cblu said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I need to fully listen to this one, but I remember having a little breakdown 1sec cry after hearing AOA and said in my heart "Prince is not here"

Totally agree. There is so little "Prince sound" on there. And obviously he changed his sound many times - but there was always come common denominator consistency that held it all together as one long symphony. Frank Zappa called his "conceptual continuity" and AOA didn't hold onto the Prince concept (whatever that means)

During the W2A virtual celebration that DeAngela (polishedsolid on youtube) hosted, one of the panelists, Harold Pride, brought up a good point. Whenever Prince was surrounded by limited or unimaginative musicians, he played to their limitations, especially live. So with this this you have Coleman and Tal who are great in their own right, but the compositions were unimaginative. Still a solid album, but not the calibre we are used to from him.

RODSERLING said:

What is sure, is that, Prince alive today, would have never released it. Welcome 2 America was already a name of his tour, and already released some tracks out of it. [Edited 8/27/21 3:46am]

I have a feeling the CD-R was just a reference collection for the tour singers, not an actual album.

billymeade said:

There was 3 CD-R the estate has dicovered, according to Mathieu Bitton.
Each with a different tracklist- none had the 12 tracks like it has been released anyway.

One of the CD-R had a sequencing near the final product they released. Near how? That's the question.

But that's a myth Prince sequenced the track list of the album. He didn't do civer art neither. Some songs were clearly unfinished, and Prince would have never released it like that.

On one of the CD-R, there was Cause and Effect, but Morris Hayes said to the estate the track was scheduled for 20TEn, not for the W2A project.
So it wasn't included in the end.
[Edited 8/27/21 13:03pm]

I think it just sounds unfinished. There would have been horn overdubs surely?

1999 - one of his biggest hits - has other members of the band singing large chunks of the verses.

And Grafitti Bridge was full of different singers.

It never nothered me, and I actually thought it was one of Prince's strengths that he used so many different voices throughout his music - not necessarily just his own.

cblu said:

JorisE73 said:

I think he was seriously condsidering releasing it to showcase Liv, Shelby and Elisa that's why he named the tour W2A and put them in on the forefront.

Further evidence that Prince was completely out of touch. It reminds me of the interview with the 20Ten engineer; Prince was obsessed with how these songs would sound to young people "in the club". The poor engineer didn't have the heart to tell Prince that this will never be played in the clubs.

This is heartbreaking. I never thought I would think of Prince as a Baby Jane figure.

RODSERLING said:

billymeade said:

I have a feeling the CD-R was just a reference collection for the tour singers, not an actual album.

There was 3 CD-R the estate has dicovered, according to Mathieu Bitton. Each with a different tracklist- none had the 12 tracks like it has been released anyway. One of the CD-R had a sequencing near the final product they released. Near how? That's the question. But that's a myth Prince sequenced the track list of the album. He didn't do civer art neither. Some songs were clearly unfinished, and Prince would have never released it like that. On one of the CD-R, there was Cause and Effect, but Morris Hayes said to the estate the track was scheduled for 20TEn, not for the W2A project. So it wasn't included in the end. [Edited 8/27/21 13:03pm]

What Mathieu Bitton says confirms what was posted somewhere else some months before the announcement of the album was made. However there was also a mock up of a potential cover art desribed or shared to some.

Ymaginatif said:

1999 - one of his biggest hits - has other members of the band singing large chunks of the verses.

And Grafitti Bridge was full of different singers.

It never nothered me, and I actually thought it was one of Prince's strengths that he used so many different voices throughout his music - not necessarily just his own.

Co-sign.

I'm not a big fan of W2A, but if I were to list its faults I wouldn't cite the inclusion of other vocalists. I think that adds an element to his music.

lurker316 said:

Ymaginatif said:

1999 - one of his biggest hits - has other members of the band singing large chunks of the verses.

And Grafitti Bridge was full of different singers.

It never nothered me, and I actually thought it was one of Prince's strengths that he used so many different voices throughout his music - not necessarily just his own.

Co-sign.

