I might be slow. Sorry.

I have been listening a lot to Art Official Age lately...

So many great tracks...

Clouds
The Gold Standard
What It Feels Like
This Could Be Us
Way Back Home
U Know

I really enjoy these songs.

Slak is Dutch for 'snail'.

i'm thinking of artificial cage as the physical being itself since he passed. He knew.

mikeyaddict said:

Of the recent offerings it feels to me like the most complete 'prince' albums for some time. So many of he classic elements. Love u all purple family.

ya, i've mentioned that I hope way back home gets a sheet music i can use, it's amongst his very best.

I got this and Plectrumelectrum for Christmas in 2014.... doesn't really relate to anything in particular, but I just remembered that. My Mom always asks for a list with as many things as possible online (she hates driving) and these were both on Amazon. .... siiiigh.... So many memories.

I fell in love with AOA all over again in the last few days ...

To me "Art Official Age" is the autenthic P farewell album.

A really good one, at the time but now even more.

I listened to it yesterday and somewhat I've convinced myself that he was probably aware that his time were near the end and wanted to create it as a musical goodbye.

There are too many things inside it that now takes a different and more deep sense.

The plot, the structure, the overall feeling...

I don't know if it make sense for someone other than me, but AOA sounds like the last proper P album, with the various volumes of HNR being like some kind of anthology a-la CB or O4S, a retrospective project that could last the necessary.

To me AOA is P's "Blackstar".

BoraBora said:

To me "Art Official Age" is the autenthic P farewell album.

A really good one, at the time but now even more.

I listened to it yesterday and somewhat I've convinced myself that he was probably aware that his time were near the end and wanted to create it as a musical goodbye.

There are too many things inside it that now takes a different and more deep sense.

The plot, the structure, the overall feeling...

I don't know if it make sense for someone other than me, but AOA sounds like the last proper P album, with the various volumes of HNR being like some kind of anthology a-la CB or O4S, a retrospective project that could last the necessary.

To me AOA is P's "Blackstar".

i'd agree, not just because of the devestating way back home but also the quality, it's a complete album. Hitnrun is good but no moments like AOA. you know, way back home was so powerful, i posted it on my facebook and said i knew just how he felt, people were worried about me. It sounds just like someone welcoming the spriritual transition. In that way, it was very much like Elvis' 'way down' for those of you who haven't heard that, i suggest you take a listen, elvis sounded like he couldn't wait to die, first time I heard it I got chills. Johnny Cash's Hurt, sam cooke's change is gonna come, Michael Jacksons "morphine" all cut from the same cloth and amongst these artist's most powerful works.

I picked up the vinyl copy yesterday. Didnt intend to but saw it and had to buy it. A great album..

BoraBora said:

To me "Art Official Age" is the autenthic P farewell album.

A really good one, at the time but now even more.

I listened to it yesterday and somewhat I've convinced myself that he was probably aware that his time were near the end and wanted to create it as a musical goodbye.

There are too many things inside it that now takes a different and more deep sense.

The plot, the structure, the overall feeling...

I don't know if it make sense for someone other than me, but AOA sounds like the last proper P album, with the various volumes of HNR being like some kind of anthology a-la CB or O4S, a retrospective project that could last the necessary.

To me AOA is P's "Blackstar".

+1

Spanky said:

Wanna really have your mind blown? AOA = Alpha Omega Alpha, beginning and the end and back to the beginning. Another sign that Prince may have made this his last "official" album. He knew something. And this was his hello and goodbye and hello. His way back home.

When I played the CD the first time it had a tone to it, he was sampling his own history - his lyrics uplifting but Cold ...It had messages I could not understand

it was like an updated version of Emancipation CD

BoraBora said:

To me "Art Official Age" is the autenthic P farewell album.

A really good one, at the time but now even more.

I listened to it yesterday and somewhat I've convinced myself that he was probably aware that his time were near the end and wanted to create it as a musical goodbye.

There are too many things inside it that now takes a different and more deep sense.

The plot, the structure, the overall feeling...

I don't know if it make sense for someone other than me, but AOA sounds like the last proper P album, with the various volumes of HNR being like some kind of anthology a-la CB or O4S, a retrospective project that could last the necessary.

To me AOA is P's "Blackstar".

Agreed..

stesa said:

Slak is Dutch for 'snail'.

Exactly.

BoraBora said:

To me "Art Official Age" is the autenthic P farewell album.

A really good one, at the time but now even more.

I listened to it yesterday and somewhat I've convinced myself that he was probably aware that his time were near the end and wanted to create it as a musical goodbye.

There are too many things inside it that now takes a different and more deep sense.

The plot, the structure, the overall feeling...

I don't know if it make sense for someone other than me, but AOA sounds like the last proper P album, with the various volumes of HNR being like some kind of anthology a-la CB or O4S, a retrospective project that could last the necessary.

To me AOA is P's "Blackstar".

I think this is very perceptive, especially given what we know now.

The art and lyrics are full of esoteric hints.

I think him being so enthusiastic about writing his memoirs already is maybe the biggest clue. Why would a guy who has spent 40 years being utterly private want to suddenly tell his story at such a relatively young age? It seems like he knew he wasn't going to be doing it at 70 or 80.

There's so many reasonsy why....I don't belong here.....

This reminds me of the thread a few years ago when someone realized that Anna Stesia = Anesthesia.

The org is a much kindler and gentler place now.

It took me a few days to get it too re the album title...

Superfan1984 said:

Which album says, "that's it" at the end-- Which I keep hearing about, is it AOA?

HITnRUN Phase Two.

Way Back Home's lyrics worried me the first time I heard them.

"Oh No. He sounds in deep despair. Are we losing him?".

JordanRose said:

I think this is very perceptive, especially given what we know now.

The art and lyrics are full of esoteric hints.

I think him being so enthusiastic about writing his memoirs already is maybe the biggest clue. Why would a guy who has spent 40 years being utterly private want to suddenly tell his story at such a relatively young age? It seems like he knew he wasn't going to be doing it at 70 or 80.

There's so many reasonsy why....I don't belong here.....

This is what I think, too, JordanRose, and I thought this almost immediately.

It is so natural for us to look for clues to answer the hows and whys that we have no answers for at this time. I think that coupled with the fact that just a few months ago, we all watched David Bowie drop an album and pass away in the same weekend, and his final work was very clearly his statement on his impending death, which anyone could figure out easily by listening to it but then that was so publically corroborated by those who were secretly working with him on Blackstar or saw him in his final year.

Given the parallels between Bowie and Prince, I want desperately for Prince to have done something similar in his own special way - to have known what was going down and then "told us" in some sort of code that we're now finding.

Upon further reflection, though, I think the fact of the matter is that Prince frequently had these spiritual themes. They go way back but then amplified once he had his religious conversion and shook off the racier aspects of his persona. "Art Official Age" was deeply spiritual and contains everything that you guys have mentioned, but I don't think it means that Prince knew he was dying when he made it.

But then again...maybe he did know then. Since we won't know, we're filling our time right now pouring over everything and analyzing it. And I don't see any harm in that. It's keeping us connected to him. It's helping us to grieve.

The book, though...the news that he was writing one was almost as shocking to me at the time of its announcement as the news of his passing was. That seemed odd for all of the reasons that JordanRose mentioned. I wonder if there's any way we'll ever get a piece of evidence to confirm any of these things we're wondering. Ultimately, this is all in keeping with the mystery of Prince that we've grown so familiar with over the years. That seems strangely appropriate, if not always comforting.

FUNKNROLL said:

Way Back Home's lyrics worried me the first time I heard them.

"Oh No. He sounds in deep despair. Are we losing him?".

I don't think it was despair on his part, I think he was moving on in his mind, he was accepting aging rather then deniying it. But it was profoundly sad on our end. I actually teared up listening to that the first time, feeling like he was leaving us.

It's so deep to me that I don't even share my thoughts about with my partner. But now I want to.

But then Hit n Run landed with the old pop Prince attitude (I actually quite like phase 1), and then phase 2 landed with the more mature vibe.

I hope there was some plan to release other phases.

Prince had a supernatural way of relating to you through weird references and vibes. It always felt almost personal.

For example. My favorite movie in the world is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The movie uses sound and music in a monumental meaningful way. It was a religious experience for me as a 3rd grader because it treats the whole idea of UFO's and aliens as a metaphor for angels and leaving earth (at the end the hero leaves into the light). The movie also is a metaphor for the creative impulse, the drive that defines an artist to try to describe feelings through their work and actions. My name on here is a reference to the club I made as a third grader (I was like a little Mulder from x-files, but back in 1977)

In his song Black Muse, Prince says:

Now that eye got your attention
Eye think its 'bout time eye mention
The reason why eye wrote this song
Like a UFO sighting
From my heart eye am writing
The next close encounter
Tell me how long
Will it be on land or near the water
Will it produce the sun or the black moon daughter
Or a pillow covered with all our tears
1000 light years away from here
(1000 light years from here)

Of course, that kind of shit went straight to my heart!

JordanRose said:

BoraBora said:

To me "Art Official Age" is the autenthic P farewell album.

A really good one, at the time but now even more.

I listened to it yesterday and somewhat I've convinced myself that he was probably aware that his time were near the end and wanted to create it as a musical goodbye.

There are too many things inside it that now takes a different and more deep sense.

The plot, the structure, the overall feeling...

I don't know if it make sense for someone other than me, but AOA sounds like the last proper P album, with the various volumes of HNR being like some kind of anthology a-la CB or O4S, a retrospective project that could last the necessary.

To me AOA is P's "Blackstar".

I think this is very perceptive, especially given what we know now.

The art and lyrics are full of esoteric hints.

I think him being so enthusiastic about writing his memoirs already is maybe the biggest clue. Why would a guy who has spent 40 years being utterly private want to suddenly tell his story at such a relatively young age? It seems like he knew he wasn't going to be doing it at 70 or 80.

There's so many reasonsy why....I don't belong here.....

RE: Memoirs - Knowing how prolific he was, and prone to doing things in 'one take' (i.e. quickly), I wouldn't doubt if the 50 pages he completed was all he needed to provide to his editor/writing partner. He said he was starting from his earliest memory. Perhaps 1 page = 1 year, which means he turned in at most 50 years of material. I can imagine he is the kind of person with a near perfect memory which is something of a curse.

[Edited 4/30/16 8:31am]

I giggled a bit at the title of this thread. Hey - we all have our Forrest moments in life. Wait until you figure out "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)". You gon' trip.

.

I wasn't a huge fan of AOA, but there were quite a few moments I very much enjoyed. I was trying to meld the best of AOA & PE into one funky playlist to listen to in the car, etc, back when they came out. This is what I came up with:

.

1. WOW
2. Rock and Roll Love Affair (Original Radio Edit)
3. MARZ
4. Screwdriver (Intro’d Edit)
   
5. WAY BACK HOME (The Affirmation Blend)
6. FIXURLIFEUP
7. CLOUDS (Speechless Mix)
8. FUNKNROLL (PLECTRUM version)
9. BREAKDOWN
10. ANOTHERLOVE
11. THIS COULD BE US
12. Same Page Different Book
13. TIME
14. PLECTRUMELECTRUM

"Way Back Home" cuts out a lot of the talking, and seemlessly blends "affirmation iii" into it so it's a bit longer, and quite beautiful. "Clouds" cuts out the speech as well. "Screwdriver" just puts a quick guitar intro at the front of it, so it keeps the energy of "Marz" into the next track. I kind of dig this whole playlist.

slakk said:

I might be slow. Sorry.