i quite like 20Ten, but MPLSound has not aged well at all, it's ok but track 1 is possibly THE worst thing he's done, the rest is not bad. Lotusflow3r is awesome though.

bigd74 said:

i quite like 20Ten, but MPLSound has not aged well at all, it's ok but track 1 is possibly THE worst thing he's done, the rest is not bad. Lotusflow3r is awesome though.

Except I would also add that MPLSound is slightly less than okay imo, and it's because the songwriting sounds very uninspired and forced.

I´m not exactly a big fan of those two albums but I think they contain some great moments and details, just like every Prince album, including Newpowersoul.

For example, I love the guitar and the very lazy beat in Valentina but I can´t stand the silly lyrics. So he´s singing to an infant, telling the baby how hot her mother is and how everbody has or had "the hots" for her? Please.

But I like the music, he really could´ve turned this into a strong song. I´d love a remake with completely different lyrics and a different title, like he did in the past with The Ball and Eye No.

There are some really great bits and pieces and details on both albums, but as a whole, both sound like someone is trying to immitate Prince and recreate his sound but without succeeding.

I remember when we first heard some snippets and instrumentals here on the org. Most people, including some well respected old school orgers, thought it was just a wannabe Prince immitator when they heard the instrumental.

If you take only your favorite songs from both albums you end up with a decent single disc album.

Future Soul Song

Walk In The Sand

Act of God

Dance 4 Me

Better With Time

U´re Gonna C Me .......are in my opinion good to very good songs. I really like them (well, Act of God is not really my thing but still a good song).

Then you have Valentina ( see above...music is alright, lyrics not so much )

Same with Laveaux....music is so so....maybe ok...but the lyrics are not something I can relate to.

Maybe if I were a rich millionaire who can escape to Switzerland every now and then.

Old School Company

Laydown.

Both rely on bragging and a silly rap, the former being better than the latter. Not exactly my thing but not too bad either. I mean, we had Gangster Glam in 1991 and people didn´t freak out, so why the hate now? Both would´ve been ok as some obscure b-side or remix or whatever. I like Old School Company but I think the lyrics kinda contradict the music, don´t they?

I can´t stand, no, I absolutely detest songs like No More Candy 4 U and There´ll Never Be Another Like Me. Can´t even listen to them without feeling sick.

Both albums could´ve morphed into a decent EP or full album, single disc project.

I don´t care about the other songs on both albums, they leave me cold.

[Edited 1/5/13 14:06pm]

[Edited 1/5/13 14:07pm]

I like both.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

bigd74 said:

i quite like 20Ten, but MPLSound has not aged well at all, it's ok but track 1 is possibly THE worst thing he's done, the rest is not bad. Lotusflow3r is awesome though.

Except I would also add that MPLSound is slightly less than okay imo, and it's because the songwriting sounds very uninspired and forced.

MLPS sound is very cheesie. Box of Chocolate, there will never be another like me are impossible to listen to. Dance 4 me is alright and live it's great. But other than that lotus is much better. lotus by itself should have got 3.5/4 stars but mlps sound brought it down a fullstar.

20ten is alright wen it comes to the soft songs and ballads. However it sounds like Prince tried to do dirty mind without the dirty. the album seemed like a bad throwback. He took everything that didn't work in the past and tried it out again

I dont dislike it

thebanishedone said:

Ok but why is the Lotus better? Is it because of the presence of acoustic instruments or the album have a stronger songwriting?

Because there are actually songs that are listenalbe and songs that i can relisten to. Colonized Mind and Dreamer are great songs. After that Feel better feel good, love like jazz, and crimnson and clover are listenable.

I like some of the trax from both...but for the most part they sound plastic...like he is phoning it in. I really like Lotusflower and RRLA has REALLY grown on me, so I am not like I hate all his new stuff. But most of 20Ten and MLPSound have no soul imo and he is capable (as we all know) of so much more.

I think MPLSound needs one less ballad and one more uptempo song. Otherwise I like it.

20Ten is okay...just not great.

20Ten is a much better take on "old synthfunk Prince" than MPLSound. Where the latter was just plain embarrassing, the former is actually quite good.

Both albums have too many ballads though, I wish he would do a maximum of two ballads per record.

funkaholic1972 said:

20Ten is a much better take on "old synthfunk Prince" than MPLSound. Where the latter was just plain embarrassing, the former is actually quite good.

Both albums have too many ballads though, I wish he would do a maximum of two ballads per record.

Agree that 20ten is the much better record & overall pretty decent, and agree that the pacing of both records is thrown off by the ballads.

I think the first half of 20ten is quite solid. I'd rank Future Soul Song and Beginning Endlessly among the best things he's recorded, and if the other tracks up to & including #6 aren't half as good, they don't make me want to stop listening either. He didn't sustain it for a full album, but an album with four good songs and two great ones makes for a respectable contribution to his catalogue IMO.

Dance 4 Me is the only thing I like on MPLSound. Lotusflower, on the other hand, I'd rank as extremely good, borderline great.

[Edited 1/6/13 5:02am]

I like them Both. I enjoy each and every album P releases. Each are unique in their own way

I have NEVER been able to sit through either of them all the way through. I'm constantly skipping them whenever I do, and this is rarely, decide to listen to them at all.

