I realize this album combo is old news and there are a million closed threads on it, but they're currently at the top of my rotation and what I'm interested in. This place is lacking for converations, so I figure I'll use them as a conversation starter. I'm looking for people's toughts either way, whether you agree or disagree. I won't mind if people tell me I'm offbase and an idiot.


From The Lotus... (2:47) I'd normally skip an instrumental, but this song makes a great intro to set up the trippy rock of the album.

Boom (3:19) It's a bit gimmicky. I like it, but sometimes skip it.

Crimson And Clover (3:52) Good, but I prefer the live version on Ellen.

4ever (3:48) Cheesy. Skip.

Colonized Mind (4:48) It took me a while to appreciate this song, but now I love it. Part of the problem was that the chorus, while catchy, doesn't come in until almost halfway through the song, so I'd get impatient waiting for it and skip. I like the lyrical framing device of "upload/download", not for its meaning but for its cadence. This is an example of a song if people hear they don't know it's Prince until you tell them. People associate Prince with '80s techno dance, stuff like Batdance, but this song is more like classic rock that would fit in on a Boston album.

Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful (3:53) I love that it's a funky, but not the type of dance song the kids are listening to on the radio. Prince was just doing his own thing (a bit of James Brown throwback) and not worrying about making a contemporary hit. Consequently, I think the song is somewhat timeless and won't date. A decade from now, you're not going say "That song screams 2009."

Love Like Jazz (3:50) I love this '70s lounge music genuinely, not ironically. I can totally picture it being played over a montage scene in a Wes Anderson movie.

77 Beverly Park (3:04) Good as an interlude when listenin to the album straight through, but I wouldn't listen to this as a standalone song.

Wall Of Berlin (4:17) Another gimmicky song. I like the beginning, but when it turns into a thrasher I lose interests.

$ (3:57) I initially hated this song because I thought it sounded like a corny showtune, but it's grown me. I still think it's cartoonish, but now I love that it's super catchy. You'd never hear a song like this on the radio.

Dreamer (5:31) This one also took me a while to appreciate. I always loved the crunchy guitar hook (how can you not?), but I used to think the song was monotonous and went nowhere, so I couldn't listen the whole way through. However, I now count it as one of my all time favorites.

...Back 2 The Lotus (5:35) If I'm only listening to Lotusflow3r I'll let this instrumental play as an outtro, but if I'm going straight into MPLSound I'll skip it.

***************************************************************

(There’ll Never B) Another Like Me (6:02) In contrast t FG,FG,FW, this song does sound like Prince was trying hard to make a song the kids would like. And he failed. Skip.

Chocolate Box (6:14) I initially dismissed this one too, but it's grown on me. I particularly like the instrumental second half (which, as a standalone, was known as Disco Jellyfish). The first time I heard it I thought it sounded like an '80s video game. One of the Peach & Black guys (Playa) made the same comment. I can totally picture listening to it while playing classic Maro Kart, driving down the Rainbow Highway through the galaxy in the final level.

Dance 4 Me (4:59) This is the one song in the collection that I could imagine being an actual radio hit. It's catchy as hell, but thankfully lacks the cheese of (TNB)ALM. While I like this song, I prefer the live version Prince performed on Le Grand Journal.

U’re Gonna C Me (4:36) Skip.

Here (5:15) Very light and airy. I like it... but possibly in an ironic way.

Valentina (3:59) I like it. I enjoy the weird quasi-rap he does in the middle, not because it's anything special, but it makes the song interesting by changing things up. At first I cringed at the lyrics because I thought Prince was telling a baby he'd like to bang her mother, but I saw a clip where Penelope Cruz saying she thought the song was great and that it simply means Prince wants to take her out dancing.

Better With Time (4:54) Syrupy. Skip.

Ol' Skool Company (7:30) The synth line that underpins it really grates on me, but I love the chicken scratch guitar.

No More Candy 4 U (4:15) Another gimmicky song -- sounds like it's from a carnival. It took some time for me to appreciate. I like it now, but I could flip back to hating it.

[Edited 5/1/22 6:55am]

My favorite songs from this collection is Wall of Berlin and Colonized Mind. The solo at the end of Wall of Berlin is in my opinion one of Prince's best solos on record.

Just so happens Lotusflow3r is in my car's CD player as we speak . Colonized Mind is my favorite on that album, but the entire project moves me, for sure.

heartpeacesheart said:

Finally! A thread calling for a response from me! I have to admit I really loved everything about the era but I'm sticking with"Crimson and Clover" as my favorite song from it. I love the website, I love seeing Prince with Bria and all the media involved. I REALLY love the T-shirt even though it's seen better days but I wear it proudly still to this day. I loved seeing the development of the live show and everything along with that. I guess I can say it's my favorite project overall but I'm not going to break down the track list because Crimson and Clover is just a really great song.

Of all the excellent songs on there (on Lotusflow3r, especially), your favorite is the cover. Mmmkay ...

heartpeacesheart said:

Finally! A thread calling for a response from me! I have to admit I really loved everything about the era but I'm sticking with"Crimson and Clover" as my favorite song from it. I love the website, I love seeing Prince with Bria and all the media involved. I REALLY love the T-shirt even though it's seen better days but I wear it proudly still to this day. I loved seeing the development of the live show and everything along with that. I guess I can say it's my favorite project overall but I'm not going to break down the track list because Crimson and Clover is just a really great song.

I loved everything about the era as well, not just the songs. The whole aesthetic was great. The album covers for Lotusflow3r and MPLSound were two of his best (which I realize isn't saying much). His wardrode / the style of clothes we wore were great. The stage designs were also simple but evolcative of that trippiness he was aiming for. Etc.

