New Prince

The music however is really pretty good. Again i've found it hard to focus on individual tracks because everything is segued together. Its the most adventurous album he's released in a long time and with further plays I think it'll reveal itself to be very fine indeed.

I don't think its a return to form as some have said because I thought his last album was really strong compared to a lot of the releases prior to it. The new one is not going to be a commercial return either. Its simply too odd and there are no obvious singles.

Still, at least he's not totally lost it in his middle age.

I have yet to play it again. I don't think I'm ready for his jelly.

The more I listen to it the more I skip the segue tracks (four or five of them), but most of the actual songs are GRATE (after you fast foward through his octave-dropped proselytizing). Family Name/Everlasting Now are especially great, they feel more like the live show funkathons that I like much more than most of his recordings (complete with Larry Graham!).

Yeah, uh, I'm not really feelin Planet Earth. There are like four decent tracks (The One You Want to C, Future Baby Mama, Mr. Goodnight, maybe the jazzy one), and some really awful-sounding tunes on here. Maybe it'll grow.

I listened to 3121 afterwards and it sounded GREAT.

You just mentioned all the tracks I dislike!

The real jewels are the last four tracks. "Chelsea Rodgers" is quite great.

I'm digging it. The title track is classic.

Does anyone know if there are reissues coming down the pike? I ask not just because his back catalog needs remastering and it'd be nice if it happened- decided on a whim this morning to buy Controversy, noticed that Amazon (US) has it on 3-6 week backorder, which is pretty unusual for a consistent seller (well, consistent selling act, anyway) on a major label, and then noticed that every other Prince CD on Warners except Purple Rain is in a similar state. The last time I saw this was when I finally bought Joy Division's Still right before the reissues on Rhino were announced and it was the only Joy Division disc currently in stock.

i dont think there are any plans for reissues at this time

I like how when Warners' announced CD reissues awhile back Prince threatened to re-record all his old albums and release them himself, just to confuse the marketplace.

the uk was flooded with Warners copies of all the albums when he came and did his Purple Panto stint. every shop had racks of the catalogue .. but yeah, some do definitely need a nice remastering job done on them.

man you know how much a copy of rainbow children goes for on vinyl??? and its only a couple years old!

i knew i should have bought the LP version.

that album's pretty terrible

its great compared to the last three.

oh no it isn't

id take TRC over planet earth, musicology and 3121. at least on TRC he was generally happy to be a bit weird again - sounded like he was taking a few risks again, at last. id rather hear that than him trying to court the pop market with starbucks-funk-lite like the musicology title track.

"Amazon (US) has it on 3-6 week backorder"

the 'used & new' section is your friend.

Is Planet Earth worth my time? (/money?) I liked about half of 3121, if that helps.

Probably not, although the last three songs are great.

"Chelsea Rodgers" is my favorite Prince song of the last 10 years.

You, at the very least, need to hear "Chelsea Rodgers" Reverend

Wow, synergy. I believe I made the same statement on another Prince thread but I even gave it a 15 year window I think.

If you got no love for "Future Baby Mama" you ain't a Prince fan...best track in 20 years

I haven't listened to Planet Earth in months, but I've come to think of 3121 as kind of a nu-Prince classic!

The title track and "Black Sweat" are definitely classic, or as close as he's gotten in a while.

id take TRC over planet earth, musicology and 3121. at least on TRC he was generally happy to be a bit weird again - sounded like he was taking a few risks again, at last. id rather hear that than him trying to court the pop market with starbucks-funk-lite like the musicology title track.

-- titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 15 October 2007 22:48 (2 days ago) Link

Sir, you are very OTM.

If taking risks = jammin' with Najee.

PFUnk

(info)

that song is ill

yeah, that's good. like the Camille voice.

Oh, man. Oh wow! This is GOOD. Prince... please 2 make a whole new Camille album? Please? KTHX

Goddamn!

wow his band sounds so good.

This pleases meh.

Prince is usually at his best when he works in the middle-ground between the funk of "The Black Album" and the rock of his latest album.

And this song sounds way too much like "Sexy MF" - his worst ever single. He should at least use synths instead of guitars when he wants to make that kind of music.

this is fun!

