Chicago Loves It!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/kot/ct-prince-reviews-plectrum-art-official-age-20140929-column.html

Prince says let's go crazy in 2 different ways

one of the most improbable reunions of the last few decades, Prince is back with the label that he claims done him so wrong in the '90s that he was compelled to scrawl the word "slave" on his face. No one does drama like the multi-purpose entertainer from Minneapolis, though, and he's back with two albums on the same day for nemesis-turned-benefactor Warner Brothers.

The two albums couldn't be more opposite. "PlectrumElectrum," with his new rock quartet 3rdEyeGirl, is basically an excuse for Prince to go nuts on his guitar. "Art Official Cage" is an opportunity for the solo Prince to go nuts as a studio innovator playing with his toys and personas.

Hardcore Prince guitar-freaks — those who yearn for an entire album of six-string slash-and-burn in the mold of Jimi Hendrix, Ernie Isley, Eddie Hazel and Prince himself on "Purple Rain" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" — will find much to love on "PlectrumElectrum."

Prince is an appreciator as much as an innovator, and he compresses about 50 years of guitar history into 12 tracks: the screaming punctuations on the feedback-saturated "Ain'tTurnin'Round" and "AnotherLove," the Curtis Mayfield-style lyricism of "Whitecaps," the punky urgency of "Marz." But though the 3rdEyeGirl rhythm section of Donna Grantis, Hannah Ford Welton and Ida Nielsen provides a solid foundation, and shares some lead vocals, the songs feel slight, a touch predictable.

It's not meant to be a particularly heavy album lyrically or conceptually, more of a blow-out. If there's an underlying theme, it revolves around the 56-year-old elder statesman dispensing tips to the younger artists who have emerged in his wake, many of them in his debt: Frank Ocean, Miguel, Justin Timberlake, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, OutKast, Maxwell, Lianne de Havas (who sings backing vocals on "Art Official Cage"). On "FixUrLifeUp," he counsels, "Don't worry about what the crowd does, just be good at what you love." And what Prince loves on this album is clear: guitar, guitar and more guitar.

The emphasis shifts on "Art Official Cage," a more substantial and stranger album. After about a dozen listens, I still found myself discovering new twists and surprises in the dense, sometimes downright exotic arrangements (the same can't be said for "PlectrumElectrum").

It's a concept album of sorts, a tour through the wilderness of Prince's imagination, a maze of sound effects and funk set 45 years in the future after the groggy narrator emerges from a period of "suspended animation," as a female narrator with a British accent informs him. Prince slides back into the Afro-futuristic tradition of Sun Ra and Parliament-Funkadelic. Space is the place where humans can roam free of petty earthly preoccupations such as celebrity worship, social media and material possessions (presumably including swimming pools, trophy wives and one-sided record-company deals).

The freedom the narrator craves is evident in many of the arrangements. "FunkNRoll," also the title of a track on "PlectrumElectrum" (where it's a fairly conventional funk-rock track), opens with guitar fanfare, dives into the shadows beneath percussion that sounds like a dripping faucet, slows down and then speeds up behind gothic keyboards. The title track zigs and zooms across time, with its booming EDM-style rhythm track and funk rhythm guitar flowing across dance-music history as if to one-up the concept on Daft Punk's Grammy-winning 2013 album, "Random Access Memories." The distant percussion in "Way Back Home" sounds like sheet metal flapping in a strong wind amid a matrix of sci-fi effects, and there's the illusion of clinking cutlery on "Time," which closes with a voracious bass line. The guitar is more sparing on this album, certainly less of a focal point, but its presence is crucial, particularly in the deft fills on "This Could Be Us" and the finger-snapping seduction of "Breakfast Can Wait."

It's an erotic and weird album, heavy on ballads that twist in unexpected directions. In an era when innovative artists such as Frank Ocean and The Weeknd are redefining the form and feel of R&B seduction ballads, Prince sounds not just relevant, but renewed. As Prince declared on his 1982 classic "D.M.S.R., "I … try my best to never get bored." He sounds like he's staying true to his word.

