I truly appreciate all 3 albums and the $77 loutusflow3r member experience (for a short time)

I also love what came out from performing at Montreux, Le Grand Journal, Nokia theater & on Jay Leno

this also one of my favorite interviews around that era

https://usatoday30.usatod...ghts_N.htm

It's a good release.

Like most Prince albums after Gold and Exodus, I spliced the two albums together into one. Found myself doing that for the last 20 years or so.

Poplife88 said:

I've been revisting these lately and can't seem to get enough.

Lotus of course is the stronger of the two and always loved it.

But I am surprised how much I am enjoying MPLSound as I pretty much wrote it off when it came out. There are duds on there for sure, but overall its a fun Linn throwback. It soounds like Prince was having a blast making these.

So just a shout out about a later Prince album that hasn't been on my radar for awhile.

On Lotus Flower it was great to hear Prince come back to rock but what takes place in general on MPLS Sound is why I am Prince fan.

I liked both of his albums in the set. I thought they could have been cut down into one truly incredible record, but there's not a song on either that had to grow on me.

Bria's ... it was okay. I remember seeing some footage of her being interviewed by Tavi at the time and she didn't seem that enthusiastic about it, so I didn't expect much when I finally listened. It's not a horrible record, it just doesn't have much of an identity of its own. She was sultry, but started at a plateau. Her vocals weren't as convincing as they could've been, and after having heard Tamar's canned album I couldn't figure out how this one got a release and hers did not. ("All I Want Is U" is one of the strongest songs he's worked on for a female singer in his orbit.) I always felt like if Bria's songs were released 2 or 3 at a time as singles with b-sides, it would have done better and been taken more genuinely.

MPLSound catches so much shit. I think it's fine. "Dance 4 Me", "Valentina", "Ol Skool COmpany" and "Another Like ME" I think are great fun.

I really liked the art too. Cheesy, loud and a little psychadelic.

pinkcashmere23 said:

ChocolateBox3121 said:

Prince(r.i.p.) started using protools with this triple album that he got advise from when he visited Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis studio in La. This project brings back so many memories of the website LotuFLOW3R.com launch. Which I first was able to get a sneak peak at Tavis Smiley's charity benefit concert that Prince was the sole guest at in early 2009. Then the nitemare website launch that had me pulling my hair out to get through the maze to purchase tickets to the MEGA three shows in one night at the then Nokia Center in Downtown La. Then the tickets to the three Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearances in one week. I was able to attend the whole extravaganza.

That was a really special time I thought. The Nokia show was amazing from what I've seen of it.

It was UNBELIEVABLE being able to see him THREE times in one night. Although he was pissed about the sound & let the sound people have it backstage at the first show. By the time the last show came @ Club Nokio. Alhough cooled off he gave a lecture to Randy Phillips Chief executive of AEG. He talked about how horrible the sound was when he came there to see Alicia Keys. Prince(r.i.p.) said if Randy fixed the sound there he would come back and play for free. Of course it never happened. He then resumed singing ALL his slow jam classics. Later I found out he was singing to his then main squeeze Bria Valente' who was sitting in a special place in a VIP booth. He then announced that he was going to the JW temple after the show. The energy that man had. He was not of this earth.

[Edited 3/28/19 16:26pm]

I've said this before and it's not meant to be dramatic, but I think both of these albums suck pretty hard. This is all subjective and my opinion only, but unlike most people, I don't find the guitar playing on Scrotus Flow3r to be very good at all. The songs (though slightly better lyrically that MPLSound), are pretty blah to me. Dreamer is cool. MPLSound has some good jams, but lyrically it's like an entire album of Arms of Orion. Totally phoning it in to my ears. I'm truly glad that those albums bring joy to folks who like them. Truly. I REALLY wanted to like them, but I just don't. I couldn't even tell you why for certain. I should probs give them another spin.

bsprout said:

That’s funny, I’ve also been listening to MPLSound on repeat lately and was surprised to quite like it. I never bothered to listen to it much before. I got a kick out of the use of the Linn and was surprised he was still using it at this stage of his career (“is that a Linn drum I’m hearing?”). And the ‘Valentina’ song...oh, Prince... I even really like this song. I love ‘Dance4 Me’- it’s bubble-gum with an infectious beat and puts me in a good mood- here I especially enjoy singing,‘Hallelujah!’ lol Overall it’s a nice, chill album. As for the Elixer album, I don’t have this album. I think this is largely because when I first heard the song ‘Elixer’ on the Tavis Smiley show, and Prince’s accompanying gushing, I disliked it immediately. Maybe if I’m desperate for new (for me) Prince material I’ll reconsider listening to it, but right now there’s no interest. On another note, I always wondered if Prince purposely released this album as ‘Elixer’ instead of ‘Elixir’, but that’s another story!

I think Valentina could be a great song if it wasn´t for the silly lyrics. The guitar solo is beautiful and I like his laidback vocal delivery...as if he´s trying to channel Lil Wayne a bit, a bit reminiscent of how 18 and Over sounded a little bit as if he was channeling what Dre and Snoop Dogg were doing in 94.

