The 3rd Eye Girl era was over before Plectrum was released. Prince wanted to release Plectrum since 2012...

3rd Eye Girl were touring with Prince for over 2 years already playing songs from the Plec album and the AOA album such as The Breakdown before the album was even announced.

Breakfast Can Wait was released over a year ago as a single...

Plectrum is not a good album. Another Love is fantstic, but the rest is just bland and not up to Prince's standards. Plectrum is his 2nd lowest selling album of all time, regardless what year we are in and if the industry is in a bad slump or not.

AOA is an average album. It's not strong, it's not good, it's not bad, but as an album it flows together nicely. However something is seriously missing off that album to make it something worth the 4 years wait.

It seems like Prince wanted to get these projects out at least 2 years ago and he has already moved on. Remember during the Yahoo Live stream it looks like he already had 2 more albums almost finished, and was sharing songs from those albums and really didn't care anymore about AOA and PE.

The SNL performance imo was the nail in the coffin for these two albums, great performance but that was the end we will be hearing from those 2 albums.

RODSERLING said:

I agree that AOA is the strongest of the two albums and still consider it one of Prince's best albums since the 80s. While it's true Prince has focused on PE, AOA has still sold considerably more and has been better received.

I think AOA killed AOA. It's a great record to Prince fans, but it's not really that appealing outside of us. To most people, it sounds like normal everyday overproduced R&B. Some really good songs, sure, but it doesn't offer anything new.

That being said, I think squishing PE and AOA into one R&B/rock album (a la 3121) or not releasing PE at all would have been better. He promoted most of the double-release with crappy, flaccid garage rock, rather than the more enjoyable pop-oriented stuff. PE sounds like Prince holding back for an hour.

once again ...with his masters in tow...he can do ANYTHING he wants

Shockedelicus said:

I think AOA killed AOA. It's a great record to Prince fans, but it's not really that appealing outside of us. To most people, it sounds like normal everyday overproduced R&B. Some really good songs, sure, but it doesn't offer anything new.

That being said, I think squishing PE and AOA into one R&B/rock album (a la 3121) or not releasing PE at all would have been better. He promoted most of the double-release with crappy, flaccid garage rock, rather than the more enjoyable pop-oriented stuff. PE sounds like Prince holding back for an hour.

Exactly, it's just more of the same only crappier. Most of AOA sounds very outdated too. You could easily fool people by saying this album has been in the vault for 20 years and he finally decided to release it.

One thing that has bothered me for the past decade or so is that I can't relate to this guy anymore. I hate when he's bragging, his religious beliefs are strange, his commentary on modern society silly and make him sound like this old guy who can't deal with change, his mushy songs make me want to throw up. Most of his songs are empty, fake...basically he still wants to fuck that hot chick, party and dance (preferably to his own lame ass funky music). Hell the only time he's convincing is when he's singing about wanting to bone some girl half his age. That's sad.

It's funny he claims he doesn't look back, yet he doesn't seem to be moving forward either. Dude is stuck in the past but he doesn't even realize.

Great question.

I think Art Official Age is mostly from 2011 when Andy Allo was part of the Paisley family. So I think to Prince it's probably not as fresh to him compared to where he is now with 3rdEyeGirl.

But to us outsider observers, I think most are in agreement that Art Official Age is the stronger and more cohesive album. So yeah, as much as I like 3rdEyeGirl and Rectuminspection Plectrumelectrum, it would have been nice to see him focus more on promoting Art Official Age.

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[Edited 11/28/14 14:11pm]

Personally I think both of these albums are old, at least 2-3 years old he just couldn't find a proper deal to distribute them, hence the "recording rehab" statement he made on The Lopez tonight show early 2012.

Plectrum has been floating around since early 2012, same as AOA along songs we heard years ago like Breakfast Can Wait, The Breakdown, etc...

feeluupp said:

Personally I think both of these albums are old, at least 2-3 years old he just couldn't find a proper deal to distribute them, hence the "recording rehab" statement he made on The Lopez tonight show early 2012.

Plectrum has been floating around since early 2012, same as AOA along songs we heard years ago like Breakfast Can Wait, The Breakdown, etc...

