20TEN is superb and cannot be purchased in the United States, reflecting that Prince really has no understanding of the music industry, his fans, or even his own music. It is through his short-sighted, greedy business decisions that he fails his fans repeatedly. Despite his cynical view that people only want free downloadable music, fans want to buy this album either online or in record stores. 20TEN is now scattered all over the internet for download, for single song listening without download, and for purchase on eBay. Turns out the Europeans are not so loyal. Sadly, the most common response to this album is: When and where can I buy it. His greed-driven methodology serves as nothing more than a huge missed opportunity for Prince both professionally and financially. There is much love for this album, which would have probably translated into more money than the healthy advances he received from the magazines and newspapers.
Elation over his latest musical offering has transformed incarnations of Prince fan sites that usually look like of princesucks.com into venues of purple love, praise, joy and shock. 20TEN is whimsical, fun, funky, well-composed, not over-produced and fully embraces the Minneapolis sound associated with him. With this album, he fully accomplishes the vision that fell short on 2009’s MPLSound CD, which was the stale and boring step-sister to the gorgeous guitar-driven Lotusflow3r. He fully embraces his past without copying himself too much. Even though he rethreads on some old territory, there is a freshness and lightness that overlays the songs, making 20TEN paradoxically old and new. It contains a feeling of familiarity (accomplished through the heavy use of synths and Linn drum) that is comforting, fun and just plain funky; this one gets listeners dancing immediately. Dance music and Prince are synonymous, and he has reclaimed his claim to fame.
The sounds are addictive although there is not a single song that is radio friendly. There is nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but it is an album that can be embraced upon first listening (which is pretty unusual because most Prince albums are growers even for hardcore fans). 20TEN has a fantastically fun summer feel mixed with the elements of pop, R&B, funk, rock and New Wave (very reminiscent of his Dirty Mind/Controversy era).
Although the CD may not be perfectly even the lowlights contain highlights, and the highpoints on the album are cause for celebration. Like the majority of Prince CDs, it contains a variety of genres and many songs that are hybrid tunes. The standouts on the albums are the dance tracks. "Beginning Endlessly" is an innovative song that succeeds in merging sex and God in an upbeat, interesting way with a catchy melody that gets in stuck in listeners heads for hours. "Lavaux" is another fun dance track that contains all of Prince’s vocal ranges. "Sticky Like Glue" is sexy smooth funk. "Compassion" has a nice beat although the hypocritical ass really should choke on his lyrics while he counts his Euros, leaving his American fans in an uncompassionate lurch.
Great dance tracks are never enough for the artist. Prince being Prince can never just stay in his comfort zone. He pushes himself into foreboding futuristic, electro-funk areas with "Laydown," which is absolutely the most original and noteworthy song on 20TEN. "Laydown" is the darkest sound on the album and is probably closest to anything on current radio. Over the past 20 years, Prince has struggled with rap because he simply cannot do it. But, he has managed to develop his own style (sometimes called Prince-hop) that embraces elements of electronica, hip-hop, funk and R&B that is just fun and catchy. This song has a mesmerizing sci-fi, other-world quality to it and contains the album’s most provocative line: “If your girlfriend didn’t have the surgery maybe she could see what I see.” Sure, real rap fans would laugh at lines like: “From the heart of Minnesota, here come the purple Yoda guaranteed to bring the dirty new sound,” which is hilarious since Prince is a 52-year-old Jehovah Witness and self-proclaimed celibate who does not make dirty sounds anymore. Plus, no one finds a Star Wars reference particularly gangsta. But, the “Purple bounce, bounce" parts get the crowds bouncing. This song is absolutely worth Googling for a listen or two.
Another song that is worth Googling just for its God-awful cringe-worthiness is "Everybody Loves Me." This song falls into the awesomely bad category and has fans divided. Many fans love this song for its ridiculous cheesy, Sesame Street inspired lyrics and interesting funk/New Wave grooves. Others (me included) think it is an embarrassing travesty. To say this song is horrendous is far too complimentary, but at the same time, it is so bad it becomes perversely interesting much like "Mr. Goodnight" (on the Planet Earth CD). Worth one listen but there is too much delightful music on 20TEN to waste too much time with this track.
Overall, the only thing about 20TEN that fully disappoints is the distribution method. So, go grab an illegal copy of this online and enjoy this capricious, pleasurable, and whimsical summer album that will be forgotten about in a few weeks. But for now, let the booty shaking and baby-making commence!
Author's Note: I do not have a legal copy of the CD only because there are no current options to purchase it in the United States. I would have happily paid the asking price and have plans to obtain a legal copy when it is released Germany. In the meantime, I will continue to blissfully listen to my less than legal digital copy without remorse but much disgust towards the artist.
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