.

Elixir is weird. I don´t dislike it as much as most orgers do but I think it could have been better. Like many songs from the 2000s it all sounds deliberately tamed, and there are other songs that follow this tamed approach, such as Incense and Candles. Both pretty sexy songs with potential but then he kind of holds back or beats around the bush trying not to sound too obvious or kinky, as if he really wants to do it but then again not really....and that´s my main gripe with some of his slower jams or "sexy" songs of his later career. He either sounded as if he was holding himself back in the lyrics department, or he went overboard and almost sounded a tad vulgar for my taste (for example that "....wet circles around the toy...." line on TRC´s Mellow .

.

Dance 4 Me is a nice little dance song and I think it deserved much better. It had a lot of potential and could have been more successful.

I didn´t like Chocolate Box and There´ll Never Be Another Like Me. The latter sounded very corny and when we first heard some instrumental parts most people here on the org didn´t even believe that it was a proper Prince song and thought it was a fake.

.

All in all, I´m glad that he had the freedom to release whatever he wanted and whenever and however he wanted , which often led to mixed results. If you took three or four songs from each album this whole project would´ve worked much better but that goes for most of his late 90s , early 2000s projects.

herb4 said:

MPLSound catches so much shit. I think it's fine. "Dance 4 Me", "Valentina", "Ol Skool COmpany" and "Another Like ME" I think are great fun.

I really liked the art too. Cheesy, loud and a little psychadelic.

I really like those songs, too....except for Another Like Me.

steakfinger said:

I've said this before and it's not meant to be dramatic, but I think both of these albums suck pretty hard. This is all subjective and my opinion only, but unlike most people, I don't find the guitar playing on Scrotus Flow3r to be very good at all. The songs (though slightly better lyrically that MPLSound), are pretty blah to me. Dreamer is cool. MPLSound has some good jams, but lyrically it's like an entire album of Arms of Orion. Totally phoning it in to my ears. I'm truly glad that those albums bring joy to folks who like them. Truly. I REALLY wanted to like them, but I just don't. I couldn't even tell you why for certain. I should probs give them another spin.

So you don´t even like Boom or those two intro and outro Lotus instrumentals?

ChocolateBox3121 said:

pinkcashmere23 said:

That was a really special time I thought. The Nokia show was amazing from what I've seen of it.

It was UNBELIEVABLE being able to see him THREE times in one night. Although he was pissed about the sound & let the sound people have it backstage at the first show. By the time the last show came @ Club Nokio. Alhough cooled off he gave a lecture to Randy Phillips Chief executive of AEG. He talked about how horrible the sound was when he came there to see Alicia Keys. Prince(r.i.p.) said if Randy fixed the sound there he would come back and play for free. Of course it never happened. He then resumed singing ALL his slow jam classics. Later I found out he was singing to his then main sqeeze Bria Valente' who was sitting in a special place in a VIP booth. He then announced that he was going to the JW temple after the show. The energy that man had. He was not of this earth.

I especially liked Insatiable and the Beautiful Ones.

And he played I´m Yours, which was very unexpected.

Also cool that he played with Sonny and Michael B. again.

His rant against AEG was a bit unnecessary though.

Lotusflower has been a favourite of mine from the first time that I heard it. MPLSound not so much, in fact it's probably one of the Prince albums I like the least, though I immediately took to here Here and No More Candy 4 U and still enjoy them now.

Lotusflower is a near classic, second only to The Rainbow Children in his post Warner years. I only wish it was more of a rock album and didn't try to do so much. And it could have been. Imagine, for instance, Prince had traded 4ever for a Prince vocal of Redhead Stepchild, traded Feel Good for a studio version of the Montreux Jazz rendition of When Eye Lay My Hands on U (like how he remade The Dance on 3121), and Love Like Jazz or $ for the Montruex Jazz version of All This Love.

All in all 2009, with Lotusflower and the Montruex Jazz festival shows, is one of the peaks of Prince's career in my opinion.

thisisreece said:

Lotusflower is a near classic, second only to The Rainbow Children in his post Warner years.

yup

thisisreece said:

Lotusflower has been a favourite of mine from the first time that I heard it. MPLSound not so much, in fact it's probably one of the Prince albums I like the least, though I immediately took to here Here and No More Candy 4 U and still enjoy them now.

Lotusflower is a near classic, second only to The Rainbow Children in his post Warner years. I only wish it was more of a rock album and didn't try to do so much. And it could have been. Imagine, for instance, Prince had traded 4ever for a Prince vocal of Redhead Stepchild, traded Feel Good for a studio version of the Montreux Jazz rendition of When Eye Lay My Hands on U (like how he remade The Dance on 3121), and Love Like Jazz or $ for the Montruex Jazz version of All This Love.

