For me, Maxwell's EMBRYA is a flatline, no peaks, no valleys, but
just boring. I've listened to the whole thing 5x in a row wanting
to feel it, but it's not happening. I will probably never play it
again. I'll still go see him in concert and would buy his next
album in a hearbeat hoping for something more challenging and diverse.
On the other hand Prince's new album is even worse. I hate it.
I've been a hard core Prince fan since I was 10 yrs old.
The Dirty Mind album hooked me. However, I can not blindly accept
everything he has been putting out lately. All the songs sound
the same. There's only one cool tune on there; The chorus goes
"I'm not the one."
However, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend a new artist named, Rachid.
I would buy this before buying Maxwell or Prince's new one if
you are looking for good alternative soul.
His new album on Universal is called "Prototype." I can not
stop playing this album. There are a couple of songs that
are not up to par compared to the others, but the other
songs are so rich vocally (mult-layered harmonies in the background
vocals) and musically, he mixes everything up even a little
drum 'n bass and arabic influences in certain songs. His songwriting
is very strong and at times controversial as well even though it can be a
little corny in a Prince sort of way (For example, there is a song called
"Feed The Pigeons.") His vocals are very strong. I'm not comparing his
voice to Terence Trent D'Arby, but he has the same power and control
over his vocal gymnastics like TTD does.