m not even talking about those old 1980s rehearsals that I still listen to regularly, no, I mean stuff from the ONA tour days. But the new ones sound a bit sterile with only hints of the original song. I can barely even HEAR the original song in some of those rehearsal snippets that were posted, only a chant or maybe the main chords, but that´s about it.

Some were quite ok I guess but really nothing I´d go back to listen on a regular basis.

On the other hand, I still listen to the old Eden Prairie warehouse rehearsals because they are full songs, with full lyrics, they sound raw and original and not like a Prince tribute band.

So, based on the rehearsals that they posted, no , I´m not very excited. That Screwdriver snippet was ok but didn´t really leave me feenin´ for more.

I liked the hoodie though.

The production on Superconductor may sound superb and technically good to most of you but I found the People Pleaser video extremely boring, both visually and musicwise, and don´t get me started with those boring lyrics.The days of Prince writing a song that people can relate to seem to be over. I know the horn arrangements are tight but like I said, I don´t really care about the technical tidbits if the music does absolutely nothing for me. Some of the songs on that album sound decent though. Not my cup of tea but well produced. Still, I´d rather listen to a raw, organic sounding Prince unplugged session with Prince playing an hour of his greatest hits on nothing but an acoustic guitar and piano than this. But hey, I guess it´s a step in the right direction.

The albums of the past decade were not that bad, but not that great either. Every single one of them had at least two or three really strong songs but they also contained a bunch of cringworthy songs that kind of marred the rest of the album as a whole. But I really liked Lotusflower and I think you could easily configure those released albums in a way that you´d end up with three great albums instead of six mediocre Prince albums. Then again, I´m all for Prince having his beloved freedom, and if that means having awful songs like The One U Want 2 C or Mr.Goodnight or Everybody Loves Me on a legit Prince album, then so be it. It´s just sad to see him tarnish his legacy with the kind of release options he chooses these days.....weak songs, albums out of print, no full international releases etc.

Which leaves me with the live shows.....supposedly the one thing where he can´t go wrong. Or can he? I think he´s still a great performer, in my opinion probably the best, but Shelby J. and her constant hypeman antics ("Put your hands up, make some noise....!") have seriously ruined many concert experiences for me. And I don´t need to see a bunch of people from the crowd on stage to ruin the flow of a concert experience. It was fun when it was new. These days...not so much.

I don´t like the sampler set...I don´t like him bragging about "I got so many hits!" when he doesn´t really perform those hits in an adequate manner, instead choosing to play the same old cover songs over and over again. Or when he DOES play his hits, he is no longer as focused or dedicated as he used to be. Songs like "If I Was Your Girlfriend" used to be sung as a slow, introverted song in the past....that´s what made the song special, that´s what made the performance special.....these days the same song is performed in a loud, boombastic, cheerful mood with tons of extra gimmicks soundwise, horns and whatnot. The essence of the song gets lost.

So, all in all, I can answer your question with a simple "No.".

From what I´ve seen and experienced since at least 2004 and lately, I´m not very excited at all, and it is not the first time that he´s made big promises without living up to those promises.

But....this is Prince we´re talking about, and I know he´s still got IT inside of him to surprise us all. I still remember vividly how he surprised me big time during the 2002 celebration at Paisley Park and with the ONA tour....raw energy, incredible performances, superb renditions of his songs....there´s no reason why he can´t come up with something great again, and it´s been an interesting journey so far. As far as I´m concerned, it ain´t over.

KoolEaze said:

I´m with PurpleKnight here and basically agree with most of what he said in his post.

The rehearsal snippets were ok but for some reason, they just don´t grab my attention like some of the old rehearsals still do. And I´m not even talking about those old 1980s rehearsals that I still listen to regularly, no, I mean stuff from the ONA tour days. But the new ones sound a bit sterile with only hints of the original song. I can barely even HEAR the original song in some of those rehearsal snippets that were posted, only a chant or maybe the main chords, but that´s about it.

Some were quite ok I guess but really nothing I´d go back to listen on a regular basis.

On the other hand, I still listen to the old Eden Prairie warehouse rehearsals because they are full songs, with full lyrics, they sound raw and original and not like a Prince tribute band.

So, based on the rehearsals that they posted, no , I´m not very excited. That Screwdriver snippet was ok but didn´t really leave me feenin´ for more.

I liked the hoodie though.