"Sexy MF" - his worst ever single. He should at least use synths instead of guitars when he wants to make that kind of music.

-- Geir Hongro, Monday, 12 November 2007 14:46 (47 minutes ago) Link

GEIR OTM

I still haven't heard it. I really liked Musicology, but 3121 was half good half "meh" for me, although "Lolita" was awesome...and the dude tore it up at the Super Bowl.

Prince=teh win

leave it to Prince to address a fan on a message board by name in a song and still not look lame

?

Prince calls out people on message boards in a song recently posted, Jordan.

"Future Baby Mama" is the greatest song Prince has written in nearly 20 years everything else is just blah

rong

its kinda meh, as they say. throwaway camille-style funk. lyric actually sounds like it has a sense of purpose which is fine until you remember what the purpose is in this case, but its too clean sounding. sounds like he knocked it out in 5 minutes. IMO he hasnt been too funky in years and this doesnt really change that.

i downloaded that jazz record "N.E.W.S." he did. OMG that's the worst album ever recorded by humans easy.

Prince calls out people on message boards in a song recently posted, Jordan.

THANKS FOR CLEARING THAT UP.

I like half of the stuff on 3121 as much or more than Future Baby Mama, ie Black Sweat, Satisfied, Lolita, 3121, Love, and Incense & Candles.

OMG that's the worst album ever recorded by humans easy.

haha yeah I think that's the album that killed my wife's Prince fanaticism

i love prince up to a point (lovesexy) but god i can't believe people are so blinded by that stuff they can't see how fucking lame he is now. it's weird. he's no better than some average funk band you'd see at a local bar most of the time, plus all those crappy session dude guitar solos. blech.

plus all those crappy session dude guitar solos.

uh, no.

uh yes

"people are so blinded by that stuff they can't see how fucking lame he is now."

OTM

performance-wise he's still pretty amazing and quite funny. waaaay more versatile than "some average funk band you'd see at a local bar".

I don't know any session dudes who pay homage Eddie Hazel so religiously.

i dont know why when a guy plays with soul and chops it automatically gets summed up as "session dude shit" by some people. his guitar paying is mighty tasty to these ears. that synth solo on the new one is awes classic prince style.

chaki otm

after buying emancipation i was like why am i wasting my time listening to this and pretending like i have to find the good in it? i let go...it felt so good. like when i let myself not care about star wars anymore after attack of the clones.

wrt to his lead playing, he's pretty hot shit in a oh hey check this shit out kind of way, but i never find his solos particularly memorable...he sounds so sterile compared to eddie hazel.

he sounds more van halen than hazel these days. hes virtuoso-like but it turned into cheesy wankery really quickly at the recent london shows. it was just one massive solo after another. even when he brought on winehouse to do loves a losing game (in turgid modern blues style), he couldnt resist chucking in a whopping solo after each and every verse.

"i dont know why when a guy plays with soul and chops it automatically gets summed up as "session dude shit"

cos its all flash and well, thats about it.

I'm with Chaki. Anyone who thinks this is half-baked funk or even sounds remotely like "Sexy MF" should have their ears cleaned. This is the closest he's come to the energy and weirdness of '87 Prince in eons. What if he knocked it out in 5 minutes? Wasn't the "Black Album" done in, like, a weekend?

Waiting for the "3121 is much better then The Black Album, anyhow" responses...

prince isnt fucking shredding and and doing sweeps and shit. he's doing long notey bluesy rock soloing in the style of hendrix. playing a blues lick after every line is in the tradition of modern blues. is bb king all flash? dude, you are full of shit re: prince's playing. dude is full of soul and pain.

xpost

it was just one massive solo after another.

I'm kinda surprised, honestly... the times I've seen him he didn't solo much at all. Maybe this is a recent thing cuz he thinks people have forgotten he's the only black pop star left who can play guitar.

black album was recorded in one night

actually he's kind of the ONLY pop star left that can play guitar (EVH doesn't count)

(that can't possibly be true about the Black Album! too many overdubs on it)

x-post

ok this is great

yah you're right, shakey

And I finally listened to "Planet Earth" this weekend and thought - for the first 5 or so songs at least - it holds up better than the previous two albums. But I can't feel the love so many people have for "Chelsea Rodgers". "The One U wanna See" is my jam. Is that Wendy & Lisa doing b-ground vocals on that?