'Art Official Cage'

Prince

(Warner Brothers)

Three and a half stars (out of 4)

'PlectrumElectrum'

ThirdEyeGirl

(Warner Brothers)

Three stars (out of 4)

Stymie said:

What's that they say about the org? Y'never really leave
It's true...
Feeling the love

Definitely getting some good reviews, have to give it that. I know I myself gave Mplsound a very harsh review while USA Today and Vibe among others gave it glowing reviews lol. I wonder if they, as some orgers here still love it today as much as they did then. Time has not been kind to that release, and that is putting it mildly.

I mention Mplsound only because to me it has the same exact flaws, and likewise also received positive reviews at the time.
[Edited 9/29/14 16:11pm]

therapyisback said:

Stymie said:

Therapy Therapy? OMG!!

What's that they say about the org? Y'never really leave It's true... Feeling the love

.

therapyisback said:

Warner brothers records online...iTunes or amazon.


Http://wWw.3rdeyegirl.com will take u where u can buy it.

Othereise...don't make requests for boots so obvious.
[Edited 9/29/14 16:15pm]
[Edited 9/29/14 16:17pm]

V10LETBLUES said:

Definitely getting some good reviews, have to give it that. I know I myself gave Mplsound a very harsh review while USA Today and Vibe among others gave it glowing reviews lol. I wonder if they, as some orgers here still love it today as much as they did then. Time has not been kind to that release, and that is putting it mildly. I mention Mplsound only because to me it has the same exact flaws, and likewise also received positive reviews at the time. [Edited 9/29/14 16:11pm]

Naturally, something that sounds like everything else on the radio is going to get better reviews than something that stands out with a sound of it's own. That's why the radio is filled with such dull stuff and the music magazines are filled with articles on artists that make dull music. Dull is what sells these days. If the album was throwing down hard, it would be getting horrible reviews from the press.

V10LETBLUES said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

It is BLAND and I'm not the one that disappoints.

If it was just bland, id be ok with it. To me most of his newer music is just cringeworthy bad. To me playing this in public is like walking around with a bugger dangling from your nose. There is no way in hell I would want to be caught dead playing any of it in public. Embarrassingly bad. The Internet is one thing, but in real life try pictureing what type of person you would see playing AOA in public. Lol, I honestly can't. [Edited 9/29/14 9:01am]

Nobody cares what you are listening to. They/we don't care if it's something we like or respect or not. Those that will judge you based on the music they overheard you playing are not worth your time anyway...

V10LETBLUES said:

Definitely getting some good reviews, have to give it that. I know I myself gave Mplsound a very harsh review while USA Today and Vibe among others gave it glowing reviews lol. I wonder if they, as some orgers here still love it today as much as they did then. Time has not been kind to that release, and that is putting it mildly. I mention Mplsound only because to me it has the same exact flaws, and likewise also received positive reviews at the time. [Edited 9/29/14 16:11pm]

It's getting largely positive reviews, though often on the cautious side. MPLS/Lotus had very so, so reviews, for every good one there was two or three that were far more on the critical side -- certainly no one said it marked a new direction or anything like that.

No one yet has been as dismissive and downright nasty in their reviews as some Orgers here that are definitely more here to get a rise out of your average Prince fan more than anything else.

[Edited 9/29/14 16:24pm]

Aerogram said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Nikkie said: [Edited 9/29/14 10:19am]

This critic thinks Prince never made a truly awful record, surely lots of the hyper-critical fans here disagree vehemently.

Damn skippy!

V10LETBLUES said:

Definitely getting some good reviews, have to give it that. I know I myself gave Mplsound a very harsh review while USA Today and Vibe among others gave it glowing reviews lol. I wonder if they, as some orgers here still love it today as much as they did then. Time has not been kind to that release, and that is putting it mildly. I mention Mplsound only because to me it has the same exact flaws, and likewise also received positive reviews at the time. [Edited 9/29/14 16:11pm]

I don't remember Mplsound getting 'glowing' reviews, I think Rollingstone was very generous to that album. I think they gave it 3 1/2 stars but I do recall scathing reviews of it and it getting 2 or 2 1/2 stars in some online music review sites. I don't recall anyone giving Mplsound 4 stars. AOA is getting very different reviews and responses, the critics are encouraged by it and engrossed in the message of it as you can read incredibly diverse takes on the record but everyone seems engaged in Prince music which is great.

