One Nite Alone – Have A Heart

We need more of Prince at the piano! He is an underrated pianist. I spin this baby often. I love Have A Heart but the songs must be ranked!

Xpectation

Why bother they all sound the same you either like them all or hate them all. I like them all and when I listen to it I'm not really paying attention to the song titles. This is a solid ambient, mood music offering.

NEWS

See Xpectation

The Chocolate Invasion – Judas Smile

The middle section of this song loses me every time. NEXT!

The Slaughterhouse – The Daisy Chain

This album is a funk smorgasbord. The flow of this album always puts me in a good mood. Prince was kind enough to put the worst track at the end so we can stop the album after Radical Man .

Musicology – Reflection

After One Nite Alone I felt Prince had lost his groove and was just phoning it in, then came Musicology. Prince returns to his Creative Genius form taking us on an Old School/New School musical journey. Every song works except for Reflection

3121 – Get On the Boat

I was so excited that Prince and Sheila E were working together again and then I heard this bland, no feeling having song and was disappointed. This is one of Prince's flattest musical performances. At least Jughead had energy.

Planet Earth – Chelsea Rodgers

He played it safe on this one which is a shame. He had just released his best album since The Rainbow Children, nailed the Super Bowl halftime show and then he puts out an album that overall is okay, smh...Chelsea Rodgers is a funky song but Prince has a lot of those, nothing in this song sticks out to me or is remotely memorable.

Lotusflow3r - $

This is a great R&B throwback album. I wish there was more promotion for this and MPLS because the songs are catchy and times and Prince's cover of Crimson & Clover is flawless one of his best covers to date. $ should have remained in the Vault.

MPLS – Valentina

This is tough too I love this album so much and need to listen to it more. I don't hate Valentina but it's just an alright song. I like the lyrics though! I like that as he matured his lyrics have too he's not like R. Kelly (in his late 40's singing about threesomes in the club, creepy).

20Ten – Sea of Everything

I definitely need to listen to this one more often. I've probably only heard it a handful of times.

Plectrumelectrum – Pretzelbodylogic

I don't know what a pretzelbodylogic is. I don't know what the lyrics are about. I don't know why Prince recorded this song let alone choose to release it. I can't defend this song at all.

Art Official Age – The Gold Standard

This is one of Prince's 10 best albums easily. Not one clunker on this jank. The Gold Standard sounds like typical 80's Prince (Old Skool Company comes to mind) while the rest of the album is forward thinking i.e. the drop in Funk N' Roll and the beats in U Know.

[Edited 5/1/15 10:51am]

One NIte Alone - Avalanche

Xpectation - not enough plays to respond

NEWS - West

Chocolate Invasion - (see Xpectation)

The Slaughterhouse - Hypnoparadise

Musicology - Cinnamon Girl

3121 - Te Amo Corazon

Planet Earth - Lion Of Judah

LotusFlower - $

MPLS - Chocolate Box

20Ten - Compassion, or Sea Of Everything

Plectrum Electrum - Boy Trouble

AOA - The Gold Standard (only bad song on the lp)

ONA - Most of it, highly forgettable - snore!!

Slaughterhouse/Cnote/Chocolate In etc- haven't heard enough to rate, most of what I ahve heard is crap, that already sounds dated.

NEWS - All except East, has some good parts, but instrumental music bores me, save it for the lifts.

now real albums finally

.

Musicology - Life of the Party - Whole album seems very overrated now, too boring, too safe

3121 - Hard as its a great album, Incense and Candles, not as good as the rest and too soppy

Planet Earth - Resolution - Boring and very trite

Indigo nights - All of it, a very mediocre live album

Lotusflow3r - The Morning after , next please, for the poorbies who don't have it - Back to the lotus and from the lotus, again instrumental filler, start the album with a song not guitar based drivel.

MPLsOUND - I like this album, but one too many ballads, in this case Better with time is the worst

20Ten -That's easy - Everybody loves me, the rest is great, this is Prince dating himself.

PLEC ELEC - Boytrouble, why is this squeaky Justine Bieber type nonsense even here.

AOA - Again hard tofault, but definitely the affirmations, and these are quite funny.

.

What is with all the hate for the Gold Standard - It is probably the best song on the album, I mean 4 real y'all - NEW POWER SLIDE!!!

[Edited 5/1/15 16:54pm]

By the time we get to these albums, they came out after the total time I spent listening to music dropped considerably--so none of these albums (even the ones I most like) have received the sort of dedicated listening of the earlier. So these ratings will sometimes be almost shots in the dark, at shadows I can barely make out (to belabor the metaphor). Here goes:

One Nite Alone - Young and Beautiful

Xpectation - as with Kamasutra, I've never listened with much attention to individual titles, and I'm not going back to listen to it right now in order to pick a "dud." I like it, in general.

N.E.W.S. - similar problem with naming tracks. And, honestly, when I do listen to it, it doesn't feel like 4 tracks, and I'd probably find my least favorite sections wouldn't necessarily appear within just one of the titled 14:00 segments. The last 40 seconds of South don't do much for me, especially since I have to turn it up to hear it.

Musicology - What Do U Want Me 2 Do? Life o' the Party's pretty bland, but WDUWM2D is musically dull, and frankly, Prince, all you have to do is turn the girl down... the beheading thing is completely ridiculous. Even if I bought that he's suddenly all sexually pure in his own life--the self-righteousness here is nauseating.

The Chocolate Invasion - Gamillah. This might be unfair, but I remember the other tracks, while not always all that interesting, being better than this sort of noodling (judgmental, and as I already said, probably unfair). It just doesn't do much for me--other tracks along these lines do more.

