Now that some time has passed since the release of Clouds, U Know, Pretzelbodylogic and Whitecaps -- not to forget The Breakdown and Breakfast Can Wait, how do you rate the songs and what are your impressions on what the albums will sound like ultimately?

Art Official Age

The album is shaping up to be a futuristic distillation centering on basic emotions and sensations -- as they are experienced in the colder new century. Songs about doing things in person, touching, kissing, having sex, being depressed and lovesick, regretful.

Clouds: 8/10

A subtle sulty soundscape, on how it's still a powerful thing to kiss a lady on neck when she doesn't expect. He succeeds in musically conveying his message, forcing you to listen closely with multiple twists and turns. This song takes a few listens to appreciate because it initially can sound disjointed.

U Know: 6/10

I'd give it a 7 if it wasn't for those high synthy notes that get repeated here and there, it's a pet peeve of mine. Otherwise it's a lovely song, sounds fresh.

The Breakdown: 7/10

Breakvast Can Wait: 7/10

Both these songs are top notch Prince compositions, they would get a higher mark if it wasn't for the lasers and compression in Breakdown and the chipmunk voice in Breakfast.

PlectrumElectrum

I had hopes for this album but two of the three tracks officially released irritate me or leave me cold so far. I do like the band sounds in general, so we'll see what the other songs are like, but so far it's not a good start.

Pretzelbodylogic: 3/10

That chant, I can't. The band sounds crisp but the musical ideas in this are little too bare for my taste. Whatever they're talking about, they're not convincing.

Whitecaps: 4/10

This one may still grow on me somehow but I just don't like her voice and the way it's recorded. The composition itself, the music, is beautiful but in a minor way.

Fixurlifeup: 8/10

I like this one, it gets a reaction at concerts and it's a well executed romp rock/sermon that is credible.

The Breakdown: 9
Clouds: 8
Breakfast Can Wait: 7.5
What It Feels Like: 7.5
U Know: 6

Fixurlifeup: 7
Pretzelbodylogic: 7
Whitecaps: 6

Funk N Roll (I'm going off the Arsenio Hall performance): 6

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[Edited 9/15/14 6:32am]

Clouds: 9
Breakfast Can Wait: 8

The Breakdown: ? too polished, I don't like the production. Maybe a 4 or 5. I hope it will grow.
U Know: ? is this good or bad? I can't decide, ok for now, maybe a 4 or 5, also.

Fixurlifeup: 0, No
Pretzelbodylogic: 0, No
Whitecaps: ?

FunkNRoll......? the version on Arsenio did not catch me.

KingSausage said:

Breakfast Can Wait: 8. ... Reminds me of Dorothy Parker in many ways.

[Edited 9/14/14 5:38am]

F+

emesem said:

I tend to want to go pass or fail. All of these songs are fatally flawed at the composition level, specifically lyrically, and then fixed, polished, or added to at the production level to varying degrees of success. So by pass or fail, I'd say none of these songs pass. It's funny because the same old Prince is in these songs. The guy that wrote When Doves Cry, or U Got The Look is still writing very similar ideas. The problem is he changed his verbiage to be specific and intricately faithful to JW teachings. In doing so he loses the big tent effect and inclusiveness necessary for a global artist on the pop stage. It doesn't matter what Prince's beliefs, hopes and fears are really. What matters is can the listener find his beliefs, aspirations and fears reflected back to him through the music Prince creates. That's the songwriting game. Hell, that's art period. A novice can do that occasionally without even trying, and professionals do it consistently by design. They say MJ used to leave himself messages of affirmation on post-it notes throughout his house. Prince appears to do something similar with his religious beliefs only he's posting his reminders directly into the music. That may work for him as a performer, but as a listener, it kind of pulls me out of the song.

FixUrLifeUp, is one of my faves even though I only heard it once or twice. The production feels good and the vocals are smooth. I don't know the song well but it didn't annoy me. 6/10

U Know is also a smooth listen. I like it, but it's nothing special. 6/10

The Breakdown, uhm, I'm not sure that I don't like it, it may sound better on CD, but for now give me some wine to go with this cheese. 5/10

BCW, is really good for a while, but then really bad when he drops out of falsetto. 5/10

Clouds, I heard vaguely but thought it had lyric problems, though it wasn't all bad. 6/10

Really all the new songs have problems lyrically, but they are a lot better than where he was. If Prince's music had fallen off a ledge these songs appear to show that at least his fingers are still gripping the cliff. Again I haven't heard most of the new songs and only a couple of them in their entirety, but as a group the production and mix is a lot better than say, MPLSound, though the songs themselves are fairly hum-drum music. I'm expecting when we hear them as an album it will be a feel good experience, if not necessarily an exciting one.