The production on Superconductor may sound superb and technically good to most of you but I found the People Pleaser video extremely boring, both visually and musicwise, and don´t get me started with those boring lyrics.The days of Prince writing a song that people can relate to seem to be over. I know the horn arrangements are tight but like I said, I don´t really care about the technical tidbits if the music does absolutely nothing for me. Some of the songs on that album sound decent though. Not my cup of tea but well produced. Still, I´d rather listen to a raw, organic sounding Prince unplugged session with Prince playing an hour of his greatest hits on nothing but an acoustic guitar and piano than this. But hey, I guess it´s a step in the right direction.

The albums of the past decade were not that bad, but not that great either. Every single one of them had at least two or three really strong songs but they also contained a bunch of cringworthy songs that kind of marred the rest of the album as a whole. But I really liked Lotusflower and I think you could easily configure those released albums in a way that you´d end up with three great albums instead of six mediocre Prince albums. Then again, I´m all for Prince having his beloved freedom, and if that means having awful songs like The One U Want 2 C or Mr.Goodnight or Everybody Loves Me on a legit Prince album, then so be it. It´s just sad to see him tarnish his legacy with the kind of release options he chooses these days.....weak songs, albums out of print, no full international releases etc.

Which leaves me with the live shows.....supposedly the one thing where he can´t go wrong. Or can he? I think he´s still a great performer, in my opinion probably the best, but Shelby J. and her constant hypeman antics ("Put your hands up, make some noise....!") have seriously ruined many concert experiences for me. And I don´t need to see a bunch of people from the crowd on stage to ruin the flow of a concert experience. It was fun when it was new. These days...not so much.

I don´t like the sampler set...I don´t like him bragging about "I got so many hits!" when he doesn´t really perform those hits in an adequate manner, instead choosing to play the same old cover songs over and over again. Or when he DOES play his hits, he is no longer as focused or dedicated as he used to be. Songs like "If I Was Your Girlfriend" used to be sung as a slow, introverted song in the past....that´s what made the song special, that´s what made the performance special.....these days the same song is performed in a loud, boombastic, cheerful mood with tons of extra gimmicks soundwise, horns and whatnot. The essence of the song gets lost.

So, all in all, I can answer your question with a simple "No.".

From what I´ve seen and experienced since at least 2004 and lately, I´m not very excited at all, and it is not the first time that he´s made big promises without living up to those promises.

But....this is Prince we´re talking about, and I know he´s still got IT inside of him to surprise us all. I still remember vividly how he surprised me big time during the 2002 celebration at Paisley Park and with the ONA tour....raw energy, incredible performances, superb renditions of his songs....there´s no reason why he can´t come up with something great again, and it´s been an interesting journey so far. As far as I´m concerned, it ain´t over.

Cant expect him to always take you higher...heck singing those songs for thirty years how much passion could there be when u got to do it almost everyday of your life. I do have to admit R&R Love Affair is alright..its kinda like Dinner With Delores or Gold..not bad but not exciting...Good to see him doing something though...none of my other favs are doing a damn thing.

paisleypark4 said:

KoolEaze said:

(blah blah blah)

Cant expect him to always take you higher...heck singing those songs for thirty years how much passion could there be when u got to do it almost everyday of your life. I do have to admit R&R Love Affair is alright..its kinda like Dinner With Delores or Gold..not bad but not exciting...Good to see him doing something though...none of my other favs are doing a damn thing.

True , but he could come up with some stuff he´s rarely performed. Or make it sound different without making it sound cheesy ( I love for instance how he´s come up with so many drastically different interpretations of Something In The Water over the decades). Or he could just play some songs on the piano, if not in their entirety, then at least not as a tease snippet like he does with the sampler set. I don´t even mind him playing a semi-live song like the performance of "Hot Thing" in Sweden, which was not entirely live but interesting at least.

Like you said, he´s still much, much better than any of his peers or any of the other greats still out there but, with all his talent and skills and discipline and dedication, why is he going this route? Why half assed shows when he´s still in incredible shape and technically at the top of his game?

Prince is the kind of artist who can make a fictitious story like "Another Lonely Christmas" sound like it´s based on a true story, that´s how passionately he can sing when he puts his heart into it.

I´m not expecting any groundbreaking miracles, just a bit more passion and less bragging and less hypeman stuff. If he´s got so many hits, why not respect those hits and play them? In a way that they deserve to be played? Most great artists have a hard time writing one or two, maybe even a handful of hits, let alone ten. Prince on the other hand has written dozens of hits for himself and others, and these days he´s just coasting? That can´t be right.

You´re right, he´s still better than other artists of his generation but it seems he has lost the "feel" for some of his own body of work while focussing meticulously on songs of other people.

