thedance said:

Oh, yeah..

- and I see Polo1026 is rather positive as well... that's cool.... in not being totally alone..

What an amazing the new version of "1000 Xs & Os" is... wow... I love this version, better than the old demo (I'm listening as I type this).

[Edited 9/7/15 3:11am]

Remember how you're acting now and go back to all your hate against "Stare". Now woudn;t you find annoying if I started hating on what you like in every single post I write

As expected, lots of predictable "cringeworthy" statements but if I were to treat each Orger reviewing this album as a true Prince expert, respectfully taking note of what songs they like in the bunch, well I would have no choice but to love almost the whole record, seeing that so many like only a few tracks but it tends to be different ones.

I consider this album a reverse "protégé" project where instead of of Prince playing and producing everything and leaving singing to his protégé, he sings and leaves almost all the playing and producing to the new talent.

So as a producing protégé album, this is an interesting fun record. I could definitely do without the Fallinginlove and Mr. Nelson remixes but I guess those are also a way for Prince to say "this is a fun, straigthforward and unpretentious album I did with Josh, it's not a capital P Prince album cuz you can see we put some remixes on it, go have fun, you'll have your capital P Prince album soon enough."

V10LETBLUES said:

So now we know why he called it hit and run. He not only runs his last holdout fans over over with a car, but backs up and hit us again and then just speeds away. It's a felony.

He needs no car or no running over for Hitnrun to be a felony. I think he will be court martialled. His defence will be 'Your honour, the Org contains so much whinging I gave them a reason to. Give'em what they want, I say. This will blow their minds, literally, your Honour.'

our bodies got used to eachother

now they're used to the sound

of Richy Havens' voice on the vinyl

spinning round & round

sometimes i feel like i was born way too late

should have been born on the woodstock stage

love this verse! absolutely love it. especialle the "sometimes i feel like...."

which echoes Richy's performance of "Freedom" at woodstock, which i'm

guessing is where he wishes he was 'born' as an artist, coming into his own,

something like that. anyway, this is the kind of lyrics i love from prince.

andykeen said:

V10LETBLUES said:

So now we know why he called it hit and run. He not only runs his last holdout fans over over with a car, but backs up and hit us again and then just speeds away. It's a felony. Someone needs to take his keys for Paisley Park away and hide them. [Edited 9/7/15 3:35am]

I thought you were going to like it. My 80-20 in favour against was too generous by the look of it.

.

Like A Mack - makes Life O' The Party sound decent. What was he thinking

.

2 out of 11 for me (Hardrocklover and 1000 Hugs & Kisses). June may sneak in there, at least its a bit interesting and he's burning pasta.

EmmaMcG said:

Remember when he said "I don't follow trends, they just follow me"? What happened to that Prince?

It's completely unrealistic to hold Prince to that "trend-setter" standard after over 35 years in music though. Who else is living up/lived up to that kind of expectation?

It's like expecting him to be the oversexed person he was at 21 forever, or to do the splits like it was still 1983. These kinds of expectations are rooted in an idealized "shrine" image of Prince, I personally would feel a little immature still expecting Prince turn the pop world upside down with a brand new trend, like expecting my dad to lift heavy things with a finger like when I was growing up, except he's over much older now would wreck his back if he tried.

dodger said:

V10LETBLUES said:

So now we know why he called it hit and run. He not only runs his last holdout fans over over with a car, but backs up and hit us again and then just speeds away. It's a felony. Someone needs to take his keys for Paisley Park away and hide them. [Edited 9/7/15 3:35am]

I thought you were going to like it. My 80-20 in favour against was too generous by the look of it.

.

Like A Mack - makes Life O' The Party sound decent. What was he thinking

.

2 out of 11 for me (Hardrocklover and 1000 Hugs & Kisses). June may sneak in there, at least its a bit interesting and he's burning pasta.

