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Reply #330 posted 07/27/21 4:54pm

2freaky4church
1

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Hot Summer is liquid shit. First it rips off the Cream riff which is already a rip. Those cutesy vocals? Hot Summer, yea. Shooby Dooby, kill me. He has grooves on the shelf? Bullshit. He was proud of this but hid Wally. Amazing.

All you others say Hell Yea!! woot!
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Reply #331 posted 07/27/21 6:24pm

jdcxc

lust said:

dualboot said:


it is actuallly quite accurate as assesment of this release. I regret having to say this.

Accurate? Cool. I’ll wait for the 23 track version of the album then. “A gruelling 23-track odyssey of farcical self-indulgence” Pretty clear that he didn’t actually listen to the album. If he’s right, it’s a lucky guess.

Sinead O'Connor wrote this Irish Times review.

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Reply #332 posted 07/27/21 6:33pm

lust

avatar

jdcxc said:

lust said:

dualboot said: Accurate? Cool. I’ll wait for the 23 track version of the album then. “A gruelling 23-track odyssey of farcical self-indulgence” Pretty clear that he didn’t actually listen to the album. If he’s right, it’s a lucky guess.

Sinead O'Connor wrote this Irish Times review.

lol Touche.

I'm not a sycophant that's offended by someone not liking a Prince album but I am offended by people who likely don't suffer from imposter syndrome despite actually being imposters. There's no journalistic integrity to that "review"

How do you write a review about how bad the album is and not even mention Hot Summer, for example?

If the milk turns out to be sour, I aint the kinda pussy to drink it!
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Reply #333 posted 07/27/21 7:40pm

fragglerock

avatar

lust said:

dualboot said:


it is actuallly quite accurate as assesment of this release. I regret having to say this.

Accurate? Cool. I’ll wait for the 23 track version of the album then. “A gruelling 23-track odyssey of farcical self-indulgence” Pretty clear that he didn’t actually listen to the album. If he’s right, it’s a lucky guess.

you do realise its obviously a typo right?

the difference between typing 12 or 23 is moving your hand just 1cm to the right

the only thing id criticise the article for is proofreading, apart from thats its spoton

lust said:

How do you write a review about how bad the album is and not even mention Hot Summer, for example?

there are worse tracks than Hot Summer on this album, WAY worse

[Edited 7/27/21 19:42pm]

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Reply #334 posted 07/27/21 8:20pm

lust

avatar

fragglerock said:



lust said:


dualboot said:



it is actuallly quite accurate as assesment of this release. I regret having to say this.



Accurate? Cool. I’ll wait for the 23 track version of the album then. “A gruelling 23-track odyssey of farcical self-indulgence” Pretty clear that he didn’t actually listen to the album. If he’s right, it’s a lucky guess.

you do realise its obviously a typo right?


the difference between typing 12 or 23 is moving your hand just 1cm to the right


the only thing id criticise the article for is proofreading, apart from thats its spoton





lust said:


How do you write a review about how bad the album is and not even mention Hot Summer, for example?





there are worse tracks than Hot Summer on this album, WAY worse

[Edited 7/27/21 19:42pm]



Could be a typo. But not proofreading your own short review and correcting it goes back to my critique of his journalistic integrity. But no, I think it more likely that he cited 23 tracks from looking at the set list from the Blu Ray.

He only mentioned two songs (what kind of bullshit review is that) and he clearly isn’t even aware that one of the two is a Soul Asylum cover which raises the question. Why is a sports journalist doing writing music “reviews”?

I don’t give a fuck if someone hates a Prince album but at least have the respect for your job to do it properly.
If the milk turns out to be sour, I aint the kinda pussy to drink it!
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Reply #335 posted 07/27/21 8:26pm

lust

avatar

fragglerock said:



lust said:


dualboot said:



it is actuallly quite accurate as assesment of this release. I regret having to say this.



Accurate? Cool. I’ll wait for the 23 track version of the album then. “A gruelling 23-track odyssey of farcical self-indulgence” Pretty clear that he didn’t actually listen to the album. If he’s right, it’s a lucky guess.

you do realise its obviously a typo right?


the difference between typing 12 or 23 is moving your hand just 1cm to the right


the only thing id criticise the article for is proofreading, apart from thats its spoton





lust said:


How do you write a review about how bad the album is and not even mention Hot Summer, for example?





there are worse tracks than Hot Summer on this album, WAY worse

[Edited 7/27/21 19:42pm]



“Spot on” you say.