And there´s still a lot of great music and great, albeit not very wellknown, bands and artists out there....most folks here on the org often use the argument that he´s better than this or that artist in the charts, or better than his peers, but there´s a lot of raw talent out there that Prince does not even seem to know. Instead of checking out what is "hot" on the charts, he´d be well advised to find inspiration elsewhere.

no .. I don't think the new prince album will be any good

'extraloveable' gives hope that he is relistening to his old music but also dashes hope that he will do anything other than star wars special edition butcher his old music

'you will be with me' is a paint by numbers prince live blues toss off like telemarketer blues or 3 handed woman .. ok in the moment but not really that interesting on repeated listening

'welcome to america' is just rambling over boring music .. seemed like he just wanted to use the words 'welcome to america' and wasn't actually inspired to come up with this song .. it is very bad

'dark', 'old friends' rehearsals were both outstanding, great use of horns, great delivery by prince .. gives me hope he can recapture the old magic, but they are both old songs and brilliant songs and hard to screw up unless he crams them into one of his stupid medleys .. ultimately, these moments are not enough to convince me his new album could be this good again

'i like it there', 'ice cream castles', 'mutiny', 'dance electric', 'days of wild' rehearsal jams are all underachieved and a giant snoozefest .. i am still surprised at how boring prince is when he jams on an old classic, and how much of the song he leaves out, and how he thinks simply saying the title of the song over a one chord basic jam that could easily be most of his songs, is good enough. prince could do so much better, he could try just a we lil bit harder and those performances would be improved by leaps and bounds, but no, prince just wants to bore us to death while chanting the titles of songs we actually like but never actually singing those songs. jerk

'screwdriver' hmmm .. much like guitar (which has an almost catchy hook) this song is just another mess that sounds stupider with each listen

'love' .. another pure aunt jemimah corn syrup cheese fest snoozer .. i don't need another stupid prince ballad about the same old boring whatever with the same lyrics as the last 50 crappy prince ballads .. prince has not written a decent ballad since raves 'i love you but don't trust u'

andy allos record did nothing for me .. people please was ok but prince had nothing to do with it .. and even if he did, it is merely a cookie cutter jazz funk work out at best .. nothing that makes me want repeated listening

unlike some of the posters on the org, i disagree that he has a couple good songs per record lately ... he has a couple good IDEAS per record that he butchers with horrible lyrics and mouth full of marbles delivery .. for a while prince was good for at least a couple good songs per record .. graffitti bridge has a couple good songs on it .. so does diamonds and pearls .. but now we don't even get one good whole song .. just maybe a decent chorus .. or one good lyric thrown in with some really bad rapping .. or a decent hook groove that goes nowhere .. or a good keyboard line with a horrible chorus ..

there is a good chance prince has a couple ok ideas on his new record but he will ruin them somehow giving his fans hope for a brief moment followed by that grating nagging feeling that you will want to turn his new cd off about one and a half songs in due to it making you feel stupid for listening to it at all

oh and i almost forgot the completely forgetable 'rock n roll love affair' another indication that this will be a very very very bad record

NouveauDance said:

Oh I'm so behind! What are those soundbites/influences you've heard thus far (band members' remarks/interviews, Superconductor's production, horns, bass, Michael B. etc?

I know we've got that little snippet of Screwdriver, what else was there?

yeah, 30 seconds of screwdriver is not enough to go on.

But my guess is some of it will be good, and some of it will be less good.

No.

It'll be like all the others since, say, Gold. 2 or 3 really good tracks, 4 or 5 Ok ones and 2 or 3 turds. Really, when you think about, for the last 15 or so years, we've had to wait for Prince to release 3 albums in order to mash them together into one good one - at least that's what I do. That's assuming he'll make it available for purchase in a way that doesn't require joining some shitty website, buying some horrible tabloid newspaper or signing over my first born son just for the priviledge of listening to it.

Being a Prince fan is pain in the ass anymore.

herb4 - Couldn't that apply to most music albums IN GENERAL? Fact is Prince overall like any other great pop music legend coasting on his legacy and play greatest hits concerts, his talent still shines through in good tracks, showing off good beats and good lyrics and so forth he still produces. Sure its not 1999 or SOTT level, but so what? Such expectations are incredibly foolish. OK maybe he should back off perhaps from his intentional 1980s throwbacking, but whatever.

Just think kids, there will be a time, maybe sooner than we believe or decades to come....when we will no longer get anymore new officially released Prince music. (Of course many argue his last few albums were cluttered with Vault tracks, so who knows? 20TEN being a Vault production as a theory makes sense.)

