I haven't listened to Plectrum Electrum yet, but Art Offical Age I already enjoy it very much.

I am a long time fan (25+ years), that had low expectations, so it wasn't that hard for him to beat them. Nevertheless, I am impressed!

There is obviously a lot of time, effort and thought put in this record. Not just that, it seems Prince has found his way back home with it, in several ways.


Perhabs not yet the ultimate way he is looking for.

But it is a way back home as a return to form with high quality songwriting and a genuinly new, distinctively different Prince sound. A sound that seems to build on his work of the last 5 years, but that was still in progress and is moving towards perfection on this album. A collection of songs that prove Prince still has got it, to get there. Yes, perhabs his best in 10 or 20 years.

I was told told before I heard it, that it was yet another "R&B" effort that would likely be quickly forgotten. Since I am not a fan of most R&B style Prince songs since Emancipation, I expected even less bliss. But after listening to it, I would say that only a third are genuine "R&B" songs. The rest is Prince going in all sorts of 'contemporary pop' directions, from a sort of new Princely electro dance funk on Art Official Cage, The Gold Standard, U Know and the Funk&Roll remix, to heartfelt ballads such as The Break Down and This Could Be Us.

Breakfast can wait and What it feels like are in my opinion the weakest efforts of the entire album. I wouldn't make these a single, no hit for me. Still, these R&B type songs and their production are actually significantly better and more enjoyable than most other similar Prince tunes. They don't bother me like other songs do, like several have since Emancipation. No, they are actually very nice to hear. And I like the pitched up voice he uses too. Kind of reminding you of Camille.

Clouds is also an R&B song but the beat is great, similar to Madhouse 24. And that English speaking woman's voice, Andy Allo I believe, is perfect. Very nicely put into the album. Just Like "U Know". Prince actually rap/sings really good for a change again. No interruptive segues or overtly religious messages, but just a little bit of mystery sprinkled here and there. And especially when the album gets to its highest point on Way Back Home. Very nice.

The musical references to past sounds and glory is on more songs, little reminders of the past. Like the early 90's Love thy will be done style of Time and the Controversy/1999 style, funky guitar riffs he puts on Art Official Cage and the Gold Standard also. I love that. Makes me body move real good. Only Prince can play funk and R&B like that. And he really funks it up on on Art Offical Cage. I actually had to laugh when I first heard that opening. Yes, this is Prince taking all the 'artificial' musical styles of the 21st century and funking it up!

Perhabs superficial would be the better term even. Prince takes it towards levels much higher than what the music industry makes much of its bread and butter with. Fabulous, classic Prince, master of any musical style, even if it's a inferior style. Showing again what and who really rules in making music, the way it is supposed to be made. Teaching the babies how to approach any style of music and make it work together in funky harmony.

No, he is not inventing a new musical style on this album. But on Art Offical Age Prince has managed to invent a new Prince style on the current 'artifical' musical styles. Showing little limitations on where he may go, like with the beat on Way Back Home or the remix of Funk & Roll. You go Prince, don't limit yourself. Go wherever you can and then even further! Do it all, fuse it all and serve it up. You can do it all!

But the real icing on the cake this album presents, is of course Way Back Home or Affirmation I, II and III. Amazing how he seems to have found the exact contemporary pop sound to an otherwise classic Prince composition and give it that much emotion and musical craftmanship. Lyrically it seems very vulnerable, especially because the 3rd affirmation starts with "How are you feeling today, mr. Nelson?" O yes, we are "communicating telepathically. Which makes things go so much faster here."

Yeah, tell us how you really feel, Prince.

Beautiful song, great composition and production, outstanding strings, in accordance with the times, yet still distinctively Prince and simply timeless...

I say Prince and the producer he worked with on this project deserve an A+ for effort and a 4,5 out of 5 for quality. The only flaws I can think of are 'superficial' and purely individually formed. Like that I personally think he should go even further with 'exotic' musical styles and cut even more on the synthesizer. Don't limit the drums and percussion programs, but do use even more real instruments. And that I miss more guitar solos. But then I hear the solo on Clouds for example and I think: no matter how short it may be, that's a very good little guitar solo!

So yes, Prince, excellent! You are on the right track, back home. Keep on funking further and let go, while you embrace it all. Because there really is no "me or mine". You is actually all of it.

God bless you.

IstenSzek said:

i won't write a review, everyone has pretty much said anything there is

to say about the album by now.

