ThirdStrike said:

Blixical said:

It's comments like this that make me wonder if there is a comprehension problem on this site.

Nobody is asking that Prince retread anything. All folks want is good music.

This U Know abortion-of-a-song ain't it.

...and I think he has produced good music here. Ever heard of "Eye of the Beholder"? Beauty is what we individually see. Blanket comments like this are sometimes what's realy wrong with this site...

[Edited 9/1/14 22:02pm]

Normally, I would agree with you. Everybody ain't gonna like everything. I like most of the new songs the last few years...RNR Love Affair, Breakfast, The Breakdown(Though I imagine it without the laser gun battle.)...But AUTO EFFIN TUNE? Really??? The most absurd trend that young people follow? Prince copying the major young person trend? I just can't be on board with it. His use of it on MPLSound was bad enough...the use on Incense And Candles was pretty bad despite me sort of liking that song....but this HORRIBLE vocal effect? I couldn't make it through the song. Last album from an artist I like that I had to stop early in the song was Bon Jovi's "The Circle." And Prince is miles and miles better than Bon Jovi. This makes Jughead look passable...and everybody knows how much I despise Tony M.

thedance said:

Clouds - great pop-funky song

Breakfast can wait - great ballad but the Chip Munk ending is too much, stupid video I agree

Breakdown - not my song

Funknroll - so and so...

This could be us - I love that snippet I heard, I liked it a lot

U Know - electro sexxy track

That's 4 maybe 5 songs I like, I am glad I made my pre-order both cd's and both vinyls...

[Edited 9/1/14 9:14am]

You and I got quite similar taste, I agree with most of your review. Good to see you are positive about new Prince songs! You seem like a man reborn...

First off the song was "ok". I was expecting a bit more but after listening to it a handful of times I was diggin it. It's been years and I'm always excited for ANY new material let alone a full album.

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The problems I have with it don't have to do with the autotune, arrangement, lyrics, or the fact it goes nowhere.

Problems I have with it? Hmmm let's see. Out of 13 new tracks from an artist who has not officially released a full compilation in years we get a song that is someone else's. With him singing or rapping over it? Come on! With all the talent in his possession? When I checked out Mila J's song I was quite disappointed.

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I'm still happy new material is coming but so far out of the 13 tracks 2 look to be segues, another a remix, and a blatant ripoff/cover. With so much material it seems like that's a waste of 4 tracks. Groovy Potential had more potential. No pun

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As someone mentioned in this thread the album is is looking to be all slow to mid tempo.

I'm liking this track a lot!

stillwaiting said:

ThirdStrike said:

...and I think he has produced good music here. Ever heard of "Eye of the Beholder"? Beauty is what we individually see. Blanket comments like this are sometimes what's realy wrong with this site...

[Edited 9/1/14 22:02pm]

Normally, I would agree with you. Everybody ain't gonna like everything. I like most of the new songs the last few years...RNR Love Affair, Breakfast, The Breakdown(Though I imagine it without the laser gun battle.)...But AUTO EFFIN TUNE? Really??? The most absurd trend that young people follow? Prince copying the major young person trend? I just can't be on board with it. His use of it on MPLSound was bad enough...the use on Incense And Candles was pretty bad despite me sort of liking that song....but this HORRIBLE vocal effect? I couldn't make it through the song. Last album from an artist I like that I had to stop early in the song was Bon Jovi's "The Circle." And Prince is miles and miles better than Bon Jovi. This makes Jughead look passable...and everybody knows how much I despise Tony M.

That's my point though. You brought up "Incense & Candles". Sure, us "old heads" are almost nauseated by the very thought of trend following in the form of his use of auto-tune on "U Know". And I would almost agree (if that) with "Incense & Candles" my then 12 year old daughter was really digging that song because it sounded current and hip. Sure, maybe it's not what we think of in terms of what constitues quality music. But the benefit of the exposure to a broader audience by its use cannot be ignored. Not sure if you'd agree, but I thought that was kind of cool to see. Younger consumers being exposed to P's music through the use of contemporary styles and practices. Again, the positive may (reluctantly in this case at least) outweigh the negative with this latest release. Just my 2 cents...

