I've looked back at the timelines 4 recording W2A and the release of 20TEN along with the talk of Warner USA releasing 20TEN DELUXE. I'm now thinking that the material on W2A was going 2 be the 2nd CD accompanying the 20TEN CD. He probably wanted it 2 come out Fall 2010 and then he'd be touring it that fall and into 2011. If my memory serves me well, he met with Warner USA in late winter or spring of 2010 2 bless the vinyl only re-release of DM, CONTROVERSY, and 1999 and that's when they agreed in principle 2 release 20TEN DELUXE. I also believe that meeting was the initial talk about the PR remaster project, which dragged out years until the Warner release of PlectrumElectrum and AOA, and beyond. Perhaps some of the Prince historians on here will have a better recollection of the timelines...

so after 10 years, slowly but surely, some of Prince's fanbase have come to be in favour of 20Ten. I'm not among them. Sure, Lavaux (very nice area, it is too!) is a nice Prince track and Sticky is half decent, but just the opening 5 seconds... Compare that to the opening of W2A with that bass..

.

Now, I'm not saying W2A is one of his greatest albums. I mean, it has its own Everybody Loves Me in Hot Summer, old-timy Prince sounds and all.

.

But, if you look at the standout tracks of W2A: Welcome 2 America, Same Page Different Book, 1010 (Rin Tin Tin), when was the last time there was a Prince album with three good tracks that also sound good? The filler tracks sound less aggravating then on most of his albums.... basically, this is the best since Hit&Run Phase Two and that was the best since.... let me check the discography... 3121 and The Rainbow Children before that.

.

So... while it's interesting to compare the two albums that were recorded close together, they really don't stand together when it comes to quality. They aren't even close.

.

Still.. there's apparently a fanbase for it now. Good. All these children lost a father, good that we have people care for all of them, even if it is different people for different children.

FunkyBrotha said:

Interesting to see many people hating on beginning endlessly. It's one of his most ambitious and creative tracks of the last phase of his career. I get the feeling that the good ole us of a fans just want to trash this record because he was prioritising Europe and specifically the UK during the 2007-2010 period

I'm with u, I love Beginning Endlessly. Listened 2 it twice 2day. I'm suprised by the many that miss the boat on this song. Glad that I didn't.

CherryMoon57 said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Future Soul Song sounded amazing live in concert. Gave me goose bumps.

I wish I had been there. 20Ten does contain some amazing gems. I also really like Sea of Everything (the soulful harmonies towards the end are incredible).

Sea of Everything is one song that I just can't stomach. I've tried a few times and just cannot get to the end. I'd rather listen to Purple & Gold, no joke.

TheEnglishGent said:

CherryMoon57 said:

I wish I had been there. 20Ten does contain some amazing gems. I also really like Sea of Everything (the soulful harmonies towards the end are incredible).

Sea of Everything is one song that I just can't stomach. I've tried a few times and just cannot get to the end. I'd rather listen to Purple & Gold, no joke.

I actually used to find it hard to get into and always skipped it, but on one occasion, I left it on until the end and it suddenly clicked.

It was like my ears heard it in a completely new way that I can't really explain. Now I even prefer it to Future Soul Song.

[Edited 8/2/21 9:09am]

SantanaMaitreya said:

jdcxc said:

“Not hurting” prolly too strong….Prince not that powerful.LOL. Wat I meant was that P didnt want to contribute to Anti-O climate or be labeled as opposed to the First Black Prez.

I'm stil not convinced. I remember an interview (Tavis Smiley?) where Prince said about Obama "I'm sure he means well" and "I have no dog in that race". So it doesn't seen to me that Obama was very much on his mind.

He was a JW. They're suppose to be politically neutral. He seemed try to present that publically (until near the end of his life where that facade crumbled) while still letting his dark side free on record/live shows.

mediumdry said:

so after 10 years, slowly but surely, some of Prince's fanbase have come to be in favour of 20Ten. I'm not among them. Sure, Lavaux (very nice area, it is too!) is a nice Prince track and Sticky is half decent, but just the opening 5 seconds... Compare that to the opening of W2A with that bass..

.

Now, I'm not saying W2A is one of his greatest albums. I mean, it has its own Everybody Loves Me in Hot Summer, old-timy Prince sounds and all.

.

But, if you look at the standout tracks of W2A: Welcome 2 America, Same Page Different Book, 1010 (Rin Tin Tin), when was the last time there was a Prince album with three good tracks that also sound good? The filler tracks sound less aggravating then on most of his albums.... basically, this is the best since Hit&Run Phase Two and that was the best since.... let me check the discography... 3121 and The Rainbow Children before that.

.

So... while it's interesting to compare the two albums that were recorded close together, they really don't stand together when it comes to quality. They aren't even close.

.

Still.. there's apparently a fanbase for it now. Good. All these children lost a father, good that we have people care for all of them, even if it is different people for different children.

I agree that folks seem to be warming 2 20Ten. I've always liked it. A couple of songs had 2 grow on me, but its an album that I listen 2 alot. Both W2A and 20Ten are kind of short duration albums. I don't find them similar in any other ways. Its early still but I would say that I prefer W2A over 20Ten because it feels more like a complete album.

