Art Official Cage is the craziest thing Prince has done in a long time For some reason it reminds of a modern 3 Chains O' Gold

promotional tracks/single releases have always been a huge problem with the success of P's albums. Nothing new here...CLOUDS/U KNOW/FUNKNROLL are attempts to appeal to the masses. They fall flat, straight up terrible.

TIME - The Song he should be using to promote this release. Part Revolution/Part Love..they will be done with a funky horn outro. MORE LIKE THIS PLEASE! the only track that put a grin on my face and let me know he still has some left in the tank. Send it out to urban adult radio stations and watch it grow slowly.

Honorable mention to WAY BACK HOME, THIS COULD BE US, ART OFFICIAL CAGE, THE GOLD STANDARD...the end is great "GOOD GOD"

I think dude is having some serious fun with that track; poking fun at a few things, or at least that's how it seems to me.

dandan said:

Art Official Cage is the craziest thing Prince has done in a long time For some reason it reminds of a modern 3 Chains O' Gold

In General

4 / 10. Sadly disappointing. Relieved to hear no record company/bizness rants... but I was hoping this round we'd skip the pedantic syrupy sunday school jingles. Not sure I agree that this is a cohesive album. Seems like a very solid EP filled-in by Joshua? Too many tracks with various altered vocals... we all know Camille is Prince, but can we be sure all these voices are Prince? Strange hearing so many outdated, other people's tropes... (my) skippable tracks seem like Prince meets late 90's Erasure. Sequencing wise... Way Back Home ends abruptly with Funknroll's clatter... after those stunning lyrics? Ouch.

ON REPEAT

• Clouds, Breakdown, U Know, Funknroll - adding to my all time faves playlist. Thankful for these.

SKIPPING THESE TRACKS

• AOC - reminded me of Batdance. Like others I filed as 'intro'.
• Gold Standard - Hard to get down to this pedantic syrupy sunday school anthem.
• This Could Be Us - meh, lyrics are too repetitive without much depth. At the 2:30 mark I was concerned there was over 2:00 to go.

CONCERNED

• Way Back Home - stunned by the personally aggrieved nature of the lyrics. Concerned by the judgemental tone, too ("others are born dead"). If a friend said these things to me I'd be concerned about their outlook. I hope Prince is well.

[Edited 9/25/14 9:16am]

Art Official Cage

Opens like it was a dance anthem then quickly shifts to something more funky. I love this track. It's a contemporary sound with Prince having fun. It's not a dance anthem in the serious sense. A nod to the overall sound of the last Daft Punk album I'd say. The line about "going up lady libertys dress to blow blow blow" Actually made me laugh out loud. There's nothing serious about this song. It's a great opener.

Clouds

Breaks the flow, another great song. Far from being a ballad he talks about celebrities living their lives "on stage". How to some nothing matters unless everyone is watching. The title of the track seems to come from the anti-drug line "we're getting high on something that doesn't require clouds". The "affirmation" segues start here, but are mixed into the song rather than being a seperate track. The chorus doesn't seem to make much sense in the context of the song. But it's catchy enough that it works. There is a Piano line when Lianne starts to talk which calls back to the intro to "the beautiful ones"

Breakdown

A ballad. It strikes me as being far more personal than anything else he's done lately. He used to want the house with the biggest pool / First one intoxicated /last one to leave. Seems to address his own greed and lifestyle.

The Gold Standard

This reminds me of the 80's Jams. It opens with Princes voice shifted down wrapping a few lyrics. The synths that sparkle and seem to sing the line "Gold standard crazy amazing" sound like they're slightly out of tune - again harking back to some of the 80s Jams. "Nude is the brand new young" again seems to be talking about celebrities living their lives like an open wound.

U Know

Strong contemporary sounding RnB.

Breakfast Can Wait

One of his most mature sounding ballads. Until the chipmonk voice comes in.

This Could be Us

A synth/ambiant ballad. "This could be us/but you keep fooling around". It's nothing groundbreaking but it's a nice song. The ending is really nicely done. The way everything drops out and we find out the girl in question doesn't have time for him anymore.

What it feels like

Prince opens with the first verse. The female voice (unsure who it is) take the second verse and corrects Princes initial statements in the first verse. From then on they sing together. The whole song has a very melancholy vibe. The line "all you need to get my lovin' / is Pi R squared and a muffin" made me laugh again. I think this is maybe the weakest song on the album. But it's not a bad song at all.

Affirmation 1&2

Segues. Lianne has a great voice, and they fit in well with the next song.

Way Back Home

Ambiant, introspective... its not the dance track I was hoping after hearing the clip but for Prince these are fairly personal lyrics. Touching on deep. Never wanting the "scripted role and trophy wife". His bed stays made at night because be roams - trying to find his way back home.

