Overall: There is some interesting production, plenty here that was novel at the time. But ultimately it was underwhelming from a structural point of view, a ton of drawn out repetition both within a song and from track to track. I am not a huge fan of Prince's vocals, and lyrically it suffers from the same issues as above. You can only hear Prince say he loves sex so much before you get it and want something more substantive, particularly if songs are going to be so long. There are a few standouts like Something in the Water, but ultimately I think this album is skippable. 1) 1999 -Big synth boy -Very 80s drums -Nice vocals from the women -No change up leaves it feeling a bit long, but fun song. Plenty of interesting percussion and sounds 2) Little Red Corvette -Organ in the chorus, I think? Like how it fits in the pocket -Nice little solo -Lyrically underwhelming, but a nice song to listen to 3) Delirious -Goofy lead synth line but I liked it -Floaty, light rhythm -Sounds like a 60s song made with 80s instruments, kinda neat -Loses interest halfway through 4) Let's Pretend We're Married -80s percussion doing its thing -No one told Prince "no" about his vocal choices for better or worse -"Look you Martian, I'm not sayin' this just 2 be nasty I sincerely want to fuck the taste outta your mouth". Hmm. Okay 5) D.M.S.R. -Immediate notice, another song about dancing and sex. Prince knows what he wants -Spends a good 3 minutes in the middle of the song that sounds like it is going to begin fading out, but... doesn't -Furthering on that, it doesn't culminate into anything 6) Automatic -Pretty forgettable for a 9 and a half minute song -Standard fare for the album, a good half of it repeats the same part -Synth gets full at the end but by then you're checked out 7) Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) -Wait a second, this song is funky with it -Warpy sounding accenting riff, love it -Mix starts to grow at the mid point, actually keeps attention more than prior tracks -Still could have used a more explosive end rather than petering out again, but it was overall a good track 8) Free -Very distinct from the preceding tracks, which is a must at this point -Nice piano tone -I really do not like Prince's fried voice in this track -Otherwise, decent build up and release, was a nice break after the consistent dispersed funky mix of the album 9) Lady Cab Driver -Gorgeous bass riff and tone in the verse -Synth in the chorus almost sounds like a trumpet, sounds good. There is no trumpet listed on Wikipedia for instrumentation so I'm assuming it's the synth, anyway -Snare tone is more solid than the preceding tracks, gives it a crisp sound -3 minute mark, it's an 8 minute song, perfect time for the song to start a change unlike the prior long songs -Well, there isn't a change sonically, but lyrically it sure changes, accompanied by the sounds of a woman moaning -Cool section where the guitar solo fills in sections between a sustained organ -Solo itself is fine, mostly works with a good contrasting tone -...still 1:30 left in the track just to return to the start of the song and a repeating vocal line. Sounds nice but in terms of the progression of the song, seems unnecessary 10) All the Critics Love U in New York -Another return to what this album has mostly sounded like -The bass punches through the mix in a nice way, but the drumming never moves away from a standard beat, and like most of the other tracks the general rhythm relies on oft repeating empty space, rather than sustained chords. Not a bad thing on its own but every song for the most part operates like this and leaves a similar feeling from song to song 11) International Lover -I like the opening melody -Nice ballad -Not sure this works well as an end to the album cohesively. As a collection of songs, fine, but there isn't a lot of flow to the album, at least not one that allows this sort of ballad to work as a cap
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