AOA

The Breakdown 8
What it feels like 3
Clouds 4
U Know 1
Breakfast can wait 1


PE

Fixurlifeup 1
Pretzelbodylogic X - Haven't heard it.
Whitecaps X - Haven't heard it.
FunkNroll 4

The only track I kinda like is the studio version of Funk'n Roll, although it's just a rehash of the Camille sound he created 1000 years ago.

AOA

The Breakdown 4/10 (With a better production it could be a 8 or 9)
Clouds 8/10
U Know 8/10
Breakfast can wait 7/10

PE
Fixurlifeup 2/10
Pretzelbodylogic 2/10
Whitecaps 5/10

AOA

The breakdown - 6/10 Great song, shit production ffs

Clouds - 7/10 Squidy wet funky stuff

U Know - 9/10 Playing this sucker a lot. From 1.20 onwards is awesome!

Breakfast can wait - 5/10 Nice enough, but a proper Camille voice please. Not a demented disney dwarf.

PE

Fixurelifup - 6/10 Nice.

Pretzelbodylogic - 9/10 I feckin want to scream you stupid c**t when the chant is on, but the rest is overdriven, rock brilliance. Let's ROCK!

Whitecaps - 6/10 Sounds nice n all, but would prefer skip on vocals tbh.

Funknroll - 7/10 Hated it to start with live, but it grew on me and the studio version is great.

Plectrumelectrum - I don't think this is shaping up to be much of a rock album. Prince seems to be coating everything in sugar Vs the awesome sound the NPTreo had back in the 90s.

Pretzelbodylogic - 4 - Come on. WTF is that chorus about?
Fixurelifeup - 6 - Works better live as part of LGC Reloaded but it's an ok song.
WhiteCaps - 7 - Quite like this.

FunknRoll - 3 - Heard this live. Didn't think it worked. Keen to hear the studio version.

Art Official Age - Upon sensing some interest around 3EG Prince decides to shove out an album of his own too.

Clouds - 7 - Quite a nice track.
The Breakdown - 4 - Dull ballad.
U know - 8 - Quite a nice track.
Breakfast Can wait - 6 - This is a really great song till that stupid overdub. I really hope that was done just to tag the video but it doesn't seem to be the case.

Prince seems desperate to have some kind of RnB hit. Feels like AOA is going to be a full on RnB album. There are some nice songs on there. Nothing groundbreaking but seems more cohearant than anything else in the past few years.

Art Official Age

The Breakdown: 6

Clouds: 7

U Know: 8

Breakfast Can Wait: 6

Plectrum

Whitecaps: 9

Pretzelbodylogic: 7

Fixurlifeup: 9

I'm pretty hyped for both all things considered. U Know would get a 9, if it wasn't based on someone else's song!

[Edited 9/14/14 14:28pm]

All the Post 20Ten stuff I have heard so far. Most are based on a bootleg I got last month with no track listings, hence some songs are described by lyrics. I would love to know their real track names.

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Overall a mixed bag, some I love, some I don't, most fits into the I like but not love category. I also understand some will not appear on the albums.

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Xtralovable 2011 - 4/10 Meh, ruins the appeal of the sexified original

Rock n Roll love affair - 6/10, Its alright in a Robert Cray/ Grayson Hugh type of way

Breakfast can wait - 8/10 Great song overall, killer chorus, but lyrics abit undeveloped.

Pretzelbodylogic - 6/10 Its a chant, but okay

Groovy Potential - 8/10 Love this

Screwdriver - 9/10 One of his finest, catchy as hell, should be a natural single

U know 3/10 - Boring and trend chasing crap

Clouds - Its okay 5/10

Whitecaps - 5/10 As above very average sounding song - Snoorrreee

Fixurlifeup - 7/10 Good but its still a chant. Not a bad Roxette feel to it.

Funkn Roll - 6/10 What another power chant, surely not - big sound, big guitars, little impact.

Da Bourgeoisie - 5/10 (Some song on my bootleg album, not sure of actual title). Its very forgettable except some good horns.

Same Page, Different Book - 8/10 I love this funky little number, a good beat and a fun sound.

The Breakdown - 9/10 Another highlight I love sexy falsetto ballads. I hear a lot of the old 80s Prince here that I love, except some silly sound effects of the overproduced 90s Prince.

Keep your boyfriend away from me - 7/10 (Again another track on this bootleg I have, don't know its full) Its quite cool

Fall in Love tonight - 8/10 Another smooth jam, has a nice upbeat feel.

Ain't gonna miss u when u gone - 7/10 - Cool sweepy jam, again a lot of sound effects and less development on voice and guitar. Its a bit plastic.

That girl thing - 7/10 Cute acoustic thing - almost works

Hendrix like guitar solo at start - 3/10 Meh! a bit over this instrumental filler he plods albums out with, I want words and action.

