emesem said:

26ten said:

LoveGalore said:

No it was probably the first sign of the end.

The end of what? Prince released some incredible music after this record imo and his death was untimely by all means.

I agree. I think HNR 2 was brilliant. (I understand it was just a collection of songs from the Vault and not concieved as a cohesive unit, but a similar argument could be made about Sign O' the Times yet that's still brilliant.) I also think Art Official Age was pretty good. I even like HNR 1, if you just cut off its first 3 songs.

1+ Future Soul Song

26ten said:

Last night on my home theater system, I was working on the compoter and cuede up some Prince albums. I put on Around the world in a Day, but then got bored with it after "Pop Life", but boy, "Pop Life" sounds good on a good system. "Paisley Park" and "Tambourine" don't sound so full and interesting on a good system (myabe if you blasted them) in comparison.

Then I saw 20ten was on the playlist and put it on.

It was so much more fun to listen to on a good sound system than "Around the World in a Day". The songs sound like sketches, very dry, but they have such range and wierd choices on the arrangement. and a frequency fullness that is lively.

Then I went through all the albums after, and they are also a lot more fun to listen to. And before "Around the World in a Day" I had listend to "Parade" which bored me (outside of "Mountains") by the time I got to side B. On that album, the standout cuts on a good system were "New Position" "I wonder U" "Under the Cherry Moon" "Girls and Boys"

But I swear I was more entertained (even lyrically) by the newer albums. Hitn Run 1, Art Official Age... sonic playgrounds.

I alaways have to skip that energy soda song though. YUCK.

[Edited 10/6/21 7:34am]

ufoclub said:

ufoclub said:

Last night on my home theater system, I was working on the compoter and cuede up some Prince albums. I put on Around the world in a Day, but then got bored with it after "Pop Life", but boy, "Pop Life" sounds good on a good system. "Paisley Park" and "Tambourine" don't sound so full and interesting on a good system (myabe if you blasted them) in comparison.

Then I saw 20ten was on the playlist and put it on.

It was so much more fun to listen to on a good sound system than "Around the World in a Day". The songs sound like sketches, very dry, but they have such range and wierd choices on the arrangement. and a frequency fullness that is lively.

Then I went through all the albums after, and they are also a lot more fun to listen to. And before "Around the World in a Day" I had listend to "Parade" which bored me (outside of "Mountains") by the time I got to side B. On that album, the standout cuts on a good system were "New Position" "I wonder U" "Under the Cherry Moon" "Girls and Boys"

But I swear I was more entertained (even lyrically) by the newer albums. Hitn Run 1, Art Official Age... sonic playgrounds.

I alaways have to skip that energy soda song though. YUCK.

[Edited 10/6/21 7:34am]

I think a lot of it too is just plain old being tired of the old shit, especially for die hards. I just flat wore those albums out so there's no suprises left on them the way there is for stuff I haven't listend to as much.

herb4 said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

herb4 said:

I think a lot of it too is just plain old being tired of the old shit, especially for die hards. I just flat wore those albums out so there's no suprises left on them the way there is for stuff I haven't listend to as much.

This. I believe Prince's material from the '80s was his absoluate best. But I never listen to it because I played it some much over the course of 30 years that I made myself sick of it. Now I only ever listen to his post 2000 catalogue.

This thread has inspired me to go back and relisten to this album a few times to see if I can convince myself to like it. (I recently had a change of heart about MPLSound, so I thought the same thing could happen with this one.)

My music vocabulary and knowledge are pretty limited, so I'm not going to be able to properly explain myself, but I'll give it a try: There's a similar synth sound / style throughout the album. I appreciate it that it ties things together and makes it a cohesive album rather than a collection of unrelated songs, but I hate that synth sound/style. It's like fingers on a chalk board to me. I also think some of the album's lyrics are pretty corny (I'm thinking of Compassion in particular).

But with that said, I recognize there there is a hook / something catchy in most of the songs. I don't know that it's always a good hook. Some of the hooks are stuff that I'd expect to hear in a television commerical -- an annoying but memorable lead line that gets stuck in her your head. Compassion reminds me of a cheesy game show theme.

Bottom line, I've decide I don't mind listening to this album in the background while I'm doing something else. If nothing else, it's high enegery and good for workout music. But I don't think it's an album I would listen to on good headphones, picking out different instruments and analyzing the music.

This and MPLSound were trying to be Purple Funk 2.0 and for a guy who went out of his way to avoid doing Purple Rain 2 for his entire career up to this point it's certainly notable to be indulging in such blatant throwbacks as these two records are trying to be.

MPLSound was sort of justifiable because it was the 3rd disc of a three-pack album, okay, there's still Lotusflower and Elixir bringing something new to the table... 20Ten there was nothing to else to dilute what it was, except maybe "Future Soul Song".

[Edited 10/7/21 17:35pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

26ten said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

This and MPLSound were trying to be Purple Funk 2.0 and for a guy who went out of his way to avoid doing Purple Rain 2 for his entire career up to this point it's certainly notable to be indulging in such blatant throwbacks as these two records are trying to be.