I'm not a big fan of W2A, but if I were to list its faults I wouldn't cite the inclusion of other vocalists. I think that adds an element to his music.

i don't mind the other vocalists but they're too much upfront. So much that they drown out other elements.

[Edited 8/31/21 2:29am]

I was shocked the 1st time I listened to the W2A track.
To me it was too slow, without climax, instrumental solos, etc.

But the worst for me was the chorists. Prince developped, like MJ, his own way of doing his own background vocals.
It would have been better like that. But in his last decade, Prince didn't bother much and preferred to hire chorists.

Now, reading the lyrics, I understand : Prince says something, the naive chorists then ask questions or do remarks, and then Prince answers.

But maybe it would have worked too if he did the background vocals himself, just like in Batdance for instance, where he plays many characters.

In the other hand, if this album works so well for music critics, and even the casual audience, is that without him doing the voices, the solos, etc. It lacks of Prince mannerisms that drove away the audience in the last decades.
It s like a "Normal" Album, amd that's why it works so much for non-Prince fans.

What's the point of not releasing all the found material for every project?Save it for our funerals?

jfenster said:

Because they want rave reviews from medias obviously on these projects.

They want to leave a good impression, something cohesive, not flooding the music critics with too many average tracks.

When asked why Originals hadn't the whole CD filled, or why there wasn't a SDE with a second CD when they had the choice between 300+ tracks, that's basically what Michael Howe answered.

And remember that was Jay Z who insisted on Love They' Will B Done to be included, or else there would have been 14 tracks instead of 15.

With W2A, I m sure they want to chase big awards, like the Grammy, BET, etc.
The album is still selling well worldwide, so it's becoming commercially a good contender

RODSERLING said:

jfenster said:

What's the point of not releasing all the found material for every project?Save it for our funerals?

Because they want rave reviews from medias obviously on these projects. They want to leave a good impression, something cohesive, not flooding the music critics with too many average tracks. When asked why Originals hadn't the whole CD filled, or why there wasn't a SDE with a second CD when they had the choice between 300+ tracks, that's basically what Michael Howe answered. And remember that was Jay Z who insisted on Love They' Will B Done to be included, or else there would have been 14 tracks instead of 15. With W2A, I m sure they want to chase big awards, like the Grammy, BET, etc. The album is still selling well worldwide, so it's becoming commercially a good contender

but did it / is it selling so well because of the content or the excessive promotion?

jfenster said:

The excessive promotion?!

jfenster said:

RODSERLING said:

jfenster said: Because they want rave reviews from medias obviously on these projects. They want to leave a good impression, something cohesive, not flooding the music critics with too many average tracks. When asked why Originals hadn't the whole CD filled, or why there wasn't a SDE with a second CD when they had the choice between 300+ tracks, that's basically what Michael Howe answered. And remember that was Jay Z who insisted on Love They' Will B Done to be included, or else there would have been 14 tracks instead of 15. With W2A, I m sure they want to chase big awards, like the Grammy, BET, etc. The album is still selling well worldwide, so it's becoming commercially a good contender

but did it / is it selling so well because of the content or the excessive promotion?

Um, you could ask that about almost any album/film/art/etc.

cblu said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I need to fully listen to this one, but I remember having a little breakdown 1sec cry after hearing AOA and said in my heart "Prince is not here"

Totally agree. There is so little "Prince sound" on there. And obviously he changed his sound many times - but there was always come common denominator consistency that held it all together as one long symphony. Frank Zappa called his "conceptual continuity" and AOA didn't hold onto the Prince concept (whatever that means)

But the majority of instruments/vocals were Prince. Does anyone know how much of the co-producer "production" was actual playing/programming of keyboard and beats?

It's the mix. I shouldn't have to concentrate that hard to hear Prince's distinctive voice.
He turned the engineering, production and mix over to Jason Agel and Morris Hayes. I think he was actually rehearsing folks for future work as this one came together quickly, considering as many people were involved.

I still like it more as I replay it. But it should be remixed to highlight Prince.