Romeoblu said:

How would rank the albums from 2004-2015? 1 Lotusflow3r 2 3121 3 Art Official Age 4 Welcome 2 America 5 Musicology 6 Planet Earth 7 Hit N Run Phase 2 8 Plectrumelectrum 9 Mplsound 10 20Ten 11 Hit n Run Phase 1

1. 3121

2. Musicology

3. Lotusflow3r

4. Art Official Age

5. 20Ten

6. Hit n Run Phase 1

7. Hit N Run Phase 2

8. Plectrumelectrum

9. MPLSOUND

10. Welcome 2 America

11. Planet Earth

1. 3121

2. Musicology

3. Art Official Age

4. Welcome 2 America

5. Lotusflower

6. 20ten

7. Planet Earth

8. Hit N Run 2

9. Hit N Run 1

10 MPLSound

11. Pectrumelectrum

[Edited 9/11/21 12:50pm]

EmmaMcG said:

Phase3 said:

EmmaMcG said:

01 - Lotusflower

02 - Art Official Age

03 - 3121

04 - Hit n Run Volume 2

05 - 20Ten

06 - Musicology

07 - Planet Earth

08 - MPLSound

09 - Hit n Run Volume 1

10 - Plectrum Electrum


I need a lot more time to digest W2A before I can slot it in there somewhere.

Phase3 said:

EmmaMcG said:

No appreciation for "June"? Possibly his best song from 2004-2015

Completely agree - and a very rare, stark revelation of his state of mind.

1 Hit N Run Phase 2 - I wish this one had its own title rather than "vol.2", it's such a well-crafted, coherent, flowing set of classics.

2 3121 - the title track alone stands as one of his best... and Black Sweat is just genius

3 Mplsound - Old School Company is so overlooked IMHO

4 20Ten - ditto Sticky Like Glue, it's such a perfect pop song

5 Lotusflow3r - drags on a bit, but it's a coherent piece of work overall

6 Art Official Age - slightly too melancholic for my taste, but Clouds and You Know are spot on

7 Musicology - a bit of a relief as he went back to shorter, streamlined releases

8 Planet Earth - it's ok...

9 Plectrumelectrum - a frustrating listen, particularly for those who saw this power trio (quartet) live... the raw energy they possessed is all cleaned up and tamed... And Screwdriver should have been on this one and would have been a highlight

10 Welcome 2 America - major, major disappointment, a reheated rehash of his own former craft

11 Hit n Run Phase 1 - unlistenable, IMHO... Save for the amazing JUNE...

1. Art Offical Age 0 Favorite Prince album since the 80s.

2. HnR2 - love the harn arrangements here. Enjoy the whole album except for the Screw.

3. Musicology - Underated on the Org.

4. 20ten - not great but definitely fun

5. 2021 - okay but I felt it was over-praised.

6. Lotusflow3r

7. W2A - better than expected.

8. Plectrum Electrum - really like the few songs Prince vocals are featured but....

9. Planet Earth - actually like it more now then when it was released but still his dullest.

10, HnR1 - a few of his worst songs ever though some good ones too.

11. MplsSound - was this done by a 80s cover band?

1. 3121

2. Planet Earth

3. Hit N Run Phase 2

4. Art Official Age

5. Lotusflow3r

6. MPLSound

7. Musicology

8. Hit N Run Phase 1

9. 20ten

10. Welcome 2 America

11. Plectrumelectrum

gandorb said:

1. Hit N Run Phase 2
2. Art Official Age
3. Lotusflow3r
4. 20Ten
5. 3121
6. Welcome 2 America
7. Musicology
8. Planet Earth
9. Hit n Run Phase 1
10. Mplsound
11. Plectrum Electrum

Art Official Age

Welcome 2 America

Hit N Run Phase 2

3121

Musicology

Mplsound

Lotusflow3r

Planet Earth

Hit n Run Phase 1

20Ten

Plectrumelectrum

What Is intersting to me is that over time it seems that HnR2 has perhaps become the most liked ablum of the era among orgers, though I know there are several dissenters. Some people like myself like AOA even better, but it seems like it is a more polarizing album than HnR2.

What makes this so frustrating is that there has never been any effort to let the general public know that this his last release right before he died is a really good release that may appeal to some folks who weren't fans of most of his later stuffl. With almost any other artist, there is almost always a huge spike in interest and sales of the most recent album, espically when it good. While I can understand that a mega-campaign around the time of the death is unseemly, it is a shame that hardly anyone outsdie the orgers and a few others even know about the album. Even W2A has sold better at a time when few people are rarely buying music. It seems like the months while we were waiting for a vault release it should have gotten a proper realease to the pulbic. Otherwsie, it looks like some sequal to a bad album that no one ever references. Prince and HnR2 deserved better.

1 Lotusflow3r -DREAMER, COLONIZED MIND, BOOM, WALL OF BERLIN, C&C, $ = 6 great ones on 1 album... I will take it

2 3121 - hasn't aged that well for me as a whole.. but The Word & Fury are killer

3.Hit n Run Phase 1 - ONLY THE 2ND HALF.. the first half thru Fallinlove would be at the bottom.. but holy moses from X's Face thru June = I am IN LOVE

4 Art Official Age - I think the song AOA gets bagged on, but I love it..

5 20Ten - STICKY LIKE GLUE saves this mess for me

6 Musicology - REFLECTION among my all time P faves (espeically on Tavis Smiley)
7 Welcome 2 America - DAMN I LOVE RIN TIN TIN

8 Mplsound - ooof there is some bad stuff on here
9 Planet Earth - an album full of nothing for me
10 Plectrumelectrum - WOW is jaw droppingly great for me, wish it found a home on AOA
11 Hit N Run Phase 2 - not one song works for me on this one and I can't stand the overall wooden sound of it... I wish I felt differently about it!