I'm sure Violet was only strategically optimistic, she fully planned on giving the album three thumbs down once it was released, but always with the preface "I had high hopes for this album, an actual positive bias for the project, so I can honestly say (for the next couple of months, over and over) it objectively sucks because I was ready to love it and I hate it."

derrick31 said:

You know Bobby Womack did this the right way when he let Jamie X do his production on "The Bracest Man in the Universe" cd. If Prince wants to experiment, why choose a rookie producer like Josh ? Why not go with someone like Rick Rubin, Nike Godrich, Jamie X, Ferrel, etc.? [Edited 9/6/15 22:53pm]

.

Because those people talk back.

BartVanHemelen said:

derrick31 said:

You know Bobby Womack did this the right way when he let Jamie X do his production on "The Bracest Man in the Universe" cd. If Prince wants to experiment, why choose a rookie producer like Josh ? Why not go with someone like Rick Rubin, Nike Godrich, Jamie X, Ferrel, etc.? [Edited 9/6/15 22:53pm]

.

Because those people talk back.

LOL! That is true. They also wouldn't worship his every move. Who is Ferrel? Sounds like a wild animal.

I think with the album being so short and a big chunk of it I'm already familar has lessened the impact a new Prince album usually has. In that sense it's similar to The Gold Experience on first release.

This Could B Us

Fallinlove2night

The X's Face

Hardrocklover

4 songs in a row, 4 songs I really like butI have been playing quite a lot over the past couple of weeks. I think if I was hearing all of them fresh today I would be far more pleased with album.

I found 1000 hugs and Kisses and June disappointing, shouldn't have read any of the fan reviews first as these seem to be the best received of the new Songs and I think they are my two least favorite. Thats after two listens so could easily change.

1000 Hugs and kisses is the major disappointment for me. There is just not alot to it.

June just seems to meander along was waiting for to it change up, explode, but no it just stops.

Overall I would rate it about 7/10. Nowhere near as good as Art Official Age.

Hopefully there is a Phase two along similar lines as this just doesn't seem enough somehow.

[Edited 9/7/15 4:51am]

Aerogram said:

EmmaMcG said:

Remember when he said "I don't follow trends, they just follow me"? What happened to that Prince?

It's completely unrealistic to hold Prince to that "trend-setter" standard after over 35 years in music though. Who else is living up/lived up to that kind of expectation?

It's like expecting him to be the oversexed person he was at 21 forever, or to do the splits like it was still 1983. These kinds of expectations are rooted in an idealized "shrine" image of Prince, I personally would feel a little immature still expecting Prince turn the pop world upside down with a brand new trend, like expecting my dad to lift heavy things with a finger like when I was growing up, except he's over much older now would wreck his back if he tried.

.

Nobody said anything about Prince needing to launch a new trend. Nobody said anything about longing for those good old days. They just pointed out that Prince is blatantly and desperately following trends, and you can't stand that Prince is once again shown to be a bullshit merchant, so you once again make up a bunch of shit. Which is always you MO: so desperate to defend poor old Princey that you just make up shit.

Aerogram said:

I'm listening to HITNRUN now and it's not as bad as expected. I'll probably listen to this more than MPLSound or 20Ten. Kind of good to hear something fresh from Prince, rather than just more of the 'same old' like the past few albums.

Why not leave Michael B Nelson's horns on "1000 X's and O's", since he played on the original version back in 1992 and they still work together? (He's on FALLINLOVE2NITE)...... That would have been a nice way of coming full circle.

Still haven't listened but reading the comments. I'm an oldy Prince fan and it was a general attitude, also in the 80's, that you really needed to listen many times to new Prince music to be able to rate it. For instance, I remember many people didn't fancy Kiss until after multiple listening. I rembember when I heard Kiss the first time, I thought "wow, what a simple song and not catchy at all, this is not gonna be popular." A week later I loved it and I still do. Sign of the times...hmm... many people were not appreciating this song in the beginning, then I witnessed that it got many new fans on the Prince boat and got to be a hit.

My point is, I am reading many negative posts after short listening experience. Is it possible that a longer digestion is needed for this new music?

