Ok ok let's compare, but...... I no some of u are pretty "harsh" towards "HnR Phase 1", and disagrees with me in this I am going to write now..... so let the personal attacks on me begin.. ha... ok... we'll see about that in a moment..? I still hope for "a civilized discussion".... and yes this is just IMHO, this is "Phase 1" versus "Phase 2"....

Phase 1 is good:

I no the songs number 1-4 are challeging tracks - and the opening track is rather weak ("Million $ Show"). However the second half of this album is classic Prince songs and is actually very good (some are even "amazing" songs), Ex's Face, HardRockLover, June, 1000 Hugs & Kises, those are better and more fresh sounding than in a long time, I even dig "Ain't About 2 Stop" a lot, challeging, kind of edgy song IMO. I love the album Phase 1, except maybe from song number 1.

Phase 2 is well... terrible:

Oh no, what a terrible "sounding" bunch of songs, the "sound" is so very dated, I can't sit through these, Groovy Potential and Revelation are good. But 2 good songs doesn't save the album from being a disaster. RockNroll Love Affair and Baltimore are some of the worst, they makes old songs by Prince like Cream and Peach sounds like masterpieces, those 2 new ones are so dull. And Stare and Srewdriver are yet more cliché. The rest is unlistenable to me. One of his worst albums.. ever, it hurts to listen.

I just needed to speak "my honest opinion" about "HnR Phase 1"... that is done now with this thread. IMO this album (Phase 1) does not deserve to be trashed, it's a lot better than what some of you girls & boys thinks it is....... on the other hand, I don't see (hear) what some of you hears in the album "Phase 2". (Nothing new.. Prince has made me disappointed many times - it has happened many times since the release of Emancipation, in 1996). So many ups & downs from 1996 to 2015.

Now, this imo.. so let 2016 be a good and funky Prince-year.

Sure some will be excited in the future, and some will be disappointed yet again. Despite my disappointment in Phase 2, I ain't leaving this place..

Thanks for reading. Peace & a "happy new year" to U.

I am not discussing this so much tonight (new years evening), but I will return tomorrow..

Happy new year to all of you.....

I am of the exact opposite opinion. Phase 1 is as good as unlistenable for me whereas Phase 2 really tickles my fancy.

Happy new year to you too!

I see where you're coming from even if I don't agree 100% (I love Stare for example). I think as usual it's up to us ourselves to decide what we do and don't like and make our personal compilations.

The only song I see as looking forward while staying true to himself is June. Plenty of others I like on there but that's the only one I feel is essential for anyone but a major fan.

^^ thanks to you both..

they are both equally wretched as an album on the whole but both contain 1 or 2 songs that are better than our usual prince by the numbers output

the techno and dumb shit like june kill phase 1 dead

the boring rnb by the numbers kill phase 2 dead

fall in love 2nite

1000 hugz

groovey potential

stare

a couple other songs arent horrible but 2y2dare is prince at his creepiest since lolita or when he calls his women "things" in the one u wanna see .. p is a cosby or jarred case waiting to happen imo

Overall phase 2 is the "stronger" album.

However I feel Hardrocklover, 1000 X's & O's and June are better than almost everything on Phase 2 with the exception of Revelation.

although i seriously enjoy "shut this down", "xs face", "hardrocklover", "1000 Xs & Os" and "june",

i just can't see HnR like an album. i mean, i'm quite confident i will never listen to it again from the

first track all the way to the last. that's a first for me with prince. i just hate the remixes on there,
and the opening track.

however, "hardrocklover" is probably my favorit prince track from the last 4-5 years.

but HnR is an actual album, even if we knew a lot of the songs before. i can get over that, since
i like most of those songs well enough. as a whole, i've already listened to this album a lot and it
is one i will put on many more times in the future, i just know that.

if he'd release a few more stand alone 'electro' songs so i could add them to the ones on HnR 1
that i like, i'd be thrilled, because the good songs, i like a lot, a whole lot. but the bad ones are
just so ugh. this is really the single album of his later carreer where i wish he'd taken just a bit
more time to add some other songs. because when it works is works. heck he said in one of the

interviews that both "hardrocklover" and "june" were written en recorded back 2 back in 1 night (!)

i just hate the "blood clot" chant in "ain't about 2 stop". i thought it was such a cool sounding song
but that chant just kills it for me. same with "thots" in "like a mack" -although there is more wrong

with that track



no, hnr 2 is all the way good for me, there's nothing i totally cannot listen to or that makes me
cringe. i could possibly live without Baltimore being on it, it was cool as a one off. but for the

sequencing that's no problem, just take it off and start the disc at RnR Love Affair.

thedance said:

TrevorAyer said:

NorthC said:

Can we agree that our New Year's resolution will be to stop talking about the same subjects over and over and over and over again? Happy new year!

word...somewhere, someone is starting a "How Can We Fix Prince's Career" thread...or a "I Hate Prince's Afro" thread...

NorthC said:

Can we agree that our New Year's resolution will be to stop talking about the same subjects over and over and over and over again? Happy new year!

