i dug out mplsound last night and listened to it...i have played lotusflower many times and think its a very good prince album..if not a classic . after listening to mplsound...the only tracks i would give pass marks and keep would be "dance 4 me" ... "old skool company"..."no more candy 4 u" and maybe "better with time"...the rest is average to poor now a bit of time has passed to judge it better...his poorest album since rave imo...

Ouch....i personally thought it was one of his better efforts. I think if he cleared out the filler in this and Lotusflow3r and combined them as one album then i think he would have had a classic on his hands... that said i do like him being prolific so I can't complain!

The last 4 tracks plus the beautiful remake of Ur Gonna C Me make it a nice one for me...that said i don't listen to it much now...but liked it a lot at the time...

[Edited 2/7/13 14:20pm]

It's all about "Here" for me...

^ Agreed...forgot to mention that, a lovely ballad..

there's 1 track that ruins it for me and that's track 1, possibly the worst thing he has done.

^ It's weird when I first heard it I thought 'this sounds nothing like a Prince track'. I don't mind it but it just doesn't sound like his style to me....

I think it's a more than solid effort, Chocolate Box is the only one I routinely skip. Another Like Me And Ure Gonna C Me I can listen to but are not great. The rest is very good and I play it often.

Lotus though is on another level, awesome.

Love Lotusflower

tatocorcu said:

It's all about "Here" for me...

Yes, and even the cheesy talking part in the middle is classic Prince.

The two songs from mplsound that I enjoy are Dance 4 Me and Here

DANCE 4 ME and U'RE GONNA C ME would be dope right now, but i'm a little busy. HERE popped up yesterday. not after U'RE GONNA... like i don't like it. kristin scott thomas is pretty fine on second thought, but so are other younger chicks. whatever's available and willing, i would write a hundred awesome tunes for. without a guitar, bass, drum tracks, etc. autotune. pyrotechnics.

[Edited 2/7/13 16:31pm]

be like don cornelius and rick james. song is alright. beat is kinda slinky. shared sentiment. will rediscover it when i listen to something else.

Haven't listened to it since '09. I'll dig it out and give it a spin tomorrow--time to revisit it. Lotusflower, on the other hand, gets listened to regularly...

Just another horrible plastic pop/r&b throwaway effort, chuck it on the pile.

both Lotusflower and MPLSound are very good, but not excellent.

About 8/10 to both albums from me.

the only really annoying track on MPLS is Chocolate Box. Yuck...

the rest is rather good.

it's not all crap...gems are ''here'' and ''u're gonna c me'' (even though the original is far better) ...but it doesn't save the album....

NouveauDance said:

Just another horrible plastic pop/r&b throwaway effort, chuck it on the pile.

It would be nice if Prince would concentrate more on writing interesting songs. And only when that interesting song is there (chord structures, melodies, appealing lyrics), start finding a way to produce it as fitting as possible. And give each song the sound the song needs.

Instead I often feel like he is trying to write a hit for "today's kids", or is busy trying to appeal to his old fans by for example using Linn samples (without the creativity that made those 80's Linn beats so great in the first place).

MPLSound for me combines these two annoying methods, and the results don't appeal much at all to me. I only like "Old Skool Company" and "Dance 4 Me". But even those I don't play much.

This afternoon I was listening to Parade. Such an interesting sounding record, with so many flavors and so many well written tunes. Compare that to MPLSound...

"Here" is stronger than some tracks on "Parade". I would definitely think that if I listened to both for the first time right now.

I also think "No More Candy 4 U" is just as good as the quirky songs on "Controversy" like "Annie Christian" or "JAck U Off". It could have been a much loved b-side from that era (arrangement and production and attitude-wise)

I don't get the love for "Old Skool Company". It sounds modern and plastic to me.

I also don't get the hate for "Never B Another Like Me". It falls right into the shockingly minimal, braggart, novelty songs he's made kind of like "Moviestar" (which is a high point of genius) or "Poom Poom".

Moviestar is witty and funny. From what I remember Never B Another Like Me isn't. Now '$' comes from that same place as Moviestar imo.

I can see the appeal of some of the ballads - they seem to come a little easier to Prince than dance songs these days. I can also see the appeal of some of the dance songs, but only in the way I can see people goofing off to Push It Up and Freaks On This Side.

Lots of lazy lyrics, tossed off arrangements, productions etc. Little thought put into anything. Copy a style popular at the moment for the single (Chocolate Box) and put it out there, let it be done with. I'm wondering if Prince's next thing is to be like this, is he going to be making Nicki Minaj knock-offs? Ick.

I think the only saving grace is Dance 4 Me, a half-convincing pop single and the slow-witted brother of 'Come On'.

ufoclub said:

"Here" is stronger than some tracks on "Parade".

thats a bold statement

rdhull said:

ufoclub said:

"Here" is stronger than some tracks on "Parade".

thats a bold statement

this movie saved my life. one of few bible testaments i have semi-memorized, etc. HERE is ok, PARADE has a silly movie that goes with it. can't think of any songs up there, even the ones that many feel are lesser prince (it took me a minute to appreciate KISS cuz it sticks out like a bum knee, ANOTHERLOVER... AND ...APRIL too sorta). gonna have my moment in the sun with it again, i'm sure.

I like this album but I would not consider it classic. The problem imo is the tempo is cut by having too many slow songs in a row. IIRC "Here" was not in the know track list until it was released. I wish he would have kept that song off. It is the only song I skip everytime on that disc. I have made a playlist that doesn't include it and the flow of the album is more manageable and doesn't bog down as much imo.

"Dance 4 Me" sounds lazy to me, although it has a great start.

ufoclub said:

"Dance 4 Me" sounds lazy to me, although it has a great start.

I agree with ufoclub. D4M sounds lazy and predictable. "Here" on the other hand is a great track - up there with the best.

paulludvig said:

ufoclub said:

"Dance 4 Me" sounds lazy to me, although it has a great start.

I agree with ufoclub. D4M sounds lazy and predictable. "Here" on the other hand is a great track - up there with the best.

I agree with this statement

I didnt know why everyone fell hard for Dance 4 Me.....

rdhull said:

paulludvig said:

I agree with ufoclub. D4M sounds lazy and predictable. "Here" on the other hand is a great track - up there with the best.

I agree with this statement

I didnt know why everyone fell hard for Dance 4 Me.....

ufoclub said:

NouveauDance said:

Just another horrible plastic pop/r&b throwaway effort, chuck it on the pile.

yep and arguably the worst of the bunch. it's right in there with Newpower Soul and 20ten.

The Chocolate Invasion and The Slaugherhouse sound like absolute genius compared to MPLSound.