20Ten - Vote for your favourite track and discuss...

[freedom]

http://www.thedawnexperience.co.uk/20ten.jpg March 10th 2010 - Prince's new album "20Ten" will be released in the UK free with the Mirror and the Record newspapers. We want your opinions, views, thoughts (good or bad). What the CD means to you and where it figures in your collection.

Discuss the album/songs and be sure to cast your vote in our poll for your favourite track.

[unique]

prince - 20ten - full album review

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/jul2010/8/5/prince-image-1-92582190.jpg

compassion

this sounds like something from the 1999 album, like delirious. a good upbeat opener. the linn drum, synths and funky guitar licks from that era are the foundation of this album. it's good to open upbeat as that should keep people listening. i think the slower start of PE may have put people off listening further


beginning endlessly

this is one of my favourite tracks. it's the kind of track that if unreleased, fans would be saying "why didn't he release this?" musically it's similar to the npgmc material that's referred to as the missing album "high". it also sounds like it could have been on 3121. "let's get down, come on... ooh wee... come one..." but it's a downbeat mid tempo track. 5 and a half minutes but seems far longer


future soul song

you've heard this song before a hundred times. it's another of his classic ballads, that sounds like most other ballads from emancipation onwards. the beautiful ones drums seem to be used pretty much unchanged. you can stick this on your compilation of prince slow jams and it fits in perfectly. it's been compared to the most beautiful girl in the world, but it's less cheesy than that and has some nice guitar playing. you just want that live version where he rips into the guitar for 10 minutes like on crucial


sticky like glue

a mid tempo track that's reminiscent or mr goodnight. it's got a bit of prince "rapping" over a sparse drum machine and guitar lick background. "i got something i want 2 say 2 u...". it picks up towards the end with some ad lib style vocals over backing vox "i ain't going nowhere..."


act of god

"dirty fat bankers sold the house 2day... they called it an act of god". prince is getting political on this one, and funky at the same time. "i got news 4 u, freedom ain't free...". another mid tempo funk track with a gospel touch on the backing vocals. this would fit in perfectly on one of the mavis staples prince albums


lavaux

there's no way to control it, it's totally A.U.T.O. matic. yup, it's the pointer sisters. another 1999 era sounding track that sounds just like the pointer sisters hit single. "revolution time has come 2day...". this is a nice funky track

walk in sand

slow it down, falsetto and real drums and piano. it reminds me of all the midnights in the world. i think prince records tracks like this every day, effortlessly, there's so many of them


sea of everything

back to the linn drum, keeping it in the bedroom with the falsetto. if you like call my name, then you should like this


everybody loves me

"2nite i love everybody, everybody loves me", let's pretend we're married... it's got the 1999 funk punk rockabilly sound, the linn drum the synths and that piano tinkle from dirtymind/controversy


laydown

this is the "hidden" track 77 on the cd. "from the heart of minnesota here comes the purple yoda". this is the type of track that only prince does. a funk jam with almost rapped lyrics, bragging about how great prince is, and making digs at others. "u need 2 lay it down and let me show u how...". you can imagine him going crazy on the fuzztone bass whilst playing this live



summary...

overall it's a more cohesive album than planet earth. PE had some great tracks on it, but some of them could have been better elsewhere. PE also had a couple of stand out tracks in guitar and chelsea rodgers. this album doesn't quite have stand out tracks on first or later listens, not in the same way as those tracks, it's fairly consistent.

it's similar to lotusflower and mplsound, but obviously not as long. it's a relatively short album of about 40 minutes. so what happened to cause and effect and hot summer? cause and effect would have fitted better on PE or lotusflower, as this is mostly drum machine and keyboard based tracks, in an obvious attempt to emulate the controvery/1999 era sound

[joyinrepatition]

Im basing this on first listen and how i rated it in my iTunes...