"Most people in this world are born dead" is quite a harsh lyric by Prince standards. I can't see this song working well live but it's a great tune.

FunknRoll

Upbeat party track. Echos of "get loose"

Time

Another ballad in the same "futuristic" style of the album. Echos of If I was your Girlfriend. There is no direct comparison to be made. Just elements in the track that seem to hold the echos of IIWYG. About 4 minutes in I found myself singing the lyrics to IIWYG over the music on this song.

Affirmation3

Really strange track that seems to pick up where "way back home" left off. I don't dislike it, but its another fairly ambiant track. It's almost as if time is the actual last track and this is included as a way to wrap up the album. It sounds like its going to "drop" into a club anthem at any point but never quite gets there. Instead Prince is still looking for his way back home.

All in, it's a great album. It's a new sound for Prince with more synth/keyboard than he's ever used before. However there are also plenty of great guitar moments and some really beautiful bass lines throughout. The album is coherant in the sense that all the songs sound like they could have been recorded in the same session (even if they weren't). The segues work well alongside the concept and are delivered with humour.

The concept itself seems to poke fun at Prince being a loner. Prince being out of touch for the last 45 years, Prince chasing girls, Prince being selfish etc. It's not an overbearing concept though. Unlike Lovesexy, or TRC. You don't have to buy into it to enjoy the album. The songs work equally well out of the context of the album.

Well done Prince. A+

[Edited 9/25/14 9:07am]

Holy... sonofa... muthafu...

THE GOLD STANDARD!!

I got that Funk Face now!!

djThunderfunk said:

Holy... sonofa... muthafu...

THE GOLD STANDARD!!

I got that Funk Face now!!

I think it's my favourite of the AOA tracks at the moment.

Militant said:

Not only are the songs fantastic, the arrangements, production and mixing are too. Could this be Josh's influence? If so, we all owe him a massive shoutout.

I mean, regardless of the songs - that's a totally subjective position - listen to the arrangements. Listen to the mixing. Compared to Lotus and 20TEN, it's night and day. Not that those were bad, but these are on a different level.

I agree; Josh has been a very positive influence on Prince.. He is the first person outside of the cleanign people to get anywhere near studiso, a b or c in a producers mode

djThunderfunk said:

Holy... sonofa... muthafu...

THE GOLD STANDARD!!

I got that Funk Face now!!

It's absolutely banging and to me AOC is all funk face at the end

Not one mention how THE GOLD STANDARD sounds cut short?

I'd love a slightly longer version

Damn, I'm jealous - good for u guys, my provider blocks all the useful sites so I'll join the conversation next week. Glad to read al the postive comments

FragileUndertow said:

It's a good album. I'd give it a 7 out of 10, and in the upcoming weeks it'll probably either go up a notch or down a couple. It's cohesive, fun, sort of crazy and it has a suprisingly emotional and introspective punch. Vocally, Prince is in very good form and there's some tasty guitar in there.


Standouts: Way Back Home, Time, Affirmation III. They are 3 really great songs. Art Official Cage is a good opener, just because it's crazy and I love the guitar.

Drunk or stoned Prince at the end is probably one of my fave moments from any song in his catalogue

"Hey baby. Oh yeah? Really? No, it's cool. Bring it here. All the way here, c'mon! Let me get in there. Good god! Keep it real. This is exciting, it's different"

http://www.vg.no/rampelys.../23303566/

5 star review of AOA. 4 for Plectrumelectrum.

I have it preordered at Amazon and itunes (because of the one day delay of the prerelease songs ) but that's all I've heard. 'Time' sounds like the hit of the album.

Just a few more days...

And the release date just makes the Grammy deadline. Oh lawd...

I'm on my first listen, and damn, this is some amazing stuff. Quite possibly his best since Come or The Love Symbol Album.

I did like the 2009 albums, too, but it's been hit or miss for Prince lately, and it's been mostly miss. This is up there with his 80's albums.

I have only heard the snippets so far, but this album is FANTASTIC. I am so excited for this!!

Solid, but I think it will drop down peoples lists as the years go by. Standout for me is Affirmation III, followed by Way Back Home and This Could Be Us.

dadeepop said:

And the release date just makes the Grammy deadline. Oh lawd...

Niiiiiice! Grammy performance 2015

Ok real quick while I have a break...

Goodness AOA!

So I listened at work this morning and said Oh that’s cool but I knew I had a meeting across town and knew I would have a chance to listen in the car. That drive across town got extended down 395 and back!!!!

