PEACH & BLACK PODCAST : AOA/PE - First Impressions

What do we think about the TWO new albums : Plectrumelectrum & Art Official Age ? You'll have to listen to find out our initial thoughts on almost everything going on this week !

Listen HERE -http://peachandblack.podb...412229265/

Thanks, good listen as always, guys. More reserved than expected maybe, but it is early days still Looking forward to next show when the albums have matured and marinated a little...

aoa clearly has some of prince's best material in a long time so i am surprised how lukewarm you all were to it...maybe too early for you all to judge it...the breakdown...way back home..the gold standard and time are classic prince songs imo..

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[Edited 10/2/14 3:25am]

I also thought Funknroll is oddly placed between WBH and Time

All I can say is it is going to be a very interesting pair of album reviews !

Overall I was disappointed. Not only that you guys were lukewarm, but the feel was very disjointed and all over the place. But how could you guys ignore the quality of songs like Whitecaps and This could be us.

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Still you left us with a valid point, are we all only loving it, because its the first album in 50 months and a lot of water has passed under Prince's bridge since then. I also agree with the point that "Beginning Endlessly" and "Future Soul Song" belong on AOA too, those two songs are great and the latter is one of his finest ever made.

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Future Soul song to me is an aural soundscape, I can never get enough of it. Overall I did not like 20Ten initially but warmed to it quickly and its as easily as good as all of his post 2004 output. The only Millenial albums I don't like are N.E.W.S. and the Rainbow Children, but even that has Last December and She loves me for me, which are both just incredible songs.

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My preference is for AOA as I guess I am more into his bedroom R and B sound and there is a lot of sex on this disc, and we have not seen Prince sing so explicitly about sex since the NewPowerSoul period (Although there were hints on Planet Earth with a song called "The 1 u wanna c". It is refreshing and unlike MPLSOUND which kind of hashtagged the 80s Prince, a lot of AOA sounds like authentic 80s Prince (Albeit with some silly plastic touches like Chipmunking his voice on the Breakdown). I love rock and pop too, but more by other people than Prince I guess.

[Edited 10/2/14 15:05pm]

Adorecream said:

Overall I was disappointed. Not only that you guys were lukewarm, but the feel was very disjointed and all over the place. But how could you guys ignore the quality of songs like Whitecaps and This could be us.

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Still you left us with a valid point, are we all only loving it, because its the first album in 50 months and a lot of water has passed under Prince's bridge since then.

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I get what you are saying, that tends to be the main difference between a show like this and a full album review where we all have notes and structure to stick to..

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For a show like this, there are no notes, it is all off the top of our heads and so we tend to just jump all over the place as we think of things to say.

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It is still very early days and we have a lot more listens to go... we intentionally didn't go into any in-depth details on particular tracks as that will all be in the full album reviews, don't to be just repeating ourselves.

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So that is why this one is mostly about the general vibe of the album, the sequencing, the artwork, the promotions.. etc as all the specific track details will be in the next show

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Can't wait to review Boytrouble !!

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[Edited 10/2/14 15:37pm]

FunkyStrange said:

Adorecream said:

Overall I was disappointed. Not only that you guys were lukewarm, but the feel was very disjointed and all over the place. But how could you guys ignore the quality of songs like Whitecaps and This could be us.

.

Still you left us with a valid point, are we all only loving it, because its the first album in 50 months and a lot of water has passed under Prince's bridge since then.

.

I get what you are saying, that tends to be the main difference between a show like this and a full album review where we all have notes and structure to stick to..

.

For a show like this, there are no notes, it is all off the top of our heads and so we tend to just jump all over the place as we think of things to say.

.

It is still very early days and we have a lot more listens to go... we intentionally didn't go into any in-depth details on particular tracks as that will all be in the full album reviews, don't to be just repeating ourselves.

.

So that is why this one is mostly about the general vibe of the album, the sequencing, the artwork, the promotions.. etc as all the specific track details will be in the next show

.

Can't wait to review Boytrouble !!

