Musicology, 3121, Planet Earth, Rainbow Children, Lotusflow3r

or

20Ten, Art Official Age, Plectrumelectrum, Hit N Run Phase 1 and 2

That is really a kind of difficult question to answer for me, but I prefer the 10's by a small margin.

The aughts had much better music. PlectrumElectrum was a mess and a cheap NPG rip-off type gig. "Oh, let's hear the band play and sing up front". Uh, no. I don't care to hear any of those girls sing. I'm not buying their record, I'm buying a Prince record. I have never listened to PE all the way through. Anything w/ Hannah or whothefuckever singing, I skipped it. I have zero interest in that. Wrong set o' lips, Prince.

I was no great fan of Musicology, but it did have a few good tracks on it. 3121, Planet Earth and many songs on the Lotusflow3r set kept his acrylic production further away than closer. Maybe he was still riding on the organic nature of The Rainbow Children.

It was when AOA came that I felt he had really flattened his sound. It was so overproduced and polished, it lacked anything I ever knew about Prince as a musician. It didn't feel like growth to me, it felt like laziness.

20Ten was sort of in the middle of all of the above, but I'd almost group it with the more open sounds in the aughts than in the tens.

I'd go with 10s over 00's. He was in a fairly dark place particularly for TRC - NPG Music club era in the early 00s. Musicology/3121/PE were spotty (a few gems here in there) and Lotusflow seemed to be going in the right direction.

20ten and onward he seemed more relaxed and comfortable with his role as elder statemen and looked to be finding a balance in his life (at least musicallly but perhaps not personally given what we now know)

AOA and HNR Phase Two are two of my favorite albums by Prince post- 80s. So i'd say the 10s.

10s

00s

Both but I'd say 10's overall.

The 00s had more and better music, at least in my opinion. From TRC all the way to 20Ten I liked at least 50% of the album material, if not more but the music he released with the 3rd Eye Girl band wasn´t really my thing.

Of course I bought Plectrum Electrum because it´s an official release but I can count the times I really listened to it on one hand. AOA was better but also contains two or three songs that I just can´t listen to, like the first song. I skip that and can´t even listen to a few seconds of it. And I keep wondering how much of the music was really played by him, and how much by Josh. It also sounds much too polished to me but in a bad way.

I love the songs Time, Way Back Home and a couple of others, so I do like AOA and some of the live concerts in the 10s were better than the ones in the 00s but toward the end he left the stage and the solos more and more to Donna Grantis. Then again, the 00s gave us Shelby´s flagwaving and hypewoman chants but I must say the Montreux shows were some of the best in the 00s with that stripped down band with no fanfare and gimmicks, and a very tight show with full lyrics and long solos played by Prince.

So, all in all, I preferred the 00s as far as released music goes, and most of the live shows were also better except for a few minor flaws.

The 10s were ok, too, but ....knowing what we know now, I understand why some performances were the way they were.

Musicology - my jam. Musicology was the first Prince's song I've ever heard

3121 - sexy and sensual without explicit lyrics.

Planet Earth - slightly worse than the previous two, but still worth lsitening to.

Rainbow Children - no. Nonsense and boredom.

Lotus - my other jam. Cute and cheeky.

20TEN - nice melodies and lyrics, but no sexiness.

Art Official Age - apart from the sad songs, very soothing and sexy album. Very good choice of collaborators.

Plectrum - very nice project, but I'm not into rock, so I only dig a few songs.

Hit n Run Phase 1 - dance grooves, good to sweat to.

Hit n Run Phase 2 - sensual grooves, a great companion for someone madly in love.

Both. 10s

MIRvmn said:

00s cuz there was some really great albums like TRC, One night alone, NEWS and Lotusflow3r. The worst album of the 00s is Musicology but it's still far better than the 2 worst albums of the 10s, Plectrum Electrum and HnR1.

I can barely listen to those two albums. Seriously, HNR1 and some of the songs that Josh coproduced on AOA are unlistenable to me.

But I do like AOA as an album.

I much prefer HNR 2 over HNR 1 and I totally agree with you as far as album releases go. I prefer the albums of the 00 years.

I´m a bit torn when it comes to live shows.

The 00s gave us great tours such as the ONA tour or those magical 2009 Montreux shows but some of the 2014 live shows were great ,too.

But, like I said in my previous post above, I think I prefer the 00s over the 10s.

90% of everything

between 1978-2016

[Edited 5/2/18 17:22pm]

2010s - more for the brillinat P&M and 3rd eye tours, but also gets credit for AOA (my favorite since the 80s) and the highly enjoyable HnR2. This makes up for HnR1 and the erratic though still okay Plectumelectum.

FullLipsDotNose said:

Musicology - my jam. Musicology was the first Prince's song I've ever heard

3121 - sexy and sensual without explicit lyrics.

Planet Earth - slightly worse than the previous two, but still worth lsitening to.

Rainbow Children - no. Nonsense and boredom.

Lotus - my other jam. Cute and cheeky.

20TEN - nice melodies and lyrics, but no sexiness.

Art Official Age - apart from the sad songs, very soothing and sexy album. Very good choice of collaborators.

Plectrum - very nice project, but I'm not into rock, so I only dig a few songs.

Hit n Run Phase 1 - dance grooves, good to sweat to.

Hit n Run Phase 2 - sensual grooves, a great companion for someone madly in love.

You've left out NEWS, C-NOTE, Slaughterhouse, Chocolate Invasion, One Nite Alone, One Nite Alone...LIVE, and Xpectation. If you take that bulk of material and add it to everything from 2001 through 2009, it's hard not to say that Prince in the '00 was, at the very least, way more eclectic.

The 00's by a mile.

At least both decades gave us a great concept album each - TRC and AOA. But the 10's were pretty lean on output. PlecElec is alright, but nothing earth shattering. The HNR albums were compilations of orphaned songs. HNR2 being the better of the two. AOA is great apart from the turd that is Breakfast Can Wait.

But the 00's gave us a whole bunch of Ahdio shows, internet only albums (Slaughterhouse & TCI), the fantastic TRC, the enjoyable but hard work NEWS, the bland Xpectation, The slightly better CNOTE, a great triple live album, a nice piano album, a return to the mainstream album with the average Musicology, a very good 3121, a crappy newspaper giveaway (PE), a poor attempt at resurrecting the linn drum sound (MPLSound), an ok almost guitar album (LF) and a better attempt at resurrecting the linn drum sound again (20ten). And some I may have missed. A mixed bag for sure, but plenty to chew on.

But there is still hope for the 10's if the estate play their cards right.