Can we all agree about how good this album is!?

I wanted to listen to Groovy Potential, but man, i couldn't stop, every single track is so good and funky.

Love it, can't describe my love for this album, i'm glad it was his last one and not Phase One.

I agree! I love the whole album! I listen to it more than AOA or Phase1. I think Phase1 has it's moments but I'm glad it wasn't the last album too.

Doozer said:

I love it and prefer it over phase 1 by a mile. It has a nice, warm, organic sound, like a pop version of the Rainbow Children.

That is a nice and fairly accurate way to dfescibe this album, I also by far prefer it over HNR1.

Doozer said:

I always thought this was an underrated album, though it does get some love here on occasion. Other than Screwdriver, I think it plays well as an album even though many of the songs were released at various times. I think this album was one illustration of how Prince could still be wonderful and yet sound more like his age. Revelation is in my top 20 Prince songs and Black Muse and Groovy Potential are in my top 100. This album, the P & M tour, and the recent leaks of some of the instrumental work he was doing at the end suggest to me that Prince was in the midst of a creative roll when he died. At least we do have this album from this era and hopefully we eventually get some offical releases of his other recent material though I am not holding my breath.

D

[Edited 4/15/18 12:06pm]

D

[Edited 4/15/18 12:06pm]

unfortunately, it is rather ignored by the industry. ONly a technical grammy nomination during the year of his death. I think becuse it is not cutting edge like Bowie (or thematically related to his death). Real shame because it is a very warm album. I think the obsession with relevance is what hurt it. Its a bit of a throwback in a time when throwbacks don't seem to be the trend. Its a great album with true relevance at times and playful middle-aged flirtations in other songs. but after P's death, people were still catching up with all his older work finally flooding the market and internet so the album did not get the posthumous boost it probably should have.

idc what anybody says, indeed it is. after his passing, i revisited all his music, released and unreleased and came to love a lot of stuff i skipped over throughout the years. his last 4 albums were pretty GREAT in my opinion. he surely could've toured some of the new stuff and still mixed in hits. i only wish he cared to tour behind a more of the new stuff. he was rehearsing it for a little while...there's rehearsal audio from it

donnyenglish said:

Black Muse and Stare are as good as anything that he has ever made. There is not one song I don’t like on the album. Amazing that his last tour and his last album were among his best.

Interesting choices. Black Muse, I completely agree with. I think it would have marked an interesting turning point in his recording. It has a mature feel about it that sits well alongside What It Feels Like and Way Back Home.

*

Stare, on the other hand, I can't get beyond the clumsy inclusion of Kiss and Sexy Dancer. It starts so well and the first verse is superb but then it wobbles horribly before the instrumentation - for me.

*

I think your comment about last tour and last album being among his best is right on the mark. It is such a shame that he died when musical inspiration appeared to be blooming in him again.

Hmmm, I actually think it's one of his weakest sets tbh. Best songs are RNR Love Affair and Look At Me. But there's some really weak songs on there, especially 2Y2D and When She Comes, and Baltimore is one of Prince's worst album openers. It also doesn't help that a lot of the best songs included were ones we had known for years.

[Edited 1/6/18 13:42pm]

When Phase I came out you woudl think that Prince stole something from me. I felt so violated and I expressed myself very strongly about my dislike for the album on this site. I hope he never read my comments, but I fear that he did. And then we got Phase 2 on that wonderful day in December 2015 and it made everytihing right. That would be his final surprise for us, which makes me sad.

And then I went to Paisley for the Gals and on one of the nights Prince played lots of songs from Phase I while doing his last sampler set performance of his life. I actually liked many of the songs that night and it changed my whole opinion of the album. I don't love the album, but I know like it and I went from never playing it to routinely making it one of my albums to work out to. It just shows that he was so much further ahead of things than we were and sometimes the fans have to be willing to let him guide us through his journey. Phase I was an example of that.

We all know there has to be a Phase III. I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but let's hope that we watch the 7 fall in 2018 so that his music and legacy will be left to his fans, as he intended.

[Edited 1/6/18 14:47pm]

I like HnR Phase 2, but, to be honest, I was just happy to have something after that disappointment that is HnR Phase 1.

purplerabbithole said:

unfortunately, it is rather ignored by the industry. ONly a technical grammy nomination during the year of his death. I think becuse it is not cutting edge like Bowie (or thematically related to his death). Real shame because it is a very warm album. I think the obsession with relevance is what hurt it. Its a bit of a throwback in a time when throwbacks don't seem to be the trend. Its a great album with true relevance at times and playful middle-aged flirtations in other songs. but after P's death, people were still catching up with all his older work finally flooding the market and internet so the album did not get the posthumous boost it probably should have.

Everything you say, and also the fact that Bowie's record was anticipated and promoted by a strong major even before people knew he was dying, while HnR2 was largely ignored by mass medias and just perceived as 'yet another Prince album" (it was, after all and counting Back In Time, his fifth record in 15 months...).

I'm not sure what Prince should have done in order to create a real sensation but it should, like Blackstar, have been something that was at the same time radically different from his previous works but, unlike HnR1, not radio friendly. With major boost by both Prince, proper music videos and a major really backing it up, HnR1 may actually have appealed to radios and a younger crowd, but critics would then have accused him of whorring. Hell, even Bowie was accused of whorring when he went electronic in the mid 90's

donnyenglish said:

When Phase I came out you woudl think that Prince stole something from me. I felt so violated and I expressed myself very strongly about my dislike for the album on this site. I hope he never read my comments, but I fear that he did. And then we got Phase 2 on that wonderful day in December 2015 and it made everytihing right. That would be his final surprise for us, which makes me sad.