BartVanHemelen said:

Aerogram said:

It's completely unrealistic to hold Prince to that "trend-setter" standard after over 35 years in music though. Who else is living up/lived up to that kind of expectation?

It's like expecting him to be the oversexed person he was at 21 forever, or to do the splits like it was still 1983. These kinds of expectations are rooted in an idealized "shrine" image of Prince, I personally would feel a little immature still expecting Prince turn the pop world upside down with a brand new trend, like expecting my dad to lift heavy things with a finger like when I was growing up, except he's over much older now would wreck his back if he tried.

.

Nobody said anything about Prince needing to launch a new trend. Nobody said anything about longing for those good old days. They just pointed out that Prince is blatantly and desperately following trends, and you can't stand that Prince is once again shown to be a bullshit merchant, so you once again make up a bunch of shit. Which is always you MO: so desperate to defend poor old Princey that you just make up shit.

And the alternative to "not following trends" is.....????

a) staying the same and be accused of being a fossil living in a bubble;

b) creating a trend.

This album is a producer-protégé album, I enjoy some of the tracks, other tracks don't do it for me. See? Nuances --- something you haven't had in any assessment you have made of his music for a decade or two.

I might very well end up giving this a 5/10, but you think you're more credible with your long string of flat 0 stars.

[Edited 9/7/15 5:08am]

I'm listening the album in background from six o clock to now. I do not think it is a masterpiece, but I like it. It is consistent, and explore some contemporary pop/dance music. The Josh work is discontinuous: in some songs it adds good tonal (Ain't About To Stop or Fallinlove2nite). In other songs it is more tawdry: some sound effect in June, or the joke to change the pitch level in Prince voice sometimes do not work at all. The two "remix" are the lowest point in album, imho, expecially Mr. Nelson. A bad song in a bad place.

Like a old Prince listener (first album I got was Parade) I think this is another Prince. And another album concept. Like I told sometimes, the only thing the old Prince could do NOW is to sell Roadhouse Garden et alia from '80. This I can ask to the old Prince.

The new Prince is making new things, and I'd like Hitnrun because it is not Prince cloning Prince. Like AOA Prince is trying again to do "wrong things" with his music, and this is a good thing: who needs another Call My Name? Or another The One I Wanna C? Or another (put here your favorite prince-clone-song)? There are a lot of mistakes in this album, but they are original mistakes.

Hitnrun is not an album: I see it like a room you can enter, listen something and than go away. Like Emancipation was, in a sense.

Pitiful in every way

I prefer his trad styles to jumping on music trends like Madonnna

This Josh guy and 3rd eye girl need the boot.

Why the man has no faith in his own abilities is baffling.

Anyone who thinks this is good music needs to dowload Black Messiah and To Pimp A Butterfly ASAP

This is a very confounding album. Without judging it, as a whole this certainly sounds unlike anything he has released, making a perfect addition to his legacy sprawling more than 30 albums and virtually every musical genre. It seems like he purposely negates any expectations the fans, critics or the general public might have of him.

For some reason he wanted to collaborate with a young producer and this is the result. There are bits here that I love, like his vocals on Ain't about 2 Stop or 1000 X's & O's.

I am hoping he will continue to release albums.

Million $ Show

Almost the entire song is sung by Judith Hill with only the middle-eight and a rap by Prince which was disappointing. The song itself is meh. The chorus sounds like something you would expect from Beyonce. Production-wise it sounds more Prince than Josh, with some nice horns and rhythm chops, but still it passes by, inoffensive enough but nothing to write home about.

Shut This Down

My Name Is Prince type vocal delivery, not a bad little song and no silly guest features which I suppose is something to be thankful for. The instrumentation sounds very electronic, very Josh, but there are some interesting slap bass flourishes throughout which liven things up a bit. One of the albums better tracks.

Ain't About To Stop

A slightly middle-eastern tinge to the verses before going into a talk-chant chorus. Rita features in the same way Gwen/Sheryl Crow featured on Rave, mainly backing up Prince's main vocal. Not a particularly melodic track, but not terrible.

