I like it, but I was waiting for a guitar solo, ala I hate U.

Still not out in Europe so I've only heard a 128mp3, the sound wasn't as bad as I was expecting but it did lack dynamic range. This something the 3rd Eye girl songs had a lot of. I loved he way the sounded.

Ppenguin said:

BobGeorge909 said:

BobGeorge909 said:

Aerogram said:

Oh Prince fans can be so anal retentive, it's like being with a bunch of virgin nuns in Tijuana. Like there's never been a good Prince song with a bit of a compression problem.

This song is great -- so is Fallinginlovetonite by the way. It's not the best he ever wrote? Wake up, it's competing against hundreds of songs he wrote, some of the most sonically iconic of our era. It's like if people had been waiting for Picasso to top Guernica or Michelangelo the Sistine Chapel murals. Prince is custodian of his vision of many of our musical idioms, and his recent output shows him to be in full control of his talents.

He's been pedestrian and phoning it in for too long, no question, but he's also been in an extreme musical purgatory, a contractual alien to his own seminal creations. He did make many mistakes, but you have to acknowledge its painful for any artist to find oneself divorced from one's own higly original and personal art.

You can find flaws as a fan and feel he could have done a little better with this and that, but in the end, as an artist, he's creating what he wants to create just fine with the assistance he wants to get, and he's positioned to be remembered by history as one of the greatest musical prodigy that ever lived.

This is especially true following yesterday's Warner deal, which opens the door to a renewed appreciation for Prince's talent and contribution, given that there is a possibility of documenting almost superhuman feats of creativity and mastery, solely focusing on his golden period.

The rest, what has been issued since he left the label, will in time be rediscovered -- at least the best of it.

[Edited 4/19/14 18:25pm]

I agree with your post in a new power soul sense. Prince has sounds in his head and he is able to get what's in his head on to tape with great accuracy. Case in point new power soul. Prince had a sound in his head. Thought/hoped it would be popular...he thought and still thinksnits jammin. He used his skill to get what was in his head a and I suspect very accurately and very skillfuy got it on to tape. Aspects of that record SCREAM talent. The method of getting the hours to tape as they soundesounded obscenly good. Some of the blues guitar licks were as close to bj king as j can get without developing diabetes and doing one touch commercials. Some were cat..some were prince...either way..he was able to capture what he needs to getwhat was in his head out. The album had a defined pallet of colors he was working with to ibtaind a defined sound. And he did it. Only problem...was NO ONE. Not Eben his own mama liked this pallet and what it helped develop. These two new cuts, I notice it most in groovy and breakdown, r different tho and it does seem to be a mastering issue or something. Cuz the cuts sound good. All the elemets r there. They don't reinvent thenweel as I had said earlier...but they good and compelling. Groovy is especially compelling sonically... But they are both all crunched up. At high volumes its much more obvious. Ther as way to much crunching...way too much hiss and pops. U'd think he was making cereal sometimes. Its not all the trax over the last several years either...just some of them. It specifically sound like its something that happened AFTER prince hit stop on the console. Being that es probably not in the business of buying his own songs of the internet, there's a chance he don't know. Also...people do saybthenstuff like this doesn't always matter to prince...as long as the part gets recorded and commited to tape. There's a chance that the person doing it is sub par with the skillset his employer needs him to have. If that's true..U'd think someone would mention what's going on. There's a communication breakdown somewhere and necessary fixesbarent being made. Question. R there vastly diffent methods to master something for internet distribution vs internet distribution. I notice a lack of industry standards across the board...formats, bit rates and equipment quality...phones pads, 'outers all seem to have a lack of standardization. There's thousands of players out there with differing standards vs the hundreds of brands of players prE smartphone and even less with stereo systems which even over shadows the lesser number of manufactures. Now it all apps and there thousands if them with little indusy standard and quality control.

It's hardly the first time Prince puts out a song or even a whole album with recording/mastering flaws -- not to mention something as uninspired as New Power Soul. Even during his golden era, critics used to wonder about a song here and there -- Tambourine and She's Always In My Hair come to mind. New Power Soul will always be a low point in his career, but it also followed a low point in his personal life. Everyone is free to sneeze at what they consider to be substandard sound or to never listen to a certain album ever again, but in the end the artist takes responsibility for his body of work, he's doing what he set out to do and we, the fans, listen to it or not.

There's just too many fans that act like they should have been in the booth "fixing it" and getting exactly the song they want produced to their precise parameters. As if Prince was somehow an extension of their own selves by now, and not the legendary musical genius he's been this whole time for over 30 years -- without their personal input.

Ppenguin said:

Come on Prince, it is Monday

Anybody notice the cover art has changed to a close-up of Prince's face? Also something weird. Usually when I buy something from iTunes it shows up as "Purchased" instead of displaying the price. but I'm still seeing "$1.29 Buy". I went to the "Purchased" link to re-download the song to see if they fixed the audio problems also and "The Breakdown" didn't show up under my purchases. Did they just upload a new version (perhaps with fixed audio) those of us who paid for the original have to purchase again or just a store glitch?

[Edited 4/21/14 4:50am]

Ppenguin said:

Some people need to get a grip...all this 'it had me in tears' shit...totally brainwashed; Prince says it's his fav song (clearly publicity as he knew the deal to release was in the pipeline) and everyone comes out saying its amazing, it's so emotional, had me in tears #emperorsnewclothes

Not at all. The song deeply, deeply moved me when I heard it in Las Vegas on the Live Out Loud tour back in April 2013. And there was no hype for it or anything like that at the time.

