Prince plans three albums in 2009

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ic8de2356a5754927b958c8db0663636b

No record label involved in any of the releases

By Jonathan Cohen, Billboard
Jan 3, 2009, 02:12 PM ET

NEW YORK -- Prince is planning to release three new albums in 2009 without the assistance of a record label, according to an interview with the Los Angeles Times. A "major retailer" is in talks with the artist to release the music physically, while a new Prince Web site will sell it in digital form.

The two new Prince albums are the tentatively titled "MPLSOUND" and "Lotus Flower." He was also heavily involved in an album titled "Elixir" from his protege, Bria Valente. "We got sick of waiting for Sade to make a new album," he said of that project.

As for "MPLSOUND," recorded at Prince's Paisley Park compound in Minneapolis, the Times describes at "electro-flavored" and full of "trippy, experimental pop songs." Q-Tip guests on one track.

"Lotus Flower" is more guitar-driven, an approach Prince says he came to after touring as the guitarist in singer Tamar Davis' band in 2006. Tracks include "Dreamer," a cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson & Clover," "Colonized Mind" and "Wall of Berlin."

Prince's last studio album, "Planet Earth," was first released as a free covermount with the U.K. newspaper the Mail on Sunday in July 2007. It was subsequently issued worldwide by Columbia Records.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2008/12/visiting-with-p.html

Five things I learned from visiting with Prince: From album plans to thoughts on Prop. 8

02:13 PM PT, Dec 31 2008

Tuesday morning, I received the Golden Ticket of journalistic invitations: a summons to Prince's mansion, high atop Mulholland Drive, to hear the new music he'll be releasing sometime after the holidays. At 8 p.m. that evening, I drove my dirty Mazda past the fountain in his courtyard, parked by the limo in the back, and entered his manse. The man himself greeted me in a candelit study, where he was laboring over a laptop with his Web designers, Anthony Malzone and Scott Addison Clay.

The next five hours took me from that room to a car Prince referred to as "Miles Davis," where we listened to one set of songs; into a back room furnished with a round bed, faux-fur carpeting and a plexiglass Rhodes piano, where he played cuts by his new protege, the comely Bria Valente;
and into that white limo, where the entirety of "Lotus Flower," the album previewed earlier this month on Indie 103.1, boomed through the speakers as we drove through Hollywood.

Needless to say, it was an amazing experience.

He's in final negotiations with "a major retailer" to distribute the music in physical form, and a highly interactive website will also provide an opportunity to buy. He's not working with a record label. "The gatekeepers have to change," he said several times throughout the evening.

The first disc, tentatively titled "MPLSOUND," is an electro-flavored solo effort recorded at Paisley Park Studios. Prince experimented with Pro Tools and "new ways of recording" on these trippy, experimental pop songs. One features a Q-Tip rap; another calls a "Funky Congregation" to worship and may become a live set piece.

He's ready to revive the Quiet Storm. "We got sick of waiting for Sade to make a new album," he said, introducing Valente's new album, "Elixir." The tracks are chill, with Valente's buttery voice melding with beats by Morris Hayes and Prince's guitar lines. Some are explicitly sexual. "This music is nasty, but it's not dirty," Prince said, explaining how sensual music fits in with his much-discussed faith -- he's a Jehovah's Witness. "There's no profanity. It isn't promoting promiscuity. She's singing about her lover, who could be her partner for life."

He loves his guitar. As the tracks played on Indie 103.1 indicated, "Lotus Flower" is rooted in the instrument. Prince said he refocused on his playing while performing live dates with the singer Tamar Davis in 2006; with the spotlight trained on someone else, he could fall back in love with solos and riffs. "Lotus Flower" is a varied album, featuring cuts recorded over the course of two years, but standout tracks include some heavy rockers -- especially the apocalyptic "Dreamer," which Prince said was partly inspired by the radical black comedian Dick Gregory.