Compassion...3 stars ( Hang on this sounds like Prince :rolleyes: )

Beginning Endlessly... 4 (I really like this )

Future Love Song... 4 ( I always go for the slushy stuff :blush2:)

Sticky Like Glue... 3 (nice track)

Act of God... 1 ( ruined by the lyrics )

Lavaux... 4 ( No way to control it she's totally Automatic...love it tho)

Walk In The Sand... 2 ( bit of a filler track for me)

Sea Of Everything... 3 (bit of Future Baby Mamma in there..i need another listen)

Everybody Loves Me... 2 (reminded me of a Grange Hill episode :blush2:)

Laydown... 4 (Starts off like we will rock you, strong track)

On the whole it's pretty good, no real anthems there but on recent form all i can say is" Thank God"!!...
Thankfully he's still making good music, just a little different "sha la la la la this is the future"

[star2006]

cool thanx 4 sharing

[Funk]

Well after my first listen, I can see I was right. With the exception of Laydown, it is diabolical.

There is nothing on it that says WOW he is back to his best, it is just mediocre. I am very disappointed. Oh well he may come out with another classic at some point, although I won't hold my breath.
Compassion starts off well, and I thought this could be a great album but then he starts singing and it's irritating.

[star2006]

im really liking the album alot of what ive heard so far... cant wait for the US release

[wonderu4]

I just love 20TEN. All of the songs.

[wonderu4]

It's the best Prince album since Purple Rain.

[Funk]

It's the best Prince album since Purple Rain.
So it's better than ATWIAD? Parade? Sign O The Times? Lovesexy? Crystal Ball? The Rainbow Children?

[Fonkzilla]

Cool album listened to it a lot already, better than MPLS but not sure if I like it better than Lotus Flower yet....Crimson & Clover, Colonized Mind, £, soooooooo good! Loving the funk though especially Lavaux, Beginning Endlessly. Also the slow burning Walk In The Sand & Sea of Everything.... refreshingly understated. Love to hear if hes got more tracks like Laydown too, bet it slams in a club!

[The One]

Excluding Lotusflow3r, The Rainbow Children and One Night Alone, this album is on par as the rest of his post 2000's output. It's not as good as the Daily Mirror hyped it up to be, but it's not that bad either... just average with brief touches of brilliance. You could almost call it MPLSound pt.2.

It's Prince sampling his own sounds so a lot of what's on here sounds very familiar to what we've heard before.... minus the nasty, perverse attitude of the old P .. which we've all got to now accept we never gonna see/hear from his new stuff again. I personally don't mind that so much as long as he remained musically/lyrically innovative and inventive... which is somewhat lacking on this release. The production, vocals and musicianship are great... but with Prince we expect more than greatness.

Overall its a fairly good, fun album for the summer.... come the autumn it will be sadly all forgotten about... then it's on to the next one (maybe that was Prince's intention, hence calling the album 20Ten---who knows?)

Voted for "Sticky Like Glue" as the best track --- it would've been "Laydown" but it's far too short. "Laydown" has got the potential to be another "Days Of Wild" -- let's have a longer version please P :)

[joyinrepatition]

I voted for Sea Of Everything, just an old fashioned soulful love song..:)

[cynthiarose]

it's pants :(

[weaviewonder]

The hidden track is certainly the best on the new album though lots of casual Prince fans may beg to differ. It feels more like a long EP rather than a fully fledged album.
I like all Prince’s output throughout his career hence why I am such a fan. I do miss the days of a Warner Brother’s release around Autumn time. The days of Diamonds and Pearls and The Gold Experience are long gone havn’t they? :o(

[Purplejellyfish]

Lavaux for me, im still very undecided with the album. It's so love it hate it. Prince really needed to deliver with this prodject..mmm i feel it's very forgetable :(

[Savage]

Act of God for me. Didn't expect much due to the title but I can imagine him singing this with Mavis Staples. It really works for me.

I think the album comes into it's own from track 4. Love most tracks. Everybody loves me is the weak track for me.

Love track 77 but really think it could do witrh an extended version.