"dude is full of soul and pain."

haha. ok.

yah they are also on "lion of judah." for the record i find planet earth and 3121 mostly wack but my mom loves them. i think he makes music for moms now which is cool.

xpost

that song he did recently about his guitar was sub-lenny kravitz but i still like him alright

yeah he's more like a preservation act these days - Musicology really spells out what he's about these days (ie, remember when r&b was versatile and weird and oh yeah don't forget JAMES BROWN and JIMI HENDRIX and CURTIS MAYFIELD)

yeah, "guitar" sucks. "the one u wanna c" is my favorite too.

people are so blinded by that stuff they can't see how fucking lame he is now.

Less than two years ago, he delivered his best album in ages. "Planet Earth" may not be particularly good, but "3121" was ace!

why is hendrix always brought up when it comes to princes playing? i hear a lot more or just as much santana as hendrix. santana also played in a prettier, less messy/rougher style than hendrix, which is more how prince plays. the hendrix-prince guitar playing similarities are really over emphasised, prob just cos theyre the biggest black rock icons of the past 40 years. prince plays a lot poppier than hendrix.

the rainbow children and the truth are his last two good albums.

I think its more Hazel than anyone else (as I mentioned a few posts back) but the Hendrix stuff comes up because Prince is fond of breaking out those "chitlin circuit" gimmicks that Hendrix became famous for - playing with his teeth, whipping his guitar around, etc. Physically they play the guitar in very similar ways.

geir otm! titchyschneider SO RONG

yeah I don't think people who are interested in him post-Musicology are really blinded to how bad the vast majority of his 90s output is. Prince has definitely gone through an "I'm gonna re-engage with the general public" campaign with the last few records, and its merited much better musical results... you can't tell me 3121 is somehow just as bad (or worse) than, say, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic.

ah i dont care. i 'let go' of being a prince fan years ago. each new album just reminds me why. 3121, musicornolgy, planet earth, rave unto the joy fantastic, god, theyre all virtually the same album!

see, that is demonstrably untrue. Rainbow Children, N.E.W.S., Rave, Emancipation, all those Warner Bros extras, etc. are all quite different in tone and construction from the last three.

This is the wrong thread, but anyone who says Emancipation isn't worth trolling through for an album and a half's worth of really fine material hasn't been listening. And what he's doing on these recent albums compared with Emancipation seems very different to these ears.

planet earth is more fm-rock than anything hes made since chaos and disorder, sure, but rave, musicology, 3121, these three are pretty all the same 'please return me back to commercial/mainstream form' albums. im not talking about emancipation (its cliche to say but theres a really really excellent one-disc album in there) or TRC, those are quite different.

lol prince plays SO MUCH like hendrix.

I don't mind when Prince's stuff doesn't work (like most of Planet Earth) because the stuff that does (like most of 3121) are so worth the pain of the failures.

the rainbow children and the truth are his last two good albums.
3121, musicornolgy, planet earth, rave unto the joy fantastic, god, theyre all virtually the same album!

ROFFLES NON-STOP

I sort of miss his Come period.

Surely the slightly electro back-to-the-80s feel of "3121" had absolutely nothing in common with the "I want to be Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and early Funkadelic rolled into one) approach of "Planet Earth".

I sort of miss his Come

um....

period

I'll just throw in a few ellipses and nobody will know that's how the sentence ended

iTunes comments on the new single are great:

What is this?
Zepplin Kashmir
Seriously what is this? This isnt Prince. It sounds like someone is on helium. This isnt the true prince. Press yes if you agree.