In 1987, it would have bene absolutely inconcievable to me that Prince would record, let alone release these albums.

They're not bad like a Janet Jackson album or anything, but for Prince, one just expects so much more.

I don't dislike either of them.

But I'd say I prefer the songs on MPLSound, whereas I prefer the looser feel of 20TEN.

i can't dismiss "mplsound" completely because it does have the great songs
"dance 4 me" and "old skool company".

the rest, there's some rather good ones ("here", "no more candy 4 u") but

there's too much filler. the songs i dislike on this album still have some cool

elements that i just love, but as songs, i just can't listen to them all the way

through.

the ratios are better on 20Ten. there is some cringeworthy stuff on there as

well, but it is far outnumbered by good to great stuff. i wish that most of the

song on 20Ten would go on for another 3 minutes where i just want a lot of

the songs on Mplsound to be over quick as possible, lol.

combined they might make a good album though. i'll have to look into that

and see if i can make myself a nice playlist somehow.

KoolEaze said:

I´m not exactly a big fan of those two albums but I think they contain some great moments and details, just like every Prince album, including Newpowersoul.

For example, I love the guitar and the very lazy beat in Valentina but I can´t stand the silly lyrics. So he´s singing to an infant, telling the baby how hot her mother is and how everbody has or had "the hots" for her? Please.

But I like the music, he really could´ve turned this into a strong song. I´d love a remake with completely different lyrics and a different title, like he did in the past with The Ball and Eye No.

There are some really great bits and pieces and details on both albums, but as a whole, both sound like someone is trying to immitate Prince and recreate his sound but without succeeding.

I remember when we first heard some snippets and instrumentals here on the org. Most people, including some well respected old school orgers, thought it was just a wannabe Prince immitator when they heard the instrumental.

If you take only your favorite songs from both albums you end up with a decent single disc album.

Maybe if I were a rich millionaire who can escape to Switzerland every now and then.

Ah, so that's why I relate to that song so deeply. Always wondered what it was ...

Yes, I feel these two albums are perhaps the weakest Prince albums of his whole career, yet there are moments here and there that are cool or good (including, for me, Laydown and Lavaux), that remind you that this is actually a PRINCE record, not an impersonator, even if he does sound uninspired and jaded with the whole process.

If one creates a single disk out of your favourate tracks, and then add Cause & Effect (I like it anyway ), which mentions some of the song titles on the 2010 album, then it would probably reach a similar level of quality for me as Musicology or the NPG Music Club downloads of 2000-ish(actually fairly weak records overall imo, but a lot better than MPLS Sound and 2010).

Also wierd how he could put out a great record like Lotusflower, and then associate it with something as poor as MPLS Sound .

Here's hoping his next release is a LOT more inspired and passionate sounding than these two.

I honestly love both Albums. I tend to be the Prince fan that thinks everything he does is so unique and inspired. My least favorite album of his career is Rave Un2 the Joy. But other than that one album I think I've gotten pretty into every album pretty equally.

[Edited 1/6/13 10:00am]

imago said:

I have NEVER been able to sit through either of them all the way through. I'm constantly skipping them whenever I do, and this is rarely, decide to listen to them at all.

In 1987, it would have bene absolutely inconcievable to me that Prince would record, let alone release these albums.

They're not bad like a Janet Jackson album or anything, but for Prince, one just expects so much more.

oh christ they'll be on to you, if they venture out of Music:Non Prince

I actually like 20ten a bit. Future Soul Song is my favorite Prince song since the early '90s. There are other fun ones like Lavaux, Walk in Sand and Sticky Like Glue. The production feels a bit more spry than his last few, which is a step in the right direction.

I really d not like Mplsound, though. The songwriting and lyrics are just abysmal, IMO, aside from a couple of gems ("Ur Gonna C Me" is great).

As KoolEaze said earlier, I can't listen to No More Candy 4 U, Everybody Loves Me and There´ll Never Be Another Like Me without feeling sick to my stomach. They're absolutel awful, and if there's one thing that I would like Prince to stop doing, it's the stupid, embarrassing braggidacio stuff that he can't seem to leave behind.

thebanishedone said:

Is it because of the production ?lyrics? Or overall songs

All this, and so much more.

I like chocolate & I like Feel Good & Crimson and Clover.

Oh and I like No More Candy for You - that rocks in the car really loud - not that I do that too often - but I dig its groove -

but overall, many of the songs do sound dated before they are even out - Prince needs to hang on to some "old school" but to pick up new fans he needs to bring it up to date too - move forward.

I dont know if I am right or not but I get the impression he does not listen to much other peoples music - but if he did he may see what the vibe is like today and adjust his sound and groove to get more "with it" or modern? - it is sad when people like my daughter think he sounds daggy - because we KNOW how how clever he is, but he does sound dated sometimes from the get up and go?

Not that I dont mind the old school mind you................

I think maybe he needs to lose the band and backing girl things - and really work in a totally different direction - get out of the rut?

I really like them both except for Chocolate Box and Sea Of Everything.