[thepurpleexperience]

Compassion... 4/5 This Reminds of the early 80's (reproduction of a nu breed of leader)

Beginning Endlessly... 4/5 Love this sounds fresh and a remix 4 the clubs would b cool

Future Love Song... 3.5/5 Reminds me of the EMANCIPATION Newpowersoul erea

Sticky Like Glue... 4/5 like it alot what more can i say

Act of God... 3/5 Sounds like Camiles balls have dropped, i really expected the content to b a line about religion but quite funky not bad.

Lavaux... 3/5 Synths in this reminds of the pointer sisters jam Automatic not bad trax

Walk In The Sand... 2.5/5 this will grow on me i think :rolleyes: but ive been down this road b4:sleep:

Sea Of Everything... 5/5 just whish it more of the old skool innuendo

Everybody Loves Me... 2/5 ' SHITE ' Pure " SHITE" ego a go go

Laydown...3/5 good track nice fresh sounds :blink: Hmmmmm why the Hype!!!!!


in all i like this album and yeah i would have paid 4 it, not every1 in the world is a Pirate Prince!!!!!!!!!


wonderu4 Said It's the best Prince album since Purple Rain.

Your being silly... no its not

why??????

because!!!!!!!!!!!

A.T.W.I.A.D

The Black Album

Sign 'O' The times

Lovesexy

The Gold Experience

Rainbow Children

Crystal ball




There other reasons why we Don't listen to Reviews and media Muppet's

But hey thats my opinion, there loads of funkateer's on here the wont agree but what the Funk.

Overhall 4 me the trax i like the most is Beginning Endlessly Sea Of Everything Everybody Loves Me

[thepurpleexperience]

Act of God for me. Didn't expect much due to the title but I can imagine him singing this with Mavis Staples. It really works for me.

I think the album comes into it's own from track 4. Love most tracks. Everybody loves me is the weak track for me.

Love track 77 but really think it could do witrh an extended version.

i do think 40 mins is poor for a artist like him.

its a good collection of songs but i seems like one of those projex where yr boss says " give me something i can sell by the end of the day".

[thepurpleexperience]

Lavaux for me, im still very undecided with the album. It's so love it hate it. Prince really needed to deliver with this prodject..mmm i feel it's very forgetable :(



SO u like France " Prince " get over it we have.

[thepurpleexperience]

it's pants :(

U really need 2 c a doctor u must have a hearing impediment:bye:

[thepurpleexperience]

I voted for Sea Of Everything, just an old fashioned soulful love song..:)

And who said romance is dead lol:cool:

[thepurpleexperience]

Cool album listened to it a lot already, better than MPLS but not sure if I like it better than Lotus Flower yet....Crimson & Clover, Colonized Mind, £, soooooooo good! Loving the funk though especially Lavaux, Beginning Endlessly. Also the slow burning Walk In The Sand & Sea of Everything.... refreshingly understated. Love to hear if hes got more tracks like Laydown too, bet it slams in a club!



I can see where your coming from but i couldn't really compare 2 the Lotusflow3r opus yeah get rid of Bria PLEASE!!!! in fact this would have been a good 3rd CD 2 that collection. i think MPLS had a lot of good trax and so did Ltf3r there just so different....:)

[The One]

NME Album Review: Prince, '20Ten' (NPG)

You can only hear this by buying a copy of The Mirror. Don't bother.


Since his conversion to the Jehovah’s Witness faith, Prince (http://www.thedawnexperience.co.uk/artists/prince) is far from the man who, in 1982, “sincerely want[ed] to **** the taste out of your mouth”. These days he’s more likely to wash it out with soap and sell you a Watchtower…

The 52-year-old gets mad when judged by his sexual and musical revolutionary past, though he himself invites these comparisons: ‘20Ten’ opens with ‘Compassion’, a pale imitation of ‘1999’’s futurist jitter-funk, and of the album from which such questionable mouth-****ing chat-ups come. Prince today? A Xerox of a Xerox.