NOT THE BEST OF PRINCE
NCORTEZ
THE WHOLE SONG IS TERRIBLE AND THE VOICE I CANT STAND

I'm gonna crown

MOUNTAINS EXTENDED MIX

i came into possession of some bootleg prince dvds recently and i've been going through them.

live in syracuse '85 - so good. the height of the purple rain band, all the hits are extended versions with new parts etc. he changes clothes between every single song, i think. it's super drum-machine heavy - bobby z just plays cymbals on a lot of songs, and when he does play his whole kit is triggered. i could do without the psychedelic video effects in the last third (it was produced for tv). he talks to god for awhile. three encores. the second one is a funk jam where jerome and sheila e. pop up out of nowhere (maybe the time and sheila were the opening acts?). 'purple rain' is the final encore and they play for ten minutes before prince starts singing the first verse.

live in (somewhere in germany) '88 - totally different show, lovesexy tour, just as good. prince drives onstage in a cadillac, first song is 'erotic city' with just him dancing with sheila and kat. this is the stage set with a bed, swing set, b-ball hoop, etc.. it's the opposite of '85 i.e. very few epic versions of tunes, everything is sliced and diced into medleys but it's cool. some of the transitions are just sick. when they do 'head', he puts the mic between his legs for kat to sing backups. interludes where he'll do a blues ("if i had a harem"), an acoustic piano set. he does his bob george thing and it's pretty silly (lots of microphones as guns etc.). 2 hours solid and it's never boring, prince knows how to put together a fucking set.

i've still got some '81 shows to check out.

anyone check out the target trilogy?

The cover frightened me.

Is it out already? The sample songs on his site weren't that promising, but I guess I'd still want to check it out.

Does anyone know what's the difference between Lotusflow3r and MPLSound? Is the latter one supposed to be more like a jam album?

Not particularly good, though some will probably dig how hard he's pushing the pseudo-'80s sound on MPLSoUND. (More Parade than Purple Rain)

lotusflow3r is supposed to be the rock album and mplsound is supposed to be the electro/throwback album. i haven't heard it yet, but there have to be at least a few great tracks in there. maybe a great ep?

Yeah, MPLSoUND is very "you want 80s Prince? you want Linn Drums and helium vox? FINE, here it is!" but it's still actually pretty fun and listenable and does at times sound like a nice compilation of scraps circa '86. Lotusflow3r is pretty typical recent rock band Prince, couple decent songs but really bland.

yeah, what you said

the protege album isn't that bad, but very anonymous

I picked this up on Sunday, but I haven't listened to it yet. The Prince fanboys on RYM and other forums seems to be loving it (even the protege disc).

prince stans are the most delusional of all stans

http://gossipvixen.blogspot.com/2007/05/prince-stan-rushed-by-security.html

(ws)

prince stans are the most delusional of all stans

We must be. He hasn't turned out an even second-rate album since The Gold Experience.

the songs he did on leno were just shit. the rock one was the best, but even that was just like sub lenny kravitz.

is this on spotify?

i will listen to this a lot and enjoy it, no matter how bad it is.

http://www.imeem.com/groups/v89boZ9o/video/bdRqsGsQ/prince-feat-q-tip-chocolate-box-music-video/

That doesn't sound half bad! Not a classic tune or anything, but if the reast of MPLSound is like that, I can imagine liking it.

They all fade out into anonymity pretty quickly. The Bria Valente album is OK - some of it sounds like the last Paisley Park Sheila E album. As said above MPLSound is really "here's all the sounds that apparently make me sound 'experimental'", but the songs are pretty average. Not listened to LotusFlow3r yet (jeez they are crap titles) - but his "rock" songs always tend to the bland and over produced. Given all that, I'm not sure why I went to the 02 five times last year and would gladly go again... I'm not really sure even Prince knows why he still makes Prince albums - other than to have an excuse to play live and build really shit websites that he'll abandon in 6 months.

I'm listening to MPLSound now, it sounds pretty good! Good grooves and nice synths, it basically has everything I love about Prince. The tunes sound a bit throwaway, but to be honest some of my favourite Prince tunes are throwaway B-sides ("Scarlet Pussy", "La La La He He Hee", etc). There's something fresh about him just riding the funk instead of trying to craft the perfect pop hit.