RJOrion said:

NorthC said:

Can we agree that our New Year's resolution will be to stop talking about the same subjects over and over and over and over again? Happy new year!

word...somewhere, someone is starting a "How Can We Fix Prince's Career" thread...or a "I Hate Prince's Afro" thread...

somewhere someone is staring into a mirror and saying "what if emancipation was a single disc" three times out loud

IstenSzek said:

Agree with you, TheDance. Phase 2 is the boring Prince we know for decades now. Too little energy, cliché ridden and conservative.

HnR Phase 1 though was much more interesting because of its different approach. Problem is, as you can see even on this fansite, most people don't want him to change his approach anymore.

Yeah, I think after the glare of Phase 1, exciting and super charged as it was.....well, Phase 2 was bound to fall flat at best. But after taking a step back and cleansing the sonic palette I'm able to warm up to it a bit. But even then Phase 2 still sounds like a return to the mediocre 2004-2010 era and I don't feel compelled to keep coming back to it. As long as he releases some daring and exciting albums like Phase 1 with steady frequncy then I don't mind the occasional lackluster Phase 2 albums coming out. The more the merrier!

funkaholic1972 said:

I am of the exact opposite opinion. Phase 1 is as good as unlistenable for me whereas Phase 2 really tickles my fancy.

Happy new year to you too!

Hear hear!

TheBoneRanger said:

Yeah, I think after the glare of Phase 1, exciting and super charged as it was.....well, Phase 2 was bound to fall flat at best. But after taking a step back and cleansing the sonic palette I'm able to warm up to it a bit. But even then Phase 2 still sounds like a return to the mediocre 2004-2010 era and I don't feel compelled to keep coming back to it. As long as he releases some daring and exciting albums like Phase 1 with steady frequncy then I don't mind the occasional lackluster Phase 2 albums coming out. The more the merrier!

.

funkomatic said:

Agree with you, TheDance. Phase 2 is the boring Prince we know for decades now. Too little energy, cliché ridden and conservative.

HnR Phase 1 though was much more interesting because of its different approach. Problem is, as you can see even on this fansite, most people don't want him to change his approach anymore.

.

I've only listened to Phase 2 twice and got to agree with 'thedance' and the above comments. Can't believe the majority on the org are breathing a sigh of relief with Phase 2?! Phase 1 is a lot more exciting and fresh-sounding - that's my initial impression.

[Edited 1/2/16 7:44am]

Doozer said:

NorthC said:

IstenSzek said:

RJOrion said:

NorthC said:

Can we agree that our New Year's resolution will be to stop talking about the same subjects over and over and over and over again? Happy new year!

word...somewhere, someone is starting a "How Can We Fix Prince's Career" thread...or a "I Hate Prince's Afro" thread...

somewhere someone is staring into a mirror and saying "what if emancipation was a single disc" three times out loud

Hey, did you know that Prince and Michael Jackson and James Brown...

KingSausage said:

NorthC said:

Hey, did you know that Prince and Michael Jackson and James Brown...

Lordy said:

TheBoneRanger said:

Yeah, I think after the glare of Phase 1, exciting and super charged as it was.....well, Phase 2 was bound to fall flat at best. But after taking a step back and cleansing the sonic palette I'm able to warm up to it a bit. But even then Phase 2 still sounds like a return to the mediocre 2004-2010 era and I don't feel compelled to keep coming back to it. As long as he releases some daring and exciting albums like Phase 1 with steady frequncy then I don't mind the occasional lackluster Phase 2 albums coming out. The more the merrier!

.

funkomatic said:

Agree with you, TheDance. Phase 2 is the boring Prince we know for decades now. Too little energy, cliché ridden and conservative.

HnR Phase 1 though was much more interesting because of its different approach. Problem is, as you can see even on this fansite, most people don't want him to change his approach anymore.

.

I've only listened to Phase 2 twice and got to agree with 'thedance' and the above comments. Can't believe the majority on the org are breathing a sigh of relief with Phase 2?! Phase 1 is a lot more exciting and fresh-sounding - that's my initial impression.

^ Thanks to BoneRanger, Funkomatic and Lordy: I enjoyed your comments here.

And... I am so surprised about that as well... (the underlined part).. I wish I could hear what the majority on the Org seems to hear with Phase 2..

PHASE 1 has more energy, doesn't mean it's "good". PHASE 2 starts to feel a little dull and boring, doesn't mean it's "bad".

Personally my favorite songs are:

HARDROCKLOVER

1000 X'S & O'S

JUNE

LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT U

REVELATION

Doozer said:

All respect to thedance and happy new year but... The first 7 songs on Phase 1 are the trashiest garbage ever to escape Paisley Park. Three O'Clock and TC Ellis are partying somewhere together in honor of Phase 1 moving them both DOWN one notch on the Worst Ever from The Park list. Phase 2 is smooth, mature, well produced and solid from beginning to end. My 2¢ and that's all. I'm glad Phase 1 has a staunch supporter on the org cuz every redheaded poorly behaved stepchild needs a home.