EroticDreamer said:

ThirdStrike said:

Not sure if this was mentioned already. But in addition to the Soundcloud stream, both new tracks are available for download on iTunes...

Thanks but I can't figure out how to dl them, it's grayed out and says preordered so there's no option to purchase or dl now.

Worked for me. Just went back in to the iTunes store, and then when I clicked on the link for "AOA" and "PE", it gave m options to DL both tracks (for $1.29/each...which went against the pre-order total and adjusted it down if I wanted to complete the pre-order). Try it again. Maybe it didn't refresh on your machine...

Nikkie said:

What's so wrong with using auto-tune as a stylistic means? It gives the track its futuro-funky, robotic feel. It may not be the most original thing Prince has done, but I guess it works here. And we all know Prince can sing, right?

You're right. He's added it to his rapping part, so it's hardly like he's trying to correct notes he can't hit with it.

I would have preferred him to use some other type of vocal effect on it though (he could have been a bit more creative with the effects). I'm not against autotune myself because it's "cheating", I really just don't like the overall tone you get when you use it. Everything with autotune on it tends to end up sounding thin and reedy, it detoriates the sound quality considerably like you would expect a digital pitch shifting process to do.

It's the audio world equivalent of some stupid, overused Photoshop effect (like the lens flare. or wiping off all the details from a person's skin with the blurring and smudging tools).

ThirdStrike said:

Not sure if this was mentioned already. But in addition to the Soundcloud stream, both new tracks are available for download on iTunes...

This track is definitely growing on me! Interesting...it looks like he's going to release each track individually each week. Would be an interesting marketing move.

joyinrepetition said:

For those who don't like U Know and say they're not buying AOA, Stop lying! Y'all are going to buy it! U Know is straight funk!

I'm certainly going to illegaly download it, to have another good laugh.

This is gay funk.

Much better than "Clouds". Nice album track. Still hoping the album has something a bit stronger to offer though.

geeque said:

There have been plenty of Prince albums that snuck up on me even ten years after their release that was indifferent about on first listen.

This is so absolutely true. Remember 'Come'? I don't know anyone who liked the album. Now, not only do I like most of the songs, but the album in itself marks an important chapter in Prince's career. Every songs breathes that atmosphere.

Songs like Come, Pheromone, Loose, Papa, Letitgo, Solo ... I like 'em all!

Planet Earth snuck up on me the same way; it was around the O² gigs in London.

Art Official Age will get its earnful spot in Prince history as well, and I'm sure I will grow to love the album and the songs (bar a couple ones, as usual).

CharismaDove said:

wow. utter shit.

What makes this song just a teensy bit decent, in my eyes, is that it follows Clouds, which is quite possibly the worst Prince song I've heard in my life, that shit made me wanna cry.

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I agree with everyone who thinks this is gonna be Prince's worst album.. seriously, listening to the crappy 3rdeyegirl collabs/leaks and AOA leaks makes fucking Musicology and 3121 look like classics.

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I may be a little biased, however. Musicology/3121/Planet Earth/Lotus came with a decent fashion, at least. Prince in suits, normal hair, professional looking, Idunno, but it somehow made the ERAS seem more likeable and maybe this added onto the fact the songs were no longer groundbreaking like in the 80s/90s but were still relatively enjoyable, not bad at all.

.

THIS SHIT TAKES THE CAKE, I SWEAR. Terrible terrible terrible fashion (those shades! those pants! those wierd ass fur things he drapes around himself! that horribly outdated afro not seen on Prince since 1978!) he looks more like a 2014 Jimi Hendrix tribute act playing Chris Brown outtakes

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Seriously, even the mainstream artists of today Katy Perry etc are MUCH better than Prince. Why? Because nowadays Prince and them are all performing the same type of music. Only difference is they know how to do it and Prince is still stuck with his head up his ass, knowing that no matter what he puts out it'll be heralded as "THE NEWEST SONG OF ICON, LEGEND, MASTER PRINCE!!!!"

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So fucking disappointing. I wasn't a Prince fan in 2010 (I became one in 2011) so this is my first Prince album released during my fandom. And WOW it's shaping up to be his worst album of all time

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For a title like AOA (which sounds like his signature scream), I expected better!