He’s also temporally challenged – not only loudly pronouncing the internet over (the print media, meanwhile, in the form of the Daily Mirror, already giving the album away for free, thanked Prince by – amazingly! – proclaiming it his best in 23 years…), but for sagely decreeing, on ‘Act Of God’, that taxes go to build bomb-dropping planes “Supposedly to keep us safe from Saddam.” Not so much of a threat these days since being hanged in December 2006, though, is he?

Then again, Prince has always lived in a different world. That was great when he effortlessly threw out mind-melting reconfigurations of pop likes ‘When Doves Cry’ and ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’; but ‘effortless’ is a very different thing from ‘making no effort’…

‘20Ten’ has its moments: ‘Sticky Like Glue’ masquerades as a stop-start chicken-scratcher, before Prince drops a hideous rap and forgets to write an ending; ‘Walk In Sand’ is a lovely quiet storm ballad… apart from that photocopier noise.

Typically perverse, he buries the best, ‘Laydown’, in “hidden” territory, camouflaged as uncredited track 77. With complex synth lines and a convincing rap, Prince calls himself “the Purple Yoda” on a spooky, ragged cut that hints at those once-otherworldly powers.

His best album in 23 years? No way. His best in four? Eh, go on then; but that’s a bit like saying, “I had my best acid trip ever because this time my nan didn’t crawl up my leg with a Bowie knife in her teeth, threatening to cut my nuts off and feed them back through my nose.”

We don’t expect – or even want – another ‘Housequake’, but the least his majesty could do is more than phone in snooze-funk for a presumably hefty advance from a newspaper. Then again, it seems Prince has been more interested in studying popular science: “All of the same minerals and chemicals of space/You carry within your womb/That’s how we got to this place,” he informs his lover, suggesting, if such cosmological ponderings turn her on, perhaps he could be allowed to explore her anatomy. Boy, how those seduction techniques have changed...

Jason Draper

4 out of 10

http://www.nme.com/reviews/prince/11437

[Funk]

NME Album Review: Prince, '20Ten' (NPG)

You can only hear this by buying a copy of The Mirror. Don't bother.


Since his conversion to the Jehovah’s Witness faith, Prince (http://www.thedawnexperience.co.uk/artists/prince) is far from the man who, in 1982, “sincerely want[ed] to **** the taste out of your mouth”. These days he’s more likely to wash it out with soap and sell you a Watchtower…

The 52-year-old gets mad when judged by his sexual and musical revolutionary past, though he himself invites these comparisons: ‘20Ten’ opens with ‘Compassion’, a pale imitation of ‘1999’’s futurist jitter-funk, and of the album from which such questionable mouth-****ing chat-ups come. Prince today? A Xerox of a Xerox.

He’s also temporally challenged – not only loudly pronouncing the internet over (the print media, meanwhile, in the form of the Daily Mirror, already giving the album away for free, thanked Prince by – amazingly! – proclaiming it his best in 23 years…), but for sagely decreeing, on ‘Act Of God’, that taxes go to build bomb-dropping planes “Supposedly to keep us safe from Saddam.” Not so much of a threat these days since being hanged in December 2006, though, is he?

Then again, Prince has always lived in a different world. That was great when he effortlessly threw out mind-melting reconfigurations of pop likes ‘When Doves Cry’ and ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’; but ‘effortless’ is a very different thing from ‘making no effort’…

‘20Ten’ has its moments: ‘Sticky Like Glue’ masquerades as a stop-start chicken-scratcher, before Prince drops a hideous rap and forgets to write an ending; ‘Walk In Sand’ is a lovely quiet storm ballad… apart from that photocopier noise.

Typically perverse, he buries the best, ‘Laydown’, in “hidden” territory, camouflaged as uncredited track 77. With complex synth lines and a convincing rap, Prince calls himself “the Purple Yoda” on a spooky, ragged cut that hints at those once-otherworldly powers.

His best album in 23 years? No way. His best in four? Eh, go on then; but that’s a bit like saying, “I had my best acid trip ever because this time my nan didn’t crawl up my leg with a Bowie knife in her teeth, threatening to cut my nuts off and feed them back through my nose.”