All in all 2009, with Lotusflower and the Montruex Jazz festival shows, is one of the peaks of Prince's career in my opinion.

Yes, the 2009 Montreux shows are really great, and the music was much better than in the late 90s and early 2000s.

.

It´s funny that we all like two or three songs off of MPLsound but we all like different songs from it.

I can´t stand No More Candy 4 U but you and many other seem to like it a lot.

KoolEaze said:

ChocolateBox3121 said:

It was UNBELIEVABLE being able to see him THREE times in one night. Although he was pissed about the sound & let the sound people have it backstage at the first show. By the time the last show came @ Club Nokio. Alhough cooled off he gave a lecture to Randy Phillips Chief executive of AEG. He talked about how horrible the sound was when he came there to see Alicia Keys. Prince(r.i.p.) said if Randy fixed the sound there he would come back and play for free. Of course it never happened. He then resumed singing ALL his slow jam classics. Later I found out he was singing to his then main sqeeze Bria Valente' who was sitting in a special place in a VIP booth. He then announced that he was going to the JW temple after the show. The energy that man had. He was not of this earth.

I especially liked Insatiable and the Beautiful Ones.

And he played I´m Yours, which was very unexpected.

Also cool that he played with Sonny and Michael B. again.

His rant against AEG was a bit unnecessary though.

NO it wasn't!!! An artist like Prince(r.i.p.) should get the best sound he wants. He was the BEST musician in the universe.

One thing I enjoy about Lotus is that the production was a lot better than some of his 2000's offerings. Can't say the same about MPLSound because it had that Emacipation platicy thing going on but a lot of Lotus sounded really on point.

I enjoy the albums. The Bria was the longest listen of my life. I almost didn't get through it. If Sade a true vocalist sung this album-it would be great. Where as Bria is a singer and didn't have the ability to deliver what was needed.

KoolEaze said:

ChocolateBox3121 said:

It was UNBELIEVABLE being able to see him THREE times in one night. Although he was pissed about the sound & let the sound people have it backstage at the first show. By the time the last show came @ Club Nokio. Alhough cooled off he gave a lecture to Randy Phillips Chief executive of AEG. He talked about how horrible the sound was when he came there to see Alicia Keys. Prince(r.i.p.) said if Randy fixed the sound there he would come back and play for free. Of course it never happened. He then resumed singing ALL his slow jam classics. Later I found out he was singing to his then main sqeeze Bria Valente' who was sitting in a special place in a VIP booth. He then announced that he was going to the JW temple after the show. The energy that man had. He was not of this earth.

I especially liked Insatiable and the Beautiful Ones.

And he played I´m Yours, which was very unexpected.

Also cool that he played with Sonny and Michael B. again.

His rant against AEG was a bit unnecessary though.

Not at all. I've been on both sides of it, as a performer and a sound guy. There are times when the equipment is at fault, and it won't get right no matter what you do. Then there are times when diligence is not done just ahead of the show to make sure nothing went awry. Then there are times that you know you have an equipment problem, and you can't get those responsible for paying for the replacement part to listen.

In the end, if the show sounds bad - even only in the monitors or side fills - it is the fault of the venue. Unless it is the Ultimate Live Experience tour and you are mixing from inside a cave onstage. Then it's your fault.

RJOrion said:

"Here" is so overlooked...vintage Prince

Agreed - I love that one.

InwardJim said:

KoolEaze said:

I especially liked Insatiable and the Beautiful Ones.

And he played I´m Yours, which was very unexpected.

Also cool that he played with Sonny and Michael B. again.

His rant against AEG was a bit unnecessary though.

Not at all. I've been on both sides of it, as a performer and a sound guy. There are times when the equipment is at fault, and it won't get right no matter what you do. Then there are times when diligence is not done just ahead of the show to make sure nothing went awry. Then there are times that you know you have an equipment problem, and you can't get those responsible for paying for the replacement part to listen.

In the end, if the show sounds bad - even only in the monitors or side fills - it is the fault of the venue. Unless it is the Ultimate Live Experience tour and you are mixing from inside a cave onstage. Then it's your fault.

Better with Time is so pretty to me. I agree Here is underrated. No More Candy makes my heart hurt.

KoolEaze said:

Farfunknugin said:

dodger said:

KoolEaze said:

I...

Agree with most of this, especially Valentina. I like the music and vocals but it's when you sing along in the car the likes of 'she's all worn out from those late night feedings' you think WTF. The lyrics are a bit bizarre

I wonder how that Louis Vuiton brand owner, Selma Hayek´s husband, feels about this song.

Is he proud that his wife is so hot that she´s inspired this song?

Does it feel awkward for him that she´s worn out from those late night feedings?

Valentina is probably too young to understand but I guess in ten years from now she´ll find out about this song and then....I don´t know....wonder about the lyrics ?

As sad as it is that Prince is no longer with us, now that he is gone, it adds something special to this song. Like a long lost letter from the past or a video message from a long time ago.

KoolEaze said:

dodger said: