Poplife88 said:

COMpletely disagree with the OP. AOC is one of fave openers and tracks on the album. I LOVE that's it's all over the place! So you are WRONG This made me think of Prince album openers and the only one I have never liked from day one is My Name is Prince. That one makes my ears hurt. I was also never a big fan of I Know...but once I heard The Ball which I like much more it helped me tolerate I Know a bit more

1. I love AOC as well,

2. My Name Is Prince is no less than excellent as an opener, imo, I love the "provocative" lyrics and yes I love the music as well, amazing video, with the fire, the chainhat, the Prince microphone gun, his black gloves. Great outfit.

3. Say "Yes": Eye No thats a classic imo, its great on the Lovesexy album and great in concert.

4. imo, the only really crappy Prince opener is the title song Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, awful song, I don't like this at all. The Rave In2 version (Remix) is a little "better" though.

^ Poplife88, I hope you don't mind that I disagrees with u. (In some way).

SuperSoulFighter said:

AOA is not a post-WB album.

Yeah the headline to this thread is clumsy.

AOA: Prince is back on Warner - isn't he.....?

Sorry to the OP but I love AOC as an opening to this album. I think it may be his best opener since P. Control in '94.

Also a great album track for it's own sake... It has a wonderful meandering quality that reminds me of 3 Chains O' Gold or Joint 2 Joint.

Y'all are sleeping on "Compassion"...it's a great synth-pop cut.

jackmitz said:

Y'all are sleeping on "Compassion"...it's a great synth-pop cut.

Yup, I like it. But "Beginning Endlessly" would have been the much better opener for the album. THAT'S an epic song.

[Edited 10/4/14 6:09am]

I love it when Prince is weird for the sake of being weird. There is so much crazy shit going on in this song. I can see why some might say it just sounds like a hot mess, but I think it's one of those love-or-hate, nails on a chalkboard Prince songs, like 3 Chains O Gold or Rave. I can't imagine any fan having a neutral opinion on this song.

Personally, I think it's one of the albums strongest cuts. It's instantly hooky with some cool funky rhythm guitar on the chorus. There's far too many quirks to mention, but I particularly love the faux-opera bits which remind me of Undisputed. I can see why some fans would be put off by the modern eurodance production touches, but I think it works well here, as he is not using them to chase trends. Nobody else could do a song like this other than Prince.

Rave was the worst.

Art Official Cage would make a lot more sense to people if it had a video where you'd see him coyly poking fun of the genres he's going through in the song. I don't understand what's the problem with Prince being tongue and cheek and bombastic.

Rave is a brilliant song.

I love Rave INCLUDING Everyday Is A Winding Road.

No shame here.

leadline said:

Huge fan of the opening track, just curious what alien language that woman is speaking though.

For me, I don't get into rankings, or verses this verses that, how a song/album ranks to me personally is all that matters, no outside influence can change that.

[Edited 10/2/14 10:43am]

I try to avoid too much of that too.

ilo said:

It's mad. It's camp. It's out of touch. It's wrong. It's a mess. It's also... Flamboyant, fun, gloriously Prince, brave, unafraid, unaware, reckless and joyous. It's a Scissor Sisters gig opener, a Eurovision winner. In short, I fucking love it!

In my review I called it an "all over the place, hot mess of fun".

I'm loving AOC to death!