We don’t expect – or even want – another ‘Housequake’, but the least his majesty could do is more than phone in snooze-funk for a presumably hefty advance from a newspaper. Then again, it seems Prince has been more interested in studying popular science: “All of the same minerals and chemicals of space/You carry within your womb/That’s how we got to this place,” he informs his lover, suggesting, if such cosmological ponderings turn her on, perhaps he could be allowed to explore her anatomy. Boy, how those seduction techniques have changed...

Jason Draper

4 out of 10

http://www.nme.com/reviews/prince/11437
4 out of 10. Jeez, that's generous. I can honestly state, I will never, ever listen to this pile of shite again. It is an embarrasment.

[cynthiarose]

U really need 2 c a doctor u must have a hearing impediment:bye:
c'mon the man has been making giant backward leaps, with this and the last effort. planet earth was great, a good return to form but everything since could maybe make one good album between them all.
i was really excited on saturday, got my copy and rushed home to put it on, saying to my friend who was here how good this was gonna be...(having read the review"best album in 23 years") and i have to say it was a bit embarrasing. it's beneath him quite frankly and i don't believe he put in any effort writing or making it. the synth sounds, the voice, the cheesey kiddies pop feel, it's like theme tune music for a crap american sitcom. absolute dissapointment, it really is. and it breaks my heart to hear it from someone i consider to be so great.

[The One]

musicOMH Review: Prince - 20Ten


Despite his recent mis-steps it's pretty easy to appreciate the card-carrying genius that is Prince, at least for his former work. The brilliance of stone-cold classics like Purple Rain and Sign O' The Times will never be understated, and even the stodgiest of music critics have accepted him into the pantheon of rock gods.

Sure it's been quite some time since he's been great, but there have been flashes; the otherwise forgettable 3121 supplied the minimal-funk banger Black Sweat, a track that rightfully garnered the artist the same level of praise he received back in the mid-'80s. But after an eternally disappointing naughties run, culminating in the insane, overstuffed, Target-exclusive Lotusflow3r (the sort of offering that would utterly destroy a lesser artist,) it's still de rigeur to get excited about a new Prince album - after all, this could be the record where he recaptures his former glory, and puts all the doubters to shame; the next Purple Rain; the return of the Prince!

Unfortunately 20Ten, released upon the world through newspapers - The Mirror's Saturday 10th July edition in the UK - isn't any of that. In fact it's one of the slightest albums the man has ever recorded; fluffy, anti-climatic, and utterly boring. None of the songs even hint at the momentous, dramatic glory of, say, Baby I'm A Star or Let's Go Crazy. It seems content to fade into the background in department stores. It's yet another disappointment in a latter-day career that's in danger of becoming irrelevant.

To be fair, 20Ten does put its best foot forward. The pulpy, electro-funk Compassion turns out to be the best song on the album, but you wouldn't guess that on first impression; there's really nothing too special about it, but it does keep a solid groove going for four minutes, and isn't too far off the things the world loved about Prince in the first place. It's also the closest he comes to writing actual 'song' here; deeper cuts, like the egregious, baseless twofer Walk In Sand and Sea Of Everything (surely the worst two-song sequence of 2010) are quite impossible to like, and perfectly encapsulate the worrying vanilla that Prince is coming closer and closer to representing entirely. Dance-pop for your parents' dinner party, completely divorced from the bombast, the smut, and the provocative danger he owned in his heyday.

The only risk 20Ten takes is reserved for the very end; the secret untitled track (fast forward through 67 tracks of silence to reach it) has Prince rapping over a pumped-up guitar jam, referring to himself as "the purple Yoda" if you please. It's fairly ridiculous, kind of funny, and probably the most memorable track on the record. It's entirely a gimmick, and not 'good' by any stretch of the imagination, but that level of oddness is preferable to the overwhelming blandness of the rest of the album. 2009's batshit Lotusflow3r was at least interesting in its preposterous, three CD sprawl, but 20Ten bypasses any of that stylistic divergence with nine equally inoffensive, equally boring tracks. Oh well. Surely his next album will make up for it...

http://www.musicomh.com/albums/prince-5_0710.htm

[The One]

MPR's Special preview of Prince's new album

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/07/23/prince-new-album/

by Tom Crann (http://www.thedawnexperience.co.uk/about/people/mpr_people_display.php?aut_id=13), Minnesota Public Radio,
Jim McGuinn (http://www.thedawnexperience.co.uk/about/people/mpr_people_display.php?aut_id=30437), Minnesota Public Radio
July 23, 2010

Prince's new album is called 20TEN and it comes on the heels of his triple album last year.
The Minnesota rockstar has never been known as conventional, but he's taken another unusual route in releasing the album: He gave it away free in a British newspaper.

The "Daily Mirror" sold more than 300,000 more copies than usual a couple of Saturdays ago when the 20TEN CD was included in the paper.

The album still isn't available -- in stores OR newspapers -- in the U.S. But it's been playing on the radio in the Twin Cities.
Jim McGuinn, 89.3 The Current's program director, got a special preview of the album.

[The One]

Culture Bully - Prince “20Ten” Review

What followed the unexpected announcement of Prince’s new album in June was something that had to surprise even his most die-hard fans. (Then again, it is pretty much par for the course in terms of Prince’s career… the last decade even more so.) With less than a month’s notice, it was not only announced that 20Ten would be released, but that it would be released for free via some 2.5 million newspapers in the UK. While the prolific artist followed a similar promotional path for the release of Planet Earth in 2007, this move most certainly stepped things up; a decision which Prince considers logical despite many musicians opting to release “free” albums online rather than through a physical outlet. In fact, Prince took to condemning the digital publishing model, explaining to The Mirror (http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-interviews/2010/07/05/prince-inside-the-court-of-the-pop-legend-86908-22383033/)‘s Peter Willis that “The internet’s completely over.” He continued, “I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.”

Though not released through the exact same means, Prince nonetheless made waves last year when it was announced that he would work exclusively with the Minneapolis-based retailer Target (in the U.S., at least) in releasing his new collection of music. That collection materialized in the form of the three-pack of LotusFlow3r (http://www.culturebully.com/prince-lotusflow3r-mplsound-elixer-reviews), MPLSound (http://www.culturebully.com/prince-lotusflow3r-mplsound-elixer-reviews) & Elixer (http://www.culturebully.com/prince-lotusflow3r-mplsound-elixer-reviews); the last being an album by his protégée and girlfriend Bria Valente. While still bearing some fantastic songs the discs were an inconsistent affair however: though it still showcased Prince’s distinctly brilliant musicianship, LotusFlow3r lacked general cohesion, MPLSound acted as more of a party record, primarily relying on its funk, and Valente’s Elixer was, well… a fine attempt at a debut album.

Despite taking a risk in choosing his own adventure with the distribution of his music, the release(s) debuted at the number two position on the Billboard 200, once again reconfirming that for all his unconventional decisions, Prince still knew what he was doing. And regardless of who is fronting the bill to press a few million copies of 20Ten and scatter them across the UK, Prince is once again making sure that his music is released and heard on his terms. When all is said and done however, the standout memory many will likely have of the release won’t relate to the out-of-the-blue announcement or it being “free,” but rather something much more important: 20Ten is a remarkable step towards recapturing both a style and energy of an artist from years-gone-by, and will no doubt be remembered as one of Prince’s finest releases from the past two decades.

The album immediately jumps off with the energetic bounce of “Compassion.” The song is carried by a tinny beat while Prince and his backup singers trade spots, all coming together with the hook, “Whatever skin you’re in, we all need to be friends, all happy again: so much better than nothing.” A distorted guitar introduces “Begging Endlessly,” the instrument briefly buzzing before giving way to an equally slick synth line. Questioning the limits of the world, Prince wades through the track while relating the depth of the universe to the extent with which love can flow. Though chiming in later with a fairly basic guitar line, the instrument ultimately does little but fill a bit of time before taking a backseat to the impassioned lyrical theme of the track. Prince’s self-described favorite song on the album—”Future Soul Song”—continues by gently slowing down the pace of things.

