On July 10th in Belgium and the UK Prince’s new album appeared. 20Ten is again accompanied by a number of remarkable statements of Prince and although the necessary distribution is unclear, this leads to a great deal of curiosity about the album. It is called the New Prince, and it has been criticized in all directions: from useless to brilliant. Many people do not know that Prince real name is Prince Rogers Nelson. So as much as you may want to believe he made that name up to make himself feel important , you have to accept that he may have been destined for greatness from birth. Although Prince has in recent years not been in the spotlight, he’s never been out shined by those who are. After the first major release in a long time “Musicology” in 2004, five albums have appeared and the name Prince still turns as much heads today as it did back then. You can order this album exclusively through his own website. Prince feels that the piracy of music is detrimental to the music society and he is strongly against. Personally , i feel like the tyrants have been making all the money for so long , and its time to share. But i did not let my personal view skew my judgment and review of this new and at times sensational album. To promote his 21 concerts at the O2 Arena in 2007, Prince signed a deal with Mail on Sunday that Planet Earth would be provided free with the newspaper. The same is true for 20Ten.
After Lotusflow3r in 2009, a more experimental (3CD) album is clearly a grab for the past. The album really breathes the 80s. On a number of tracks Prince show his true colors with tunes that sound like modern funk mixed with a hint of Purple Rain. The album opens with Compassion: An upbeat, funky song that is strongly reminiscent of Let’s Go Crazy with a modern twist. Two more modern songs are Like Glue and Sticky Act Of God, both with a great funky beat. Sticky Like Glue takes 4.46 minutes on the CD, but will likely live to be stretched against the 10 minutes. This is a song that lends itself perfectly for jamming and solos on the album where Prince fortunately did not over do it. “I’ve Got News For You, Freedom Is not Free” Prince sings in Act of God, where he suggests to us that we have a lot less freedom than we think. This is definitely an uptempo track with a catchy melody. Perhaps the best track on the album is the bonus track named Laydown. Prince shows us that he can rap pretty well as he lays down something that sounds very relaxed on a beat: “You need to lay it down, and let me show you how. We do this thing up in funky town. From the heart of Minnesota, here comes the Purple Yoda, guaranteed to bring new sound That dirty. ” Throw a couple of whining guitars through it and the track is complete.
Although there are some good tracks on the album and none are real failures, some lacked the sparkle to make the cut. Some tracks are potentially quite good, but were missing that good riff or just remained too much on the surface. Walk in Sand even had a really good ballad but failed to catch the attention of the listener. I think i would have liked it if the start had been less boring. Overall, Prince has a remarkable album. 20Ten again delivered, taking back a touch of his famous ’80s sound and bringing it into the new millennium. The album is less experimental than some of his predecessors, so we are assured of a certain quality Prince. The album lacks a few peaks to be really good. Laydown and Compassion jump out, but there are too few really good tracks on the album.
Track list
1 Compassion
2 Beginning Endlessly
3 Future Soul Song
4 Sticky Like Glue
5 Act of God
6 Lavaux
7 Walk in Sand
8 Sea of Everything
9 Everybody Loves Me
10 Laydown
