I’m addicted!!! I can’t stop listening to this kick-A$$, mother funkin’ album! But now I'm shifting toward tracks 2, 3, and 4. I can’t stop jamming SHUT THIS DOWN, AIN'T ABOUT TO STOP, and LIKE A MACK (Cam light flashing & my clique is hot! Man, GREAT hooks like that are all over this album).

-

That’s not to say that I don’t LOVE the first song, MILLION $ SHOW....I most certainly do! It sets up the album perfectly in the manner of “Can’t Stop This Feeling I’ve Got” or “Compassion,” but in a more modern style.

-

FALLINLOVE2NITE is one of the best hooks I’ve ever heard and I’m glad it found a home on this album because it fits perfectly and it’s gorgeous. Hearing it in 2014 doesn’t make it any more of a waste of space than a promotional single would, and it’s far too good to merely be chucked aside as filler. It reminds me of some dance-fabulous “cocktail disco” by Dimitri From Paris (Sacrebleu, A Night at the Playboy Mansion, etc.).

-

THIS COULD B US, MR. NELSON, and 1000 X'S & 0'S are truly exquisite! THIS COULD B US is to the original what “So Dark” is to “Dark” (much darker mood, far more beautiful and infinitely improved). I especially appreciate all of the super yummy ear candy in Joshua’s sound production, such as the quick, little, acid tracer synth notes around 40 seconds in MR. NELSON (just after the first “We don’t need no clouds, no”). It’s little details like that which are the icing on the cake! 1000 X'S & 0'S is light years ahead of and better than the original. I’d love to hear Joshua spin his remixing gold on some other classic jams.

-

Overall, though, my favs are still X'S FACE, HARDROCKLOVER, and JUNE.

-

It must be frustrating for Joshua and Prince because, despite the backlash here on the Org, they have to know that they have a monster badass album on theirs hands. And all I can say to Prince is the same thing his fellow Minneapolans from Mystery Science Theater 3000 used to say regarding their television show....and that is “The Right People Will Get It.”

-

As for Tidal, with new albums as hot as this one (and the promise of more to come), plus my favs from the 90s and 2000s back catalogue, as well as the classic 80s, not to mention maxi-singles, rarities like The War, and the promise of a purple pick each week....I may just have to go join for the duration.

-

It’s great to be excited about Prince’s music again!

-

hw3004 said:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21026-hitnrun-phase-one/

I'm pretty much with this guy (although I'd probably mark it a bit higher - say 5.0 maybe 5.5 - ask me in a couple of weeks!).

It's certainly not the steaming pile of shite or work of unadulterated genius that some will argue...but that's the modern society the internet has created, a mass of extreme opinions screaming to be heard with little appreciation for nuanced opinon.

I'm such a grumpy old man

The problem is when you listen to most of the other albums they rate highly on the same page, you really wonder...

[Edited 9/10/15 3:30am]

hw3004 said:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21026-hitnrun-phase-one/

I'm pretty much with this guy (although I'd probably mark it a bit higher - say 5.0 maybe 5.5 - ask me in a couple of weeks!).

It's certainly not the steaming pile of shite or work of unadulterated genius that some will argue...but that's the modern society the internet has created, a mass of extreme opinions screaming to be heard with little appreciation for nuanced opinon.

I'm such a grumpy old man

4.5... that's more like it..

let's see if Prince is gona post this review on his twitter page

as.. pitch http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21026-hitnrun-phase-one: fork

[Edited 9/10/15 4:16am]

I also made my own sequence:

This Could Be Us remix

(indeed: it's like So Dark)

then I went and played the Goldnigga album again. Oh baby.

I think the fact that the album is so polarizing is a good thing. It indicates a strong artistic direction, that for the most part, people are either REALLY responsive to, or they completely hate it. That's a better position to be in than the majority of people finding it "ok" or "average".

For me it's the former. My only complaint is the remixing and re-using of tracks. But I love the production and vibe.

Militant said:

I think the fact that the album is so polarizing is a good thing. It indicates a strong artistic direction, that for the most part, people are either REALLY responsive to, or they completely hate it. That's a better position to be in than the majority of people finding it "ok" or "average".

For me it's the former. My only complaint is the remixing and re-using of tracks. But I love the production and vibe.

---

All I can recommend is, with an output as vast as Prince's, to not get too hung up on repurposing material, especially if it's unique to the original. If Prince only put out a forty minute album every two years (or God forbid every four years) and we knew we weren't going to get another album for another few years after that, then I'd probably be disappointed, too.

