I never cared for this era but notice a lot of fans 20+ years younger than me really do. They praise the Musicology and 20Ten albums. And those same fans enjoy his whole catalog. I remember Steve Harvey saying his didn't like Musicology back in 2004. I might have to revisit that era to see if I missed something. I actually bought Art Official Age CD for Clouds but the rest of the album was kinda meh

I don't know how old you are but I'm a millenial and I appreciate all Prince eras. Every one is different and offers something unique.

I'm an old guy (born in '71).

Prince's 2004-2016 era is literally the only era I currently listen to.

He's '80s output was obviously his best, but I made myself sick of it by listening to it obsessively for 40 years. And I can't stand his '90s catalogue. I'm just not a fan of the rap, hip-hop, derivative R&B or overproduced music he put out in that decade. Consequently, his post-2000 catalgue is all I listen to now.

With that said, two of my three least favorite albums in the 2004 to 2016 time span are the two you mentioned, Musicology and 20Ten. (Planet Earth is the third.)

I think LotusFlow3r, Art Official Age and Hit N Run Phase II are three of his best ablums... not just of that era, but of his whole career. All three of those are absolute genuis. I also like a handful of songs on 3121, MPLSound and HNR I, but I don't think any of those albums as a whole is anything special.

(I realize this skips the 2000-2003 years. From that sliver of time, I listen to Rainbow Children, but nothing else. I don't care for the NPGMC era songs.)

[Edited 12/1/22 15:23pm]

LoveGalore said:

I listen to all eras but yes I do notice that folks who did not start their Paisley journey at the beginning are much more forgiving of his later work (and often don't see the big deal about his legacy stuff). It's hard to not like any of Prince's music save for a song or three on any given album. I'm always suspicious of the taste level of folks who swear off large swathes of his music. Seems like their loafers might be on backwards or some shit.

I've not "sworn off" his '80s music. As I said, I'll always believe those his best years. I just made myself sick of that era by obsessively listening to it for 40 years. One thing that can reignite my interest and make an '80s album seem new again is the release of a SDE version.

As for his '90s music, there are individual songs I enjoy (Love 2 the 9s, Dark, Days of Wild, Face Down, Soul Sanctuary). But there are no '90s alblums I'd sit down and listen to straight through, except maybe The Truth.

To bring this post back on topic, of the three albums from the 2004-2016 era that I called genuis, two of them, Lotusflow3r and AOA, are cohesive, concept albums. HNRII, on the other hand, is just a collection of songs. Nevertheless, it's a very strong collection of songs. And it does have a somewhat cohesive sound in that it's mostly organic (in contrast to his previous two albums, AOA and HNRI, which were electronic).

I realized I left Plectrum Electrum out of my earlier run down... It's not really my cup of tea. I wasn't opposed to Prince making rock albums (like I said, Lotusflow3r is one of my favorites), but the particular style of rock on PE doesn't do it for me.

PJMcGee said:

A lot of love for Lotusflow3r here. I'll have to revisit it. My favorite from this time is 3121, way more than Musicology. And AOA is half great. Born in 69. Steve Harvey can lick my half-Asian balls. [Edited 12/1/22 17:50pm]

For a long time 3121 was my album favorite from that era as well, but over the years my passion for it has waned. I still think it's decent album, I just no longer rank it quite as high. With that said, the title song itself, 3121, is still one of my favorite individual songs from any era.

lurker316 said:

LoveGalore said:

LoveGalore said:

You'd definitely be in the deep minority with that love for AOA.

I think you may be misjudging how fandom feels about AOA. It's very possible that it's only a minority of fans who like it, but I don't think it's a "deep" minority. If anything, it's a sizeable minority. Check back through some of the AOA threads here in the Org and you'll see a lot of love for it.

Also, the Peach & Black podcast polled fans on the Top 20 songs of the 2000s. A lot of people voted, most of whom were presumably hardcore fans (casual fans weren't even aware of P&B's existence). So while it wasn't not entirely scientific, I trust that it was fairly representative of fandom. P&B aggregated song totals to see which albums had the highest rated songs. AOA came in number 3 out of 16, behind Rainbow Children (#2) and 3121 (#1). Not too shabby.

In fact, here are the full results:

16 Slaughterhouse
15 Xpectation
14 N.E.W.S.
13 Chocolate Invasion
12 MPLSound
11 Plectrum Electrum
10 Planet Earth
09 Hit N Run Phase 1
08 20Ten
07 One Nite Alone
06 Musicology
05 Hit N Run Phase 2
04 Lotusflow3r
03 Art Official Age
02 Rainbow Children
01 3121

With all of this said, I will concede I'm in a deep minority when I say I like most of HNR1.

[Edited 12/2/22 11:27am]

lurker316 said:

LoveGalore said:

You'd definitely be in the deep minority with that love for AOA.

I think you may be misjudging how fandom feels about AOA. It's very possible that it's only a minority of fans who like it, but I don't think it's a "deep" minority. If anything, it's a sizeable minority. Check back through some of the AOA threads here in the Org and you'll see a lot of love for it.

