Check out this review in The NY Daily News: Prince goes retro on 'HITNRUN Phase One. Is this guy listening to the same album?

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/prince-retro-hitnrun-phase-album-review-article-1.2350998

XxAxX said:

GoldStandard said:

djThunderfunk said:

"HITNRUN Phase One"?

How about calling this "THE JOSHUA TREE" instead? :-p

It took a few listens and it is best appreciated with headphones but I love it.

There is some great guitar work in places, I wasn't expecting much of that.

The first four songs are such a headshag, So much funk and energy. Reminds me of Parade how quickly it moves through the early songs.

For me this is a great addition to the Purple One's discography.

KingSausage said:

XxAxX said:

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maybe KS is Bart.

[Edited 9/8/15 8:33am]

No. He knows way more about Prince than I do.

I think Bart is Prince lolololol

What, like, really?? Did Prince make this or does it have Prince samples, little insignificant snippets? The songs he put out already I like but not the new ones. June would be good if it was an actual song and not a sound that goes no where. His single worst album. This is Josh's album with special guest Prince.

What's with the kiddie rapping? The teens are not going to buy your shit man! They stopped listening to Nelly.

I'm 51 years old, I need real music. I enjoy new music when it is good. Like the Big Boi joint h did with Janelle. Do that you purple goof.

He is done.

The original 1000 Hugs is two thousand times better.

It is the sound of Prince emulating current pop artists who are way less talented than he is yet doing a lousy job at it. It would be the equivalent of a top chef going to work at McDonalds and making a lousy Big Mac. It actually sounds dated to me. Josh is definitely a follower, not an innovator. He would have a hard time getting his productions on the radio or the charts.

also, wtf is a curly fryz

but re: janelle, "givin em what they love" is amazing!

starkitty said:

Well it's about what I expected. Actually it exceeded my expectations somewhat.

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I'm enjoying the 1st 4 tracks + Hardrocklover the most. June is good too but I lose interest by the time it comes up.

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Million $ Show is not my thing but it's catchy as hell.

Shut This Down gets me moving. Love the bass at the end.

Ain't About to Stop is similar in that it gets better towards the end.

Like a Mack is another body mover but the rhythm guitar sounds like it's just a sample from Beginning Endlessly.

Hardrocklover I liked from the 1st time I heard it. Seems like the only song that doesn't fit to me though. BTW WTF is up with the way they edited it in there. Starts and ends abrubt cutting off the end. Terrible editing job!

June is nice but too short.

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This Could Be Us (remix), X's Face, Fallinlove2nite, Mr. Nelson all fit however it's just remixed-rehash. They should have been bonus tracks on AOA period. I liked the X's Face but it ran it's course with me months ago. But Mr. Nelson? Ugh!

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We get a new album with 10-13 tracks from an artist that has sooo many unreleased songs and we get 2-3 remixed tracks or tracks he released as singles years ago. Why Prince? Why? Especially when they were not that great the 1st time around. Last year we got 2 new albums with Funknroll on both? This is the same thing except less new material and more remixes.

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Seems like that Yahoo special last year was nothing more that a preview of HitNRun. He was definitley planting the seed and setting it up.

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Overall I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Just does not feel like a Prince album. As repeated over and over in this thread it feels like he added some vocals to Josh's album and had little input.

All this talk about him needing someone to produce him. I don't care if it's Josh, Pherrell, or whoever.....Only Prince can and should produce Prince!

[Edited 9/8/15 11:54am]

jine

djThunderfunk said:

dadeepop said:

That is a good line!

It might be a good line but it's naively incorrect.

It's not only haters that ever complain. In fact, with Prince fans, it's often the most obsessive fans that are complaining. Sometimes the obsessiveness and expectations of the biggest fans creates the loudest collective grumble because they're the only ones that care enough to voice their disappointment. Just sayin'...

He also manages to make the grumblers' point for them--he's too isolated "in the back of his plane" to make real emotional connections in his music.

Still, "June" gives reason to hope.

If Prince shoots a video for a song from "HITNRUN" album and he is actually in it, let Prince appear in full glory with the afro, cut off shirt and '70s clothes in the club with young people in skinny jeans, Jordans and baseball hats. That would be better than any SNL skit could ever dream of being.

databank said:

OK so I'll add my piece even though I don't think anyone will care after so many other reviews. Usually my first impression on an album, particularly a Prince album, is very temporarily. I'll get more intimate with it and either it'll grow on me or I'll get tired with it soon.

