LoveGalore said:

PJMcGee said:

theres lots of good stuff in this era, but i just think, on the whole he wasnt trying as hard as he used to. or maybe in the past, he could dash off something great quickly, and was still using the same workrate, without realising he needed to put in a bit more effort. e.g. i love better with time, but it has a few lines that ruin the message/sentiment a bit for me. i think old prince would have thought about it more carefully.

either way, i like that this era was when prince embraced softer sounds. it was cool to see him doing more mellow stuff. and this is actually my favourite stuff he did in this period: 77 beverly park, the word, the dance, gamilah, a case of u, arboretum, future soul song, walk in sand, reflection, somewheere here on earth, here, breakdown, way back home, time, june, tic tac toe, revelation, affirmation (yes i know this is just a reprise of way back home but its still lovely), these might not be what every fan wants prince to be doing, but they are great, and show he was still trying to go outside his comfort zone a bit.

It's funny when the modern Prince bashers somehow still like MPLSound and/or 20Ten. They'dve been so game for Purple Rain Part 2 in '85, Part 3 in '86, etc. Sometimes I think they just want 80s Linn drum on every track in every Prince decade.

Anyway, I get most delighted when the younger gen doesn't uniformly throw N.E.W.S. at the dead last of their album rankings because "it's instrumental." For awhile on the Prince reddit they were all posting those ridiculous tiers covers meme jpeg algorithm whatever the fuck, you know how Gen-Z just meme copypasta parrots the same bit of the week into the ground, and a lot of really them dig Xpectation/N.E.W.S./C-Note... you know with the "S-Tier" whatever that means. Some even really love Kamasutra by the NPG Orchestra, which is right about where I get off the Princestrumental train...

Here's the Art Official Age release thread from back in 2014. As you'll see, iit was at least 90% positive, which most people saying it was not merely good, but great.

https://prince.org/msg/7/410767

lurker316 said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

LoveGalore said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Idk about all that but it WAS his most cohesive album since TRC

Pretty sure that can't be true. Musicology? 3121? LotusFlower??? Even Planet earth?? This was THE era of cohesive albums, quality be damned.

Lotusflow3r was cohesive, but I'm not sure about Musicology and 3121. They were good albums, but they weren't conhesive in that you got the sense that all (or most) of the songs were written at roughly the same time with the intention of being part of a whole (i.e. part of a concept album). They sounded more like Prince just put together a collection of disconnected songs he was currently digging.

lurker316 said:

They were good albums, but they weren't conhesive in that you got the sense that all (or most) of the songs were written at roughly the same time with the intention of being part of a whole (i.e. part of a concept album). They sounded more like Prince just put together a collection of disconnected songs he was currently digging.

That's prime Prince cohesion, though. The Smorgasbord Experience best exemplified in arguably the fanbases #1 fav LP: Sign O the Times.

His gimmick as an artist is best served by going all-over-the-place. 3121 definitely hooked some younger fans that way.

lurker316 said:

LoveGalore said:

ShellyMcG said:

AOA is cohesive as it has the same production palette all throughout

most prince albums do not.

except maybe the first three albums.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

AOA is cohesive as it has the same production palette all throughout

most prince albums do not.

except maybe the first three albums.

I would add Rainbow Children and The Truth to that list.

lurker316 said:

lurker316 said:

LoveGalore said:

lurker316 said:

I would add Rainbow Children and The Truth to that list.

And 20TEN, and MPLSound.

I always forget about 20Ten. It does have a very cohesive sound.. it just doesn't happen to be a sounds I like.

lurker316 said:

LoveGalore said:

ShellyMcG said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

That's prime Prince cohesion, though. The Smorgasbord Experience best exemplified in arguably the fanbases #1 fav LP: Sign O the Times.

His gimmick as an artist is best served by going all-over-the-place. 3121 definitely hooked some younger fans that way.

I've always enjoyed the irony of fans who argue that HNR 2 can't be a great album because it's just a collection of disconnected songs with no cohesion, but then turn around and SOTT was his best album. SOTT is a great album, but it's not remotely cohesive. It was a frankenstien of the best songs from aborted projects (the Dream Factory and Camille, both of which would have been cohesive had they been released). If people can appreciate SOTT depsite it's lack of cohesion, then they shouldn't fault HNR 2 for the same issue.

LoveGalore said:

lurker316 said:

ShellyMcG said:

I think its better than his late 90s and TRC/NPG Music Club days but I think of it as two eras.

The "Comeback" era 2004-2010

the Third Eye Era 2014-2016

lurker316 said:

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]

That ain't old...

lurker316 said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

That's prime Prince cohesion, though. The Smorgasbord Experience best exemplified in arguably the fanbases #1 fav LP: Sign O the Times.

His gimmick as an artist is best served by going all-over-the-place. 3121 definitely hooked some younger fans that way.

I've always enjoyed the irony of fans who argue that HNR 2 can't be a great album because it's just a collection of disconnected songs with no cohesion, but then turn around and SOTT was his best album. SOTT is a great album, but it's not remotely cohesive. It was a frankenstien of the best songs from aborted projects (the Dream Factory and Camille, both of which would have been cohesive had they been released). If people can appreciate SOTT depsite it's lack of cohesion, then they shouldn't fault HNR 2 for the same issue.

Yep. Or Graffiti Bridge, which was kind of a derided project until it came out that half the project is old Vault tracks and now people happily rep "We Can Fuck" and "Bold Generation" as they were hating on "We Can Funk" and "New Power Generation" for decades, when they're literally the same songs...

LoveGalore said:

ShellyMcG said:

I don't think she likes Art Official Age all that much. Not sure I see the need for the snark though. I mean, we're all Prince fans here right? Liking one of his albums is hardly "suspicious music taste". [Edited 12/5/22 10:16am]

Prince's library is excellent at getting a read on a person by which ones they like or don't like, tbh. For example, Whispering Dandy thinks Bria's album is essential Prince but not the movie Purple Rain. Some spooky shit!

It's such a bad movie. I get it probably meant something to you specific in 1984, which I acknowledge it most definitely would coming in fresh without any devotion to Prince or the Prince legacy in 1984, but as someone who saw it for the first time in like 2004 as a wide-eyed teenager literally giddy with excitement at the next new Prince project to discover.... uh. yeah.

The Special Edition DVD was purchased literally the week of release, probably on the ardent recommendation of org'ers such as yourself... Literally sold that shit to the Used CD store less than a week later. Horrible movie...

I already loved Prince when I saw PR. His shirtless bad guitar mimimg did nothing for me.