Also, the Peach & Black podcast polled fans on the Top 20 songs of the 2000s. A lot of people voted, most of whom were presumably hardcore fans (casual fans weren't even aware of P&B's existence). So while it wasn't not entirely scientific, I trust that it was fairly representative of fandom. P&B aggregated song totals to see which albums had the highest rated songs. AOA came in number 3 out of 16, behind Rainbow Children (#2) and 3121 (#1). Not too shabby.

In fact, here are the full results:

16 Slaughterhouse
15 Xpectation
14 N.E.W.S.
13 Chocolate Invasion
12 MPLSound
11 Plectrum Electrum
10 Planet Earth
09 Hit N Run Phase 1
08 20Ten
07 One Nite Alone
06 Musicology
05 Hit N Run Phase 2
04 Lotusflow3r
03 Art Official Age
02 Rainbow Children
01 3121

With all of this said, I will concede I'm in a deep minority when I say I like most of HNR1.

[Edited 12/2/22 11:27am]

Happy to hear that. So tired of hearing complaints about his post 80's output.

paisleyparkgirl said:

Happy to hear that. So tired of hearing complaints about his post 80's output.

Here's a link to the P&B Podcast that revealed the fan vote for the best albums post 2000. Most of the podcast is actually about the Top 20 songs, but the link I'm providing should queue you up to the end where they discuss the best albums. (In my early post I said they extrapolated the best albums based on individual song votes, but I think I was mistaken. It looks like they asked fans to vote on albums straight up.)

https://youtu.be/Fnrvmf0dg4A?t=3237

PJMcGee said:

A lot of love for Lotusflow3r here. I'll have to revisit it. My favorite from this time is 3121, way more than Musicology. And AOA is half great. Born in 69. Steve Harvey can lick my half-Asian balls. [Edited 12/1/22 17:50pm]

I listened to it once in 2009 and skipped past the songs I didn't like and the songs I listened to weren't memorable. I see it got mixed reviews. I'll have to listen to it again after 14 years

LoveGalore said:

You'd definitely be in the deep minority with that love for AOA. And me being suspicious of someone's taste level doesn't really matter - taste is subjective!

Yes its very subjective. I remember buying Musicology in 2004 and was surprised I didn't like anything on it. It sounded like he was going through the motions. I remember he gave an interview in 1998 disappointed The One didn't chart. The video he made to the song didn't help and they premiered it on BET. He said it was just as good as The Beautiful Ones

AOA has way back home, breakdown, time and affirmation. idk how a prince fan would dislike those songs, esp breakdown.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

WBH isnt an amazing song, but its heartfelt at least. and its prince trying something a bit different for him.

breakdown is good on the album, but the live version with 3EG is the best.

LoveGalore said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

AOA has way back home, breakdown, time and affirmation. idk how a prince fan would dislike those songs, esp breakdown.

Er, I don't like Breakdown. It's nearly indistinguishable to several other later era ballads and builds off the mold he created with The Dance. Affirmation isn't even a song. Time is wonderful. Way Back Home is arguably overrated. I think people overlook the fact the song sounds incomplete because the lyrics are ostensibly more autobiographical than a lot of his material at the time. It's not that great of a song - it is average and that's ok!

Indistinguishable? It's got laser beam sound effects, for Christ's sake! There are no deathray guns in the Dance (unless they're so buried in the mix that I missed them).

SanDiegoFunkDaddy said:

LoveGalore said:

You'd definitely be in the deep minority with that love for AOA. And me being suspicious of someone's taste level doesn't really matter - taste is subjective!

Yes its very subjective. I remember buying Musicology in 2004 and was surprised I didn't like anything on it. It sounded like he was going through the motions. I remember he gave an interview in 1998 disappointed The One didn't chart. The video he made to the song didn't help and they premiered it on BET. He said it was just as good as The Beautiful Ones

What was wrong with the video ? It was nicely done.

lurker316 said:

PJMcGee said:

dodger07 said:

LoveGalore said:

Great topic!

-

Musicology was the first Prince album I listened to (I was 9 at the time)

It has become one my favorite post-2000 albums. As a cohesive album it flows remarkably well and is the one I return to the most from the Musicology - LotusFlow3r run of albums. Although I do love specific songs from each record.

-

I wish he had stronger material for Planet Earth to follow 3121, songs like Lion of Judah and Resolution take up space for what I could imagine to be better songs. Thankfully LotusFlow3r has better material, and 20ten is NOT a bad album whatsoever, the run from Compassion to Lavaux is consistent and funky.

-

AOA came out when I was 21 and even my peers at the time (mostly dancers/artists in NYC) listened to it and made a point to let me know they liked what they heard. I was suprirsed as I had been used to being in my Prince bubble for most of my life. For Prince to come out with an accessible, futuristic R&B concept album later in his career was refreshing! Unfortunately HNR Phase 1 didn't do it for me, although the back half of the album is okay.

-

Will always have love for HNR Phase 2. I love Baltimore, RnR Love Affair, Look At Me, Look At U, Black Muse and Revelation. Once I heard If Eye Could Get Your Attention and Free URSELF I was so excited at the direction he was heading into. Simplicity has always been his strongest ally.