Probably. I wonder if 3rdeyegirl recorded an album now, whether there would be a drastic change in quality.

feeluupp said:

snakesineverycolor said:

Not to answer a question with a question, but here's a question: what did he leave on the table with these albums? They were sufficiently promoted that the people most likely to buy both albums knew about them, so what was left was really convincing the uninitiated that there was something on these records for them. After the initial splash of a record, convincing potential buyers to jump on is down to one of two mechanisms - manufacture a hit, or get down to the retail business of getting the music in front of people (which, if it works, can lead to the former). That sort of hard sell is something I can't see Prince ever doing again - he makes too much money as a live performer, and has shown again and again that, while he is clearly interested in making money, he isn't actually greedy in the way that would make him willing to do the work necessary to make ALL the money he can on everything - hence the lack of licensing his songs, the lack of presence on YouTube, etc. He wants to be rich, but it is just as important to him that he is made rich doing it his way. So for AOA and PE, I expect he did what he wanted to do. He made the records he wanted to make, and got the word out. As long as he got his advance from WB, I expect he did just fine. Focus on 3EG and PE didn't/ won't kill AOA, because even if you take those elements out of the equation, AOA is not the sort of album that was going to easily draw in the non-Prince adherent, and he certainly wouldn't have spent a whole bunch of extra time changing that circumstance regardless of the other things on his plate, because the back-end payoff was never going to be worth working any harder at it. AOA is a boutique record by a boutique artist, and he was never going to go door to door to change its fate.

Exactly. That's why I don't like the record, even though I can appreciate that there are a lot of strong aspects to it. I think he needed to comeback with strong pop songs, not a grouchy meditation cd.

feeluupp said:

I don't think it's a good idea to release two new,separate albums on the same day.It's hard enough for an artist to promote and sell one album in these times,much less two.PE should have been released last year...maybe as a 'special release' on Prince's official website or FB page.That would have freed Prince to focus only on AOA this year and give it his full attention.Releasing the two albums at the same time meant that both albums wouldn't reach their full potential (saleswise).This is the kinda stuff that Warners tried to warn Prince back in the day but of course,he never listens.

luvsexy4all said:

once again ...with his masters in tow...he can do ANYTHING he wants

But he won't do anything unless something makes him, i.e. Warner.

warning2all said:

2014 has shown The market has dried up and there isn't public demand for any new material, much less protégée releases. He's a live nostalgia act now. Sales tell the tale. Time for the remasters

It's sad but true... It's not just sales, but the whole shift of the music industry and Prince is just miles and miles behind it now. Before he used to set the trends and innovate the music industry, now he is out of touch and out dated dare to say.

His last commercial hit was in 2004 with Musicology with total sales of 3m world wide. Since then... He's had a modest hit with 3121, Planet Earth, LotusFlow3r and 20Ten did nothing for his career.

All this time past, you still can't find anything on YouTube, streaming/ iTunes is now the predominant method of music...

Ten years later since Musicology, there is no way for the next generation to know who he is especially from his YouTube abscence... I'm scared to say but in a couple more years will Prince's albums even gain any commercial value especially since streaming counts as sales now...

It definitely overshadowed the masterful accomplishment that Art Official Age really is.

Maybe he remembered his past statements about "real music by real musicians" and realized how ridiculous it looks for someone who has made those type of statements to release a sellout album like "Fart Official Age" that sounds like he's copying everyone else that he's been talking against. Hell, let that disgrace of an album die down and hopefully he'll get back on the right track with the next album. Maybe he can get little Bruno Mars to teach him how to throwdown again.

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[Edited 11/29/14 8:10am]

The org is so full of people who think they have all the answers

Did PE kill AOA not at all...if it were just AOA he released it would have had the same results

New sounds, setting trends WTF? No man or woman who is 50+ is going to be doing either of these things and to think otherwise is just ignorance

And finally copying everyone else...hardly. AOA is Prince being...Prince. His sound, his style and his vision. AOA is a huge success as a result. Anyone else who thinks it aint worthy doesnt have a clue about Prince and his music.

Always has been always will be...

What everyone seems to be missing is that for him it's about having a list of firsts. Period. Regardless of commercial success his idea of success is being the first artist to do....That is why he doesn't care about chart positions and sales. He would rather be the first artist to sell more tickets for his Essence show-more then Beyonce. He is arrogant and wants to keep putting feathers in his cap. He was the first artist to have a number one movie, soundtrack, and single at the same time. That's what he get's off on. Sure if the music sold more that would be gravy, but it is not his goal. That is why he does these stunts such as perform three different show with three different bands in one night. You all will drive yourselves crazy trying to figure out why he sucks at promoting his work. It's not his job. His job is to be able to have a list of firsts rattled off when he receives some sort of lifetime achievement award. He doesn't care that the Cd's have fallen down or off the charts. He wants to brag that he had a number one rock and r&b album at the same time. 3121 was just as successful even if it was only number one for one week. He can still say that he has x amount of number one cds. He's not that difficult to figure out and neither are his actions. They are all calculated.

I think if the 3EG material was stronger then AOA would have been a bigger success as would PE. So I guess, in a sense, yes.

no...the music being weak killed both albums....sad but true...

Se7en said:

To answer the question directly though: I don't think focus was really placed on either project after they were released.

Thats true, although more songs from PlectrumElectrum have been played live, and more frequently than anything on AOA. That said AOA doesn't strike me as an album that would translate well live.