Funny how that album was so maligned when it came out. I always thought it was some of the deepest funk that Prince ever made. It wasnt an album of singles for mass radio consumption - you had to appreciate deep funk and Prince to get it. Listen to Funknroll and remove the techno club noises to appeal to the kids and it is right there with Push It Up, Madsex, or Freaks On This Side.

I think NPS is under-rated in general. It's labelled as an NPG album to indicate that it's funk and jam focused. As a whoe, I find it highly enjoyable.

I was listening to the truth podcast the other day and they were saying the the entire NPS album were rough demos. Hans Martin Buff was horrified that Prince used those cuts. Confirmed by what he says on his website. To me FunknRoll has a 'live' sound to it that NPS lacks. On the whole though I reckon NPS is a decent album. The good songs are REALLY good.

Noodled24 said:

I was listening to the truth podcast the other day and they were saying the the entire NPS album were rough demos. Hans Martin Buff was horrified that Prince used those cuts. Confirmed by what he says on his website. To me FunknRoll has a 'live' sound to it that NPS lacks. On the whole though I reckon NPS is a decent album. The good songs are REALLY good.

NO way that AOA version has a live feel to me but to each his own. And Freaks ON This Side was obviously made on the influence of the call and response during a concert so I see a live vibe there.

^ You never specified that you were talking about the remix.

The remix would sound massively out of place on NPS. The PE version has the horns which would be in keeping with NPS.

"Freaks on this side", "Push it up" both use chants or a kind of call and response. But I've never heard NPS described as having a "live" sound to it. In the same way most of the D&P - TGE tracks do.

[Edited 1/21/15 12:43pm]

Definitely the most out of place track on Art Official Age imo. My least favorite song in years from him. It's actually hard to listen to, and I don't say that about many Prince tunes.

[Edited 1/21/15 12:39pm]

No it doesn't. The filler on NPS almost ruins it for me. But a few solid tracks saved it. Can't say the same for AOA though. And FUNKNROLL is the worst piece of garbage I have ever heard. It's not Funk. It's not RocknRoll. It should be renamed TRASHNGARBAGE. Have a nice day everyone!!

JoshuaWho said:

Funny how that album was so maligned when it came out. I always thought it was some of the deepest funk that Prince ever made. It wasnt an album of singles for mass radio consumption - you had to appreciate deep funk and Prince to get it. Listen to Funknroll and remove the techno club noises to appeal to the kids and it is right there with Push It Up, Madsex, or Freaks On This Side.

GTFOHWTB! Prince fans be lying. "Deep funk"??? I agree FUNKNROLL sounds like NPS, but I think that's just a by product of trying to get a radio-friendly mix, which was a waste of time because the song is gar-bage.

OperatingThetan said:

I love 'FunkNRoll', and I also the NewPower Soul album. Ahhh... back in my D.C. days when NPS came out... and yes, I jammed to 'Freaks On This Side' and 'Push It Up'. I ain't lyin'.

Also, I hear a lot of musical parts on the Art Official Age album that sound either repurposed from a time in the past, or well recreated emulations. LISTEN to the first song, 'Art Official Cage'... I hear previous guitar sounds, keyboard sounds, etc... some from the Lovesexy/Batman era. The full out return of "Bob George" is another example. There's another song that smacks of sounds on 'Sign O' The Times'.

The only songs on NPS that are worthy of AOA's material are Come On (of which This is What It Feels Like is reminescent), The One (maybe) and Track 49 - Wasted Kisses.

FunkNRoll is superb on both albums, but especially on AOA.

This is Prince once again smashing two things together : Funk and RnRoll, but also Analog and Digital (Art Official). He does it differently on two albums.

On PLEL, the song is this musical amalgam of two classic genres played classically (both funk and rock). The Analogue Age you might say.

On Art Official Age, the song is about the Ages and is this digital amalgam of two eras, one "new" (hiphy, the first part) and one "old" (that second part, which for me sounds like he crossed the vibes of Let's Pretend We're Married and Let's Go Crazy).

[Edited 1/22/15 15:50pm]

Giovanni777 said:

Also, I hear a lot of musical parts on the Art Official Age album that sound either repurposed from a time in the past, or well recreated emulations. LISTEN to the first song, 'Art Official Cage'... I hear previous guitar sounds, keyboard sounds, etc... some from the Lovesexy/Batman era. The full out return of "Bob George" is another example. There's another song that smacks of sounds on 'Sign O' The Times'.

I agree with all of that. I've been sayng it since the album dropped. AOA is literally a FAKE Prince album. To me it's a telltale sign of the actions of Josh Whelton, much more so than Prince himself. Prince has just never done something like that. He doesn't meticulously cull his back catalog for sounds and then sets up his current gear so he can sound the same. Uh-Un, that's boring for Prince and would kill his vibe to the point he wouldn't bother recording at all.