BobGeorge909 said:

I own both albums! I'm not requesting boots! I wanted to know if it was in the booklet who plays what...but a friend of mine has told me since my enquiry that it isn't clearly stated. I'm a big valuer of the arts and paying for my mucis I will have you know!!

therapyisback said:

Ok, ok...lol.

The might lead elsewhere...he he. My bad for making a reasonable inference.

From what I understand...the packaging is fairly undetailed re: recording personell. I asked my bro what they said and nothing is clearly spelled out. Strings r arranged by stringgenius?..johsh is a co-producer of sorts ...
[Edited 9/29/14 16:48pm]
[Edited 9/29/14 16:49pm]

V10LETBLUES said:

Seems like a more sober review. While he obviously rates it far better than me, I respect it. For me it comes down to, yes Prince has been ..funky, jazzy, pop, rock, indulgent, vulgar, weird, everything under the sun, but it wasn't until recently that we could add oblivious and corny to the list.

Really?!? Come on...

Partyup - oblivious that there was no draft or U.S. war in 1980

Jack U Off - oblivious that the term has never been used to describe a man a woman, except in this song

Free - corny

Temptation - the conversation with God is corny

Under The Cherry Moon - oblivious to how people would react to the bathtub scene

Arms Of Orion - corny

Graffiti Bridge - song corny, movie corny

etc, etc, etc...

We get it. You don't like AOA.

Next!

djThunderfunk said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Seems like a more sober review. While he obviously rates it far better than me, I respect it. For me it comes down to, yes Prince has been ..funky, jazzy, pop, rock, indulgent, vulgar, weird, everything under the sun, but it wasn't until recently that we could add oblivious and corny to the list.

Really?!? Come on...

Partyup - oblivious that there was no draft or U.S. war in 1980

Jack U Off - oblivious that the term has never been used to describe a man a woman, except in this song

Free - corny

Temptation - the conversation with God is corny

Under The Cherry Moon - oblivious to how people would react to the bathtub scene

Arms Of Orion - corny

Graffiti Bridge - song corny, movie corny

etc, etc, etc...

We get it. You don't like AOA.

Next!

Excellent post and great examples. But one quick thing: Partyup was a reaction to President Carter's (and others') threat to start up a peacetime draft in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, if I recall.

Alexandernvrmind said:

IDK V10... hes been corny for a while. Its a fine line with Prince. Diamond and Pearls you could be a happy boy or a girl. Gold... Graffitti Bridge. We are the New Power Generation and we want to change the world! He could be corny but a lot of times it worked. The music or the hook was soooo good it worked. On the examples I just gave that is not the case and honestly there is nothing corny on AOA IMO

herb4 said:

for the record, I haven't even smoked pot while listening to it. Yet. But I'm looking forward to it.

+ =

djThunderfunk said:

herb4 said:

+ =

I have fond memories of being in a very happy place, listening to Rave, and eating a shit-ton of Hamburger Helper. Which is kind of ironic when you consider that animal rights album art...

djThunderfunk said:

I was speaking musically and also went on to say that when the music is great it could counterbalance the corniness, as it did in the 80's.

KingSausage said:

LOL you are cracking me up over here

Here's my review of AOA. As a fan since the 80's, he's provided the soundtrack to my life, even though I've been pretty hard on Prince's output for the past 15 years, to the point where I stopped feeling excited about new releases.

But this....

I LOVE THIS ALBUM. It's just great. I was a fan of TRC, and 3121, but this is the Prince I've been hoping would return for some time now. There's really not one track I don't like, and a few I absolutely love. Is there a KISS? No. But here's the thing - as a cohesive album it works. I love the sci-fi theme. I've always loved "concept album" Prince and have missed him. (Graffiti Bridge is a favorite album of mine.) He's back, maybe not full-blown hit-making genius, but he's experimenting again - with weird sound effects and strange drum loops that sound weird to my ears. YES!

Song by song, I think in the wrong order:

Art Official Cage

I dig this as an opener. It's just full of surprises - and that's why I've been missing from Prince for a LONG time now. It sounds like nothing else he's ever made. (Joint 2 Joint comes close). It gets the party started in similar fashion to "Cant Stop this feelin' I Got" and others. Not a classic hit, but some strange and exciting moments here.