[Edited 9/15/14 15:46pm]

funkomatic said:

The only track I kinda like is the studio version of Funk'n Roll, although it's just a rehash of the Camille sound he created 1000 years ago.

Have we heard a studio version of Funk'n Roll?

I'm surprised more people aren't disappointed (like me) with U Know being such a big sample.

Adorecream said:

Same Chapter, Different Verse

Correction.

Its': Same Page, Different Book

thedance said:

Adorecream said:

Same Chapter, Different Verse

Correction.

Its': Same Page, Different Book

Again please refer to my comments, about my copies being a bootleg I found off a friend with no track names, so mine are educated guesses.

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[Edited 9/15/14 3:45am]

^ ok,

And, I am just trying to correct that bootleg.. writing the right title to the song..

[Edited 9/15/14 4:16am]

Out of 10.

The Breakdown: 6
Clouds: 4
Breakfast Can Wait: 3
U Know: 2

This could be us (snippet): 3 (I added 1 point to be fair since I didn't hear the entire thing).

Fixurlifeup: 3
Pretzelbodylogic: 2
Whitecaps: 1

Funk N Roll: 3

Today the same hacker that got in the celebs Clouds, hacked Prince's, and found great video's of him and Sheila E., him and Vanity, him and Carmen, and a S&M one of him and Sinead O'Connor.

He also found AOA and Plectrum albums, but didn't make copies as 'they weren't very interesting'.

Art Official Age

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The Breakdown: 8, has a high rating because my daughter loves the song which makes me like it more.

Clouds: 8, definitely digging this track.

Breakfast Can Wait: 6, I like it but it's not amazing or anything. I kind of like the video.

U Know: 7, I can get passed the sampling, but hate the Auto-tune, but I'm in favor of his overall delivery.

This Could Be Us Snippet: _ Like what I heard, but I gotta hear the whole song.

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PlectrumElectrum

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Fixurlifeup: 6, I like the end of the song & I like the video, but not really digging the chorus.

Pretzelbodylogic: 7, hate the chorus, but dig the rest of the song.

Whitecaps: 4, can't get past the vocals & the lyrics, I do like the music though.

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I was originally more excited about PE release than his solo effort until they released Whitecaps, now my expectations are very low. Also made me very glad I bought Donna Grantis Electric Band's album Suites, because that album rocks I blast that sh!t loud in my car!

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FunknRoll: 7, I enjoyed the performance on Arsenio's show, I hope each album does their own take on the song instead of giving us the same song twice.

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Despite the low ratings I'm very much looking forward to both releases even if I will be extremely disappointed. I'll take what I can get

I'm just wondering if anyone that has so far posted on this thread buy the WAV files? I will admit that I was not to keen on a lot of these songs when I bought them on iTunes. After hearing some of the ones I wasn't to happy with since they were initially released, I have changed my opinion. Best example imo would have to be Pretzelbodylogic. I really hadn't listened to it since I bought it after the superbowl but there is some dynamic and less compression in the WAV files that breathe life into the song. The same could be said about Breakdown. Just my opinion but who am I to judge.

Pentacle said:

Today the same hacker that got in the celebs Clouds, hacked Prince's, and found great video's of him and Sheila E., him and Vanity, him and Carmen, and a S&M one of him and Sinead O'Connor.

He also found AOA and Plectrum albums, but didn't make copies as 'they weren't very interesting'.

Come again?

The Breakdown: 6.5....would have been 8.5 without the Star Wars Stormtroopers having a laser battle in the song.

Clouds: 6 ...not bad, just doesn't really move me yet..but it could be a grower.
Breakfast Can Wait: 7.5, take away Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I'd like it more
What It Feels Like: 6.5...used to like it more when it came out, but the lyrics are horrible, and it's just a fairly mundane song.

U Know: 0...The Auto Tune program reduces whatever actual song there is in there to the point of pointless to me. Seeing Prince following a trend that so many useless younger artists use due to lack of talent is as puzzling as Tony M...can't say enough bad things about it. It's like the biggest Prince nightmare

Fixurlifeup: 6....I would have given it an 8 after my first listen, but this song has a short shelf life with me. It's nice to hear him rocking, but it gets kinda boring after the 30th or so listen...and I've probably heard it 100 times by now.

Pretzel Booty Logic: 4...Basically a remake of Ironman with the girls doing some horrible chant that makes Tony M look....wait, what? Just a boring song with some music that keeps it from being too horrible. Lyrics? About as good as New Power Soul where Prince got serious about doing a duty on a New Power Booty...which at least had some great horn parts...this song doesn't.

Whitecaps: 5....jury still out on this one...no Prince vocal makes it lose points. Maybe I'll like it more later.