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[Edited 10/2/14 15:37pm]

I will come after you with a pitchfork if you take the piss out of the brilliant Funkroll remix!!!!

FunkyStrange said:

Adorecream said:

Overall I was disappointed. Not only that you guys were lukewarm, but the feel was very disjointed and all over the place. But how could you guys ignore the quality of songs like Whitecaps and This could be us.

.

Still you left us with a valid point, are we all only loving it, because its the first album in 50 months and a lot of water has passed under Prince's bridge since then.

.

I get what you are saying, that tends to be the main difference between a show like this and a full album review where we all have notes and structure to stick to..

.

For a show like this, there are no notes, it is all off the top of our heads and so we tend to just jump all over the place as we think of things to say.

.

It is still very early days and we have a lot more listens to go... we intentionally didn't go into any in-depth details on particular tracks as that will all be in the full album reviews, don't to be just repeating ourselves.

.

So that is why this one is mostly about the general vibe of the album, the sequencing, the artwork, the promotions.. etc as all the specific track details will be in the next show

.

Can't wait to review Boytrouble !!

.

.

[Edited 10/2/14 15:37pm]

I agree - Boytrouble is a pure skipper. He could have given this to Mayte, Bria or a very weak Andy Allo track. This piece of pinkberry fluff does not belong on a Prince album (Even if it is a collaboration one!).

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It brings the train to a sudden halt after the brilliant Fixurlifeup. I just know Captain will like "Boytrouble" and hate "This could be us" and "Way back home". But honestly Boytrouble, Prince is 56, he is hardly a boy, why does he have these girls born in the late 80s or early 90s around the same time Tony M was busy destroying what was left of his credibility, be there squawking about boys on the album of a man who is in advanced middle age.

Adorecream said:

FunkyStrange said:

.

I get what you are saying, that tends to be the main difference between a show like this and a full album review where we all have notes and structure to stick to..

.

For a show like this, there are no notes, it is all off the top of our heads and so we tend to just jump all over the place as we think of things to say.

.

It is still very early days and we have a lot more listens to go... we intentionally didn't go into any in-depth details on particular tracks as that will all be in the full album reviews, don't to be just repeating ourselves.

.

So that is why this one is mostly about the general vibe of the album, the sequencing, the artwork, the promotions.. etc as all the specific track details will be in the next show

.

Can't wait to review Boytrouble !!

.

.

[Edited 10/2/14 15:37pm]

I agree - Boytrouble is a pure skipper. He could have given this to Mayte, Bria or a very weak Andy Allo track. This piece of pinkberry fluff does not belong on a Prince album (Even if it is a collaboration one!).

.

It brings the train to a sudden halt after the brilliant Fixurlifeup. I just know Captain will like "Boytrouble" and hate "This could be us" and "Way back home". But honestly Boytrouble, Prince is 56, he is hardly a boy, why does he have these girls born in the late 80s or early 90s around the same time Tony M was busy destroying what was left of his credibility, be there squawking about boys on the album of a man who is in advanced middle age.

Not only is it embarassing for Prince, it is also pretty juvenile lyrics for serious musicians such as Hannah, Donna and Ida.

Another great show

Definitely didn't agree with everything but at least these guys are honest if they don't like something. There are enough guys out there already saying everything Prince ever does is great.

Bring on the album reviews

MattyJam said:

Why all the hate for Funknroll remix??? Best thing on the album IMO.

Yes, there seemed to be a clear concensus among them, that the track (the mix) was weak, superfluous (in this form) and replaceable.

Though I do tend to agree with its place on the album and the sequencing (breaking up the flow of Way Back Home - Affirmation) but come on, the coda of the mix is stellar, and nothing like he has ever done before, as far as my knowledge reaches. The synths and especially the synth "solo" at the end is a highlight of the album.

Another "miss" was the Bob George remark concerning the sped down voice in "The Gold Standard". That ain't BG guys, just like not every sped up voive is Camille.

Otherwise great show and very enjoyable! Looking forward to the track by track review.