MPLSound was sort of justifiable because it was the 3rd disc of a three-pack album, okay, there's still Lotusflower and Elixir bringing something new to the table... 20Ten there was nothing to else to dilute what it was, except maybe "Future Soul Song".

[Edited 10/7/21 17:35pm]

Note that 20ten was not sold in stores, and was even less accessible than the others, which initially were sold Target only. Pretty bad way to sell out - not even offer it in the US.

Actually this connects to another post,

EmmaMcG said:

One of his worst albums in my opinion. A man of his musical ability (not to mention age) should have been embarrassed putting out an album like 20Ten. And perhaps he was. Which would explain why he completely abandoned any plans for a "deluxe" version.

There was an article interviewing the head dudes from the Daily Mirror that was posted here after April 2016 where they said he actually met with them formally to try to have them completely shelve the album at the 11th hour Black Album style, but they balked, saying the discs were already pressed, the papers shipped, the package already done and ready to go and refushed his wishes to cancel the record.

This also explains why it was exclusive to Europe unlike all of his other "Prince" albums.

[Edited 10/7/21 17:59pm]

There's so decent stuff on it and there's some bland stuff also. I love "Walk In Sand" and "Act Of God". "Lavaux" sounds a lot like "The Old Prince" and is one of the best songs he had made in ages. "Compassion" "Beginning Endlessly" and "Everybody Loves Me" are OK. Nothing great, but nothing horrible either. The rest of the album is bland and "Laydown" is sellout shit hop and makes me taste vomit in my throat.

.

.

.

[Edited 10/8/21 13:44pm]

At the time I thought it was lame sauce but this album is funky and the first 6 tracks are sequenced really well. Beginning Endlessly is funky as hail as is Act of God, Lavaux & Sticky Like Glue. The purple music is more realized than on MPLSound and I dig where he was going. Was looking forward to the 20ten Deluxe that never was....I'm glad he took the break he did, AOA is one of my favorite albums of his late career.

For the most part, a garbage throwaway, which is probably what happened to most of them anyway.

lurker316 said:

herb4 said:

I think a lot of it too is just plain old being tired of the old shit, especially for die hards. I just flat wore those albums out so there's no suprises left on them the way there is for stuff I haven't listend to as much.

This. I believe Prince's material from the '80s was his absoluate best. But I never listen to it because I played it some much over the course of 30 years that I made myself sick of it. Now I only ever listen to his post 2000 catalogue.

1999 is still capable of surprising me to this day and is my favorite Prince album but that one I don't play too much anymore. I swear, every time I listen to it I'll discover some tiny little thing or a layer I hadn't noticed before.

WhisperingDandelions said:

26ten said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

Actually this connects to another post,

EmmaMcG said:

One of his worst albums in my opinion. A man of his musical ability (not to mention age) should have been embarrassed putting out an album like 20Ten. And perhaps he was. Which would explain why he completely abandoned any plans for a "deluxe" version.

There was an article interviewing the head dudes from the Daily Mirror that was posted here after April 2016 where they said he actually met with them formally to try to have them completely shelve the album at the 11th hour Black Album style, but they balked, saying the discs were already pressed, the papers shipped, the package already done and ready to go and refushed his wishes to cancel the record.

This also explains why it was exclusive to Europe unlike all of his other "Prince" albums.

[Edited 10/7/21 17:59pm]

SOURCE?

WTF is with this website trapping me inside a quote box sometimes? Also when it does the "tiny text" thing?

TheKid94 said:

coldcoffeeandcocacola said:

coldcoffeeandcocacola said:

herb4 said:

SOURCE?

WTF is with this website trapping me inside a quote box sometimes? Also when it does the "tiny text" thing?

Wtf is this, "Do the Bartman"?

You got the same searchbox in the upper corner as the rest of the org, chief.

https://prince.org/msg/7/424565

[Edited 10/10/21 3:36am]

[Edited 10/10/21 3:37am]

EmmaMcG said:

26ten said:

EmmaMcG said:

EmmaMcG said:

Three Brilliant Top Tier Prince Songs make this album at the very least appreciable:

Sticky Like Glue

Future Soul Song

Act of God

EmmaMcG said:

One of his worst albums in my opinion. A man of his musical ability (not to mention age) should have been embarrassed putting out an album like 20Ten. And perhaps he was. Which would explain why he completely abandoned any plans for a "deluxe" version. For me, it ranks down there among Phase One and The Love Symbol albums as his "top 3" worst albums (not including ridiculous releases like N.E.W.S. and Kamasutra). But as with even the worst of his work, there are one or two moments of good among all the bad. Future Soul Song and Sticky Like Glue are the obvious standouts. Add those two songs to Welcome 2 America in place of Running Game and Stand Up And B Strong and then you've got an album worthy of the artist. But as it is, it's hard to think of 20Ten as anything other than a complete disaster. [Edited 10/2/21 3:52am]

The reason the plan was abandoned is because 20T3N DELUXE(whom was one of Prince's(r.i.p.) TOP post 2000 releases) was taken to WBR for a planned new deal that fell apart. .

NOT because of your VERY negative opinion review of the classic GROUNDBREAKING newspaper release.