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First I didn't know what to expect: as I said before I'm mitigated regarding AOA, for despite liking the songs indivudually I think the album is less than the sum of its parts. My first impression after hearing HnR a few times is that AOA was either too much of Josh or not enough of Josh. At least HnR is Josh all along, it's a cohesive statement with a united sound texture.

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It bears its title well: hit n run. 37 minutes is short and so are most of the tracks. It works well and at the same time it's a bit frustrating: I would have minded some tracks to develop into longer jams (I sort of had the same problem with AOA by the way).

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Now I think it's damn fresh. I'm not AT ALL into anything radio-friendly from 2015, I actually despise all that shit and listen almost only to indie stuff, so I was a bit scared. But for some reason I'm pretty hooked by the whole thing. I like the fact that the album is segued like an uninterrupted mixtape and I like the fact that it's mostly silly (I loved Plec for that same reason, the "just for fun" part). Some sounds here and there irritate me a bit because they sound too much like "LadyKeshEyedpeasBerlake" for me but that's OK, it's only a few sounds here and there.

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The songs now. There are real killers here IMHO.

Aint About 2 Stop and Like A Mack just turn my groove on: I just feel like jumping and dancing when I hear them LOUD. Nothing revolutionry there, but they fulfill their purpose, they work.

I really love Fallinlove2nite more than ever. That one really grew on me over time and at first I was a bit pissed when I read that Zoe's vocals had been removed. Surprinsingly I now feel that the song is more dynamic, somehow happier and punchier with only P on it. And still in love with those horns/string arrangements! I just wish I had a 7 minutes version of it!

1000 Hugs & Kisses is a favorite, classic bootleg so I didn't see how Josh could do anything but butcher it. Well, he didn't, that bassline is just damn irresistible and the whole thing works damn well if u ask me. It's different enough from the original to work by itself.

June is just beautiful. As in gorgeous. Just like Reflection or Way Back Home: intimate lyrics and music, deep, inspired stuff. I'm sold 100%.

The others i'm cool with, let's see which ones really grow on me but there's no song I truly dislike. This Could Be Us: I love the original so much that this one is nowhere near it IMHO, but it doesn't mean I dislike it. Mr. Nelson is totally fucked-up and unnecessary but it so much takes responsibility for being stupid that I can live with it. Million Dollar Show is a strong opener, it conveys the mood of the album pretty efficiently. Shut This Down, Hardrocklover and X's Face don't do make me jump to the ceiling but I like them OK and they might grow on me.

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One more thing that I think is worth mentioning: it's different, I mean not so much different from anything on the market but from anything Prince did before. It's a continuation of AOA but also a development of it more than a mere repetition. With the fresh garage rock of Plec and the surprisingly "unprincey" production style of Back In Time, we are clearly witnessing a new era in Prince's recording career, something that hadn't happened since the beginning of his "neo-classic Prince" era in 2004. This new phase, contrarily to what some amateur reviewers wrote, is nothing like a return to form: it's Prince moving on. For better or worse, depending on how u feel about it, but moving on. And this alone is refreshing as far as I'm concerned.

Yep, this sums up my feeling. Tracks 1-4 work really well and June is excellent.

Ain't About 2 Stop is the obvious track to promote.

Yes Josh is all over it, but so is Prince, that is quite clear from much of the intrumentation beyond the groove.

Spinning it loads, but also spinning Indifference just as much.

I'm glad he isn't standing still, turning out the same sound from 30 years ago. T

BobGeorge909 said:

Despite the vox being a touch less than desirable, shut this down is my favorite track.

Here's why.

It's very high energy and bragadocious...I like that attitude from a black little person from Minnesota...


But mostly is the bass. Very minimalist in the first 1:20...

...then there is a 3 or 4 second break and the slide-pop starts...perfectly effective. Makes me wanna whip my neck around.

Then at 2:12 it amps up even more like the little knickel was tryna play while sittin' on a mechanical bull....AND PULLS IT OFF. Them licks is off the chain. All syncopated with the bass drum punches....fuckin dig it.
[Edited 9/8/15 11:51am]

dodger said:

BobGeorge909 said:

Despite the vox being a touch less than desirable, shut this down is my favorite track.