Clouds

A groovy track, highly listenable, with great lyrical arrangement.

Breakdown

I just love the chorus in this song. Simple and gorgeous. I don't think it's the saddest story ever been told, but it's a nice ballad.

U KNOW

Love this track. It's hypnotic, futuristic Prince. Almost like a futuristic Joy in Repetition. I love how he's letting some of these tracks play out until you're in a trance. A very addictive song for me.

Breakfast Can Wait

A great song. Funny Prince returns - great lyrics.

The Gold Standard

Great P-funk opening, then it gets a little Prince-by-the-numbers funky, then comes his hilarious spoken part where it sounds like he just returned home from a jog. This is a fun, typical, listenable song...but let's not go crazy.

This Could Be Us

A really nice tune. Highly listenable. A classic? No...but a nice arrangement and vocal.

What it Feels Like

I really like this track. Again - an hypnotic quality, lovely vocals, highly listenable.

Way Back Home

This is the best song on the album. This is already one of my favorite Prince songs ever. This, to me, is genius...I feel moved by this song the same way I feel about Still Would Stand All Time. It's transcendent. It sounds like nothing else he's ever done before. That warpy drum rhythm is amazing - like something from the SOTT era, only modernized. (These are the strange new sounds I've been missing from Prince's music for ages). the melody and female vocals are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Heavenly. It tugs at my heart and soul. What can I say? Thank you Prince, I'm so glad you made this exquisite song.

FUNKNROLL

When I first heard this version, I thought, "where's the beat? Shouldn't there be a drum groove here?" And I didn't like it for that reason. But then, much like when I first heard Housequake and didn't get it, I kept listening to it, and realized, "Oh, he's never done anything that sounds like this before." And now I love it. It's WEIRD, it's futuristic. It's fun.

Time

Love this track. Hypnotic, groovy, sexy, fresh, familiar, dreamy R&B.

Affirmations

Absolutely beautiful.

BobGeorge909 said:

McD said:

It's more consistent than 20Ten (9 dog turds and one classic, Future Soul Song), but overall it's still the sound of an artist well past his prime. The peerless ability is still there, but as a songwriter, ideas-man and creative force, he's pretty much spent. Every second track starting with the first (but omitting the 'affirmations') are OK, but there's really nothing here worthy of even 2004 Prince. Breakdown, possibly the best track on the album, feels like an offcut from New Power Soul, but even that was his worst album by far from that era. Which leaves the tracks in between which I don't like at all. Including the worst moment of his entire career: Breakfast Can Wait. It's not only shit, but probably has the dumbest, most offensive lyrics I've ever heard. Faced with the prospect of not getting the sex he is demanding: 'You can't leave a black man in this state.' Ignoring the potential race issue... what if she does just leave ya like that, P? Coz I'm especially worried about this line: 'cant stop even if the police come'. Sheeee-it, even Ted Bundy called it a night when he heard a siren outside, but you keep going P, coz 'you think she's great'. You can always lawyer-up afterwards. Jesus H. Christ. 2/5

R u saying the lyric suggest rape? Lol...wow. People r crazy. Has PC finally vanished the figure and literal is the only experience. Brains exists....use them.

"Think! It ain't illegal yet!"

vainandy said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

The Gold Standard is okay but the lyrics make it more gold-filled than solid.

I prefer "Breakdown" more for my one "Here, damn it!" track.

So nah! I'd much rather party in Prince's Purple Hell...where the good music obviously is; than spend eternity with this BLAND shit.

And you know that's where Prince is going to condemn us to for not kissing his ass and claiming this to be the almighty masterpiece that's the best thing since "Purple Rain".

.

As for "The Gold Standard", now you know lyrics in songs in general aren't what make my ass shake anyway. It's the music behind the lyrics that do that. Hell, as long as the lyrics are actually "sung" rather than sounding like a cross between singing and rapping like most of the rest of the album sounds, I could care less about the lyrics themselves. On "The Gold Standard", the lyrics flow like lyrics of an actual song and are being sung rather than half spoken. And the best part is, they're sung in that unmistakedly "black" and sassy "gay" falsetto that's been his trademark since day one. When I heard this one I said...."Hot damn, this bitch has still got it in him to throwdown absolutely hard! This is the kind of stuff the entire album should be like if he'd stop trying to work the little rough trade boys and go after the grown men instead.".

