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Because it seems like not many people dug it when it came out.

Firstly, pulling this album out after listening to NEWS for a while and although I LIKE NEWS, Xpectation plainly kicks it's arse on many counts.

Especially Prince's esquisite and intelligent keyboard and guitar skills.

Well I just thought I'd mention that it's a great album that I'm really appreciating right as I type this!

Thoughts?

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[This message was edited Thu Sep 25 23:59:43 PDT 2003 by mrdespues]

i genuinely like both xpectation and news maybe cos i really liked the madhouse albums in the 80's .

i think people simply prefer what we call proper albums , the ones which he sings on ! as long as the music is good i,ll keep buying the albums instumental or not.

i really do apreciate xpectation and news i been playing news non stop since its release but i'm gonna contradict myself by saying i'd love an album with vocals tooo !

so maybe he should release these instrumental jams along with vocal albums and give people the option , i am sure the hardcore lot would buy the instumentals and some would be pleasently surprised by them like me !

i love them both.
Xpectation is a more rounded album than NEWS.
but the usic on NEWS is amazing.

He NEEDS2 play East at an aftershow here.

I liked Xpectation from the start.

I'm less interested in the ability of the musicians than I am about the final product, the melody/rhythm and such.

I think, from an audience point of view, great musicianship is often over-rated.

I disagree with that last statement.

As for 'Xpectation' I found myself immediately drawn to that work. The same did not happen with 'NEWS'.

However, after persevering, I found the last album to be far stronger, not least from an improvisational standpoint.
It was the sound of an ensemble whose members were playing off each other and bouncing ideas with assured spontaneity - and with very little evidence of showing off, an achievement almost unheard of in the current pop climate.

'NEWS' definitely makes far more demands from its listeners but ultimately it's a highly rewarding experience.

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I'm with Giotto on this one. As good as Xpectation is, N.E.W.S. is better

I disagree. Xpectation is much better than News. I love News, I think that Renato plays keyboards like a master, and Eric Leeds is very good. But Xpectation is direct, we can listen to Vanessa Mae's performance, and the violin touch sounds fresh (another turn in Prince's music). Prince plays fucking well keys and guitar, Candy Dulfer is superb, and we have some unparalleled tunes like "Xotica".
It's a pity that Xpectation isn't on stores.

JavierAlcalde said:

i agree. love 'em both, but right now Xpectation is # 1 at my house.

It's wild but I just happenned to listen to Xpectation LP this weekend and started a love affair with this gem. Good job once again Prince.

Could it be that his music is still better than 90% of what's played on pop/urban radio?

Do you think this will be released as a CD? I wasn't a member when the downloads were available. Have heard samples but thats about it.

I think both Xpectation and NEWS succeed in their own ways.

Of the 2 I'm currently enjoying NEWS more. The review on Amazon linked from NPGMC sums it up better than I ever could...

It's interesting that Prince decided to give NEWS a full retail release. To me that says he's more satisfied personally with NEWS...

I very much hope that Xpectation gets a full CD release. I would love to hear it through my stereo system in its full glory.
[This message was edited Mon Sep 29 4:31:24 PDT 2003 by JamesS]

I think Xpectation, as many of you have mentioned, is a more rounded, thought-out album.

The songs of NEWS seem like an original spontaneous jam session on a few simple themes, with layers of doubled parts to make the themes seem a little more like solid musical ideas...while I think NEWS is great, the form is a little lacking in my book, in comparison to Xpectation.

I also happen to think that Eric Leeds work is a bit repetitive on NEWS - I love Eric's work in the 80s with Prince, but Candy has youth on her side and a freshness on Xpectation that is missing in the sax work on NEWS.

In short, NEWS feels like a a REALLY good aftershow jam...the playing is through the roof - but the actual musical ideas don't really stick that much...it feels like something is missing and that something is a good MELODY - can you hum me more than a couple of tunes from NEWS? Xpectation has tunes in abundance in comparison and STILL has the space-jazz thing Prince is exploring these days.

All in all, I like NEWS but I love Xpectation - it feels like some real charts were handed around, has some good little "heads" (for those that don't know, that's jazz-speak for the main melody) and hence, has more of a finished, album feel to me. And Vanessa Mae's violin adds a great ambience and lyrical quality. The only thing I feel it would have benifited from is the omitted track, Xenophobia. I'd love to hear the studio version of that cut - and it would have been nicer to have the album be a little longer with it included.

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[This message was edited Mon Sep 29 6:04:36 PDT 2003 by mrdespues]