20ten (2010)
At first acquaintance you can imagine this song in a travel segment on a morning show, soundtracking a montage of Swiss mountains and vineyards. An easily digestible ode to escapism. On closer inspection you hear suggestive hints at what Prince is escaping from and the inconvenient truth that “the cost of freedom is anything but free”. If you like your Prince served with hearty side dishes of social commentary and religiosity there’s plenty to unpack in the lyrics. Personally however, the meaning of the words washes over me as I savour the shimmying synth riff which owes more than a passing debt to The Pointer Sisters’ Automatic. A feel-good life raft in an album of few delights. In fact Lavoux is the last good song on 20ten until the hidden track at the end. If you’re really quiet you can hear it pine for the peaks of Parade.
From the (little, wasn’t tempted to listen to it numerous times) I’ve heard of the “20ten” album, I soooo agree with your assesment.
I mean, “Everybody Loves Me” is probably one of the most abysmal and lame-o Prince moments ever. I guess you could try to save it by claiming it’s supposed to be ironic or something, but given the general soulessness of the album, I kinda doubt it. And anyway, lame song is still lame, ironic or not. Even “Lavaux” could be played in the supermarket while I’m browsing different brands of smelly French cheese, and I wouldn’t bat an eye and certainly wouldn’t notice it playing.
I certainly think that it might be the worst overall Prince album (I’m talking about the “non obscure” shit and regular LPs, not remixes, compilations, bootlegs and maxi-singles and whatnot). Would you agree?
Out of his non-instrumental studio albums. Sure, I would rate it as the weakest. It’s one of the few albums I’ve finished writing about already. Laydown is probably the best track on there and I’ve put it at #249
The album has its moments though and I listen to it more than N.E.W.S., C-Note and Xpectation.
Oh man, my listening to Prince 24/7 phase is so recent (I’m only counting around 4 full months of obsession) that I just realized I’ve never even listened to N.E.W.S yet, I was so afraid of it’s reputation, from what I’ve understood, it’s like the “Metal Machine Music” of Prince music. (And I actually tried to listen to “Metal Machine Music” when I thought I was being rock’n’roll and rebellious and taking down the establishment. I think I wasn’t able to listen to it for more than five minutes and I still never came back to it to see if it’s really that monstruous.)
I think I haven’t even heard about the two other albums you mentioned yet, must still be too obscure for me.
I’ve only gotten into almost all the “regular” studio LPs, and some B-sides from singles and maxi-singles, some of the more well-known music of his multigendered harem, and one or two compilations like “Old Friends for Sale” (which is seriously one of my favorite things by Prince so far).Also l listened to a couple of the unreleased thingies. But I’m afraid that if I go full obsession, it’s gonna be a black hole that’ll eat my life.