I hope they release this separately, so I don't have to buy the rock album. Never cared much for rock Prince.

yeah the comparisons that kept running through my head listening to it were the disc 3 b-sides on the Hits comp

looks like you have to get the set but at least it's the cost of a single cd: http://www.target.com/Prince-LotusFlow3r-3-CD-Only-Target/dp/B001TI3IB0/sr=1-1/qid=1238521940/ref=sr_1_1/189-5229057-3186863?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Aprince&page=1

yeah it's a pretty great deal, i picked mine up with a 12 pack of soda on sunday

it basically has everything I love about Prince

Nu-uh.

So far it seems to be available in Europe only as a pretty expensive import. I hope it has a proper release in here soon.

is the subscription website U.S. only or availabe in other countries?

Nu-uh.

lol hardcore at this; how do you know what Tuomas loves about Prince?

If you lol hardcore, you should excelsior it.

Right. The only problem I have is that three ballads is a bit too much for a 9-song album. "U're Gonna C Me" is nice though, but "Here" could've been replaced with a dance number. "No More Candy 4 U" sounds like a classic weird-ass rockabilly Prince tune in the spirit of "Jack U Off", great way to end the album.

(x-post)

"Better With Time" is somewhat boring too. But really, all the dance tunes sound fine to me, the two Camille tracks are probably the best.

haha i never thought of the new high-voice songs as being Camille, but that's a hilarious thought...she must be menopausal by now!

I listened to "Here" again, and it's actually okay. But "Better With Me" is totally disposable, it's like "Arms of Orion" without any good bits.

(x-post)

Of course it's Camille, she even says "This is my song!" on "Ol' Skool Company". Who else could it be?

Is Clare Fischer on any of these albums?

Ann Powers on Prince's 3 live shows in LA in honor of the new trilogy

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/03/princes-three-i.html

that's cool that he had a different band for each show (michael bland & john blackwell in the same night!). would have loved to have seen that acoustic set.

ok listening to the Bria Valente, I won't pretend it's anything more than what people are saying it is, but "Another Boy" is AWESOME, I wish I could hear this on the radio

http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2009/04/welcome-2-the-dawn-of-suck.html

Says basically what I feel but way more better.

Everything after the first graph is fine, but pinning the future of musical creativity on a 50-year-old is tremendously ass-backwards.

As with pretty much any Prince album over the last decade for me, this was about half really fun and half shit. Luckily I really love rock-god Prince and found Lotusflow3r to be really enjoyable. MPLSound, otoh, was a boring mess. Too many murky ballads.

Can we just say here what a piece of shit Musicology was?

We can?

Thanks.

anyone on ilm crazy enough to pay the $77?

"murky ballads" is an accurate description of some of Prince's very best peak period word, so I have no problem at all with mplsound.

word=work

Eh, I know what you are getting at with that, but I just don't think these ones live up to those peak period ballads at all.

anyone on ilm crazy enough to pay the $77?

― iatee, Wednesday, April 1, 2009 9:33 PM (48 minutes ago)

for what?

yeah, exactly.

for prince's new olympic-sized purple swimming pool?

the way this guy treats his fans is really disgusting

(to state the obv)

But to be fair, he did release three new albums worth of material for $11.98. Which is actually less than most single discs.

yeah, i mean, i wasn't sure if iatee was referring to new a tour or something (and yeah, i probably would plunk douwn $77 still for that, depending on size of venue..)

stormy, I was referring to the 1-year lotusflow3r.com site subscription

It all depends on what he ends up posting on the site. I mean, thats a little over 6 bucks a month. So really, based on the iTunes model, any more than 7 songs or videos a month and you've pretty much gotten your moneys worth (how good the songs are aside). What does suck is that, given his track record on other websites, it'll be abandoned within 4 months.

LotusFl0w39/MPLS0und or whatever they're called are a new low in Prince laziness. He really should stop making new albums if it's come down to this level of tired. So sad. There is absolutely no way any of the stuff on the "retro" CD comes near the weird genius of the old tracks whose style and content it's supposedly revisiting. It's even come down to his using his once-awesome signature Linn sound as a gimmick throughout just about every track on said cd. Just... wow.

lotusflower isn't that bad so far! "the morning after" is actually a nice little tune

Listened again today, LotusFlow3r>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>MPLSound

that was also my impression on first listen

hahaha I finally listened to the Bria Valente album and, um, I like it WAAAAAAAAY more than I liked either of the Prince albums, which totally takes me aback because I really just assumed I was going to hate it

dude how great is "Another Boy"?