The Slaughterhouse - Northside... though Props n Pounds comes close. Kurt Loder's actually one of the better parts of that track.

C-Note - Tokyo. Nothing besides Empty Room really stands out in my memory--Tokyo loses out because they sing the title in an annoying way, which at least means I remember it with some specificity. I actual enjoy the tracks when I listen to them (to some extent); they just don't stick with me.

3121 - Lolita. It just tries too hard with too little effect--and in some ways it reminds me of Young and Beautiful and What Do U Want Me 2 Do lyrically, and they're not good ways.

Planet Earth - Chelsea Rodgers. Just the title makes me feel about the same as the titles "Everyday is a Winding Road" and "The Everlasting Now" make me feel. I'm not sure why, but (without listening to any of them to really compare) I just kind of feel that they're pretty much the same uninteresting thing, just done three different times.

Indigo Nights - no specific track... I actually really enjoy the groove from Song of the Heart through the monolog bit, and Beggin Woman Blues is fun. I can barely listen to the non-Prince led tracks, though, and wish he'd gone with something else for those.

Lotusflow3r - Love Like Jazz. Maybe. I don't seem to have that album on this computer, and I wasn't thrilled by most of the album, so I'm not sure. There wasn't an obvious "least" track.

MPLSound - Ol' Skool Company. Minor-league groove, major-league grumpy old man. I like MPLSound way better than Lotusflow3r (if I were to construct a best of from the 3 cds, it very well might mostly be Elixer tracks. As songs and productions (in spite of Bria's weaknesses), there's some nice tracks on there).

20ten - Compassion. I really like Sea of Everything.

Plectrumelectrum - Boytrouble. It just doesn't fit. Even if I liked it, it just doesn't fit.

Art Official Age - U Know. I'm no big fan of The Gold Standard (sorry Adorecream), but at least it's mediocre Prince. U Know is just mediocre non-Prince, with a stupid probably-all-Prince's-fault patter over the top of it. I've got nothing against creative sampling, or even just taking an entire track if you've got something interesting to put on top of it... but Prince didn't have anything here. At least not to my ears. As to the Affirmations... they're really just parts of Way Back Home (or a reprise thereof), and there's nothing to complain about there.

Hmm... I seem to be more opinionated about things I know less well. Interesting.

ONA - never listen to it, so can't give an answer

Slaughterhouse/Chocolate Invasion - listen to these rarely to never.. same as above

C-Note - Nagoya

NEWS - so gooooood! I listen to South the least though

Xpectation - I agree... You love em all or you don't at all. I've been listening to this, as well as NEWS, a lot recently

Musicology - Cinnamon Girl

3121 - Te Amo Corazón

Planet Earth - Resolution

LOtUSFLOW3R - Wall of Berlin

MPLSoUND - Better With Time

20Ten - Compassion

PLECTRUMELECTRUM - STOPTHISTRAIN

ART OFFICIAL AGE - Despite liking them, I have to say the affirmations, even though they make the album more unified

[Edited 5/1/15 19:59pm]

ONA - the whole album. hate it!!

Slaughterhouse/Cnote/Chocolate In etc- cnote album - aweful as an entirity!!

NEWS - again I hate the whole album equally

Musicology - musicology

3121 - the dance

Planet Earth - somewhere here on earth

Indigo nights - aweful album, all of it is terrible

Lotusflow3r - feel better feel good

MPLsOUND -better than time

20Ten - everybody loves me

PLEC ELEC - every song the girls sing is embarrassingly bad!!

AOA - time

.

One NIte Alone - Pearls B4 the swine and Young & beautiful are less good than the rest of the album, I still like them though

Xpectation - I don't really listen separate tracks, I enjoy this album but maybe the last track is a bit too long and not so exciting, Xenophobia is a better song

NEWS - I like this album, south is the least exciting for me

Chocolate Invasion - The Dance (3121 version is way better)

The Slaughterhouse - Props & pounds (hypnoparadise is a guilty pleasure)

Musicology - on the coach

3121 - Satisfied (a complete rewrite of on the couch :s, it's better than on the couch though)

Planet Earth - Mr. Goodnight, all the mindight in the world

LotusFlower - 77 Beverley park, this should have been a hard rocking instrumental

MPLS - U're gonna c me (original was better),

better with time (too many ballads and this one isn't so good)

20Ten - Act of god (sounds flat and bad lyrics), sea of everything (by the numbers),

everybody loves me (everything about it)

Plectrum Electrum - Boy Trouble, most songs are just okay, except for wow and another love these are the only songs that exceed the average

AOA - Funk n roll remix ( the end is great, the beginning is too wannabe contemporary/ EDM) hey hey hey hey!

[Edited 5/2/15 1:02am]

ONA - Here on Earth

Xpectation - Don't really like any of it

Slaughterhouse - Props N' Pounds. Surely one of the worst things he's ever released.

Chocolate Invasion - The Dance. So shit he released it twice.

CNOTE - all a bit meh

NEWS - Apart from East, the rest don't really do much for me

Musicology - Life O The Party

3121 - The dance. Again.

Planet Earth - Mr Goodnight. Just for that god-awful rap.

Indigo nights - anything with too much Shelby

Lotusflow3r - 77 Beverely Park.

MPLsOUND - Better With Time

20Ten - Tie between the hideous Everybody Loves Me and the tedious Sea of Everything

PLEC ELEC - Boy Trouble

AOA - What It Feels Like