Shiiiiit! He can go ahead and send us the keys and the forwarding address!

Musically, I don't hate "The Gold Standard" but I guess when I saw the title, I was expecting him to say something that should have left no doubt that HE is the LAST musical personification of "The Gold Standard". Instead, what I heard was...

"You don't need to rude...you don't need to be wild... "

I'd literally have to go LIVE with and shadow Snoop Dogg EVERYWHERE he goes for the next couple of years to get enough weed in my system to make me FORGET that this BLAND BS is coming from the original Rude Boy!

[Edited 9/29/14 17:33pm]

KingSausage said:

djThunderfunk said:

Really?!? Come on...

Partyup - oblivious that there was no draft or U.S. war in 1980

Jack U Off - oblivious that the term has never been used to describe a man a woman, except in this song

Free - corny

Temptation - the conversation with God is corny

Under The Cherry Moon - oblivious to how people would react to the bathtub scene

Arms Of Orion - corny

Graffiti Bridge - song corny, movie corny

etc, etc, etc...

We get it. You don't like AOA.

Next!

Excellent post and great examples. But one quick thing: Partyup was a reaction to President Carter's (and others') threat to start up a peacetime draft in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, if I recall.

Never heard that before, but, alright.

V10LETBLUES said:

djThunderfunk said:

Really?!? Come on...

Partyup - oblivious that there was no draft or U.S. war in 1980

Jack U Off - oblivious that the term has never been used to describe a man a woman, except in this song

Free - corny

Temptation - the conversation with God is corny

Under The Cherry Moon - oblivious to how people would react to the bathtub scene

Arms Of Orion - corny

Graffiti Bridge - song corny, movie corny

etc, etc, etc...

We get it. You don't like AOA.

Next!

I was speaking musically and also went on to say that when the music is great it could counterbalance the corniness, as it did in the 80's.

Cool.

I was working my way through the thread and hadn't got to your response yet.

I just finished listening to the whole album (with good headphones). Wow!

I won't review each track, cause a lot of people have already done that well, but I love this. The best full album he has done in years: original, heartfelt, weird... PRINCE! I would love to hear these songs live.

[Edited 9/29/14 17:42pm]

USA Today loves it!

http://www.usatoday.com/s.../16423091/

Albums of the week: Prince plays two

By releasing two albums on the same day, Prince plays to a pair of personality traits that have defined his career: his endearingly prolific creativity and his maddening inability to edit himself.

Art Official Age (**½ out of four), a vintage-styled set of funk and soul, and PlectrumElectrum (**½), an album with his female power trio 3rdEyeGirl, sound too different to have been packaged together. But they suffer from the same problems: The highlights are thrilling enough to raise expectations yet they make tracks that once might have languished in the vaults of Paisley Park sound even more exasperating.

"Welcome home, class," Prince intones professorially on Art Official Cage, "you've come a long way." He's soon singing over a four-on-the-floor EDM-disco groove that helps him set up a futuristic concept about falling into suspended animation for 45 years and re-awakening in a utopian society (think Rip Van Winkle in the digital-cloud age).

The storyline doesn't exactly provide a structure for Prince's metaphysical funk (theHousequake-style floor-shaker The Gold Standard) and falsetto soul (This Could B Us), but it's no weirder than imagining the boys vs. the girls in the World Series of love, as he did on 1987's U Got the Look.

Also, Prince remains enamored with electronically altered vocals, including one onBreakfast Can Wait that makes him sound like a duck.

In some ways, PlectrumElectrum is the guitar-rock odyssey fans of tracks like Purple Rain and Sign "O" the Times' The Cross have always dreamed Prince would make. "You can call it the unexpected, or you can call it wow," he sings on the lead track. It's not completely unexpected — Prince has been posting 3rdEyeGirl videos, including a house-wrecking blues remake of Let's Get Crazy, for a while now — butPlectrumElectrum certainly has its "wow" moments.

The instrumental title track is a five-minute guitar workout that recalls early British hard rock, and Prince also lets loose at the end of Anotherlove. The women occasionally take the lead, as on AintTurninRound, but, as Prince sings on one song, "A girl with a guitar is 12 times better than another crazy band of boys."