.

all i can say is that i love it and if it were up to me i would change only

one thing: add "Ain't Gonna Miss U When Ur Gone" to it. the wav file we

got is terrific sound quality and fits pretty much seamlessly on here.

.

i've tried putting it after "This Could B Us" and it works perfectly for me.

after the whole "you don't want me no more..." ending of TCBU, this is

the perfect song, thematically as well. and with all the weird vocal effects

it just sounds right amongst all those other vocoder/pitch shifts etc.

.

what's more, it lifts the album up a bit and breaks up the slow middle

part of the album. no idea why he didn't include it. it's a strong track.

perhaps to keep the album from becoming too long?

.

01. Art Official Cage

02. Clouds

03. Breakdown

04. The Gold Standard

05. U Know

06. Breakfast Can Wait

07. This Could B Us

08. Ain't Gonna Miss U (When Ur Gone)

09. What It Feels Like

10. Affirmation I & II
11. Way Back Home

12. Funk N Roll

13. Time

14. Affirmation III

I did this as well, and also added FallInLove2Nite as the album closer. Cut the last 10-12 seconds of silence off that last Affirmations, it works perfectly.

Will Target or Best Buy or any other stores carry this CD?

Embrace said:

Astasheiks said:

Will Target or Best Buy or any other stores carry this CD?

I bought mine at Best Buy for 9.99.

Astasheiks said:

Will Target or Best Buy or any other stores carry this CD?

Target carries it here in St. Petersburg Fl.

BobGeorge909 said:

On way back home...does anyone get a sonogram vibe? Totally sounds like a deeper, fuller version of a sonogram...a la sex in the summer.

Yep. I think last week I described it as a spacey heart beat sonogram or something. And sadly I think the Sex In the Summer one was his unborn child's, who didn't make it. (If I remember correctly.)

Alexandernvrmind said:

Polo1026 said:

The reason I asked was because Pussy Control was called 'Soul-less, wanna-be rapper, bullshit' by LOTS of fans. If you look at the design of the tracks, what is so different between Pussy Control and Funknroll? They are both attempts at the same thing except Pussy Control has copious amounts of curses. Nothing in Pussy Control, from the drum programming and the bass line and the rapping, is anything that is even a close reminder of '80's Prince music. It was all designed to fit in the sound of the time and yet Funknroll is garbage for the same reasoning? There doesn't have to be a reason why you don't like a song it's all subjective.

I always find it funny thing to so many here actually like pussy control. It's garbage IMO.

Yeah. I hate fun, quirky things too.

Astasheiks said:

Will Target or Best Buy or any other stores carry this CD?

I got mine at Target yesterday (both albums). Took me back to the old days where I'd go to a store ("do they have it?" "do they have it?). BINGO! There's something about the physicla gratification of buying a record that a download leaves lacking.

BobGeorge909 said:

I've had AOA on heavy rotation for a week. Home, work, car. Prince's best since Lovesexy -- edging out TGE.

kewlschool said:

Astasheiks said:

Will Target or Best Buy or any other stores carry this CD?

I bought mine at Best Buy for 9.99.

I listened to the album again after work.....not much change for me since yesterday. My favs are still The Gold Standard and Time....so I had them on repeat for a bit. I did realize that I really love the ending of FunknRoll and I like U Know in it's entirety. However, I'm now back to my '70's music (Mayfield, Duke, Cymande)...gotta get my fix! I'll get back to AOA a little later.........

this album sucks balls! except GOLD sTANDARD! THATS brilliant shit right there!

dadeepop said:

KingSausage said:

dadeepop said:

I've had AOA on heavy rotation for a week. Home, work, car. Prince's best since Lovesexy -- edging out TGE.

I feel the same way. I was surprised earlier tonight when my partner and I went to a gathering of friends where the host knows I'm a big Prince fan. Without any prompting from me he put on AOA. It sounded fantastic playing loud while a few of us shot pool. Everyone bobbed along to the uptempo tracks and grooved to the slow ones. It felt like the old days playing 1999, PR or SOTT while shooting baskets in the driveway with my neighbors.

livewire said:

dadeepop said:

I've had AOA on heavy rotation for a week. Home, work, car. Prince's best since Lovesexy -- edging out TGE.