-

But I prefer to view the repurposing of previously released songs through the lens of Frank Zappa's conceptual continuity. Like Prince, Frank was highly prolific with a vast output of music and would revisit old songs, presenting them again in mutated form for new albums. They serve as reference points calling back to each other, and in the end they stitch up his entire body of work as part of a greater concept and giving it all a heightened sense of continuity.

-

http://wiki.killuglyradio...Continuity

-

1000 X's & 0's, I could listen to 1000 times, makes me wag my tail and roll over.

LIKE A MACK, it's like a attractive underwear, looks real nice at first and for the most part is great, but may be a little irritable

MR NELSON, blowed out the spout and should have been held in.

JUNE: Dorothy Parker getting old????

X's FACE: A little too much lice, needs combed out

FALLINLOVE2NITE: Already did, let's move on

HARDROCKLOVER: Dream on, dream on, like it's almost an awesome song

THIS COULD BE US: There's a kitchen sink floating around in there somewhere, less can be more

AINT ABOUT TO STOP: Almost too intense, stop trying to say bad stuff about yo self... looks a little insecure....

SHUT THIS DOWN: RUNDMC????

MILLION $ SHOW: Kiss my ass for a good opening song again.... remember when the journey began with stuff like Let's Go Crazy, 1999, it's like road kill at the end of the drive way, scrape that shit up and start the ride better than this

Militant said:

IstenSzek said:

i just made my own sequence:


01. SHUT THIS DOWN

02. AIN'T ABOUT TO STOP

03. X'S FACE

04. HARDROCKLOVER

05. 1000 X'S & O'S

06. JUNE

love all those 6 as much as i've loved anything he did the last 10 years

but with a little luck we will get some more decent songs to add to this

with phase 2.

.

These are the exact ones I liked as well. Loving 'X's Face'. '1000 x's & o's' sure does remind me of Dennis Edwards' classic 'Don't Look Any Further'! https://www.youtube.com/w...H3rx8LhrQo

.

[Edited 9/10/15 6:53am]

Giovanni777 said:

IstenSzek said:

i just made my own sequence:


01. SHUT THIS DOWN

02. AIN'T ABOUT TO STOP

03. X'S FACE

04. HARDROCKLOVER

05. 1000 X'S & O'S

06. JUNE

love all those 6 as much as i've loved anything he did the last 10 years

but with a little luck we will get some more decent songs to add to this

with phase 2.

.

These are the exact ones I liked as well. Loving 'X's Face'. '1000 x's & o's' sure does remind me of Dennis Edwards' classic 'Don't Look Any Further'! https://www.youtube.com/w...H3rx8LhrQo

I noticed the same thing about 'Don't Look Any Further' - quite similar.

dodger said:

Giovanni777 said:

.

These are the exact ones I liked as well. Loving 'X's Face'. '1000 x's & o's' sure does remind me of Dennis Edwards' classic 'Don't Look Any Further'! https://www.youtube.com/w...H3rx8LhrQo

I noticed the same thing about 'Don't Look Any Further' - quite similar.

.

Which of course was famously sampled by Rakim... by the way, can someone tell me how to post YouTube vids? I tried several methods to no avail.

.

[Edited 9/10/15 6:55am]

Sadly, I'll listen to it a few times, then put it on the shelf annd forget about it.

huh. i don't hate it. i don't actively dislike it.

june struck a chord all the way to my nerve center and i love it fiercely.

a lot of the things remind me of other things.

million$show - play in the sunshine

hardrocklover - the 2 notes repeated remind me of LL's doin it

Xs & Os - rock the boat, obv

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

but what i hastily typed above referred to the last 2 words of june, compared to "now he's doin horse, it's june" - he says it the same way, so i wonder if there's a correlation

.

.

anyway, if this is his little electronica amuse bouche, i'm not mad at it.

oh yes and for sure june favors moments in love.

I'm surprised to read so many reviews that say it's his best work since Lovesexy. I think that's way off the mark personally; Diamonds & Pearls, Batman, The Truth and Come, to name a few, were better. NitnRun is supposedly experimental, but I can't see what's so unusual about it. Prince has been cosntrained by RnB for years now, and this record is no different. Yes, there are a multitude of styles, but still underlying most of it is an urban sound that I simply don't think is his strength.

