12-10-2014, 18:26
enters the Billboard chart this week at #5
Spotify online listen
3.0 of 5.0 from allmusic
I guess it's Prince but I guess I got over him
Bio - from allmusic
![[Image: MI0003790817.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/790/MI0003790817.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the
rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he
toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his
vaults. With each album he released, Prince has shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different
sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments
frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.
Prince's first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop. With 1980's Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man
tour de force of sex and music; it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop, all at once. The
follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant. The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was
nothing compared to 1984's Purple Rain.
Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. and spent 24 weeks at number one. Partially recorded
with his touring band, the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made. Instead of continuing in this
accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia of Around the World in a Day, which nevertheless sold over two million
copies. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the '60s; however,
no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of "Kiss."
By 1987, Prince's ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign 'O' the Times. Prince was set to
release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, yet he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and
immoral. Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster. With the soundtrack to 1989's Batman he returned
to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before. The following year he released Graffiti
Bridge (the sequel to Purple Rain), which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment.
In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled. With their first album,
Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B; it was his biggest hit since 1985. The following year, he released his
12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol; in 1993, Prince legally changed his name to the symbol. In 1994, after becoming embroiled in
contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," likely to illustrate what
he would be capable of on his own; the song became his biggest hit in years. Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Come
under the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold.
In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album. In early 1995, he immersed
himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for
release. By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise that guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for
the label. The Gold Experience was issued in the fall; although it received good reviews and was following a smash single, it failed to catch
fire commercially. In the summer of 1996, Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist. Setting up his own
label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum
opus that would spin off singles for several years and be supported with several tours.
However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Once it was clear that
Emancipation wasn't the commercial blockbuster he hoped it would be, Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased
material called Crystal Ball in 1998. With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it's much more difficult to get records to an audience than it
seems; some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince's website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn't receive them until
months after the set began appearing in stores. Prince then released a new one-man album, New Power Soul, just three months after Crystal Ball;
even though it was his most straightforward album since Diamonds and Pearls, it didn't do well on the charts, partly because many listeners
didn't realize it had been released.
A year later, with "1999" predictably an end-of-the-millennium anthem, Prince issued the remix collection 1999 (The New Master). A collection of
Warner Bros.-era leftovers, Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, followed that summer, and in the fall Prince returned on Arista with the all-star Rave
Un2 the Joy Fantastic. In the fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his
conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses that left many longtime fans out in the cold. He further isolated himself with 2003's N.E.W.S., a four-
song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to. Prince rebounded in 2003 with the chart-topping Musicology,
a return to form that found the artist back in the Top Ten, even garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2005.
In early 2006 he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing two songs with a new protégée, R&B singer Tamar. A four-song
appearance at the Brit Awards with Wendy, Lisa, and Sheila E. followed. Both appearances previewed tracks from 3121, which hit number one on the
album charts soon after its release in March 2006. Planet Earth followed in 2007, featuring contributions from Wendy and Lisa. In the U.K.,
copies were cover-mounted on the July 15 edition of The Mail on Sunday, provoking Columbia -- the worldwide distributor for the release -- to
refuse distribution throughout the U.K. In the U.S., the album was issued on July 24.
LotusFlow3r, a three-disc set, came in 2009, featuring a trio of distinct albums: LotusFlow3r itself (a guitar showcase), MPLSound (a throwback
to his '80s funk output), and Elixer (a smooth contemporary R&B album featuring the breathy vocals of Bria Valente). Despite only being
available online and through one big-box retailer, the set debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. A year later, another throwback-
flavored effort, 20Ten, became his second U.K. newspaper giveaway. No official online edition of the album was made available. From mid-2010
through the end of 2012, Prince toured throughout Europe, America, Europe again, Canada, and Australia.
During 2013, Prince released several singles, starting with "Screwdriver" and continuing with "Breakfast Can Wait" in the summer of that year.
Early in 2014, he made a cameo appearance on the Zooey Deschanel sitcom The New Girl, appearing in the episode that aired following the Super
Bowl. All this activity was prelude to the spring announcement that he had re-signed to Warner Bros. Records, the label he had feuded with 20
years prior. As part of the deal, he wound up receiving the ownership of his master recordings and the label planned a reissue campaign that
would begin with an expanded reissue of Purple Rain roughly timed to celebrate its 30th anniversary. First came two new albums: Art Official Age
and PlectrumElectrum, the latter credited to 3rdEyeGirl, the all-female power trio that was his new-millennial backing band. Both records came
out on the same September day in 2014.