So you agree with this? “despite his releasing precious little of any notable quality outside his 1980s heyday”

No judgment if you do. I’m not a “no true fan wouldn’t love everything he’s done” kinda guy. Just curious as a big claim that there’s been precious little of any notable quality for the last 30 years.
If the milk turns out to be sour, I aint the kinda pussy to drink it!
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Reply #336 posted 07/27/21 9:09pm

fragglerock

avatar

lust said:

fragglerock said:

there are worse tracks than Hot Summer on this album, WAY worse

“Spot on” you say. So you agree with this? “despite his releasing precious little of any notable quality outside his 1980s heyday” No judgment if you do. I’m not a “no true fan wouldn’t love everything he’s done” kinda guy. Just curious as a big claim that there’s been precious little of any notable quality for the last 30 years.

I agree with his thoughts on the album, not his thoughts on Princes career

every other glowing review is just a joke, this is the only one that is anywhere close to reality

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Reply #337 posted 07/27/21 9:31pm

homesquid

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These reviews are ludicrous. Sony is paying for this campaign so these writers must be getting perks.. We know better than anyone what Prince albums are great. W2A is okay. 2.5 out of 5 but may rise to 3 with more listens. There's one exception to fan opinions being the real truth. The way Planet Earth is hated on it just doesn't make sense. That album craps all over W2A.

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Reply #338 posted 07/27/21 9:41pm

fragglerock

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homesquid said:

These reviews are ludicrous. Sony is paying for this campaign so these writers must be getting perks.. We know better than anyone what Prince albums are great. W2A is okay. 2.5 out of 5 but may rise to 3 with more listens.

The reviews I have seen are just all so over the top its a joke. I can only guess theyre getting something out of it, or theyre just scared to death of being called racist if they say they dont like a song titled 'son of a slave master' so they just praise it to high heaven so they cant be accused of that

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Reply #339 posted 07/27/21 11:07pm

antonb

2 more great reviews from The Scotsman paper and the Chicago tribune, great to see , loving the positive reactions and enjoying this album very much
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Reply #340 posted 07/28/21 12:21am

Romeoblu

I think it's a great album.

The problem at the moment for me is the noise on Stand Up and B Strong.

I downloaded a different set of files that were uploaded and the bad rip noise was present again.

It really will be piss poor if it's on the official release which I fear it will be.
[Edited 7/28/21 0:21am]
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Reply #341 posted 07/28/21 1:03am

BartVanHemelen

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Neal Karlen has opinions: https://www.newsweek.com/...us-1613504

© Bart Van Hemelen
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
It is not authorized by Prince or the NPG Music Club. You assume all risk for
your use. All rights reserved.
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Reply #342 posted 07/28/21 1:36am

fragglerock

avatar

BartVanHemelen said:

Neal Karlen has opinions: https://www.newsweek.com/...us-1613504

Everybody Loves Neal

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Reply #343 posted 07/28/21 3:06am

master

fragglerock said:



BartVanHemelen said:


Neal Karlen has opinions: https://www.newsweek.com/...us-1613504




Everybody Loves Neal


Some people r dumb. But u can't educate people that are thick, as they believe it as not been released due to lack of quality buy they not understanding how Prince works. He usually only release something that is different from what previously done & he goes for conhesion above quality sometimes on album. He got an album better than purple rain in vault & according to Prince the divine is his best song. So Prince believes his vault stuff is high enough quality to release . But Neal Karen days it because it's substandard
[Edited 7/28/21 3:07am]
[Edited 7/28/21 3:09am]
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Reply #344 posted 07/28/21 3:13am

rafael

master said:

fragglerock said:



BartVanHemelen said:


Neal Karlen has opinions: https://www.newsweek.com/...us-1613504




Everybody Loves Neal


Some people r dumb. But u can't educate people that are thick, as they believe it as not been released due to lack of quality buy they not understanding how Prince works. He usually only release something that is different from what previously done & he goes for conhesion above quality sometimes on album. He got an album better than purple rain in vault & according to Prince the divine is his best song. So Prince believes his vault stuff is high enough quality to release . But Neal Karen days it because it's substandard
[Edited 7/28/21 3:07am]
[Edited 7/28/21 3:09am]


He played wta, check the record and hot summer live.
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Reply #345 posted 07/28/21 3:59am

BartVanHemelen

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rafael said:


He played wta, check the record and hot summer live.

.

Perhaps once or a handful of times or as part of a coda of another song or an interpolation. But not every concert as part of a tour.

.

PR tour -> plays PR tracks

.

Parade Tour -> Parade tracks

.

SOTT tour -> SOTT tracks

.

Lovesexy tour -> Lovesexy tracks

.

Etc.

.

But that pattern stopped, and it is especially not applicable to many of the post-WBR tours, where Prince didn't bother to perform anything current, instead relying on decades old hits.

© Bart Van Hemelen
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
It is not authorized by Prince or the NPG Music Club. You assume all risk for
your use. All rights reserved.
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Reply #346 posted 07/28/21 4:03am

jaawwnn

Irish Times is not impressed


Prince: Welcome 2 America – A one-star rating for an album that should have stayed locked away (irishtimes.com)

although, reviewer also thinks the album is 23 tracks long so who knows what he was actually listening to shrug

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Reply #347 posted 07/28/21 4:19am

Number23

BartVanHemelen said:



rafael said:



He played wta, check the record and hot summer live.

.


Perhaps once or a handful of times or as part of a coda of another song or an interpolation. But not every concert as part of a tour.


.


PR tour -> plays PR tracks


.


Parade Tour -> Parade tracks


.


SOTT tour -> SOTT tracks


.


Lovesexy tour -> Lovesexy tracks


.


Etc.


.


But that pattern stopped, and it is especially not applicable to many of the post-WBR tours, where Prince didn't bother to perform anything current, instead relying on decades old hits.


That pattern stopped for many reasons, some valid and others less so, but not least because promoters began to demand a certain number of recognisable songs in set-lists before venues were booked, but also because Prince had the financial albatross of Paisley Park hanging over his head. And, I imagine, a wildly expensive lifestyle to maintain. Record sales as an independent artist in the digital era - barring one or two major label successes post-Warner - were not going to keep the ship afloat. We’re a tiny minority on this website - by and large, people go to concerts to hear songs they are familiar with. I imagine the empty seats on the European Gold Experience spooked him a fair bit - perhaps making him see beyond artistic integrity at what was a tipping point for his career. Even an artist like Prince who enjoys reinvention has to acknowledge that to a certain degree, once your glory years are over, you need to give the people what they want in order to maintain any degree of financial security. Even Bowie more or less toured ‘the hits’ after the Earthling tour. Perhaps it would have been different if the independently-released records were more successful, but without handing over payola to radio stations and having the industry machine behind you, there’s little chance of a hit even if it’s a decent song like ‘Come On’. You see the difference major label backing has with the current W2A release - the average pop fan didn’t know he existed post-Warner. Although he must be given serious credit for the One Night Alone tour - a setlist that concentrated on the new album and rarities, soundcheck access at most venues, wonderful aftershows too. Y’know, we can all present a selective version of the truth when it comes to the latter half of Prince’s career - and your perception is valid - but by and large I believe he deserves more plaudits than he gets. This wasn’t Zappa, who could never fill arenas. Prince simply decided to play to his strengths. What makes this interesting and what must have deeply concerned him was when his body started to fail … but that’s another story.
[Edited 7/28/21 4:30am]
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Reply #348 posted 07/28/21 5:28am

Nikkie

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Most of these songs have a live- recorded in one take-feel, would have made for a perfect Tiny Desk Concert. Prince and the girls and the band, great for this kind of small live setting.
For me W2A is not one of his classic albums in any way, but still highly enjoyable!
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Reply #349 posted 07/28/21 5:58am

EmmaMcG

jaawwnn said:

Irish Times is not impressed


Prince: Welcome 2 America – A one-star rating for an album that should have stayed locked away (irishtimes.com)


although, reviewer also thinks the album is 23 tracks long so who knows what he was actually listening to shrug



I mentioned this in another thread but I'll say it here again. I don't believe he listened to the album. For one, he seems to think it has 23 tracks. Not only that but he gives zero detail of any song and his critique of Stand Up And B Strong could easily come from just the name of the song. He also doesn't mention that it's a cover. Also, the review is incredibly short as it is and yet over half of what's written is not even about the album in question.

If his genuine opinion is that the album is crap, then fair enough. I disagree with that opinion but each to their own. But I know for a fact that if this reviewer didn't actually listen to the album then it wouldn't be the first time The Irish Times printed a review for something the reviewer didn't hear/see.
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Reply #350 posted 07/28/21 6:29am

jaawwnn

Could be just a typo, "23" is right beside "12" on a keyboard.

I figure it's a real review, there's no lack of music journos who have no time for anything post 1988, or 1993, and would pretty much give that same review to every prince album since 2004.

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Reply #351 posted 07/28/21 7:08am

homesquid

avatar

Hmmm. Album growing on me. Maybe it is pretty damn good. I like that the album sounds like an album not a compilation of vault tracks. It's got a vibe. Check The Record is dope. The only tracks I can't feel at all is Hot Summer and I normally love his Cream/Peach/Vavoom type of song.

I wasn't going to buy it but I just clicked buy on Amazon. It's effin worth 10 bucks. LMBAO.

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Reply #352 posted 07/28/21 9:12am

EmmaMcG

jaawwnn said:

Could be just a typo, "23" is right beside "12" on a keyboard.

I figure it's a real review, there's no lack of music journos who have no time for anything post 1988, or 1993, and would pretty much give that same review to every prince album since 2004.



Would you consider a 12 track album to be a "grueling odyssey" though? That sounds like something one might say about a massive double or triple album, not a 12 song album.
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Reply #353 posted 07/28/21 9:28am

jaawwnn

EmmaMcG said:

jaawwnn said:

Could be just a typo, "23" is right beside "12" on a keyboard.

I figure it's a real review, there's no lack of music journos who have no time for anything post 1988, or 1993, and would pretty much give that same review to every prince album since 2004.

Would you consider a 12 track album to be a "grueling odyssey" though? That sounds like something one might say about a massive double or triple album, not a 12 song album.

Yeah, that wording is odd alright.

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Reply #354 posted 07/28/21 11:17am

claudemorton

Not really looking forward to this, hopefully I'm wrong. The live concert also leaves me a bit underwhlemed. I thought the W2A tour wasn't great in any way, and the couple I saw were like Prince on auto-pilot.

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Reply #355 posted 07/28/21 11:20am

Phase3

claudemorton said:

Not really looking forward to this, hopefully I'm wrong. The live concert also leaves me a bit underwhlemed. I thought the W2A tour wasn't great in any way, and the couple I saw were like Prince on auto-pilot.


I'm just thankful to finally get a prince concert released,in BLU RAY format.so far all the concerts from the estate have been on DVD
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Reply #356 posted 07/28/21 11:29am

lust

avatar

jaawwnn said:



EmmaMcG said:


jaawwnn said:

Could be just a typo, "23" is right beside "12" on a keyboard.

I figure it's a real review, there's no lack of music journos who have no time for anything post 1988, or 1993, and would pretty much give that same review to every prince album since 2004.



Would you consider a 12 track album to be a "grueling odyssey" though? That sounds like something one might say about a massive double or triple album, not a 12 song album.

Yeah, that wording is odd alright.




As I noted above, 23 is also the number of of songs on the set list for the Blu-ray* so I reckon he’s just looked at that briefly.

And yes, “gruelling odyssey” is odd wording for a 12 track, under 1 hour album and would better fit a review of Emancipation. But perhaps 12 songs is a gruelling odyssey to a Gen Zed/millenial who’s more used to watching Tik Tok clips than Oscar winners.

