blumer said:

The newness will probably sway votes here. I still think the Lotusflow3r projects were pretty good and personally I like Lotusflow3r album quite a bit better than Plectrumelectrum. It might change with more listens but that's how I feel right now.However, Art Official Age is really good, his best in a while and quite a bit better than MPLSound which had a few duds and only a few songs that would compete with any on this one. AOA completely sways my vote to the new ones if we package them together

Agreed.

LotsFlow3r blows PlectrumElectrum out of the water in almost every conceivable way. AOA is him finally succeeding at what he was trying to accomplish on MPLSound/20TEN, I think.

Askani said:

1: Art Official Age (best album since The Rainbow Children) (8/10)

2: Lotusflower (7)
3: MPLSound (7)
4: PlectrumElectrum (4)

.

[Edited 9/29/14 23:39pm]

PLEL completely destroys Lotus and AOA annhiliates MPLSound. No contest for me.

aiden said:

Askani said:

LotsFlow3r blows PlectrumElectrum out of the water in almost every conceivable way. AOA is him finally succeeding at what he was trying to accomplish on MPLSound/20TEN, I think.

You've hit the nail on the head there. AOA is finally the pop/r&b album that is sonically and creatively as good as albums like Lotus and TRC which I think are amazing records. Don't get me wrong I do love 20ten far more than most but the sound on AOA is far superior! Good post!

20Ten was mostly let down by a flat mix and dull lyrics, but a lot of the songs were really quite good. Dare I say better compositions often than the songs on AOA. IMHO of course.

Rebeljuice said:

PLEL completely destroys Lotus and AOA annhiliates MPLSound. No contest for me.

Yeah, I agree!

Lotus >> Plectrum

MPLSound > AOA (there's nothing on AOA as good as No More Candy, Dance 4 Me, Ol Skool Company, Better With Time).

Lotusflow3r is better than Plectrum Electrum

Art Official Age is better than 20ten which is better than MPLSound

Lotusflow3r's got "77 Beverly Park" on it ...

The song that, for me, competes with 'Purple and Gold' for the title of worst Prince song ever ... and wins. I also don't get the aimless noodling of the twin title-track.

Right now, I'm really amazed with the rich sound of Plectrum Electrum, its sense of melody (which is becoming rare in recent Prince albums), and its 'Funk And Roll'.

So I'll go for Plectrum Electrum. No doubt.

funkaholic1972 said:

Askani said:

LotsFlow3r blows PlectrumElectrum out of the water in almost every conceivable way. AOA is him finally succeeding at what he was trying to accomplish on MPLSound/20TEN, I think.

100% agreed!

Plectrumelectrum is better than Lotusflow3r (one of Prince's most overrated albums).

Art Official Age is better than MPLSound.

Askani said:

tobydavies said:

I've had an INTENSE, passionate relationship with Lotusflow3r, Mplsound and Elixer back in 2009: few albums have given me as much joy than those three at the time of release, and I can only hope that will ever release something that I love as much as I did love them. So by comparison my appreciation of AOA and Plec suffers: I like them a lot, they're slowly growing on me, but I doubt they'll ever rival the LF trilogy in my heart.

databank said:

I've had an INTENSE, passionate relationship with Lotusflow3r, Mplsound and Elixer back in 2009: few albums have given me as much joy than those three at the time of release, and I can only hope that will ever release something that I love as much as I did love them. So by comparison my appreciation of AOA and Plec suffers: I like them a lot, they're slowly growing on me, but I doubt they'll ever rival the LF trilogy in my heart.

I like this post.

Lotus and MPLSound were both superb albums and really the last time I truly loved a Prince project.

databank said:

I've had an INTENSE, passionate relationship with Lotusflow3r, Mplsound and Elixer back in 2009: few albums have given me as much joy than those three at the time of release, and I can only hope that will ever release something that I love as much as I did love them. So by comparison my appreciation of AOA and Plec suffers: I like them a lot, they're slowly growing on me, but I doubt they'll ever rival the LF trilogy in my heart.

I love Lotus and MPLSound as well. But MPLSound has Chocolate Box and There'll Never B Another Like Me as its 2 opening tracks. as stupid as Art Official Cage is, it's not as ponderous as either of those too, it's fun, and it's over quickly. MPLSound starts out with 2 strikes against it back to back and eventually overcomes them, but 7 good tracks out of 9 doesn't compare with Art Official Age.