That's Josh assuming he can basicaly replace Prince and no one will notice. He's also singing on a LOT of the vocals on that record. AOA is Prince kind of toying with the idea of being a corporate product like those posthumous MJ albums. I think the death of MJ and the inexplicable fuckery of MJ's estate are inspiration for the music. Never again can someone say Prince doesn't consider MJ his peer. AOA is Prince kind of placing himself in his deceased friends shoes and exploring what his music might sound like if he were deceased. I honestly think Prince is making an artistic statement, perhaps even a protest on behalf of MJ, by allowing himself to be marginalized and falsely replicated, by Josh, on his new album.

I don't listen to AOA. I don't feel it was the appropriate set of songs to drop at this time in Prince's career. At the same time I love the fact that Prince's true genious is in full effect in creating that album. Prince's artistry, soul and humor are all over that artificial album.

warning2all said:

Newpower Soul is really cool in its own mediocre way. From the awful/good artwork and mostly black packaging The last minute of the title track "Come on"- all the remixes and performance on Leno The call and response songs Love this album. Love that its so looked down on too. " Funknroll" is horrible, ruins the flow of AOA, the last minute is good with the synths. Too bad the rest of the song wasn't in this vein

I can say I like that it is so hated as well. I see it as one of those Prince albums that is not for the Prince fan who has a limited musical pallette and understanding - like NEWS, THe Truth, and Xpectation.

JoshuaWho said:

I always thought it was some of the deepest funk that Prince ever made.

Hmmmm.

I agree though, that was one of the first things that struck me about the track iirc - it has that Push It Up, Freaks On This Side sound about it. For better or worse.

funksterr said:

Giovanni777 said:

Also, I hear a lot of musical parts on the Art Official Age album that sound either repurposed from a time in the past, or well recreated emulations. LISTEN to the first song, 'Art Official Cage'... I hear previous guitar sounds, keyboard sounds, etc... some from the Lovesexy/Batman era. The full out return of "Bob George" is another example. There's another song that smacks of sounds on 'Sign O' The Times'.

I agree with all of that. I've been sayng it since the album dropped. AOA is literally a FAKE Prince album. To me it's a telltale sign of the actions of Josh Whelton, much more so than Prince himself. Prince has just never done something like that. He doesn't meticulously cull his back catalog for sounds and then sets up his current gear so he can sound the same. Uh-Un, that's boring for Prince and would kill his vibe to the point he wouldn't bother recording at all.

That's Josh assuming he can basicaly replace Prince and no one will notice. He's also singing on a LOT of the vocals on that record. AOA is Prince kind of toying with the idea of being a corporate product like those posthumous MJ albums. I think the death of MJ and the inexplicable fuckery of MJ's estate are inspiration for the music. Never again can someone say Prince doesn't consider MJ his peer. AOA is Prince kind of placing himself in his deceased friends shoes and exploring what his music might sound like if he were deceased. I honestly think Prince is making an artistic statement, perhaps even a protest on behalf of MJ, by allowing himself to be marginalized and falsely replicated, by Josh, on his new album.

I don't listen to AOA. I don't feel it was the appropriate set of songs to drop at this time in Prince's career. At the same time I love the fact that Prince's true genious is in full effect in creating that album. Prince's artistry, soul and humor are all over that artificial album.

I am not a huge fan of the AOA album, but you're most likely way off with your assumptions on what Joshua Welton's done on the album.

The most likely scenario is this: What sounds like the sounds used on the current mainstream stuff is Joshua Welton. What sounds like more typical Prince on the album is Prince.

Many of the tracks were most likely done before the two even started collaborating.

Yes, I am finding FNR is messing up the flow of the second half of the album.

I can see the connection between NPS and the AOA version of "Funknroll". The sharp drums, the deep bass, the scattered electronic elements, the unnatural sense of space that results from having elements that have more of a live feel juxtaposed with the sequenced stuff...

... okay, "juxtaposed" is too fancy a word. It's just a weird way of mixing different type of things that at least to my ears doesn't work. Things just stick out from the mixes in a way that isn't flattering and the end result doesn't groove much.

I like the PE version of "Funknroll" a lot. I wish the songs on NPS would have been given similar production. Can you imagine how much better the album would be just with live drums?

OperatingThetan said:

I think NPS is under-rated in general. It's labelled as an NPG album to indicate that it's funk and jam focused. As a whoe, I find it highly enjoyable.

Agreed. NPS is very underrated.

besides Come on and the remix ...NPS funk is too cartoonish

luvsexy4all said:

besides Come on and the remix ...NPS funk is too cartoonish

Isn't "Come On" the most cartoonish track there though?

novabrkr said:

funksterr said:

I agree with all of that. I've been sayng it since the album dropped. AOA is literally a FAKE Prince album. To me it's a telltale sign of the actions of Josh Whelton, much more so than Prince himself. Prince has just never done something like that. He doesn't meticulously cull his back catalog for sounds and then sets up his current gear so he can sound the same. Uh-Un, that's boring for Prince and would kill his vibe to the point he wouldn't bother recording at all.