Like A Mack

Things start to get a bit embarassing here. Prince sings the first verse only and then some chick does the second verse/chorus before heading into a pointless rap. Sounds like the kind of song you'd expect to hear in Topshop. Pretty awful and blatant trend-chasing.

This Could B Us

I'm quite fond of this remix, but it says something about the overall quality of HitNRun, that a remix of one of the lesser tracks on AOA is one of the standouts on this album.

Fallinlove2nite

Exactly like the version we've all heard, except Prince sings the chorus. Actually a relief to hear something melodic, even if it is a pretty turd track.

X's Face

Doesn't sound any different to the leaked version we heard a few months ago, but then I never paid it much attention back then as it didn't make much of an impression. Not terrible, not great, just is.

Hardrocklover

A standout track. I don't think it's a great track by any means, but at least it has a little something to it.

Mr Nelson

An instrumental remix, featuring Lianne La Havas just saying "Mr Nelson" on a loop with the odd "we don't need no clouds no". Musicallly it's pretty much dodgy electro dance crap, with a few surprising Santana-tinged guitar licks thrown in for good measure. So bad it's almost good. Almost.

1000 X's and O's

I don't remember the original so I can't compare the two. Quite a nice little song I guess, fairly pedestrial R&B ballad, but more likeable than dreck like Future Baby Mama. Quite a catchy little chorus and some nice harmonies. Nothing special but better than most of the rest of this album.

June

The least generic, pandering-to-trends track on the album. Kind of dreamy and moody, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. More of a mood track than anything else, no real discernable verse/chorus structure. Nothing special, but nice to hear something a bit different I guess.

Overall - it's a pretty lacklustre effort. Noway near as good as AOA. There are no killer tracks like Breakdown or FunkNRoll. No real funk gems like The Gold Standard, no quirky crazy moments like AOC, no glimspes of sincerity like Way Back Home.

One of his worst albums for sure. Quite possibly the very worst.

[Edited 9/7/15 5:28am]

I think I'd have to give the album another few spins before attempting to review it. Initial impressions though - I think it's pretty epic.

First Prince album in years to make me sit up and take notes. Looking forward to spinning it for the rest of the day

derrick31 said:

You know Bobby Womack did this the right way when he let Jamie X do his production on "The Bracest Man in the Universe" cd. If Prince wants to experiment, why choose a rookie producer like Josh ? Why not go with someone like Rick Rubin, Nike Godrich, Jamie X, Ferrel, etc.? [Edited 9/6/15 22:53pm]

I think you'll find its produced by Damon Albarn from the gorillaz/blur. https://en.wikipedia.org/...bby_Womack

it's a cracking album by Womack by the way (appart from Jubilee...)

EmmaMcG said:

Aerogram said:

It's completely unrealistic to hold Prince to that "trend-setter" standard after over 35 years in music though. Who else is living up/lived up to that kind of expectation?

It's like expecting him to be the oversexed person he was at 21 forever, or to do the splits like it was still 1983. These kinds of expectations are rooted in an idealized "shrine" image of Prince, I personally would feel a little immature still expecting Prince turn the pop world upside down with a brand new trend, like expecting my dad to lift heavy things with a finger like when I was growing up, except he's over much older now would wreck his back if he tried.

Well I am quite immature, I do see your point though. I don't expect him or anybody else to match the standards he set in the 80's. I don't think it's too much to ask that he at least write some decent songs. I know I said I'm immature but I'm 25. He's pushing 60 and some of the lyrics he's come out with on this album sound like they've been written by a child trying to sound "hip". The "music" sounds like every other pop song in the charts. I don't expect prince to reinvent the wheel but he's capable of better than this.

The only thing "experimental" about this album was Prince experimenting with letting Josh produce almost all of it, so it's not a "produced, performed, arranged... by Prince" album like most of the others that came before. This is how I'm listening to the album, it's Prince through the Josh prism, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

With at least one other album, perhaps two, coming soon, those who want a more traditional Prince production will likely not have to wait for long. I treat this one as light first course of Prince music.