Then again, some fans are never happy. I'm stunned when I find fans who think 3121 (a damn good record) is rubbish, which begs the question of what they thought of say.....NEWPOWER SOUL.

herb4 said:

No.

It'll be like all the others since, say, Gold. 2 or 3 really good tracks, 4 or 5 Ok ones and 2 or 3 turds.

just like any other major artist so thats not bad for P-diggity

siddown u herb

SuperSoulFighter said:

So this is what it's come down to? Prince releases an album and fans say, oh well, at least it's got two good songs on it...

For the last 10 or 15 years? Yes. That's been the pattern. What was the last release of his that didn't send you hunting for the FF button at least 3 or 4 times?

Prince needs an editor. That, or he needs to just release everything and let us sort it out and keep what we like, like he did with Crystal Ball and Emancipation and, to some extent, with the NPGMC/Slaughterhouse/Chocolate Invasion. I don;t think it's a coincidence that the second he became "free", his albums got less and less consistent and eventually, even the volume of content got smaller.

dunno

i hope i dig it

the day i "expect" a new prince album to suck will be a sad day

i've been overly cynical in the past but i snapped out of it

fact is he's a killer musician.. end of story... he's absolutely capable of dropping an album i will love... it just depends on where he's at right now musically, as to whether it lines up with what i dig

.

[Edited 1/4/13 16:17pm]

SuperSoulFighter said:

So this is what it's come down to? Prince releases an album and fans say, oh well, at least it's got two good songs on it...

Do U2 fans expect their next record to be JOSHUA TREE 2.0? Do Bealtes/Paul McCartney fans expect his upcoming album to be Beatles-good or BAND ON THE RUN/RAM good? Do Rolling Stones fans expect another EXILE ON MAIN STREET?* Give me a break.

I hope Mr. P puts out a good album, hell an AWESOME album. And you know what? He has put out several good/very good records since his supposed 80s day. MUSICOLOGY through PLANET EARTH were all good in varying degrees (3121 is on my Top 10 P abums list actually.) Some Orgers think highly of RAINBOW CHILDREN, which didn't do anything for me but I admire he made a truely concept album that wasn't concerned with connecting to mainstream audiences.

LOTUSFLOWER had some good tracks (EXILIR drags this down however) and heck, even 20TEN I went from trashing that album to to not minding it. (Still only "OK," but I absolutely adore the heck out of "Act of God." One of my all-time favorite P tracks.)

You read that? A 2010 track among my favorite Prince songs ever.

Sure Prince screwed up here and there since his heyday. I found NEWPOWER SOUL dull, I think EMANCIPATION could've waited another year or two and fatten up with more inspired tracks. (But I haven't listened to that monster from start to finish in almost forever, so understand that context.) Would CRYSTAL BALL count as an original album?

If you don't like Prince's stuff in the last 10-15-20 years, well OK I'm sorry to hear that. But there are many of us who who actually enjoy and dig and appreciate and respect stuff that dirty old man still releases. He's not as hopeless as you insist.

Off-topic, but you know what annoys me folks? When people say Prince hasn't done anything good since the 80s. Bull&$#!

*=Actually an annoying thing many critics/fans do whenever the Stones put out a new album is say that its the best RS record since (any 1970s RS Album, up to TATTOO YOU.)

MoBetterBliss said:

dunno

i hope i dig it

the day i "expect" a new prince album to suck will be a sad day

i've been overly cynical in the past but i snapped out of it

fact is he's a killer musician.. end of story... he's absolutely capable of dropping an album i will love... it just depends on where he's at right now musically, as to whether it lines up with what i dig

Is that you MrBliss ?

i am hoping for a Jehovarock cd. That is something that maybe he can get into emotionally. The emotion is all I want(and preferably rock). Gone are the days of Do Me Baby and Sexy MF and I am ok with that. I just want something that he gets into emotionally. Its been a long time since I heard a Prince cd that he really was into. We got Christian Rock so why not Jehova Rock!!

FunkyStrange said:

MoBetterBliss said:

dunno

i hope i dig it

the day i "expect" a new prince album to suck will be a sad day

i've been overly cynical in the past but i snapped out of it

fact is he's a killer musician.. end of story... he's absolutely capable of dropping an album i will love... it just depends on where he's at right now musically, as to whether it lines up with what i dig

Is that you MrBliss ?

hey buddy

*=Actually an annoying thing many critics/fans do whenever the Stones put out a new album is say that its the best RS record since (any 1970s RS Album, up to TATTOO YOU.)

oh man,that is 1 thing that annoys the freak out of me too.