LoveGalore said:

ShellyMcG said:

I think people place far too much importance on what's considered a cohesive album. For me, a random collection of good songs trumps a cohesive album where half the songs are good and half are bad.

Agreed - it's especially silly considering Prince is famous for being a melange of styles and sounds and themes. He HAS focused his creative talents into cohesive themes but that doesn't necessarily mean the album's worth a shit.

I agree that a album doesn't need to be super cohesive or a concept album to be great. I love SOTT and HNR Phase 2, both of which are just collections of songs. And I agree that one of the things that made Prince great was his diversity of sounds and genres. Albums like SOTT and HNR2 highlight those qualities. In fact, one reason I don't rate the album 1999 higher is because I think its songs all start to sound the same after a while.

But with that said, while I don't think cohesion is a "must have" in an album, it can be a nice bonus. It has its own appeal.

90s still kick butt.

There are some great moments. I like the fact that he had more ´band´ sound instead of those drum loops from 96-2001. On the other hand, I missed more long songs with solos, jams, changes, etc like he did in the past (I wanna be your lover, My Computer, etc). Most songs were really short.

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On the other hand, it´s cool that he released some instrumental albums, like N.E.W.S. and Xpectations

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Musicology and 3121 were real good straight pop albums. Lotus Flow3r is such an amazing underrated album when it comes to that psychedelic vibe with some good songs and great band/guitar playing. Hit and Run Phase Two is another underrated album. Both deserve to be listened to with earphones, paying attention.

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GustavoRibas said:

There are some great moments. I like the fact that he had more ´band´ sound instead of those drum loops from 96-2001. On the other hand, I missed more long songs with solos, jams, changes, etc like he did in the past (I wanna be your lover, My Computer, etc). Most songs were really short.

.

On the other hand, it´s cool that he released some instrumental albums, like N.E.W.S. and Xpectations

.

Musicology and 3121 were real good straight pop albums. Lotus Flow3r is such an amazing underrated album when it comes to that psychedelic vibe with some good songs and great band/guitar playing. Hit and Run Phase Two is another underrated album. Both deserve to be listened to with earphones, paying attention.

.

Agree on all points, but especially on the "band" sound as opposed to the drum loops from 96-2001.

During the 2004 - 2016 era he alternated between more organic sounding albums (Planet Earth, Lotusflow3r, HNR2) and electronic albums (MPLSound, 20Ten, AOA, HNR2), with a couple of albums of mixed sound (Musicology, 3121).

Organic music has a timeless quality to it, so those organic albums/songs he produced never sounded dated to me.

In contrast, the electronic albums/songs he made during that time period were starting to sound stale and out-of-fashion. (I'm looing at you MPLSound and 20Ten).

That's why I think it was a good thing he brought in Josh Welton for AOA and HNR2. Even if those songs aren't you cup of tea, surely you can recognize that Prince had finally updated his sound and incorporated modern production techniques. AOA and HNR2 are much, much fresher than MPLSound and 20Ten.

Well, I'm younger than a lot of fans around here (born in 1988, became a fan in 2004) and that is quite true of me, but I would say those final few years had most of the worst albums he ever put out - AOA, HNR1 ("June" is killer though), MPLSound. I'd much rather listen to Kamasutra that those, by a long way, honestly. HNR2 was a strong album to go out on though.

Almost everything else from that era is good, and a good chunk of it is great. Musicology doesn't have a bad song on it, and "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?" and "Dear Mr. Man" are among his best songs.

FunkJam said:

Well, I'm younger than a lot of fans around here (born in 1988, became a fan in 2004) and that is quite true of me, but I would say those final few years had most of the worst albums he ever put out - AOA, HNR1 ("June" is killer though), MPLSound. I'd much rather listen to Kamasutra that those, by a long way, honestly. HNR2 was a strong album to go out on though.

Almost everything else from that era is good, and a good chunk of it is great. Musicology doesn't have a bad song on it, and "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?" and "Dear Mr. Man" are among his best songs.

I thought most younger fans loved AOA. My first introduction to Prince was during Rave (I was a teen), I knew him as the Artist (not Prince).

[Edited 12/9/22 7:53am]

[Edited 12/9/22 7:56am]

paisleyparkgirl said:

FunkJam said:

Well, I'm younger than a lot of fans around here (born in 1988, became a fan in 2004) and that is quite true of me, but I would say those final few years had most of the worst albums he ever put out - AOA, HNR1 ("June" is killer though), MPLSound. I'd much rather listen to Kamasutra that those, by a long way, honestly. HNR2 was a strong album to go out on though.

Almost everything else from that era is good, and a good chunk of it is great. Musicology doesn't have a bad song on it, and "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?" and "Dear Mr. Man" are among his best songs.

I thought most younger fans loved AOA. My first introduction to Prince was during Rave (I was a teen), I knew him as the Artist (not Prince).

[Edited 12/9/22 7:53am]

[Edited 12/9/22 7:56am]

Did you like Rave? Is that what made you a Prince fan? I think that's one of his worst albums.

maybe to younger fans, they want prince to sound 'old', which he did on those songs in this period where he either sounds 'organic' retro or like the 80s where hes breaking out the linn drum machine again, so to hear him using modern production software, that sounds like someone trying to sound modern

for me though, i think he got a good balance between sounding like prince and sounding sonically current on AOA. it was what i had been hoping he would do for a long time.

lurker316 said:

paisleyparkgirl said:

I thought most younger fans loved AOA. My first introduction to Prince was during Rave (I was a teen), I knew him as the Artist (not Prince).

[Edited 12/9/22 7:53am]

[Edited 12/9/22 7:56am]

Did you like Rave? Is that what made you a Prince fan? I think that's one of his worst albums.

