Aerogram said:

Nice track. Hoping for an album like this/stare, which seems to be what everyone is hoping for too

I really like HnR, it's like AOA part 2 to me, but one of this things i love about P is his versatility

So a more "organic" album possibly produced soley by P would be cool right about now...

There's almost always a simple happy song on even his greatest most sophisticated albums:

Eye Know, Alphabet Street — LoveSexy

Play In The Sunshine — SOTT

I Would Die 4 U — PR

Clouds (the first single) — AOA

etc.

I'm gonna give FreeUrself the benefit of the doubt, as if it's a single for Prince's next brilliant album, until I hear the entirety of next album it might be featured on. It might fit perfectly. I though Clouds was out of sync on AOA on repeated listens at first, but I love listening to it now that I've fully digested all the other tracks on AOA/PE.

Granted, it's no "I Wonder U" off Parade, but FreeUrself might be the soft note on a magnificent album of songs.

Identity said:

Doesn't mean it sucks any less.

toejam said:

dodger said:

The Convenience of Digital aint doin' You no favors Prince!

funksterr said:

V10LETBLUES said:

But seriously, something happened to the man. He is too young to come off so out of it. His lyrics and delivery is strange, like of someone much older or that actually did suffer a stroke. I've been talking about his awkward delivery making simple phrases come off so badly. His hearing! He uses a cheap digital trick to recreate his "camille" sound, and it sounds atrocious. Anyone, especially a discerning musician could hear and feel the difference. Mnplsound, Fallinlovetonight are so so badly made that it doesn't sound like they are by a professional much less a legend.

Before we all knew that a first time 23 year old kid put the stuff together I made a thread about the elephant in the room because people were not talking about how amateurish AOA sounded. If you like it cool, I have always said that, but that it was amateurish is undeniable. No one needed to confirm to me or others that it was put together by an amateur. It sounds like it. A bad amateur. One with nothing new to say. It's one thing to be an amateur, it's another to not have a unique perspective, something new to add to the art.

People trash music on the radio today, but that's only the less sophisticated among us.

The top music on the radio is produced and written and performed by the people at the top of their game. The young headline artists are another thing, but the people behind Taylor Swift are people at the top of their game. The true pros, the best money can buy.

Again, if people cannot hear that, cool, but it is obvious and again only the least sophisticated among us cannot tell.

Every word true.

BobGeorge909 said:

Anyway -- what a wonderful song!!!

Don't listen to the snobs telling you (with considerable nerve) that they are more sophisticated than you, it's really tacky to make that argument.

[Edited 10/4/15 14:12pm]

Vannormal said:

An absolute better track. No JoshuaWorld, no wooshes. Even Prince back on drums. Nice fill ins. Simple but good melody. Nice keyboards...
And, the most important : it's a song with no religious topic, and without even mentioning the word God or any reference to faith. ..."and save one for me", you think prince left religiën behind ? Cause in these lyrics he seems more then happy on this very earth. I do hope so.

dodger said:

I really like it, and I love the lyrics.

The synth line reminds me of the old song "Sugar Shack"



Come to think of it, the verse is the same two-chord structure. Looks like Prince was jamming to some early 60's pop when he wrote this. Awesome!

RodeoSchro said:

I really like it, and I love the lyrics.

The synth line reminds me of the old song "Sugar Shack"



Come to think of it, the verse is the same two-chord structure. Looks like Prince was jamming to some early 60's pop when he wrote this. Awesome!

Yeah but this is so well made. I pressed play and you go wow. Everything about this recording says people cared about what they were doing. I don't mean to say art cannot be thrown together, just saying even Jackson Pollock had a standard, a certain something. Listen to punk rock, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, they may not have been the best musicians but the final work represnted something original and yes well made.

BobGeorge909 said:

it's my Fave Prince song for quite some time

outdid himself yet again!!!!!!

QueenofPurplePalace said:

QueenofPurplePalace said:

To be Honest Im seriously scared to like anything prince does anymore.....everything I like of his recent years have been torn apart lol.Not saying some didn't deserve it but honestly some of the criticism is too harsh or maybe I'm naive....

This is one of his best songs for ages , raw , no EDM , no josh , just prince and his guitar with the ladys.

Militant said:

NorthC said:

Militant said:

The thing with that is that the sophisticated records didn't sell. Arguably "Joy In Repetition" is the last in that run, and GB wasn't considered a hit. Hence the 180, and putting together the D&P lineup, which, lest we forget, was a HUGE hit.