He did not vote for Proposition 8. In fact, he didn't vote at all. "I didn't vote for Obama either," he explained. "Jehovah's Witnesses haven't voted for their whole inception." The controversy over a recent New Yorker "Talk of the Town" item, which Prince feels implied he supported the gay-marriage ban, has upset him. It's the first thing he wanted to discuss when the Web geeks had gone and we were alone. "I have friends that are gay and we study the Bible together," he said. He added that two sides fighting "only benefit the third person" who instigated the fight.

Read more about my night with Prince in the Jan. 11 Sunday Calendar.

-- Ann Powers

Preview a few songs on the official site for the album: LOTUSFLOW3R

I've listened to the songs he has on the lotusflower site and I don't think they're anything ground breaking.

Never be another like me is OK. Crimson & Clover was "meh" and Here Eye Come didn't grab me either. Maybe they'll grow on me. Although I think I said the same about the songs on MUsicology but they never really went anywhere for me.

Musicology isn't that good, true. I like Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance though. Cinnamon Girl & Marrying Kind, also. Oh and A Million Days are good too...

Actually, I guess I do like it okay...

I like Crimson & Clover a lot more than There'll Never B (Another Like Me). There are another 3 songs in the style of Crimson & Clover and I love them all. 4Ever, Wall of Berlin (sounds like a stupid name, but it's cool) and Colonized Mind. They're all in a kind of old-school rock & roll style, which I assume is the Lotus Flower album.

But if you weren't a fan of Crimson & Clover then the rest of them might not do much for you. You could try 4Ever perhaps.

I'd guess that There'll Never B (Another Like Me) will be on the MPLS album. It's not bad, also, since he doesn't do these kinds of 7 minute tracks much anymore. It's kind of like a lot of what he was doing around 1994 (most of which ended up on the Crystal Ball album in 1996), but also has some touches of Controversy and Dirty Mind in it.

I do think he's listening to what the fans want more now. Folks who like Prince have been disappointed lately, and from what I've read they like the new direction. I personally take what I can get; I've never really disliked anything too much.

Prince is a lunatic. I dig a few of his songs, but I will pass on the rest.

-HECK!

The Lotusflow3r cover has been revealed.

Behold.



Yeah, pretty much the same as the website.

Another title for this thread: Albums HECK! will not buy this year.

-HECK!

Prince's Big-Box Deal: Minneapolis Represent


'Prince has signed an exclusive deal with Target to release a three-CD set at the end of this month; the package will contain two new albums by The Purple One called LotusFlow3r and MPLSound, as well as a disc by his protege Bria Valente. The Minneapolis-based chain (!) will sell the package for $11.98. But that's not all—his career-spanning multimedia site lotusflow3r, which launched in beta earlier this year, is apparently getting ready to go live. When I visit it, all I get is some burbling music and a black screen, but lucky for all of us, someone at AOL's Spinner got to check out the goodies within. And by "goodies," I mean "an extensive live archive of Prince concerts." I bet at least a few of you out there are drooling!

But the real treasure for Prince devotees is in the archive. According to Clay, Prince has filmed almost every one of his concerts since the 'Purple Rain' days, and to prove it, he had Spinner click on a video link inside Prince's virtual head, where we discovered a performance of 'Break It Down' from last year's Coachella show.

LotusFlow3r, which will launch sometime this month, will be a paid subscription site (Clay is speculating that the initial cost for a year will be $77), and to give fans their money's worth, Prince will continue to roll out content on a regular basis, including live video clips and possible full-length concerts, as well as unreleased music. According to Clay, Prince has copious amounts of never-issued material, which Clay and his team are in the process now of cataloging.

But do subscribers get discounted admission to his parties? Because that is a value-add.'

http://idolator.com/51630...-represent

Ohhh, like the pretty new pictures G.

It's nice artwork on his albums. I like the colours.

That chick looks like someone .....?

Bria Valente. Nice voice, I don't think she's known for anything. I guess that's like all these chicks Prince does albums for, Tamar and Mayte for example. You don't really know who they are and you don't really care, just as long as they can sing.