Album Review - from allmusic
![[Image: MI0003786579.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/786/MI0003786579.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
Prince returned to Warner Bros. Records in a big way in 2014, settling a 15-year feud on terms that were decidedly in his favor. He acquired the
rights to his masters, agreed to a series of deluxe reissues, and released two brand-new albums, one recorded on his own and one recorded with
his backing power trio 3rdEyeGirl. Art Official Age, the album credited to his lonesome, finds Prince reveling in many of the sounds of the
'80s, reviving his Bob George and Camille voices, dabbling in deep electro-funk on "What It Feels Like," indulging in a full-fledged freakout on
"Funknroll." Despite all these winking allusions to his past, Art Official Age feels of piece not with the Revolution but rather the New Power
Generation: underneath the squalls of guitar, psychedelic soul harmonies, and impish humor, this is a full-fledged R&B album, one that often
echoes Diamonds and Pearls. Like that 1991 record, Art Official Age is heavy on dance songs with rapped verses that don't feel informed by hip-
hop and slow-burning soul that pulls the past into the present. Some of Prince's modernization feels a bit ham-fisted -- he turns the Internet
meme "This could be us but you playing" into a slow jam -- but he leaves all his millennial flirtations at the margins of the record, grounding
it in old-fashioned notions of seduction and soul. If the album doesn't offer any startling surprises along the lines of the furious "Black
Sweat" -- there's not much abandon here -- there's joy in hearing Prince embrace his lyrical eccentricities as he accessorizes his smooth jams
and coiled, clean funk with such oddities as laser blasts and spoken introductions from what appear to be British nurses. Such quirks may be
fleeting but their presence is enough, along with such fine songs as "Breakfast Can Wait," to elevate Art Official Age above 20Ten and other pro
forma latter-day Prince records.
best I can do:
[video=youtube;GHbyNrGXpAA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHbyNrGXpAA[/video]
Track Listing
1. Art Official Cage
2. Clouds
3. Breakdown
4. The Gold Standard
5. U Know
6. Breakfast Can Wait
7. This Could Be Us
8. What It Feels Like
9. Affirmation I & II
10. Way Back Home
11. Funknroll
12. Time
13. Affirmation III
Spotify online listen
3.0 of 5.0 from allmusic
I guess it's Prince but I guess I got over him
Bio - from allmusic
Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the
rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he
toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his
vaults. With each album he released, Prince has shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different
sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments
frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.
Prince's first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop. With 1980's Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man
tour de force of sex and music; it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop, all at once. The
follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant. The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was
nothing compared to 1984's Purple Rain.
Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. and spent 24 weeks at number one. Partially recorded
with his touring band, the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made. Instead of continuing in this
accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia of Around the World in a Day, which nevertheless sold over two million
copies. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the '60s; however,
no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of "Kiss."
By 1987, Prince's ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign 'O' the Times. Prince was set to
release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, yet he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and
immoral. Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster. With the soundtrack to 1989's Batman he returned
to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before. The following year he released Graffiti
Bridge (the sequel to Purple Rain), which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment.
In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled. With their first album,
Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B; it was his biggest hit since 1985. The following year, he released his
12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol; in 1993, Prince legally changed his name to the symbol. In 1994, after becoming embroiled in
contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," likely to illustrate what
he would be capable of on his own; the song became his biggest hit in years. Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Come
under the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold.
In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album. In early 1995, he immersed
himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for
release. By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise that guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for
the label. The Gold Experience was issued in the fall; although it received good reviews and was following a smash single, it failed to catch
fire commercially. In the summer of 1996, Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist. Setting up his own
label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum
opus that would spin off singles for several years and be supported with several tours.
However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Once it was clear that
Emancipation wasn't the commercial blockbuster he hoped it would be, Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased
material called Crystal Ball in 1998. With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it's much more difficult to get records to an audience than it
seems; some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince's website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn't receive them until
months after the set began appearing in stores. Prince then released a new one-man album, New Power Soul, just three months after Crystal Ball;
even though it was his most straightforward album since Diamonds and Pearls, it didn't do well on the charts, partly because many listeners
didn't realize it had been released.