Here's why.

It's very high energy and bragadocious...I like that attitude from a black little person from Minnesota...


But mostly is the bass. Very minimalist in the first 1:20...

...then there is a 3 or 4 second break and the slide-pop starts...perfectly effective. Makes me wanna whip my neck around.

Then at 2:12 it amps up even more like the little knickel was tryna play while sittin' on a mechanical bull....AND PULLS IT OFF. Them licks is off the chain. All syncopated with the bass drum punches....fuckin dig it.
[Edited 9/8/15 11:51am]

Yes, it's got energy. The My Name Is Prince comparison is spot on, I keep expecting Tony to jump in and rap about his D.I.C.K and jock strap.

TheEnglishGent said:

DMSR said:

But I think this sound is dated, kids would laugh at this and not like it. Look at the charts, theres a lot more cool music out there. I think the Weeknd "Can't Feel My Face" has a great melody and what a kick ass bass line! That's a funky cool song, and its what the kids like.

Hang on, I've got Tidal now, I can check this out...

Quite like it actually. This is where Hitnrun should have been, the production tricks and sound effects are there but they are just hanging there, not in your face. Not sure about the bass being 'kick ass' though.

Certainly better than some other things I've seen reference recently. I checked out the latest D'Angelo album a couple of days ago and could stand it.

Ya, check out the other Prince cd's on Tidal, he put up NPG cd's and they are funky fresh compared to this HitnRun album. I would like to hear what Joshua recorded before Prince.

DMSR said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Hang on, I've got Tidal now, I can check this out...

Quite like it actually. This is where Hitnrun should have been, the production tricks and sound effects are there but they are just hanging there, not in your face. Not sure about the bass being 'kick ass' though.

Certainly better than some other things I've seen reference recently. I checked out the latest D'Angelo album a couple of days ago and could stand it.

Ya, check out the other Prince cd's on Tidal, he put up NPG cd's and they are funky fresh compared to this HitnRun album. I would like to hear what Joshua recorded before Prince.

For the 90's!? Funky they are, fresh they are not.

They weren't particularly well received back then (B side at best was the common description) but with every new year that follows, people look back at the mediocre with fondness.

Prince spends years under attack for becoming stale, then he comes out with the most modern sounding set in a decade and he's a blamed for not sounding like he used to.

DMSR said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Hang on, I've got Tidal now, I can check this out...

Quite like it actually. This is where Hitnrun should have been, the production tricks and sound effects are there but they are just hanging there, not in your face. Not sure about the bass being 'kick ass' though.

Certainly better than some other things I've seen reference recently. I checked out the latest D'Angelo album a couple of days ago and could stand it.

Ya, check out the other Prince cd's on Tidal, he put up NPG cd's and they are funky fresh compared to this HitnRun album. I would like to hear what Joshua recorded before Prince.

Do they have production equipment in kindergarten?

DMSR said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Hang on, I've got Tidal now, I can check this out...

Quite like it actually. This is where Hitnrun should have been, the production tricks and sound effects are there but they are just hanging there, not in your face. Not sure about the bass being 'kick ass' though.

Certainly better than some other things I've seen reference recently. I checked out the latest D'Angelo album a couple of days ago and could stand it.

Ya, check out the other Prince cd's on Tidal, he put up NPG cd's and they are funky fresh compared to this HitnRun album. I would like to hear what Joshua recorded before Prince.

U don't have 2 look very far.

This music sounds like it came straight from Native Instuments Maschine.

terrig said:

KingSausage said:

XxAxX said: No. He knows way more about Prince than I do.

I think Bart is Prince lolololol

Now that would be the plot twist of the century

So how many of these songs can we expect to hear Prince play at his next batch of shows? Anyone notice that he hardly plays any new songs? And why is that? HitNRun is an appropriate title. I'd run as fast as possible from this mess. He said that it was recorded in a short period of time. It sounds like it. Oh wait, is there a Phase Two? It can't be any worse that this. If he wanted to make an album with a curent, modern sound, at least get a talented, current producer. Most would kill to work with Prince. Josh is an amatuer. Drop this 3rdEyeGirl crew and write some decent songs!

[Edited 9/8/15 13:00pm]

KingSausage said:

Interesting that the Torrent sounds way better then Hi-fi Tidal??? CANCEL

strange but true...