I listened to Lovesexy last night (you should try it on shuffle) and instantly felt that tingle you get from all of his best work. There's a sense of freedom; the lyrics go where they want to go, the hooks are often sparse but killer, the harmonies are all over the place, and bridges come and go and resolve. I've now listed to HitnRun more than 10 times, and usually you start to hear something else and familiarity makes you warm to the music. However, I'm not getting that sensation and instead some of the tracks just make me cringe. There are good tracks (1000 X's & O's being my favourite, perhaps not a coincidence) but the AOA remixes/reimagined tracks are superfluous.

That said, I still think this is better than AOA and PlectrumElectrum, but when I listened to Come on the way home this week it was apparent that there was nothing anywhere near as inventive as Papa, Loose, or Solo. Those songs aren't for everyone, I realise, but in terms of invention and that tingle, they have it in buckets.

[Edited 9/10/15 7:33am]

[Edited 9/10/15 7:34am]

starkitty said:

a lot of the things remind me of other things.

million$show - play in the sunshine

hardrocklover - the 2 notes repeated remind me of LL's doin it

Xs & Os - rock the boat, obv

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

but what i hastily typed above referred to the last 2 words of june, compared to "now he's doin horse, it's june" - he says it the same way, so i wonder if there's a correlation

.

.

anyway, if this is his little electronica amuse bouche, i'm not mad at it.

.

LL Cool J's joint was a sample of Grace Jones' 'My Jamaican Guy'. Most def heard 'Rock The Boat' (by Alliyah) on X's & O's, but hear Dennis Edwards' 'Don't Look Any Further' as well.

starkitty said:

Eye love how changes up his muziq with every album. Plus doesn't gaf about who likes it & who doesn't..He is a REAL artist & my hero...Eye'm sure he reads the comments and laughs. Then have Josh cue up sum more beats...

has Howard Stern mentioned this yet???

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

i DID laugh audibly when i heard the first line of THIS COULD B US

Personally I came to this album kicking and screaming since Josh was handed the producer reigns.

It actually was a bit better then I expected upon first listen and now I find myself addicted to listening to HNR!

I can actually listen to the entire CD from front to back and its pretty dope. Simply to hear Prince in another vein of the vast landscape that is music is always worth the price of admission.

Hell in the context of the entire album I can actually stomach the TCBU remix and even Mr Nelson now too!!

Plus we've got the fun Like a Mack that is one of my new favorites awesome! The now classic 1000 XOs and the incredible June

Stop taking things so seriously people!!! Its just music at the end of the day. Also I agree with Militant that with the opinions of this new album being so polar opposite is a very good thing. As an artist thats exactly where you want to be.

Doozer said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Eye'm glad has christened ALL NEW,youthful.energetic, fans, through his MEGA multi million dollar Tidal deal. lBecuz the majority on this site have COMPLETELY lost it!!!

Now back to my pasta

If Tidal paid millions for it then could we please pay Josh a release fee and wish him well?

I don't really blame Josh. He didn't have much to work with here. The song writing, such as it is, is mediocre at best. If Josh were over-producing good songs to start with, it might not have been the mess that it kind of is. You can't polish turds.

Giovanni777 said:

dodger said:

I noticed the same thing about 'Don't Look Any Further' - quite similar.

.

Which of course was famously sampled by Rakim... by the way, can someone tell me how to post YouTube vids? I tried several methods to no avail.

.

[Edited 9/10/15 6:55am]

Also 2Pac's "Hit em Up"

https://www.youtube.com/w...1qC3w3UUkU

My first reaction: very promising for repeated listening.

This is the first time in ages that he's getting dirty again. Not specifically in terms of lyrics, although he seems to be censoring himself less than he was, but the overall sound is more dirty.

Yes he's taking some cues from what is going on in the hit lists but I don't feel it as an old man trying to be hip like some suggest. It's more like he's become a bit more open lately.

He's more free and more energetic than he's been for a while. Especially his singing is really really good. An old layer of passion has come back in his voice since he recorded the song Breakdown.

Tops, right a way:

Ain't about to stop

X's Face

Hardrocklover
1000 X's & O's

And oh what I also love is how the lyrics are not preachy or philosophical but just weird, free sexy and masterful.

It sounds like his convictions are moving from his head to his belly again.

1000 X's & 0's could be a hit maybe, because it's sweet, honest, simple and open. Needs a classy video.

.

.

[Edited 9/10/15 13:30pm]

DMSR said:

Giovanni777 said:

.

Which of course was famously sampled by Rakim... by the way, can someone tell me how to post YouTube vids? I tried several methods to no avail.

.

[Edited 9/10/15 6:55am]

Also 2Pac's "Hit em Up"

https://www.youtube.com/w...1qC3w3UUkU

Produced by my friend, the late Johnny J.