...it may well be true if you put enough monkeys in a room with enough typewriters they'll come up with the entire works of Shakespeare, but I doubt there's enough monkeys or typewriters in the world to come up with half of the bollocks that's written on this site!

Initial thoughts: Not as strong as "The Breakdown" or "Clouds", but not terrible. On first listen I really disliked the first 30secs or so... but it gets better. Not sure how long it will keep my interest though. While I don't mind it right now, I suspect in a week I'll be sick of it.

Gohi said:

http://www.celebuzz.com/2...icial-age/

What do you all think?

This is really really....

[Edited 9/1/14 6:30am]

really love it

A bit too hip for my taste, but I cannot get enough of that chorus...1:16 to 1:30 is worth the listen!

toejam said:

Initial thoughts: Not as strong as "The Breakdown" or "Clouds", but not terrible. On first listen I really disliked the first 30secs or so... but it gets better. Not sure how long it will keep my interest though. While I don't mind it right now, I suspect in a week I'll be sick of it.

I couldn't stand The Breakdown, i much prefer this. The rapping is a bit much at the start but I feel like the groove comes together by the end. Decent, if hardly prime prince.

stesa said:

geeque said:

There have been plenty of Prince albums that snuck up on me even ten years after their release that was indifferent about on first listen.

This is so absolutely true. Remember 'Come'? I don't know anyone who liked the album. Now, not only do I like most of the songs, but the album in itself marks an important chapter in Prince's career. Every songs breathes that atmosphere.

Songs like Come, Pheromone, Loose, Papa, Letitgo, Solo ... I like 'em all!

Planet Earth snuck up on me the same way; it was around the O² gigs in London.

Art Official Age will get its earnful spot in Prince history as well, and I'm sure I will grow to love the album and the songs (bar a couple ones, as usual).

Planet Earth snuck up you a whole two and a bit weeks after it was released? Damn, that one sure was a sleeper!

Ok, I had a sleep, woke up and thought I'd give it another go but I did something first. First I listened to the original version of Blinded.

Fuck me, Prince is a genius!

Not so terrible as I felt on the first listen and a whole heap better than the boring original. Will back off now and hope it grows as I listen to the album more.

the song is not too bad. it is definatly a grower, i listened to it once this morning - got in the shower (and was singing the chorus). THat was instant to me. But the song kind of tails off a bit but im sure it will take some time to grow. the way you have to look at it though is: play a song from each decade: for example

1999

eye hate u

dreamer

u know

do they sound the same? - or does that sound like an artist growing over the years and changing his sound? im not saying i dig everything he pushes out put you got to look at the whole picture.

[Edited 9/2/14 1:37am]

TheEnglishGent said:

Ok, I had a sleep, woke up and thought I'd give it another go but I did something first. First I listened to the original version of Blinded.

Fuck me, Prince is a genius!

Not so terrible as I felt on the first listen and a whole heap better than the boring original. Will back off now and hope it grows as I listen to the album more.

I loved "U Know" on first listen. It is indeed WAY better than the song that inspired it, "Blinded." At first I was a bit confused/disappointed that Prince copied someone else's tune, but then I saw that the original artist, Mila J, was cool with it so I really can't complain about it.

The use of autotune turns me right off.

Musically, I quite like the song. But I wished this was not sampled from sb else's song. I also find the "uh uhuh" and auto-tune rather annoying in places. It's a shame, I think I'd really have loved this song under different circumstances.

iZsaZsa said:

I would remove the "uh uhuh" or at least turn it down. It doesn't sound pretty and sexy to me, it sounds like she's talking in her sleep. I would remove it, or do another take.

Exactly.

NewYorkCity said:

What the fuck do you people want seriously!

Is this a Prince fan site or Prince bitch site? I liked it, great way to use autotune by also proving you can sing on the same track unlike all the new artists who use it to mask the fact that they cant sing.

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[Edited 9/3/14 1:58am]

smokeverbs said:

The use of autotune turns me right off.

Yeah, Colonized Mind is utter shit. Well, either that or auto tune isn't the problem and it's just the artistic implementation which makes it problematic.