Also, most of my favorite live TV performances were from that era. I already mendioned Crimson & Clover on Ellen and Dance 4 me on the Le Grand Journal. There was also the trio of songs on Leno, with Dreamer being the highlight.

2009 was also the year he released the jazzed up version of In a Large Room with No Light and the accustic, harmonmica-infused version of Mountains-Shake Yo Body. While I prefer the oriiginal IALRWNL, I still think the new version was a great song -- it's so different it's almost apples and oranges.

Plus, there were the two legendary 2009 Montreaux shows.

PJMcGee said:

No one else into Ol' Skool Company? It's the only song on the albums I love. When he starts soloing (I'm think it's guitar, but it's so distorted it sounds synthy), my eyes roll back, I get the stank face, etc.

.

Love this song - probalby my favourite in this album. I remember the time when I had collection on shuffle and Ol' Skool Company was followed by DMSR - So good.

lurker316 said:

heartpeacesheart said:

Finally! A thread calling for a response from me! I have to admit I really loved everything about the era but I'm sticking with"Crimson and Clover" as my favorite song from it. I love the website, I love seeing Prince with Bria and all the media involved. I REALLY love the T-shirt even though it's seen better days but I wear it proudly still to this day. I loved seeing the development of the live show and everything along with that. I guess I can say it's my favorite project overall but I'm not going to break down the track list because Crimson and Clover is just a really great song.

I loved everything about the era as well, not just the songs. The whole aesthetic was great. The album covers for Lotusflow3r and MPLSound were two of his best (which I realize isn't saying much). His wardrode / the style of clothes we wore were great. The stage designs were also simple but evolcative of that trippiness he was aiming for. Etc.

Also, most of my favorite live TV performances were from that era. I already mendioned Crimson & Clover on Ellen and Dance 4 me on the Le Grand Journal. There was also the trio of songs on Leno, with Dreamer being the highlight.

Yah yah yah

I've always enjoyed Lotus, however MPLSound is unlistenable to me.
The gigs around this time sounded good.

heartpeacesheart said:

I love the website, I love seeing Prince with Bria and all the media involved.

Really it was an outdated embarrassment and a rip off.

mb71 said:

I've always enjoyed Lotus, however MPLSound is unlistenable to me.
The gigs around this time sounded good.

I used to hate MPLSound and consider it in the bottom three of his studio albums. However, a year or so ago I re-evaluated it and decided I really like.

You know how sometimes you don't like a song in isolation, but when you hear it in the context of an album it makes sense? I kind of feel that way about MPLSound as a whole. If it was released by itself I'm not sure how I'd feel. But as a compliment to Lotusflow3r, I think it works. I love going from the trippy rock of Lotus to the trippy electonica of MPLSound.

lurker316 said:

Colonized Mind (4:48) This is an example of a song if people hear they don't know it's Prince until you tell them.

You have to tell them because they're too busy thinking it's "Quit It" by Miriam Makeba.

I can't consider the last time I listened to either of those albums.

Lotusflower is such a good album, I love everything about it and was very happy with it when it was released, despite it being coupled to that awful website and the somewhat ho-him MPLSound.

Having said that, there are about 4 songs on MPLSound that I really love but as an album it's not in
my go-to list.

Lotusflower is. For me it's probably the best album from 2002-2016.

He should also have just kept that whole Bria album for himself and just replaced a few songs off it something like perhaps:


01 Here Eye Come
02 All This Love
03 Home
04 Something U Already Know
05 Here
06 Dance 4 Me
07 Another Girl
08 Old Skool Company
09 No More Candy 4 U
10 Elixer

Mindbells9 said:

The Morning After is a great tune that should've been left on the album.

Yeah, The Morning After isn't that great imo, but the download version is my go-to. Losing Crimson and Clover was never a hardship.

LILpoundCAKE said:

Lotusflower is. For me it's probably the best album from 2002-2016.

I'd agree with this. It's the last really good thing he did.

heartpeacesheart said:

Finally! A thread calling for a response from me! I have to admit I really loved everything about the era but I'm sticking with"Crimson and Clover" as my favorite song from it. I love the website, I love seeing Prince with Bria and all the media involved. I REALLY love the T-shirt even though it's seen better days but I wear it proudly still to this day. I loved seeing the development of the live show and everything along with that. I guess I can say it's my favorite project overall but I'm not going to break down the track list because Crimson and Clover is just a really great song.

Yeah, I feel the same way. I find that both LoTUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND have an ecclectic feel for me. It feels otherworldly and one of my go to album(s) when it comes to just sitting back and watch the world turn ( so to speak )

PJMcGee said:

heartpeacesheart said:

Why are people acting like you can't discuss the 3rd album of this release? Is it because it's Bria Valenti and I don't remember what her married name is now not important. Purposely omitting something is just dumb and frankly insults the people involved with the record.

Bria's album is conventional R&B. I'm personally not interested in that genre of music. If you want to dicuss it feel free, but don't be insulted if I don't join in.

I'd forgotten that U're Gonna C Me was re-recorded for MLPSound, I'll have to go back and listen to it. The version on One Nite Alone is lovely.

IanRG said:

mb71 said:

PJMcGee said:

IanRG said:

.

Love this song - probalby my favourite in this album. I remember the time when I had collection on shuffle and Ol' Skool Company was followed by DMSR - So good.

Also love the Leno version. The great backup singers. I think the harmonica player goes off during the performance too. I thought he was wild and added a lot. (I may be conflating it with another Leno appearance.)

Yes, when Prince appeared on Leno to perform Dream he was accompanied by the harmonica player Frédéric Yonnet. I agree the harmonica was a great addition to the song. Yonnet also accompanied Prince when he peformed Mountains-Shake Your Body on the French radio show Le Grand Studio that same year.

heartpeacesheart said: