KingSausage said:

I haven't gave that album a spin in 2 months


But i would say it was 50/50.
If im lazy, i play it straight through
If i make a playlist Clouds was the opener

You guys are crazy, while I respect your opinions & listening ears I whole heartedly disagree with both of your suggestions.

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For whatever reason I love AOC & loathe Fallinlove2night. I like AOA just the way it is, only chage I've made is moved FNR after TGS.

AOC is cringe-o-rama. Track #1 Clouds it is.

I agree with Matty, I love AOC because it's total purple madness and nobody else would make anything that crazy.

However - I've noticed when playing the album to people, that a lot of them don't like that song. I think they just don't get it, it goes over their head a little bit.

NouveauDance said:

AOC is the best lead track for a Prince album in a long time imo, I love the overall feel of this song, especially when the synths first hit. The dutch speech in the beginning? Love it.

Oh hell no. 'Art Official Cage' is my favourite track, and the perfect opener. That ish is hype, yo.

MattyJam said:

I think AOC is his best opening track in years. It's so wonderfully pompous, quirky and OTT... The kind of song only Prince would have the balls to make. Clouds doesn't have enough bite to be an opening track. I've replaced BCW with Ain't Gonna Miss U When Ur Gone. Second half of the album is way to mid-tempo for my liking. [Edited 1/30/15 5:16am]

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That's a great idea! I skip 'Breakfast Can Wait' every time.

Militant said:

I like AOC, in fact I like the whole album... a lot... it keeps getting better and better.

The weakest song however is to me "The Breakdown".

Militant said:

I agree with Matty, I love AOC because it's total purple madness and nobody else would make anything that crazy.

^Yeah, that kind of sums up my feelings on it as well. I never skip the opening track. The only track I sometimes skip is BCW, and not because I dont like it, but because I listened to it too much when it first came out.

The parts I DON'T enjoy on AOA are the opening track and the two Affirmation fillers. I get it - it's a conceptual album. I can dispense with the British narration.

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That being said, while I enjoy Clouds a lot, I also don't like its intro. Heard it before as the intro to Undisputed - same radio-dial intro. New ideas, please.

What I'm saying is that it makes sense within the context of the narrative, that Art Official Age is a concept album. When people understand that, they get it. Otherwise, they don't understand what's happening. It's like an intro. It's not supposed to be a song with a traditional structure. Hence all the weird sound effect and shit.

It's a weak opener for an otherwise strong album. I also feel the song should have been titled "Art Official Stage" because the lyrics on Clouds would have dovetailed in better..."when life's a STAGE in this brand new AGE..." But who am I >?

Militant said:

Here's what you do: from now on, you consider Art Official Cage a long Affirmation.

It's Prince musically zooming through a couple of poppy styles, each of them playfully delivered tongue in cheek, winking at the world and its expectations toward "pop stars", before getting to the crux of the matter : the actual album.,

So I don't blame you for starting with Clouds, but I find the song even better if I first listen to the "Humorous First Affirmation".

[Edited 1/30/15 11:07am]

Nah it's perfect just the way it is

maybe in 8 years i'll think of AOC the same way i think of My Name is Prince... horrible, what was he thinking, only prince would release this mess...

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i think My Name is Prince works because it's so dated, it becomes a bizarre time capsule to extreme 90s cheese and excess. In my opinion the only hope for AOC is that it some day fills a similar role.

[Edited 1/30/15 12:13pm]

Aerogram said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Aerogram said:

Here's what you do: from now on, you consider Art Official Cage a long Affirmation.

It's Prince musically zooming through a couple of poppy styles, each of them playfully delivered tongue in cheek, winking at the world and its expectations toward "pop stars", before getting to the crux of the matter : the actual album.,

So I don't blame you for starting with Clouds, but I find the song even better if I first listen to the "Humorous First Affirmation".

[Edited 1/30/15 11:07am]

Bob George is humorous. Scarlet Pussy is humurous. I never skip those. They are fun and original. A lot of making excuses for this album. I get it. I WANT to love each and every new Prince album, I am biased for Prince myself. But we also have to honest. A lot of folks are lowering the bar too low because we love Prince. It's just too amateurish an album to be comeing from someone like Prince. [Edited 1/30/15 12:42pm]

Speak foryourself. AOC aside, I geniunely love the album -- and that's the not the case with most of his work in the last 20 years.

You're not open about it like some other folks here, but your constant hectoring gives me the sense that your biggest problem with AOA is actually that Prince leaned on Josh for help with this album, and that you're looking for reasons to dislike it because of that.

TwiliteKid said:

KingSausage said:

Does anyone else start AOA with Clouds instead of the actual opening track? I think the album works much better that way. The corny intro is gone. And Clouds has its own intro. Who needs AOC?

I do the same. AOC is the album's weak link. In an ideal world, FallInLove2Night would replace Breakfast Can Wait as well.

That's exactly what I did. Love Fallinlove2nite, hate BCW.

I do also love AOC though.

V10LETBLUES said:

^ @twinklekid Not at all. Just a Prince and music lover in general being honest. People who criticize me for posting about this album post at least twice as much about it than me. It's fine, it's musu discussion. There is no right or wrong. I listen to what people say and try to get where they are coming from. It's all good. [Edited 1/30/15 13:02pm]

TwinkleKid?

TwiliteKid said:

V10LETBLUES said:

^ @twinklekid Not at all. Just a Prince and music lover in general being honest. People who criticize me for posting about this album post at least twice as much about it than me. It's fine, it's musu discussion. There is no right or wrong. I listen to what people say and try to get where they are coming from. It's all good. [Edited 1/30/15 13:02pm]

TwinkleKid?

sorry

just a typo, no malice intended,