That's Josh assuming he can basicaly replace Prince and no one will notice. He's also singing on a LOT of the vocals on that record. AOA is Prince kind of toying with the idea of being a corporate product like those posthumous MJ albums. I think the death of MJ and the inexplicable fuckery of MJ's estate are inspiration for the music. Never again can someone say Prince doesn't consider MJ his peer. AOA is Prince kind of placing himself in his deceased friends shoes and exploring what his music might sound like if he were deceased. I honestly think Prince is making an artistic statement, perhaps even a protest on behalf of MJ, by allowing himself to be marginalized and falsely replicated, by Josh, on his new album.

I don't listen to AOA. I don't feel it was the appropriate set of songs to drop at this time in Prince's career. At the same time I love the fact that Prince's true genious is in full effect in creating that album. Prince's artistry, soul and humor are all over that artificial album.

I am not a huge fan of the AOA album, but you're most likely way off with your assumptions on what Joshua Welton's done on the album.

The most likely scenario is this: What sounds like the sounds used on the current mainstream stuff is Joshua Welton. What sounds like more typical Prince on the album is Prince.

Many of the tracks were most likely done before the two even started collaborating.

I can't say for sure, because I don't know if official credits even existed for a lot of the internet only downloads. I think though, Josh has been producing Prince sound-alike tracks and re-mixes for a few years. Certainly since that embarassing mess "Extraloveable" came out. Josh is almost certainly behind the reloaded songs idea, as well.

I know it's a shocking thought, that what you think is Prince in some cases, is Josh. But I think that's the point of the record. It's Prince saying, "You guys THINK you know my music, but do you, really?". I think it was sparked by what remains an open question with MJ: Is Michael Jackson even singing on new Michael Jackson records? I think for Prince it's a trippy thought that such a thing can even happen and he's exploring that idea on AOA. 'Everything is artificial these days.' It's Prince trolling his own fanbase using a similar trick from his past: opening a show with Cat/Mayte/Geneva dressed like Prince, and the audience roars, only for Prince to come out shortly after. Only on AOA, Josh has either sampled vault tracks to flesh out the new, or perfectly recreated parts of the classic sounds. I wish the songwriting was better, but I love the whole 'this artificial world needs to chill the fuck out' motif.

He's fuckin' with us, in a good natured way.

Yeah, I could be wrong, but AOA seems so much more of a clever album, if I'm right, so for now I'm going with it. If Prince did add those elements himself, then that tells me he's studied his old outtakes and music, and perhaps has completed finalizing many of them for never release.

funksterr said:

novabrkr said:

I am not a huge fan of the AOA album, but you're most likely way off with your assumptions on what Joshua Welton's done on the album.

The most likely scenario is this: What sounds like the sounds used on the current mainstream stuff is Joshua Welton. What sounds like more typical Prince on the album is Prince.

Many of the tracks were most likely done before the two even started collaborating.

I can't say for sure, because I don't know if official credits even existed for a lot of the internet only downloads. I think though, Josh has been producing Prince sound-alike tracks and re-mixes for a few years. Certainly since that embarassing mess "Extraloveable" came out. Josh is almost certainly behind the reloaded songs idea, as well.

I know it's a shocking thought, that what you think is Prince in some cases, is Josh. But I think that's the point of the record. It's Prince saying, "You guys THINK you know my music, but do you, really?". I think it was sparked by what remains an open question with MJ: Is Michael Jackson even singing on new Michael Jackson records? I think for Prince it's a trippy thought that such a thing can even happen and he's exploring that idea on AOA. 'Everything is artificial these days.' It's Prince trolling his own fanbase using a similar trick from his past: opening a show with Cat/Mayte/Geneva dressed like Prince, and the audience roars, only for Prince to come out shortly after. Only on AOA, Josh has either sampled vault tracks to flesh out the new, or perfectly recreated parts of the classic sounds. I wish the songwriting was better, but I love the whole 'this artificial world needs to chill the fuck out' motif.

He's fuckin' with us, in a good natured way.

Yeah, I could be wrong, but AOA seems so much more of a clever album, if I'm right, so for now I'm going with it. If Prince did add those elements himself, then that tells me he's studied his old outtakes and music, and perhaps has completed finalizing many of them for never release.

Were you smoking when you wrote this?

No, this is a very unlikely scenario. There's no evidence whatsoever that Josh is able to approximate Prince's style as far as full-fledged productions go. There was that one clip on Youtube that had him on the piano doing something that resembled Prince's music, but his own music is very different stylistically. What he's contributed to AOA shouldn't be that hard to tell on most songs.

I think a good example of the two working together on a song would be "This Could Be Us", but at least half of the songs seem to have very little input by Josh. They must have been recorded before he even entered the picture (for example, the "lasers" on "Breakdown" might have been added by Josh to the basic tracks Prince recorded earlier, but there's no confirmation on that one).

btw, your view of the posthumous MJ releases is more than justified. I think it's ridiculous that some of those tracks on the "Michael" release got through.

I said the same thing when I heard it. Hell, you would think Prince would have learned from his mistakes by now but he's damn hard headed.