#stopbeingsocynical

so disappointed, i won't be rushing to buy this! it doesn't move me in the slightest! bad vocals & shitty lyrics.

New artwork

[img:$uid]http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Features2/v4/fd/2d/b4/fd2db40d-6298-130d-08dd-063c167ea0ee/dj.fvirmxhj.170x170-75.jpg[/img:$uid]

Militant said:

New artwork

[img:$uid]http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Features2/v4/fd/2d/b4/fd2db40d-6298-130d-08dd-063c167ea0ee/dj.fvirmxhj.170x170-75.jpg[/img:$uid]

his hair has been cropped out. the pic is lush tho

Awful production which ruins it for me. It's like Kirk J is back - real drums would have been an idea...

Shame as I really ilke the song itself.

Militant said:

New artwork

[img:$uid]http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Features2/v4/fd/2d/b4/fd2db40d-6298-130d-08dd-063c167ea0ee/dj.fvirmxhj.170x170-75.jpg[/img:$uid]

I like it. Much better than just the text.

It's nowhere near as good as I Hate U either.

I do like the song.. but production is pretty bad, i have to say.

It starts with that 80's whitney houston FM piano.. cheesy as hell, but ok, I can live with that.

The string sounds are obviously some rompler synth preset, and sound cheap, as does the piano used throughout the song. I mean.. doesn't P have a real piano lingering somewhere in his studio?

The there's the pizzicato/bass sounds in the break, and they sound like rompler presets too.

All these sounds are ok if used tastefully, but when you use them throughout a song the way P does, it just starts sounding cheap/cheesy.

I don't mind the laser zaps too much. I kinda like them actually

Love the bass sound, drums could be a bit better but sound OK

Mastering is awful. Things are clipping and distorting all over the place.. is P going deaf or somehting?

Once again, i do like like the song, it's pretty good.. It's just 4 chords throughout (F#m, G#m, A B, i think), but he still keeps it interesting as it goes along. I wouldn't mind an explosive guitar solo in the end, and would've replaced a lot of synths with analog ones, and the piano with a real one.

Anyway.. it's good to see P causing some waves again His songwriting skills are still there.. he just needs someone to help him out production-wise

Absolutely and totally love it, love it love it .... this song made me visit the org again after a few years, to check the latest news about Prince, my all-time musical hero who never ever really left, listening to it on repeat for a few hours now ... damn U Prince y u so good

[Edited 4/21/14 6:27am]

The opening chord makes me sing "and then a hero comes along," by Mariah. I wonder if it's similar.

It makes me think of how my wife was right before our children were born and also of Jesus climbing the hill.

Then I realised the song was released on Good Friday. Right *before* Easter.
The reference to being cool on New Year's Eve must be no coincidence - this song is the precise opposite of 1999.

I'm sure it's about love crushing our egos so we can make room for new life.

Maybe that's why there is no guitar solo at the end, or some other relief - it would be too much Easter for Good Friday?

Just heard it for the first time and it is a great song. The studio version is better than the live versions I've heard. Exciting time to be a Prince fan!

LillianLaughs said:

It makes me think of how my wife was right before our children were born and also of Jesus climbing the hill.

Then I realised the song was released on Good Friday. Right *before* Easter.
The reference to being cool on New Year's Eve must be no coincidence - this song is the precise opposite of 1999.

I'm sure it's about love crushing our egos so we can make room for new life.

Maybe that's why there is no guitar solo at the end, or some other relief - it would be too much Easter for Good Friday?

i dont understand what u mean ..thats why theres no guitar solo at end?

LillianLaughs said:

I'm sure it's about love crushing our egos so we can make room for new life.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who got that.

Genesia said:

LillianLaughs said:

I'm sure it's about love crushing our egos so we can make room for new life.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who got that.

Militant said:

Ppenguin said:

Some people need to get a grip...all this 'it had me in tears' shit...totally brainwashed; Prince says it's his fav song (clearly publicity as he knew the deal to release was in the pipeline) and everyone comes out saying its amazing, it's so emotional, had me in tears #emperorsnewclothes

Not at all. The song deeply, deeply moved me when I heard it in Las Vegas on the Live Out Loud tour back in April 2013. And there was no hype for it or anything like that at the time.

#stopbeingsocynical

U have really been setting them straight!

Militant said:

Ppenguin said:

Some people need to get a grip...all this 'it had me in tears' shit...totally brainwashed; Prince says it's his fav song (clearly publicity as he knew the deal to release was in the pipeline) and everyone comes out saying its amazing, it's so emotional, had me in tears #emperorsnewclothes

Not at all. The song deeply, deeply moved me when I heard it in Las Vegas on the Live Out Loud tour back in April 2013. And there was no hype for it or anything like that at the time.

#stopbeingsocynical

U don't know? U r no longer allowed to praise Prince's work on a Prince fan site...When you do so you are deemed delusional...I'm laughing at some of these repsonses....As if dude just released "Jughead" part 2....

This is the best "Prince" song I've heard in a minute if u know what I mean...It ain't re-working the wheel or anything...But it is quite good, shoddy mastering aside...

All this to say, some people are doing waaaay too much Debbie Downer shit....

murph said:

Masterpiece, really?? Sure, it is a good song, but no masteranything--needs mastering. lol.

Listen to John Legend's new album, that's what I want from our Prince. Legend may be the new Prince.