*it’s either listed as 24 or 23 depending if the intro is listed.
https://www.jbhifi.co.nz/...8sQAvD_BwE
If the milk turns out to be sour, I aint the kinda pussy to drink it!
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Reply #357 posted 07/28/21 12:43pm

master

claudemorton said:

Not really looking forward to this, hopefully I'm wrong. The live concert also leaves me a bit underwhlemed. I thought the W2A tour wasn't great in any way, and the couple I saw were like Prince on auto-pilot.


Definitely not on autopilot. He was at his best. Up there with any tour. May 14th, opening night etc ,All good shows.
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Reply #358 posted 07/28/21 12:49pm

themanfromnept
une

After several days listening Prince's Welcome 2 America, what do I think.

.
Even reading the reviews on the net, some that say it is his best record of the last twenty years, others that say that he had done well not to release it, which is shit, I realize that my opinion on this work is absolutely personal and not shareable.
In the sense that I've stopped wondering if a Prince record is objectively good or bad, I've been listening to it for too long and I've heard too many things he did. My judgment of what he does is all stomach. I don't care if it's good or bad, but if the storytelling this record will bring to my life will be good or bad.

.
And - from this point of view the judgment is easy - the album is excellent. An artist dead five years ago, whose music archive has already been looted by releasing one hundred and more unreleased songs from his luckiest period, the eighties, arrives in 2021 with a new album still closed in the cellophane of history, where he criticizes the web, the iPhone, religion, politics.
In terms of storytelling for me this is already a lot: in 1986 I chose to follow a musician whose music will survive me, not the music already released eh, the one that is still closed in the archives. I'll kick the bucket while new unreleased Prince albums will be still out.

.
Already now, when the Estate announce the release of a new Prince album, I count the days before the release because I am always afraid that maybe I'll die before.

.
And - ok - the record. It is really a record, listening to it you have the idea of ​​an alternate reality in which Prince in 2010 instead of releasing 20ten releases this Welcome 2 America. There are all the ingredients of an album, the title track, the probable radio singles, the more experimental pieces, the echoes of the black music of the seventies, the cautious openings to hip pop and contemporary music.

.
The title track in the form of a sermon with choirs playing around Prince who - basically - speaks as if he were on the pulpit of some church, the Running Game proto-rap, on a basis that is not rap, left in the hands of the singers until at a certain point he arrives to resume the threads of the discourse, the amarcord of Born2Die, mixed in such a way as to seem - in fact - an old black music single hit on vinyl, the jam session of 1000 Light Years from Here, where choirs, guitar and drums create and destroy this idea of ​​an underwater future world, the sugary and silly pop of Hot Summer, the conventional / standard cover of Stand Up and B Strong, the funk / rock of Check the Records, the religious vision of Same Page Different Book , where a single god is accessed by too many different religious books, the ballad "tongue in the ear" of When She Comes, with its headphone verses imitating coitus, the piece by Rin Tin Tin, a "funky pop" among the best that wrote in the period, the "let's make some rock noises" of Yes, left for the most part in the hands of the singers and then the final track.

.
The final track is neither easy nor difficult, it is called One Day We All B Free, again the music refers to the black music of the seventies, IMHO, it is a piece with a dark lyrics but musically "positive" that from time to time occasionally he pauses to introduce the theme of the refrain. One day, one day we will all be free. The theme of the chorus does not fit into the rest of the song, it is as if the piece pauses for a moment to introduce this discordant theme that only at the end is integrated into a gospel that closes the piece.

.
But just in the last few seconds it changes. The last verse says, "Someday, someday we'll all be." And it ends. The word "free" does not arrive, the song ends and a dark, slightly dissonant pedal is inserted. We still don't know if we * really * will eventually be free.

.

wow

.
And therefore: a record in which I skip nothing, made up of things that are more successful and others slightly less, but all well blended together, well arranged, with attention to detail.

.
In my personal storytelling he did it: I'm sitting here, in 2021, writing a review of a new Prince album, never heard before. That very personal electrical energy that circumscribed his body is still here, in the things that are left of him.

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Reply #359 posted 07/28/21 12:57pm

LILpoundCAKE

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there are a few weird shifts in tempo in ONE DAY WE WILL ALL B FREE. am I the only one hearing it?

i'm not sure if I love it or hate it. it's different, that's for sure smile

May U Live 2 See The Release of Parade SDE
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