Hi all. I haven't posted here since his death. It broke my heart like all of you. For 30 steady years he and his albums have been my joy, my escape, my healing, my excitement, my friend, my memories.

I'm sure it's been said - but I am so grateful that Prince released "Way Back Home" and "Affirmation III" before he passed. To me, they are among his most beautiful songs, and so strangely fitting lyrically...and it brings me a bit of comfort, I feel as if he transitioned to the next world as his lyrics described it in those songs.

That's all for now. Peace.

Pretty sure it was Mountains.

The last stunning Prince track. It sounded like Prince opening up in song for the first time in ages. I really hoped for an album of material like this. I just wish there was a version without the spoken intro...

It's a great song.

I'm pretty sure I saw someone mention this before but I can't find it now...doesn't it sound like a heartbeat mixed in?

I agree. I know people who don't like Prince but they like that song. He comes across as vulnerable, sincere, introspective and mature. The song works on several levels, especially for those of us who have followed him forever.

suomynona said:

suomynona said:

Pretty sure it was Mountains.

are you in agreeance with Cloreen?

Grog said:

I agree. I know people who don't like Prince but they like that song.

Same here.

I love this song...but I think Revelation was amazing!! so beautiful ... both songs r a bit heart-breaking right now...but i see this as his last released masterpiece!

suomynona said:

Pretty sure it was Mountains.

.

Yeah, got to go with "Mountains" on this one.

Cloreen said:

Xarina said:

It's a great song.

I'm pretty sure I saw someone mention this before but I can't find it now...doesn't it sound like a heartbeat mixed in?

I read on hear that it was his baby's heartbeat but I never saw anything factual about that. It does sound like it and it's enough to make you lose it when you hear it kicking in especially on affeirmation 3.

jjam said:

The last stunning Prince track. It sounded like Prince opening up in song for the first time in ages. I really hoped for an album of material like this. I just wish there was a version without the spoken intro...

I wondered as other people did on here if prince had been experimenting with dmt. they say the third eye is experienced at death and that something called "machine elves" try to guide you through the death process by saying "do not give in to astonishment" I figured the lady's voice was a guide. and the way prince doesn't respond in the 3rd affirmation is foreboding and awesome to me. It's like a very potent melody line with no melody, it's crushing, especially now. I can only hope some sheetmusic comes out on the album, I'll cover this one along with Johnny Cash's Hurt and Sam Cooke's Change is Gonna Come, both songs from the next world made shortly before their deaths.

"Way Back Home" was the first song that came to mind when he passed and was stuck in my head the whole day.

epronk said:

ivey0126 said:

suomynona said:

Pretty sure it was Mountains.

are you in agreeance with Cloreen?

No.

donnyenglish said:

"Revelations", "Black Muse", "Look At Me, Look At You" from Hit & Run Phase Two are 3 great songs with excellent arrangements and musicianships. The songwriting, especially on "Black Muse" is very nuanced and touch on Black history, Black pride and spirituality without being overbearing.

Since his passing, Way Back Home and Affirmation III are the songs I listen to the most, with Time in between. Just play them whenever I feel bad about his passing. It is comforting...

I believe it was Sex In The Summer from Emancipation that featured his son's heartbeat as a rhythm track...

it's possible he reused it for Way Back Home, though it seems unlikely. This is the first I've heard of that...

most likely it's a sequencer programmed to sound reminiscent of a heartbeat.

PeteSilas said:

Xarina said:

It's a great song.

I'm pretty sure I saw someone mention this before but I can't find it now...doesn't it sound like a heartbeat mixed in?

I read on hear that it was his baby's heartbeat but I never saw anything factual about that. It does sound like it and it's enough to make you lose it when you hear it kicking in especially on affeirmation 3.

suomynona said:

FunknRoll (AOA version) is one of my favourite Prince songs, full stop. AOA was a great album.

I stand firm on my belief that the basis sample
is Boy Gregory's heartbeat.

He used it on "Sex In The Summer", why not here?
Where it makes Way more sense.

Zealots and aficionados take a wrong take on "3121" and "AOA".
These are albums that, in sound and structure, are intended to be pristine.
Like "Thriller", and "D&P", and "The Gold Experience".

I never heard any unintentional distorsion on the last chorus of "The Breakdown".
Prince obviously mixed the whole album, even if he let Joshua choose some sounds.
This distorsion IS intentional, the guy is breaking down, get it?
For a proper listen of "AOA", tune the EQ to your likings, that's all.
There's some serious guitar going on all over.
And the drum patterns are so simple, they just make you nod. It's a positivity album.

"AOA" is a very good pop concept album for kids, that's all.
Got a teen in the house? That's the album that will make him/her love 1979 "Prince".
And then hopefully s/he's going to find all the current musical production crap,
but that's another problem.

"Way Back Home" cannot be listened separately.
It's about when it's dropping during the album, it's when "Affirmation III" starts, the whole Girl's speech and its lunacies (or rather Skipper's idosyncracies) and fuck your own playlists, I LOVE that he kicks Daft Punk's asses with the FunknRoll remix.
That's the whole concept of "AOA".
The challenge and joy of playing voices, bass and guitars
over the restricted sonic vocabulary of the 00's :
autotune, big stadium synth stabs, this kind of shit.


If that was Prince's intent, then it is, as often, to be considered a little masterpiece in his own league. like "Chaos and Disorder".

"AOA" is about staying alive over EDM ("that was kinda dead" anyway, from the start).
It's about kicking the empty beats ("Time") and artificial sounds that surround us.

KingSausage said:

Cloreen said:

.

Yeah, got to go with "Mountains" on this one.

Way Back Home became an instant favourite when I first heard it. It feels so close to me it almost hurt. It's the first song I thought of when I heard the news. It took me a few days to actually listen to it, but now I go to it often... For some reason it consoles me. Love it.