Thanks for doing the first impressions show! The podcasts definitly add even more fun to the whole experience of new Prince albums coming out. Looking forward to the reviews! You guys are talking all kinds of crazy shit already

I tried putting the afirmations and Way Back Home together a-la MC, but it didn't work for me. I like them apart and having just the reprise being at the end summing up the album.

I did reconfigure the album though putting most of the Plectrum Electrum songs scattered throughout like it's all one big killer album which is sounding really great to me.

One thing I did was put the Funknroll remix between AOC & Clouds and it works really well there (if you can enjoy FNR of course). AOC breaks down at the end and then the heavy intro of FNR kicks right in, it's a good one-two punch. And FNR blows up at the end which segues directly in to Clouds opening radio sounds, a good cut. The FNR remix continues with 'modern type' sounds as like contained in AOC and keeps up with a strong hitting begining of the album as apposed to dipping a little with Clouds and the dipping a lot with breakdown 3rd. And it gives it a ain't things fucked up (AOC) but/so we're going to get this party started (FNR) beginning to the album instead of having the party song squeezed in somewhere near the end like it is.

I'm sure lots of people have lots of different configurations going already. Oh yeah I also sliced the vocal intro off pretzlebodylogic and indeed makes it much more tolerable

You guys are making that survey hard by asking us to sequence the songs, adding the caviat that the latter sequenced songs are throwaways. I definitly have my favorites on both albums, however I like something about all of the songs, therefore they wouldn't be on a dnp list. What can I say? I'm a Libra and my scales have to balance. My VERY FIRST impression on listening to some parts of some of the songs was wtf?? I guess those are the ones that I sequenced towards the end in the survey, but I'd still want them on the album(s). Prince does seem like he's having fun on Plectrum Electrum, and "This Could Be Us" from AOA reminds me of younger days and Smokey Robinson. Prince takes me to church on that one... Anyhow, I like these albums because they are weird in a good way. Does that make sense? Thanks for doing such a great job, and I'll be looking forward to the complete review! n

Mad, I like all the tracks you guys hate: BoyTrouble, FunknRoll and consider The Breakdown to be the most by numbers thing prince has released in ages. I also greatly prefer the 3rd Eye Girl version of Wow...

[Edited 10/6/14 8:05am]

Excellent work gents - love my "Peach & Black". I think you speak for most on the Org re: the new albums - both very welcome additions to his canon and (where I totally agree with Captain) a progression in his sound - not a rehash like the cheap and very poor "20Ten".

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I've listened to AOA a few times now and grown to like it more than what I thought. I'm not a fan of new modern RnB at all, of which this album is predominantly. With a lot of the tracks I rolled my eyes skywards, sighing, but by the end I came round to it a lot more than what I thought I would and WANTED to hear it again. Why? Because, it all seemed to fit together (like many have said it's a concept album which is to be applauded IMO - glad that he waited it out to get the songs for this album) and Prince has shaped his style of RnB here to this 'concept' which makes you want to revisit the songs. The songs fit the imagery of the album cover and back perfectly - all futuristically, spacey cobalt and skyblues, white gleaming ceramics. The back cover showing Prince looking out, contemplating, searching, reflecting which is shown in the music. Also quite happy that he doesn't directly reference religious texts or namechecks God or Jehova.

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I also wholeheartedly agree how different you the songs seem in the context of an album as opposed to sporadic internet leaks. Mad.

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Can't understand your hate for AOA FunkNRoll - the sound is SO tight!! Love the shortened guitar stabs making it feel so taut, it's gonna burst. Then he takes it into territory that you would hear at a Prodigy gig (I haven't got a problem with that!) and then solo's it out nicely. Excellent. It's like he's taken the orginal Funknroll and put it through the AOA space-age-blender.

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On PE - good, solid stuff and I don't think Hannah's singing is bad at all.

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Looking forward to listening again to these albums (cor, when was the last time you thought that with Prince) and of course for the proper review chaps.

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Cheers!

[Edited 10/15/14 9:28am]

.... so when do we get the official P&B review?

MattyJam said: