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.

so are the clicks in stand up and b strong actually on the cd or is it a bad rip can anyone conferm this ?

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.

darklotus69 said:

I find myself repeatedly skipping forward to listen and relisten to 1000 Light Years, Same Page, 1010, Yes, and One Day We Will All B Free. The others come and go, and mostly get skipped.

Welcome 2 America - I like the groove, but I don't care for the silly paranoid lyrics. 2/5

Running Game - Groove is OK. Not much repeat-listening value. I don't care for the lyrics. Prince complaing about record labels was a stale theme, even by 2010. 2/5

Born 2 Die - Not bad. Growing on me recently. It certainly captures that Marvin Gaye et. al. sound. I like the horn arrangement, but I don't like the shitty midi-sounding fake horns. Just get some real hornz to do this! 3/5

1000 Light Years - FANTASTIC. Love it. As good as anything he did from the 2000s. 5/5

Hot Summer - Pop by the numbers. Not terrible, but highly skippable. 2/5

Stand Up And B Strong - Most skippable. Sounds like it would fit nicely on a compilation of Emancipation-era power-ballad covers (Betcha By Golly Wow, One Of Us, etc.). 2/5

Check The Record - Cool on first listen, but has zero repeat-listening value. Sounds like a Chaos & Disorder outtake that never really gets going. Throwaway lyrics. This could have been much better. 2/5

Same Page - Funky. Solid... but this is old to me. 3/5

When She Comes - At first I thought this was better than the HNR2 version, but now I'm not so sure. I like it more stripped back, but it still seems a little unfinished. Great vocals, though. 3/5

1010 - Love it. Reminds me of the Exodus album. Quirky, funky Prince. 4/5

Yes - Great little rocker. Sounds like a 20Ten outtake, sonically. It's Prince doing Graham Central Station! 4/5

One Day We Will All B Free - I like it. Reminds me of Graffiti Bridge era. 3/5

.

[Edited 7/28/21 23:17pm]

so are the clicks in stand up and b strong actually on the cd or is it a bad rip can anyone conferm this ?

The 96khz/ 24bit download is clearly... well... not.

I guess the "found on some CDs" narrative is very plausable.

I really like Running Game (Son of a Slave Master). I noticed it is not appreciated that much in the reviews. I like the relaxed sound and melody.

[Edited 7/29/21 14:00pm]