Rimshottbob said:

FunkyBrotha said:

Probably one of the most interesting aspects of his decision making process post 2000 was the release of 20ten in Europe with no official American release whilst at the same time holding back on releasing W2A, an album laser focused on America itself. Personally I think 20ten is the stronger album with universal messages of love and compassion and since Prince is an international artist perhaps he felt that American political commentary would be isolating vast swathes of his followers. 20ten has some stunning tracks, future soul song, la vaux and beginning endlessly are far better than anything on this most recent release so I'm finding it hard to accept the views expressed frequently that it was a poor album. I believe Prince knew exactly what he was doing and Im convinced that he wasnt entirely satisfied with W2A to an extent. With a bit more fat in some of the songs it could have been a stellar album

Well you've had 11 years to digest one and a few days to digest the other.

Why do so many people insist on making declarative statements the second an album is released?

Maybe wait a while and see how Welcome 2 America sits with you after, I don't know, a month? 6 months? A year? Before you decide.

Some people have exquisite music taste and that's on them. I'm one such person and I consider both albums to be really decent. P really set the bar high, it must be said. Peace out.

emesem said:

Nothing on W2A is better than just 10 seconds of Future Soul Song. Game over.

Ridiculous...nothing released by 99% of pop stars is better than Future Soul Song. By that metric, W2A has a chance of being pretty good. 😂

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

The mistake most of you are msing is comparing both as albums when prince stopped making good albums in the 90s. He still had some great songs on each album but whole albums? Nope.

The mistake you are making is that you forgot to add, "in my opinion", to your post.

For me, Prince made some fantastic albums in the 00's and later.

TheEnglishGent said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

The mistake most of you are msing is comparing both as albums when prince stopped making good albums in the 90s. He still had some great songs on each album but whole albums? Nope.

The mistake you are making is that you forgot to add, "in my opinion", to your post.

For me, Prince made some fantastic albums in the 00's and later.

Ex-fuckin-actly.

.

To say most of us are making a mistake and state as a matter of fact he 'stopped making good albums in the 90's' is ridiculously arrogant

I think I prefer 20Ten, they both sound like Prince on autopilot though, one with a band and one on his own. I can find things to like on both of them, entire songs as well, but.... well, I have to go looking.

dodger said:

TheEnglishGent said:

The mistake you are making is that you forgot to add, "in my opinion", to your post.

For me, Prince made some fantastic albums in the 00's and later.

Ex-fuckin-actly.

.

To say most of us are making a mistake and state as a matter of fact he 'stopped making good albums in the 90's' is ridiculously arrogant

Yeah that.

I'd rather have an AOA, TRC or TGE than Batman or TBA any time, any day.

TheEnglishGent said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

The mistake most of you are msing is comparing both as albums when prince stopped making good albums in the 90s. He still had some great songs on each album but whole albums? Nope.

The mistake you are making is that you forgot to add, "in my opinion", to your post.

For me, Prince made some fantastic albums in the 00's and later.

I agree. I have this argument with my friends who are Prince fans all the time. They think the only stuff worth listening to is from the '80s. I agree that the '80s were his best years, but some of my favoriate albums are post-2000: The Rainbow Children, 3121, Lotusflow3r and HitNRun Phase 2.

FunkyBrotha said:

Probably one of the most interesting aspects of his decision making process post 2000 was the release of 20ten in Europe with no official American release whilst at the same time holding back on releasing W2A, an album laser focused on America itself. Personally I think 20ten is the stronger album with universal messages of love and compassion and since Prince is an international artist perhaps he felt that American political commentary would be isolating vast swathes of his followers. 20ten has some stunning tracks, future soul song, la vaux and beginning endlessly are far better than anything on this most recent release so I'm finding it hard to accept the views expressed frequently that it was a poor album. I believe Prince knew exactly what he was doing and Im convinced that he wasnt entirely satisfied with W2A to an extent. With a bit more fat in some of the songs it could have been a stellar album

I'm not really a fan of either of these albums, but if I had to pick I'd say W2A. I prefer its organic sound to the synthetic sound of 20Ten.

It's not that I'm anti-synth (I love much of his '80s stuff). It's the particular / specific synth sound of 20Ten that's like nails on a chalk board to me.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Future soul song and walk in sand are up there with his best 00s songs. The rest, it's ok, nice to hear just to hear modern prince, but nothing that special. He wasn't working that hard on his songs I dont think. Just another day at the studio really.

Each to their own. I personally think those are the least interesting songs on 20ten.

W2A has much better songs on it in my opinon. I think people only prefer 20ten because they have had longer to take it in and listen to it. So its grown on them. Some of the lyrics sound so clunky on 20ten. On future soul song it has that terrible clunky sounding line that doesnt go with the rest of the song. Prince rushed 20ten together it seems to me listening to it. W 2 A has more thought put into it lyrically.

antonb said:

W2A has much better songs on it in my opinon. I think people only prefer 20ten because they have had longer to take it in and listen to it. So its grown on them. Some of the lyrics sound so clunky on 20ten. On future soul song it has that terrible clunky sounding line that doesnt go with the rest of the song. Prince rushed 20ten together it seems to me listening to it. W 2 A has more thought put into it lyrically.

I keep wondering what the extended 20ten albums sounds like that Prince intended to sell in the U.S.. I have a copy of the the 20ten CD that was given out then but many of the songs sound cut-off and abbreviated. I'm really wondering what the extended one sounds like... Been wondering for 10 years... LOL The live "Future Soul Song" I heard at one of The Forum performances put me on

I've never understood the love for Future Soul Song.

lurker316 said:

I think the worst track on W2A is W2A, the opener. And probably the worst track on 20ten is the opener, so there is that they have in common. There is no argument with the book, as Prince might say. So it seems he wants the book to have a slow start.

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I think the comparisson is irrelvant imho.

I don't like to compare Prince albums, since they mostly are all very different.

That's what we like so much about the dude.

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