Lifting the tempo back up, “Sticky Like Glue” interjects an upbeat pace, eventually coming to a head as Prince trumps the understated funk by flat-out-rapping. In his brief suggestive roll-out he concludes by referring to himself as a “gracious host,” and in case you were wondering, that’s about as subtle as Prince gets on the record. “Act of God” continues the upbeat rhythm that was revived with “Sticky Like Glue.” While refraining from becoming preachy, the song does relate to a number of comments Prince made to Willis about the direction of the world during their interview. Explaining the decision to name the album as he did, Prince explained, “I just think it’s a year that really matters. I think the world’s tilting on its axis, it’s fraught with misinformation. George Orwell’s vision of the future is definitely here with us. These are very trying times.” “Act of God” follows this idea as it examines the world’s financial and political turmoil as well as the crumbling level of personal freedoms in our culture, all of which Prince also scrutinizes for the transparency within the justification given by those in charge. For as explicit as Prince tends to be with his views on life, the song comes off as more of a question of what’s going on here than a statement of condemnation. “Lavaux” begins with a slapping-base and synth line as Prince opens up, “Take me to the vineyards of Lavaux.” Expanding on the Switzerland-based region before transporting to Portugal, he continues by explaining how he would go anywhere to follow the path which is right for him.

“Walk In Sand” continues by once again slowing things down. If only as a reminder of how remarkably broad the appeal of his vocal sensuality is, Prince seems to effortlessly reveal the song’s lyrics, simply crooning, “Nothing’s better than to walk in sand, hand in hand with you.” Both the romantic theme and pace of the song casually bleed into the following track, “Sea Everything.” The bouncy “Everybody Loves Me” jumps in after, awkwardly shifting the pace of the album as the simple vocals repeatedly exclaim, “Tonight I love everybody, everybody loves me.” The song shifts between a variety of phases, touching on both ’80s synth and classic saloon-sounding piano along the way while adding some of the most primitive lyrics on 20Ten, “There ain’t nothin’ to it, but to do it.” “Laydown,” the album’s “bonus track,” is such an outlier for good reason; that reason, however, isn’t because it’s not up to snuff with the rest of 20Ten. The dense song is grittier than anything else on the record and offers more swagger than Prince previously exhibited throughout the album’s other songs. “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 the dirty new sound.” 20Ten comes to an end as a fuzzy guitar glows while the infectious echo of “You need to lay it down” floats along in the background.

Many purists and longtime fans would likely argue that, musically, Prince never truly stopped being the person that he has long-since become known and loved for. That said, as a character, the enigmatic musician has continually focused on the evolution of his sound and style; something which has often manifested itself in inconsistency. While this has taken different forms over the past decade—hell, the past three decades—with 20Ten the shift just happens to return the musician to a sound which parallels some of his finest work. Be it Musicology, 3121, Planet Earth, or either of last year’s albums, the legend of Prince’s music from yesteryear has continually remained at the heart of any discussion surrounding whatever he has recorded in recent memory. With 20Ten however, Prince has given friends, fans and critics alike a reason to not only celebrate his music once again, but also a reason to stop arguing about if and when he’d return to prominence. With 20Ten, Prince is definitely back.

http://www.culturebully.com/prince-20ten-album-review

[Funk]

Do these reviewers actually listen to the albums?

You can wrap it up anyway you want, but it doesn't get away from the fact. that the album is dreadful.

[Goldfigga]

tough 1. but track 2 got my vote. this album is great just wish it would download onto my mp3!! :mad:

[The One]

Shelbey gets sticky...

<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/R7K6yc2oNMw?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>

[Shy1105]

Compassion is pretty good and bouncey, and FSS is pleasant enough, but I really love beginning endlessly and Lay it Down. What was he thinking on Everbody loves me? Seriously, the badness is hard to describe...the vocal sound is horrible, I don't even know what he was going for:(
I voted beginning endlessly