[Edited 9/12/21 22:47pm]

1. LotusFlow3r

2. 3121

3. 20Ten

4. Planet Earth

5. Hit N Run Phase 2

6. Art Official Age

7. Musicology

8. PlectrumElectrum

9. Welcome 2 America

10. MPLSound

11. Hit N Run Phase 1

gandorb said:

If I had to choose the TOP 10 songs out of all the albums my list would be (in no order)

- Fury

- The Word

- 1000 X's & O's

- Hardrocklover

- AnotherLove

- Sticky Like Glue

- Future Soul Song

- Dreamer

- Dance 4 Me

- A Million Days

1 Hit N Run Phase 2
2 Musicology
3 3121
4 Art Official Age
5 20Ten
6 Plectrumelectrum
7 Welcome 2 America
8 Planet Earth
9 Lotusflow3r
10 Mplsound
11 Hit n Run Phase 1

Romeoblu said:

How would rank the albums from 2004-2015?

1. 3121 - I wore this out when I got it, and could easily put it on today and love it just the same. Prince's best 21st century attempt at making an album that resonated with modern music listeners, but was still uniquely Prince, and not too try-hardish.

2. Musicology - I'm biased here. A big part of the appeal of this album is that it was his first BIG release after I became a serious fan in 2001. Suddenly here's Prince on tour, in magazines, on TV, and on the radio again. I associate all the excitement of the era with this album. I really like most of the songs, but more than a couple feel like throw aways too.

3. Art Official Age - This album is really cohesive and good. Don't really have complaints, but I don't ever crave hearing Breakdown or Way Back Home

4. 20ten - I have nothing against this album, but I've only listened to it all the way through maybe a handful of times. Maybe it's the way it was released, but it always turned me off a bit for some reason, but I'm playing it now and its a fun listen. I've always loved the tone of his voice on Future Soul Song.

5. Lotusflow3r - I honestly always forget how good this disc is all the time. Dreamer alone is a 5 star song.

6. Plectrumelectrum - I hate about 4 or 5 songs on this. The rest I love. Also, the concept was a good idea, but I wish Prince and 3rdeyegirl had pushed harder into hard rock territory

7. Planet Earth - About half of the songs are really good, the other half, I couldn't even hum the melody of them for you.

8 (but really more like 4). Hit N Run Phase 1 - Here's a confession... In the past year I've probably played this album more than any of the others on this list . It's not high quality Prince, but I have listened to it several times while out walking and I can play it all the way through without a skip. It's Prince doing cheap, throw away, modern pop a la Britney Spears. Guilty pleasure.

9. MPLSound - I remember really liking Dance 4 Me and No More Candy 4U . The rest was cringey

??? Welcome 2 America and Hit N Run Phase 2 - I've probably listened to each of these once or twice all the way through, so don't quite know where they'd rank..... W2A was okay/fine on first listen but nothing wow'd me... HNR 2 I remember having a lot of catchy songs I think, but being released so close to his death, I just associated it with sadness and never really played it.

.

[Edited 9/12/21 12:38pm]

1. Hit N Run Phase 2 > Cohesive sounding collection of mostly good quality songs that were sounding like he put some work in them.

2. Art Official Age > Some clunkers here, but also quite a few really good tunes

3. 20Ten > I don't like the last 4 songs a lot, but the rest of them are pretty good actually.

4. Musicology > A nice collection of Prince songs, a bit on the safe side though, a few clunkers as well.

5. 3121 > This albums seems a bit like Prince is trying a bit too hard. It sounds overproduced to my ears.

6. Welcome 2 America > A few nice songs, but as a whole it sounds somewhat unfinished. Someone here wrote it sounds like horns were still supposed to fill the songs out, but that never happened. I tend to agree.

7. Lotusflow3r > At that time I just couldn't get into that album. I just remember it was well produced, but the songs didn't click with me.

8. Plectrumelectrum > I would have loved it if it was more of a gritty bluesrock album. Somewhere between AC/DC, ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin. Unfortunately it wasn't.

9. MPLSOUND > Although the original Minneapolis Sound is my favorite Prince production style, this album just didn't cut it. I liked only two tracks on it.

10. Hit n Run Phase 1 > Erm, no... Even June and 1000 O's & X's couldn't save this album for me.

11. Planet Earth > Pfff, just boring. Only liked The 1 U Wanna C and Chelsey Rodgers.

The first two on my list I consider to be amazing albums, as good as anything he did in the '80s:

1. Lotusflower
2. Hit N Run Phase 2


The next group of songs on my list I consider to be very good albums and listen to them regularly:

3. Art Official Age
4. 3121
5. Hit N Run Phase 1
6. MPLSound


The last five songs I consider to all be equally terrible... rather than split hairs between their awfulness, consider it a five-way tie for last place:

Welcome 2 America

Musicology
Planet Earth
20Ten
Plectrum Electrum

[Edited 9/12/21 15:29pm]