The public at large want Prince to be sexy, not sophisticated.

Obviously I love "Crystal Ball" but how do you think the public would have reacted to that?

Huh? Parade, Sign o the Times, they all went gold or platinum. Can't say the same about HitNRun. So far it's sold less than Crystal Ball.

Actually SOTT & Parade were both considered low sellers back then..

First time I thought a Prince song sounded kind of feel-good basic and boring was "Take Me with U". But I think if the female vocals were better it would have been much better.

This is in the same vein except instead of a positive flirtation theme to the lyrics it has some kind of life counseling vibe. But hey, "Free" has bad lyrics too. Or maybe simply lyrics of a much younger man.

This has that bootleg kind of demo mix that is similar to how Guitar first sounded.

I like it.

[Edited 10/9/15 23:34pm]

the more you think about the lyrics it does seem like it definitely may be a political song, especially since it comes so soon after "Baltimore." As in having a message aimed at issues in the black community. Also, the lyrics "we the people" of course are the start of the U.S. Constitution. It also makes me think about the argument you hear a lot about these days as far as: is welfare a tactic of the government in order to control people for nefarious purposes? i know that's not a discussion we want to have in this thread though & I am just speculating on the possible meaning of the song, so don't attack me please. Because there is a political ideology that says, "life is what you make it" & another one which says life is what the government can do for you.

I think the song is pretty good, I enjoy listening to it. It gives me a Wendy & Lisa vibe which I like. I also liked Stare a lot, so if these songs are both on the same album it bodes well.

This is the kind of new music that I expect from Prince at this stage in his career. Not necessarily breaking any new ground but bonafide and pleasant Prince tunes with lyrics that are not (too) religious, offending or stupid. With a pleasant organic sound and production I like this type of stuff much better than most of the music on HNR.

Skipper puts something a little above mediocre and everyone is wetting their pants.

No, really, the times they are coming to an end.

It would be kind of an OK song if this was a late eighties unreleased track.
But putting this shit out at 57 years old?
This kind of phony adolescent attitude?

He's still chasing teenagers while approaching 60, and it's getting real gross.

Not only do teenagers ignore him totally
(it would be better to get at least some rocks thrown at him),
but he succeeds on embarking all of you on this
retro nostalgic slightly 60's vibe.

Hint it sucks : Most of what can be read on this, and on HnR,
is how many times people have to "give it another listen"
to start appreciating it.

I'm sure after 20 times I could find some qualities
to Susan Doyle. Except there are (real) young talents on fire out there,
and they deserve my time more than Ol' SKipper rehashing
the same fucking boring theme over and over again.

When these are times are calling for some kind of SOTT the song pt. II,
he comes up with this bland hippie shit, which exsudes the usual paranoia :
We're the Purple Army, we will show them the light,
one day they (whomever they may be) will open their eyes
and see the truth (whatever this may be — oh wait, JW's!), blah blah blah...

I think I'm going to jump ship soon,
as many other brilliant orgers did before me.

The org is slowly turning into a fucking kindergarten.
Or a retirement home, which is pretty similar.

bonatoc said:

Skipper puts something a little above mediocre and everyone is wetting their pants.

No, really, the times they are coming to an end.

It would be kind of an OK song if this was a late eighties unreleased track.
But putting this shit out at 57 years old?
This kind of phony adolescent attitude?

He's still chasing teenagers while approaching 60, and it's getting real gross.

Not only do teenagers ignore him totally
(it would be better to get at least some rocks thrown at him),
but he succeeds on embarking all of you on this
retro nostalgic slightly 60's vibe.

Hint it sucks : Most of what can be read on this, and on HnR,
is how many times people have to "give it another listen"
to start appreciating it.

I'm sure after 20 times I could find some qualities
to Susan Doyle. Except there are (real) young talents on fire out there,
and they deserve my time more than Ol' SKipper rehashing
the same fucking boring theme over and over again.

When these are times are calling for some kind of SOTT the song pt. II,
he comes up with this bland hippie shit, which exsudes the usual paranoia :
We're the Purple Army, we will show them the light,
one day they (whomever they may be) will open their eyes
and see the truth (whatever this may be — oh wait, JW's!), blah blah blah...

I think I'm going to jump ship soon,
as many other brilliant orgers did before me.

The org is slowly turning into a fucking kindergarten.
Or a retirement home, which is pretty similar.

Bye bye!