I feel the same way. I was surprised earlier tonight when my partner and I went to a gathering of friends where the host knows I'm a big Prince fan. Without any prompting from me he put on AOA. It sounded fantastic playing loud while a few of us shot pool. Everyone bobbed along to the uptempo tracks and grooved to the slow ones. It felt like the old days playing 1999, PR or SOTT while shooting baskets in the driveway with my neighbors.

Kewl.

NONE of the songs of AOA can even dream of touching The Dance or The Word from 3121...

JoeTyler said:

KingSausage said:

JoeTyler said:

NONE of the songs of AOA can even dream of touching The Dance or The Word from 3121...

Oh, they touch those songs. Touch them and knock them right down.

hmm, they touch those songs, yes, only to scratch their backs...

loving art official age....the most complete album he has released since the gold experience for me...way back home...the gold standard and time are top notch prince tracks ...only track i would have ditched would be the funknroll but even that is passable due to the crazy mix on it...8 out of ten for me.

[Edited 10/2/14 4:54am]

dadeepop said:

I've had AOA on heavy rotation for a week. Home, work, car. Prince's best since Lovesexy -- edging out TGE.

Agreed.

JoeTyler said:

NONE of the songs of AOA can even dream of touching The Dance or The Word from 3121...

Don't you honestly think Way Back Home, Gold Standard or Time are equally as good? I like The Dance and The Word but I'd say those 3 and maybe one or two others from AOA are better

I'm not as ecstatic about the album as most seem to be. There's plenty of good music there, to be sure. But I'm not sure that AOA is appreciably better than the rest of his post-TRC output. Outside of some more interesting and adventurous production I'd say it falls squarely in the Musicology-Planet Earth-3121-MPLSound-20Ten tradition. I find it hard to accept that it's some kind of momentous comeback.

Cage - one of his worst ever opening tracks. There's a lot going on here but not much of it works. It's more successful as a statement of attitude and purpose than as a song.

Clouds - his most assured pop/R&B material at least since the early 1990s. I'm not sure whether he fully harnesses the potential of the chorus, but overall it's an intoxicating and catchy song.

Breakdown - this one strikes me as a little out of place on the album and disrupts the momentum created from Clouds. As a song it leaves me a little cold, as much as I want to like it.

The Gold Standard - a far more convincing recreation of late-80s party anthem Prince than anything he's done in recent years (think Dance 4 Me). Very reminiscent of The Black Album, I wouldn't be surprised if this is a reworking of a vault track. I find the production/mastering on this a bit loud/harsh but that's a minor complaint. 4:27 onwards is particularly good and I get shivers of pleasure when he sings "it's really amazing" at 5:05.

U Know - first-class song and the least dated he has sounded for years, but is that just because he copied much of the song from another (young) artist?

Breakfast Can Wait - for some reason I like this a lot more in the context of the album. Extremely catchy and great vocal arrangement in the chorus (at least until the chipmunks arrive).

This Could Be Us - Emancipation-era production with the characteristic layered vocals. Can't quite pin down why I like this, but I do. Great falsetto.

This Is What It Feels Like - reminds me of the High-era songs but there's so much more going on in the duelling vocals and the production. PlectrumElectrum could have used Andy Allo. Not the most substantial song but it's the kind of throwaway track that good albums are made of.

Way Back Home - impressive in so many ways. Reminds me of Wasted Kisses and Everywhere from TRC in its emotional directness and honesty - not something I usually associate with Prince. I think it should have closed out the album and transitioned directly into Affirmation III.

FunkNRoll - Another one I want to like (as a long-time Camille devotee), but there's not enough nuance and it's just so LOUD. Also have to question the sequencing here - the most rowdy song of the album sandwiched between the two most reflective.

Time - I liked this a lot on first listen but boy it's repetitive. Not the classic that it aspires to be.

Love love love Way back home and affirmationIII

Lyrics are great in the other tracks too.

What strikes me the most with this album is that it is both creative and kind at the same time. It's very kind towards the listener, and not provocative at all. However it still manages to get my attention as it's colorful and has a nice vibe throughout. It's just about enough purple madness to be considered a Prince album, but also easy listenable at the same time. It's not scaring the general public away like he often does, and his hardcore fan base don't get bored. I personally think he could put on even more of his purple madness. However I think he did the right move when it comes to reaching out to his fans again. It's been a while. The album is an enjoyable listen that makes me happy Prince is back again, but I sometimes want some more of him, as I know how much of a wizard he can be.

***** 4 of 5 possible.