I should listen to this then? I pretty much assumed the same thing and never even pulled her disc out of the package.

It's shockingly good! Like, I can't believe the same dude responsible for those other two snoozeworthy albums actually pulled off what I assumed would be far and away the worst of the three; it's not even like "I like this compared to the other two" because I only listened to each of them once and kind of don't remember anything about them other than soul-crushing dismay.

i can understand not seeking out a Prince protege album but if you've already got it as part of a set, and it's an album full of songs he wrote and produced i don't know why you wouldn't listen to it!

There's only so many hours in a day and so much music to hear! Plus we're talking about a Prince protege in 2010 and if his own albums were kinda disappointing, I certainly didn't have high hopes for the protege.

Can you understand playing the two Prince albums, going "oh shit, I am really for the first time out-and-out hating the experience of listening to a Prince album" and assuming the protoge album is going to trend more Appolonia than Vanity?

xp: ha exactly

Uh, I obviously meant 2009. But Prince is always a year ahead of us mortals anyway.

I really wish Prince would get over 'discovering' artists that never go anywhere and just write songs for contemporary pop stars, I'd love to see him compete w/ songwriters like The-Dream whose entire playbook was cribbed from him

ha i didn't listen to this either. the only one i got through was MPLSound, and the only thing i can remember from that is "valentina".

I really wish Prince would get over 'discovering' artists that never go anywhere and just write songs for contemporary pop stars, I'd love to see him compete w/ songwriters like The-Dream whose entire playbook was cribbed from him

OTMFM

i actually liked "the morning after" from one of the new ones

>>I really wish Prince would get over 'discovering' artists that never go anywhere and just write songs for contemporary pop stars

You mean like "You're My Love," "With This Tear," and "I Hear Your Voice," songs that Prince wrote for Kenny Rogers, Celine Dion and Patti LaBelle back in the day and three of the most forgettable things he's done? Some of Prince's best give-aways were written for "discoveries" whom we never heard from again like Elisa Fiorillo, Brownmark and Taja Sevelle.

I'll give you that (although hey, "Manic Monday" was pretty good), but seriously wouldn't it be cool if he gave a few of his better recent songs to Beyonce or Usher or something?

i think he's only interested in giving songs to women he can nurture/fuck/produce etc, who he doesn't have to worry about competing with. but yeah, it would be cool, i bet some tracks on 3121 could have been hits on someone else's record.

i think he's only interested in giving songs to women he can nurture/fuck/produce etc

I understand Kenny Rogers was HORRIFIED when he read the small print in the song contract agreement.

man this guy sucks so bad now :(

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2013/01/prince-new-single-screwdriver/

http://20pr1nc3.com/ if you want the visuals.

Yeah, this kinda blows.

The song itself isn't too bad. kind of a throwback to Revolution times HOWEVER the ham fisted chorus / backing band / vocal delivery means I'll never listen to it again.

I don't mind the 80s classic rock style as much as his voice. Man, what happened?

wtf are these sub Motley Crue lyrics?

The "wheherehwhweerehghghghgh" bit at 2:25 sounds like he's choking himself.

I'm OK with this, mainly because I can never picture Prince doing such a straightforward verse-chorus-verse type of song.

This brings me the same deflating feeling that I got upon hearing Bowie in Tin Machine.

this song is 1/2 as good as the worst tin machine song

The song itself isn't too bad. kind of a throwback to Revolution times HOWEVER the ham fisted chorus / backing band / vocal delivery means I'll never listen to it again.

― Oblique Strategies, Tuesday, January 22, 2013 11:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i cannot even fathom thinking the song isn't too bad, it's terrible

he's becoming a rod stewart-level waste of talent :(

New interview.

http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100#/features/prince-the-new-billboard-cover-story-1008105372.story

http://gawker.com/5978660/billboard-interview-reveals-that-prince-is-still-insane

apparently Prince is on Fallon tonight, and he plays one new song and "BAMBI"

aaaaaand SHREDDED.