Of the two albums, PlectrumElectrum has high points that are arguably better, at least for Prince's guitar fans, but it starts falling apart about halfway through. Art Official Agehas an element of trainwreck wackiness that at least keeps it interesting. The albums share a song, FunkNRoll, that was recorded twice and ranks in the top half of material on each set.

Both Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum are exciting at times, baffling at others, and it's hard to believe either couldn't have been better.

Download:From Art Official Age: Clouds, This Could B Us, The Gold Standard

From PlectrumElectrum: Wow, PlectrumElectrum, Anotherlove

2020 said:

I think it's a bit less than love. "Both Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum are exciting at times, baffling at others, and it's hard to believe either couldn't have been better."

2020 said:

USA Today loves it!

http://www.usatoday.com/s.../16423091/

Albums of the week: Prince plays two

By releasing two albums on the same day, Prince plays to a pair of personality traits that have defined his career: his endearingly prolific creativity and his maddening inability to edit himself.

Art Official Age (**½ out of four), a vintage-styled set of funk and soul, and PlectrumElectrum (**½), an album with his female power trio 3rdEyeGirl, sound too different to have been packaged together. But they suffer from the same problems: The highlights are thrilling enough to raise expectations yet they make tracks that once might have languished in the vaults of Paisley Park sound even more exasperating.

"Welcome home, class," Prince intones professorially on Art Official Cage, "you've come a long way." He's soon singing over a four-on-the-floor EDM-disco groove that helps him set up a futuristic concept about falling into suspended animation for 45 years and re-awakening in a utopian society (think Rip Van Winkle in the digital-cloud age).

The storyline doesn't exactly provide a structure for Prince's metaphysical funk (theHousequake-style floor-shaker The Gold Standard) and falsetto soul (This Could B Us), but it's no weirder than imagining the boys vs. the girls in the World Series of love, as he did on 1987's U Got the Look.

Also, Prince remains enamored with electronically altered vocals, including one onBreakfast Can Wait that makes him sound like a duck.

Album sleeve for Prince's 'Plectrumelectrum,' out Sept. 30, 2014.(Photo: NPG Records)

In some ways, PlectrumElectrum is the guitar-rock odyssey fans of tracks like Purple Rain and Sign "O" the Times' The Cross have always dreamed Prince would make. "You can call it the unexpected, or you can call it wow," he sings on the lead track. It's not completely unexpected — Prince has been posting 3rdEyeGirl videos, including a house-wrecking blues remake of Let's Get Crazy, for a while now — butPlectrumElectrum certainly has its "wow" moments.

The instrumental title track is a five-minute guitar workout that recalls early British hard rock, and Prince also lets loose at the end of Anotherlove. The women occasionally take the lead, as on AintTurninRound, but, as Prince sings on one song, "A girl with a guitar is 12 times better than another crazy band of boys."

Of the two albums, PlectrumElectrum has high points that are arguably better, at least for Prince's guitar fans, but it starts falling apart about halfway through. Art Official Agehas an element of trainwreck wackiness that at least keeps it interesting. The albums share a song, FunkNRoll, that was recorded twice and ranks in the top half of material on each set.

Both Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum are exciting at times, baffling at others, and it's hard to believe either couldn't have been better.

Download:From Art Official Age: Clouds, This Could B Us, The Gold Standard

From PlectrumElectrum: Wow, PlectrumElectrum, Anotherlove

I can't take this review too seriously, honestly. Not only do they not seem to have listened beyond about halfway through Art Official Age (they notice that FunkNRoll's on there, but no mention of Time or Way Back Home)--but, most ridiculously:

.

They clearly know absolutely nothing about electronically altered vocals. Didn't we all agree over a year-and-a-half ago that it's a chipmunk on Breakfast Can Wait? This fool thinks it's a duck!

.

[Edited 9/29/14 20:19pm]

JoeTyler said:

yep, so Prince can FINALLY become a veteran artist: glorious past + remasters + so-so new albums

Huh?

I did not see any remasters yet.

If you mean PR: that is just one title.

Will start to believe it when we see a remaster for ATWIAD.