And then I went to Paisley for the Gals and on one of the nights Prince played lots of songs from Phase I while doing his last sampler set performance of his life. I actually liked many of the songs that night and it changed my whole opinion of the album. I don't love the album, but I know like it and I went from never playing it to routinely making it one of my albums to work out to. It just shows that he was so much further ahead of things than we were and sometimes the fans have to be willing to let him guide us through his journey. Phase I was an example of that.

We all know there has to be a Phase III. I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but let's hope that we watch the 7 fall in 2018 so that his music and legacy will be left to his fans, as he intended.

[Edited 1/6/18 14:47pm]

Honestly I think HnR1 is a very strong record in the sense that it does what it says and says what it does, it's fresh, it's dancefloor friendly and it's contemporary. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't too impressed at first and though it grew on me later it probably won't ever be one of my favorites among P's canon. And I prefer HnR2 by a mile: it's the Prince I know and love, and I was totally crazy about it the minute it came out. But regardless, I appreciate the fact that HnR1 was a strong artistic statement, and more importantly one of a very few times Prince went outside his comfort zone. He did a lot of things over the course of those 39 years, but he rarely ever left his comfort zone. And it's always interesting when an artist does that, even if the result isn't always as brilliant as what they do when they do what they usually do.

donnyenglish said:

Black Muse and Stare are as good as anything that he has ever made. There is not one song I don’t like on the album. Amazing that his last tour and his last album were among his best.

I am certainly no conspiracy theorist but I have wondered about this too. When Phase 1 came out, I thought it was his weakest album- ever. I thought June was oddly personal. I thought 1000 Hugs was good but, not as good as the early 90s original. I just felt he was trying too hard to sound like 'now'.... then he mysteriously surprise releases phase 2 which is a total opposite of phase 1. It is organic, it is well written....it has some of his greatest music ever in Black Muse, Groovy Potential, Look at Me, Baltimore ...REVELATION!! I asked myself, why would he slip in such an organic album 2 month after Phase 1. Then, all the confessional stuff on AOA, and his very open commentary during the Jan.21 Piano and Mic shows. Just the fact that he did Piano and Mic shows....is all of this coincidence?

I think there is more to the story that has not leaked out. My gut sort of tells me he may have known something b/c the last album, the last tour, his openess all seemed to be a message. If there is anything we know, we know he spoke through his music and if you accept that, it's pretty clear that he was saying 'goodbye'....

I dont care what anyone says its the album I have listened to the most since he passed (this and Lotus Flow3r)
I even own the clear bootleg vinyl it is that good to me.

Revelation gives me chills still to this day.

JoeyCococo said:

a few good songs, however most of them are awful boring.... imho...


I honestly very much prefer Hit N Run Phase 1 (no joke its my opinion)..

tomds said:

donnyenglish said:

When Phase I came out you woudl think that Prince stole something from me. I felt so violated and I expressed myself very strongly about my dislike for the album on this site. I hope he never read my comments, but I fear that he did. And then we got Phase 2 on that wonderful day in December 2015 and it made everytihing right. That would be his final surprise for us, which makes me sad.

And then I went to Paisley for the Gals and on one of the nights Prince played lots of songs from Phase I while doing his last sampler set performance of his life. I actually liked many of the songs that night and it changed my whole opinion of the album. I don't love the album, but I know like it and I went from never playing it to routinely making it one of my albums to work out to. It just shows that he was so much further ahead of things than we were and sometimes the fans have to be willing to let him guide us through his journey. Phase I was an example of that.

We all know there has to be a Phase III. I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but let's hope that we watch the 7 fall in 2018 so that his music and legacy will be left to his fans, as he intended.

[Edited 1/6/18 14:47pm]

Regarding the bolded above,,,That is a interesting statement. I wonder if that could be with the vault masters in CA now???

[Edited 1/8/18 23:38pm]

Astasheiks said:

donnyenglish said:

When Phase I came out you woudl think that Prince stole something from me. I felt so violated and I expressed myself very strongly about my dislike for the album on this site. I hope he never read my comments, but I fear that he did. And then we got Phase 2 on that wonderful day in December 2015 and it made everytihing right. That would be his final surprise for us, which makes me sad.

And then I went to Paisley for the Gals and on one of the nights Prince played lots of songs from Phase I while doing his last sampler set performance of his life. I actually liked many of the songs that night and it changed my whole opinion of the album. I don't love the album, but I know like it and I went from never playing it to routinely making it one of my albums to work out to. It just shows that he was so much further ahead of things than we were and sometimes the fans have to be willing to let him guide us through his journey. Phase I was an example of that.

We all know there has to be a Phase III. I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but let's hope that we watch the 7 fall in 2018 so that his music and legacy will be left to his fans, as he intended.

[Edited 1/6/18 14:47pm]

Regarding the bolded above,,,That is a interesting statement. I wonder if that could be with the vault masters in CA now???

[Edited 1/8/18 23:38pm]

I suspect that Phase III would have been 3EG outtakes. The HnR albums were his way of clearing out some vault material with PI being the outtakes from his last album proper, AOA. PII being orphaned songs from a little earlier. PIII going back even earlier with 3EG stuff prior to their album proper. Who knows, maybe in time he would have worked his way back to the WB years?