Just watched 'Bambi'. Pretty hot. His falsetto though -- finally weakening?

oh I dunno. I can't think of another performer his age whose physical range is largely intact.

Fantastic version.

'Screwdriver' -- not a great song but at least it sounds like it coulda been left off Dirty Mind?

Is he touring with just this quartet this time?

Oops, the guitar Prince broke belonged to the Roots' "Captain" Kirk Douglas.

"Screwdriver" is a lame song but it at least sounded good live, especially as basically an intro for "Bambi."

self-titled album is so wonderful, always good to have a reminder of that.

xpost yeah I saw Questlove's pic on Instagram. Kinda uncool?

“@CaptainKDouglas: Maybe it's because I'm a dad but I think framing the guitar is a little like rewarding bad behavior.”

:)

hahaha

One time my friends noise band opened for Omoide Hatoba... During the OH set something went wrong with Yamamoto's guitar and he had to borrow my friend's guitar. Yamamoto then broke the neck off with his crazy aggressive vibrato.

Huh, been a while since Prince had a lead guitarist, no?

?uestlove was at the mostly shit Prince show here a few months back. Love that he can recognize his godlike genius while I'm sure conceding his failures.

Also, no Tele for Prince ... strange things are afoot!

Great version of "Bambi" . "Screwdriver" is like some super contrived "Rave 2 The Joy Fantastic" outtake. Terrible.

performing at SXSW apparently

maybe this will be his big break

Love how the most coveted shows at SXSW are always the legacy acts: Johnny Cash, Springsteen, Beastie Boys, Dave Grohl and Classic Rock People, Depeche Mode, Tom Waits, Prince...

the "msnbc theme song" he did is hilarious. it's on some smooth jazz/lite funk noodling, and i get the distinct sense they were like "shit, we didn't ask for this and don't want to use it, but you can't say no to prince, right? right?"

wait what

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MMIoNpL6yhI

hahahahaha oh man

lloool

Prince and Tamron sittin in a treee

hahaha that shit is hilarious

Madhouse 2013. Yeesh.

if you're gonna do a TV theme song, steal from the best: Night Court

good lord

Ha ha...That's brilliant...she should present the news in a little polka dot dress and holding a little toy dog...

some smooth jazz/lite funk noodling

Saw one of his club tours - maybe in 2000? - and the special guest was Najee, who is like the black Kenny G. Prince was still cursing, and was awesome, but every once in a while he would be in the middle of something killer, like "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," and he'd just shout "Najee!" And then Najee would offer some totally lame smooth jazz sax solo.

hahahahaha

god i want to see that

Imagine Prince with Najee and Dave Koz filling out the lineup

And then Najee would offer some totally lame smooth jazz sax solo.

see also the candy dulfer years

this new song blows hardcore

Candy Dulfer was awesome when Prince did his '04 Musicology run. It was her and Maceo, and she did great.

yeah! I saw that tour, horns were awesome

http://www.factmag.com/2013/04/02/hear-princes-stoner-rock-cover-of-purple-rains-lets-go-crazy/

That cover rules... I wish Lenny Kravitz would unleash a jam like that.

Yeah that was great

I can't be the only person who hates this.

It's possible.

not amazing or anything but it's fun to hear Prince reinvent one of the iconic songs that he'd afaik never really toyed with or changed at all in the past

I wanted to like this. I listened to it twice all the way through. It's boring. Prince being a master of any genre/sound he wants to try can't stop this from being boring.

just a bit of fun y'all

i dug it.

fun as heck

such a plodding drummer his band is terrible

you guys should go to more suburban sports bars that have bands on the weekends

no YOU should

i saw Uli Jon Roth at a suburban sports bar last month! he's way better at guitar than prince & possibly dresses even more ridiculously

I've stood next to Prince and Uli Jon Roth they are about the same height. Prince has better hair, Roth has a better moustache, fashion sense wise it's a push.

Musically it isn't even close. Uli Jon Roth all the way.

I barely made it to the chorus. So bad.

prince is at his best when he moves farthest away from RAWK, his brittle, weird synth funk shit (like black sweat or that other newish song i heard that was p good)

he's pretty much terrible at hard rocking imo

I was going to debate this claim and then I remember "Dolphin"

but then again, "Shhh"

i mean he's had a handful of good rock n roll ravers but shit like dorothy parker or when doves cry is really where his genius was

that I would never dispute

more than a handful; at least 1 or 2 mix CDs' worth

I guess the drummer is a bit of a plodder. On the other hand I always enjoy good feelin'-the-jam shouts deep in the mix

Eh, Hannah Ford is pretty good imo
http://vimeo.com/61739791

Please don't quote me on this but has Prince gone and released a pretty good single *

*Disclaimer

All views expressed here are subject to a 14 day cooling off period and may cause headaches and irritable bowels. Consult your doctor before use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpgpxJ7qodA&feature=youtu.be

I think I'm almost more shocked that Prince has a twitter account.

that sounds quite good

okay I was not expecting this

What am I missing here? What makes this so good?

Of course it's not sooo good but it's not atrocious either...I am judging it on 1:30 of audio but it sounded alrite...

Capitaine, play his fight song for the Vikings and then listen to that snippet again

Dan don't remind me about that Vikings...thing!! AIEEEE.

This is just a snippet but it already sounds like 1,000 other slo jams he's made. I hate when my heroes grow boring.

Thing is - he's been boring for quite a few years now ( though 20Ten had its moments) and always with the occasional blip of life on the radar like "Black Sweat" . And then the full tsunami of wackness rolls in.

Ha the funniest thing last night is he was tweeting "RIP" at all these people who were like "I'd die if Prince tweeted me" then deleted the evidence of the murders

hahaha

god his new band is sooo bad, the drumming on that new song is so lead-footed

still dont get all the love for black sweat. but anyway, this new song sounds decent, yeah. not an embarassment, which is always a nice surprise. but i wish i did hear something from him that wasnt a classic prince signifier. in this song its the "whats it gonna be?" lyric, and then when the horns kick in, it just makes me think of parade/SOTT. i wish he had some new (good ones at least) angles to his sound or maybe its just too late.

for some reason i really want him to try working with todd rundgren.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg8NERylAjE&feature=youtu.be

the artwork

I feel suddenly optimistic that regaining his sense of humor may improve Prince's music overall

Yeah. I haven't even listened to the single yet because I'm still not over how awesome the artwork is tbh. I need to process that before anything else.

it's a really good track for nu-Prince but i swear i already heard it earlier in the year?

Yeah self-aware Prince is a new idea to me.

"The Prince Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 2013. Human decisions are removed from strategic funk. Prince begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug."

He's still a dick:

http://www.spin.com/articles/prince-smashed-someone-elses-guitar-fallon/

Did I miss this? New one not bad?

It's not great.

its better than pretty much any of his albums from the past 10 years. the AOA one at least. it sounds like prince comfortable to be prince again. and hes making some effort again, which he hasnt done for years. some awful moments in there of course, but most of it is likeable enough, even if i dont really know how much i want to listen to it repeatedly. the 3rd eye girl one is pretty terrible. like TGE and chaos and disorder, but insipid and bloodless.

is it better than 3121? not even gonna listen to the trio record.

the trio record is a bit embarassing. AOA is better than 3121 or as good as. its funkier, anyway. and funkier in a way he hasnt been in decades.

it's also good as its basically prince sounding like prince but also sounding current without trying to sound like everyone else

It's a grower too. Found myself humming Way Back Home the other day.

this is actually like an old prince album where you can kind of imagine him making a live show out of it, the first song has a terrible rap on it but it sounds like a grand entrance kind of song (also makes me think prince dabbling in EDM = not actually so bad)

Dude has a really high standard to reach when he puts out new music.

Breakfast can Wait is def worth a listen.

"Breakfast Can Wait" came out so long ago, and is so much better than the rest of the album, that i feel like he must've spent the last year and a half trying in vain to make more songs of that caliber

he sounds more like Cartman than Camille on the pitched-up vocal on "FUNKNROLL"