I agree about Phase 1. That album is aggressively bad, as if Prince wanted to sound hip and experimental for the sheer sake of it and forgot to create catchy melodies in the process. It's easily his most obnoxious album since NPS, and holy shit that is saying something.

Phase II reminds me a lot of Musicology in that it's inoffensive but also dull. Aside from Revelation and Extraloveable, nothing stands out as exceptional. That makes it a bit torturous to listen through, even if I don't cringe much at anything specifically.

Phase 1 - *1/2/*****

Phase 2 - **/*****

[Edited 1/5/16 0:59am]

thedance said:

Ok ok let's compare, but...... I no some of u are pretty "harsh" towards "HnR Phase 1", and disagrees with me in this I am going to write now..... so let the personal attacks on me begin.. ha... ok... we'll see about that in a moment..? I still hope for "a civilized discussion".... and yes this is just IMHO, this is "Phase 1" versus "Phase 2"....

Phase 1 is good:

I no the songs number 1-4 are challeging tracks - and the opening track is rather weak ("Million $ Show"). However the second half of this album is classic Prince songs and is actually very good (some are even "amazing" songs), Ex's Face, HardRockLover, June, 1000 Hugs & Kises, those are better and more fresh sounding than in a long time, I even dig "Ain't About 2 Stop" a lot, challeging, kind of edgy song IMO. I love the album Phase 1, except maybe from song number 1.

Phase 2 is well... terrible:

Oh no, what a terrible "sounding" bunch of songs, the "sound" is so very dated, I can't sit through these, Groovy Potential and Revelation are good. But 2 good songs doesn't save the album from being a disaster. RockNroll Love Affair and Baltimore are some of the worst, they makes old songs by Prince like Cream and Peach sounds like masterpieces, those 2 new ones are so dull. And Stare and Srewdriver are yet more cliché. The rest is unlistenable to me. One of his worst albums.. ever, it hurts to listen.

I just needed to speak "my honest opinion" about "HnR Phase 1"... that is done now with this thread. IMO this album (Phase 1) does not deserve to be trashed, it's a lot better than what some of you girls & boys thinks it is....... on the other hand, I don't see (hear) what some of you hears in the album "Phase 2". (Nothing new.. Prince has made me disappointed many times - it has happened many times since the release of Emancipation, in 1996). So many ups & downs from 1996 to 2015.

Now, this imo.. so let 2016 be a good and funky Prince-year.

Sure some will be excited in the future, and some will be disappointed yet again. Despite my disappointment in Phase 2, I ain't leaving this place..

Thanks for reading. Peace & a "happy new year" to U.

I don't think any music deserves to be trashed unless maybe it's a cynical record-company product made just for dough. Prince tried something new with Phase One. I don't find it challenging or innovative at all per se because even though it's challenging and innovative for a Prince record, I've heard all those sounds on contemporary dance or hip-hop tracks over the course of those last few years. There are things I like very much on it but however as a whole it fails to impress me. But yeah, there's a certain "fresh" energy to it that's undeniable, and I listen to it with pleasure every now and then, when I'm in the right mood.

.

Phase 2 on the other hand moves me deeply: it's more Prince doing his thing but that's why I like him doing the most, and I appreciate that it features high level production values, ambitious and inspired songwriting and sophisticated arrangements, plus the Hornheads' gorgeous, unique sonic signature. It's very melodic, it's delicate, it's sexy, it grooves, it's everything I like in P's music since I've discovered it 26 years ago. If I wanted Prince to do something else that what he does, I'd have left the boat long ago. If you listen to this album attentively, you'll realize a LOT happens, the songs' structure is overall pretty complex and there's not a bar in it that's exactly like the bar before. I really appreciate it when he tries something different, but it can alternatively lead to approximative results when compared to what it tries to emulate (Kamasutra, Phase One), or more ambitious and very impressive experiments (The War, NEWS). Phase Two to me is Prince at his best, doing what he knows best and doing it with great majesty.

.

I think you are mistaken in trying to categorize either records as "good" or "bad", it makes little sense. We're talking about an artist who knows what he's doing and who's been at it for nearly 40 years. We can speculate in vain on intentions (trying to sell out by sounding more radio-friendly with Phase One, being lazy by just repeating himself on Phase Two), we can definitely be honest about whether the music does it for us, personally, or not, but in a world where even scholars, professional critics and the artists themselves can't agree on what constitute an artistic achievement or not, I think it's absurd to try and evaluate the objective qualities of each and every Prince song in such a definitive manner. In other words: let's try and be modest, both in regards to the music itself, and the musicians who have produced it.

The thread inspired me to listen to Phase One again and I must say Fallinlove2nite really does it for me, I'm totally in love with that track. It would probably shock a lot of people here but I find it very reminiscent of Parade era stuff, particularly Splash, in its mood and enthusiasm! Overall today I'm in the right mood and I really groove on the album as a whole