Honestly I could not stop smiling. Art Official Cage eh... the rest just made me smile. I love it because you can tell he really took his time and the collaborations and true collaborations. Loved the way the songs flowed together. Good grief Clouds is such a good song... I mean the way the lin and baseline weave in and out. Even Breakdown which by itself I didn't really like that much. Fits real nicely between Clouds and Gold Standard.

As for Gold Standard... c'mon that tune is ridiculous Prince Minneapolis funk groove.

And guess what a weird thing happened. BCW sounds really good after U Know and This Could Be US. I did not like that song...but it’s very smooth here and fits nicely in the configuration.

The ballads are killer all of them. And the collaborations sound just like that collaborations. Not other peoples vocals trying to sound like Prince

Ignore the idiot in the thread that said AOA is MPLSound it most certainly is stronger than that (although I didn't have a huge problem with that disc although it was not as strong as LotusFlower)

Speaking of LotusFlower... it’s been a minute for me... but this is the first Prince collection that has me excited since the LotusFlower disc which I really liked.

As for PE... I have listened to it fully but it appears to have some good moments as well.

You all will not be disappointed with AOA. A really solid effort from P... strong lyrics, strong deliver, strong collaborations, steps outside of his comfort zone and yet still has his signature moments and sound.

It won't be a hit record. That’s over for P... All I wanted was a really good cohesive R&B record and he delivered that!

Good job Prince... and thank you!

[Edited 9/25/14 10:28am]

I just cant focus on anything besides AOA! Its so great...love each and every track!

AOC - "You need you to tell us what you know..." Prince's reply CLASSIC!

btw...whatever happened to Rita Orton???

[Edited 9/25/14 10:30am]

SquirrelMeat said:

Solid, but I think it will drop down peoples lists as the years go by. Standout for me is Affirmation III, followed by Way Back Home and This Could Be Us.

Not only do I think the exact opposite will happen, I'm really surprised by your choices for the best songs --which means it's probably just a vast difference in taste. This album works for me from top to bottom. An instant classic!

[Edited 9/25/14 10:56am]

2020 said:

TrevorAyer said:

I haven't heard the album yet .. but .. let's just say all u coolaid drinkers are right and this is a really great prince record .. are u gonna thank the haterz? .. I mean .. clearly all our bitching did something good in the end .. I should say .. clearly all our HONESTY .. kicked P's ass into gear .. I hope you all are right and this album does not suck balls after all .. cuz Ima come back and lay the smacketh down on all your candy asses if u done lied again and made pure shit album sound like this is a record worthy of the prince name .. oh .. and if this is good .. can u stop with the excuses like .. "it's pretty good for a 50 year old" .. "how can we expect him to be good anymore cuz he is so old?" .. some of us know when prince is dropping a load .. respect it cool aid drinkers respect it

[Edited 9/25/14 8:17am]

Pleeeease you wish you had any impact on anything besides your overly inflated negative ass egos....now just go away all you haters cause it's time for you to finally STFU

i've been asking prince to shut me up with a good record .. on tuesday we will find out .. if I had an ego I doubt I would look so forward to being wrong .. BUT the real problem here is that none of you have any respect from anyone else because your reviews are always way off the mark from what the rest of the world finds to be good or bad .. but I wont stfu ever so get over it .. the real question here .. the only true review I need before purchase .. the only answer the groupies can give me that will tell the quality of this record is ..

.

Is there ANY rap on this record? Which songs and how often? That is what I want to know. If there is, it is likely this album will land with a thud.

TrevorAyer said:

2020 said:

TrevorAyer said: Pleeeease you wish you had any impact on anything besides your overly inflated negative ass egos....now just go away all you haters cause it's time for you to finally STFU

i've been asking prince to shut me up with a good record .. on tuesday we will find out .. if I had an ego I doubt I would look so forward to being wrong .. BUT the real problem here is that none of you have any respect from anyone else because your reviews are always way off the mark from what the rest of the world finds to be good or bad .. but I wont stfu ever so get over it .. the real question here .. the only true review I need before purchase .. the only answer the groupies can give me that will tell the quality of this record is ..

.

Is there ANY rap on this record? Which songs and how often? That is what I want to know. If there is, it is likely this album will land with a thud.

U treat us like this with your foolish comments and expect us to provide you any answers...

Get the F outta here!

you tuned it right!

Rorywan said:

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT.

Listened around 5 times now.

If you rearrange the tracks you can make it even cooler though.

1: Affirmation III (Way Back Home)

2: U Know

3: Way Back Home

4: Clouds

5: Affirmation I & II

6: Funknroll

7: Time

8: This Could be Us

9: The Breakdown

10: The Gold Standard

try it!

[Edited 9/25/14 8:27am]

I like it!

Overall I'm enjoying it. I'll leave it there. Not classic imo but very listenable. I like his vocal work across the board.