20Ten (2010)
1. Compassion
2. Beginning Endlessly
3. Future Love 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
I’m not sure if this one was ever available for sale. Maybe now since it’s probably somewhat of a collector’s item, but when it came out, it was “given away” to listeners. I think it might have only been distributed in the U.K. Sad thing is, I simply really don’t care. After listening to this record, one wonders if the artist himself even cared.
I guess the fortunate thing is that he’s put his wild experimentations mostly behind him. He looks like himself on the album cover, and has been back to being identified by his first name instead of the weird unpronounceable symbol. After listening to some of his latter work, including this one, one has to wonder if that’s really such a good thing.
This album simply sounds bland. Nothing is really infectious nor stays with the listener. The first three tracks are actually o.k. – each representing a different style that Prince has to offer. Compassion shows off his ability to liven up a dance floor, Future Love Song ranks amongst his above-average slow-ballad types, and Beginning Endlessly has some nice eclectic future-ish sounds that mark it the best thing on this record. Yet once we get past those first three tracks, the album sinks like a heavy anvil over a steep cliff.
I’ve said on many latter Prince album reviews, that the songs don’t actually sound that bad, it just sounds like he isn’t putting much effort into them. You can definitely hear interesting ideas from time to time on some of the albums, but such a lackluster effort is put into the production, one has to wonder exactly why he even bothered. Many songs on here range from depressingly dull to flat-out annoying. One actually feels relieved that the entire package is only 10 songs and clocks in under 40 minutes. One really can’t take much more.
One can’t help but shake one’s head. Certainly the man that had so much talent can come up with something better. Right? Who knows. One of his most forgettable releases.
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