No not at all haha, Rave is terrible. I'm just saying that's how I was introduced to him as a teen. The Greatest Romance was everywhere in France.

[Edited 12/9/22 12:18pm]

LoveGalore said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

maybe to younger fans, they want prince to sound 'old', which he did on those songs in this period where he either sounds 'organic' retro or like the 80s where hes breaking out the linn drum machine again, so to hear him using modern production software, that sounds like someone trying to sound modern

for me though, i think he got a good balance between sounding like prince and sounding sonically current on AOA. it was what i had been hoping he would do for a long time.

Agreed.

LoveGalore said:

Art Official Age follows the exact same schematic as 20TEN. Same ballad heavy approach. Same thin Emancipation drums. The Gold Standard fills a funk standard slot like Sticky Like Glue did (also a half baked song). And of course, Way Back Home is the song people swear is prince writing his own eulogy. The only interesting thing on there is Time, with Clouds and U Know being Prince-does-contemporary R&B. Nothin else on there sounds anything like what people were listening to in 2014, lmao. Hello? Euro dance and hip hop have ruled the charts since Gaga and Drake etc. Neither of those artists would've recorded a song from AOA.

Style-wise AOA might not have been totally in line with music in 2014, but production wise it was close. Sonically it was far more modern and closer to contemporary music than 20Ten.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

The fact is he was using more modern sounds The songs might have been his regular fare But it SOUNDED modern in a way he hadnt for years Its a production and engineering thing Not a songwriting thing Aoa was prince spruced up for the 2010s Not prince trying to sound like 1983 again or prince trying to sound like drake

That's why I was trying to say, but you said it better. And as I added in my above post, even if AOA wasn't entirely modern, it was much more modern than 20Ten. They're light years apart.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Someone who knew modern production tricks and techniques but didnt make prince sound like he was trying to be on pop radio (prince did that himself on those not so great hit n run songs) [Edited 12/9/22 13:07pm]

I thought that was Josh Welton's job.

SanDiegoFunkDaddy said:

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

Lol, '04 - '16 is about 4 eras altogether!

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

It was. And he did a really good job of it on aoa. Less so on Hit n Run Phase One. But im one of those ppl who still dont get why he sabotaged his comeback album (aoa) by releasing three extra albums of side material (3eg) and what basically amounted to aoa session outtakes. [Edited 12/9/22 13:40pm] [Edited 12/9/22 13:43pm]

I got the impression that he was more excited about Plectrum Electrum than AOA.

He released 4 videos from PE (Another Love, Fix Ur Life Up, Marz and Plectrum Electrum). Meanwhile, he released only 1 video from AOA (Funk N Roll), and that was a remix of a PE song!

When he promoted the albums with a live performance on SNL, he played 3 PE songs (Plectrum Electrum, Marz, Another Love), but only 1 AOA song (Clouds).

lurker316 said:

off the top of my head itd be something like this -

clouds

funk n roll (PE version)

another love

rock n roll love affair

breakdown

way back home

time

June

affirmation

tic tac toe

fallinlove2nite

when she comes

1000 Xs and 0s

revelation

[Edited 12/10/22 4:17am]

paisleyparkgirl said:

I thought most younger fans loved AOA. My first introduction to Prince was during Rave (I was a teen), I knew him as the Artist (not Prince).

Yeah, the majority of modern pop music isn't for me, and AOA manages to include just about all the worst elements of it. Some of it is listenable, but still uninteresting.

I find Rave mostly solid though.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

off the top of my head itd be something like this -

clouds

funk n roll (PE version)

another love

rock n roll love affair

breakdown

way back home

time

June

affirmation

tic tac toe

fallinlove2nite

when she comes

1000 Xs and 0s

revelation

[Edited 12/10/22 4:17am]

If I were to take the best tracks from those 4 albums, this would be my list (though not necessarily in this sequence):

Funknroll (PE version)
Clouds
Gold Standard
U Know
Time
Way Back Home
This Could Be Us (HNR 1 version)
The X's Face

Hardrock Lover
Stare
Xtralovable
When She Comes
Screwdriver
Black Muse
Big City

LoveGalore said:

Art Official Age follows the exact same schematic as 20TEN. Same ballad heavy approach. Same thin Emancipation drums. The Gold Standard fills a funk standard slot like Sticky Like Glue did (also a half baked song). And of course, Way Back Home is the song people swear is prince writing his own eulogy. The only interesting thing on there is Time, with Clouds and U Know being Prince-does-contemporary R&B. Nothin else on there sounds anything like what people were listening to in 2014, lmao. Hello? Euro dance and hip hop have ruled the charts since Gaga and Drake etc. Neither of those artists would've recorded a song from AOA.

AOA only has one true ballad, The Breakdown. Some people also catagorize This Could Be Us as a ballad, so let's say two. That's it. Most of the remaining songs are more mid-tempo, but mid-tempo doesn't automatically mean ballad. So that's 2 out of 12 songs on AOA (I'm not counting Affirmation 1 & 2 as a song because it's more of a segue), which isn't even 17%. In contrast, 20Ten has 3 out of 10 that are absolutely, in arguably ballads. That's or 30%.

Also, the drums on AOA are nothing like the thin Emancipation drums. They're sonically different and their rythms are fresher and more interesting than anything on Emancipation.

lurker316 said:

ballads, shmallads. the man was getting older. hes allowed to mellow out.

i happen to like ballady/midtempo prince.

and AOA still sounds the most modern of all his albums this century, and thats not a bad thing. he wasnt trying to make an album that sounded like the weekend at least.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

fair point, but i mean, he hadnt been doing that in years.

he stopped being interested in unusual sounds quite a while before AOA.

and AOA was at least an attempt to work with some modern tech/setups, which is what he did in the 80s.