A year later, with "1999" predictably an end-of-the-millennium anthem, Prince issued the remix collection 1999 (The New Master). A collection of
Warner Bros.-era leftovers, Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, followed that summer, and in the fall Prince returned on Arista with the all-star Rave
Un2 the Joy Fantastic. In the fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his
conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses that left many longtime fans out in the cold. He further isolated himself with 2003's N.E.W.S., a four-
song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to. Prince rebounded in 2003 with the chart-topping Musicology,
a return to form that found the artist back in the Top Ten, even garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2005.
In early 2006 he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing two songs with a new protégée, R&B singer Tamar. A four-song
appearance at the Brit Awards with Wendy, Lisa, and Sheila E. followed. Both appearances previewed tracks from 3121, which hit number one on the
album charts soon after its release in March 2006. Planet Earth followed in 2007, featuring contributions from Wendy and Lisa. In the U.K.,
copies were cover-mounted on the July 15 edition of The Mail on Sunday, provoking Columbia -- the worldwide distributor for the release -- to
refuse distribution throughout the U.K. In the U.S., the album was issued on July 24.
LotusFlow3r, a three-disc set, came in 2009, featuring a trio of distinct albums: LotusFlow3r itself (a guitar showcase), MPLSound (a throwback
to his '80s funk output), and Elixer (a smooth contemporary R&B album featuring the breathy vocals of Bria Valente). Despite only being
available online and through one big-box retailer, the set debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. A year later, another throwback-
flavored effort, 20Ten, became his second U.K. newspaper giveaway. No official online edition of the album was made available. From mid-2010
through the end of 2012, Prince toured throughout Europe, America, Europe again, Canada, and Australia.
During 2013, Prince released several singles, starting with "Screwdriver" and continuing with "Breakfast Can Wait" in the summer of that year.
Early in 2014, he made a cameo appearance on the Zooey Deschanel sitcom The New Girl, appearing in the episode that aired following the Super
Bowl. All this activity was prelude to the spring announcement that he had re-signed to Warner Bros. Records, the label he had feuded with 20
years prior. As part of the deal, he wound up receiving the ownership of his master recordings and the label planned a reissue campaign that
would begin with an expanded reissue of Purple Rain roughly timed to celebrate its 30th anniversary. First came two new albums: Art Official Age
and PlectrumElectrum, the latter credited to 3rdEyeGirl, the all-female power trio that was his new-millennial backing band. Both records came
out on the same September day in 2014.
Album Review - from allmusic
Prince returned to Warner Bros. Records in a big way in 2014, settling a 15-year feud on terms that were decidedly in his favor. He acquired the
rights to his masters, agreed to a series of deluxe reissues, and released two brand-new albums, one recorded on his own and one recorded with
his backing power trio 3rdEyeGirl. Art Official Age, the album credited to his lonesome, finds Prince reveling in many of the sounds of the
'80s, reviving his Bob George and Camille voices, dabbling in deep electro-funk on "What It Feels Like," indulging in a full-fledged freakout on
"Funknroll." Despite all these winking allusions to his past, Art Official Age feels of piece not with the Revolution but rather the New Power
Generation: underneath the squalls of guitar, psychedelic soul harmonies, and impish humor, this is a full-fledged R&B album, one that often
echoes Diamonds and Pearls. Like that 1991 record, Art Official Age is heavy on dance songs with rapped verses that don't feel informed by hip-
hop and slow-burning soul that pulls the past into the present. Some of Prince's modernization feels a bit ham-fisted -- he turns the Internet
meme "This could be us but you playing" into a slow jam -- but he leaves all his millennial flirtations at the margins of the record, grounding
it in old-fashioned notions of seduction and soul. If the album doesn't offer any startling surprises along the lines of the furious "Black
Sweat" -- there's not much abandon here -- there's joy in hearing Prince embrace his lyrical eccentricities as he accessorizes his smooth jams
and coiled, clean funk with such oddities as laser blasts and spoken introductions from what appear to be British nurses. Such quirks may be
fleeting but their presence is enough, along with such fine songs as "Breakfast Can Wait," to elevate Art Official Age above 20Ten and other pro
forma latter-day Prince records.
best I can do:
[video=youtube;GHbyNrGXpAA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHbyNrGXpAA[/video]
Track Listing
1. Art Official Cage
2. Clouds
3. Breakdown
4. The Gold Standard
5. U Know
6. Breakfast Can Wait
7. This Could Be Us
8. What It Feels Like
9. Affirmation I & II
10. Way Back Home
11. Funknroll
12. Time
13. Affirmation III
