20Ten
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''20Ten'' is the thirty-fifth studio album by American recording artist
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
. It was released on July 10, 2010, by
NPG Records NPG Records is a record label that was owned by Prince and run by Trevor Guy. "NPG" is short for New Power Generation. It was founded to release his music after Paisley Park Records was shut down by Warner Bros. Records in 1994. Though the 1994 c ...
as a free
covermount Covermount (sometimes written cover mount) is the name given to storage media (containing software and or audiovisual media) or other products (ranging from toys to flip-flops) packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from the ...
with the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' and '' Daily Record'' in the UK and Ireland, and '' Het Nieuwsblad'' and ''De Gentenaar'' in Belgium. It was also released on July 22, 2010, with ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' magazine in Germany, and ''
Courrier International ''Courrier International'' ( French for "International Mail") is a Paris-based French weekly newspaper which translates and publishes excerpts of articles from over 900 international newspapers. It also has a Portuguese and a Japanese edition. '' ...
'' in France. The album was produced, arranged, composed, and performed by Prince at
Paisley Park Studios Paisley may refer to: *Paisley (design), an ornamental Persian pattern or motif commonly identified with the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west Scotland People * Paisley (name), including a list of people with the name * Lord Paisley, in the ...
in
Chanhassen, Minnesota Chanhassen is a city about southwest of Minneapolis in Carver County and partially in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The southwest edge of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul suburbs, there is a mix of residential neighborhoods and rura ...
. It is his thirty-third studio album released in the UK. ''20Ten'' contains musical elements of funk, pop,
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
, and
soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...
. Some titles of the tracks from the album were revealed as clues in Prince's song "Cause and Effect" which was released to radio earlier in 2010.


Release

Prince revealed the name of the album when receiving a
lifetime achievement award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...
at the 2010
BET Awards The BET Awards is an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annua ...
in June 2010. He stated to the ''Daily Mirror'' that he chose the title because, "I just think it's a year that really matters. These are very trying times." He considered the album a personal diary of the year. Over 2.5 million copies were distributed by Trinity Mirror, the publisher of the ''Daily Mirror'' and ''Daily Record''. Prince was featured in the publications, to which he granted his first interview in a British newspaper in over 10 years. The issue of the ''Mirror'' cost 65 pence; the album was not available as a digital download or in retail stores. Prince stated to the ''Mirror'' that this method of releasing the album was "the best way to go... no charts, no internet piracy and no stress," although the album is easily available for illegal download via
peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...
networks. The publisher released that sales of the ''Daily Mirror'' increased by 334,000, and sales of ''The Daily Record'' increased by 45,000 copies on the day it included the album. Prince released his album ''
Planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...
'' in July 2007 under a similar arrangement with the British newspaper ''
The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...
''. No plans for a U.S. release have even been announced. On October 8, 2010, Prince told French radio station
Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pr ...
that he was reportedly planning on releasing an updated edition of the album called ''20Ten Deluxe''.


Reception

''20Ten'' received mixed reviews from most music critics. Columnist Tony Parsons reviewed the album for the ''Daily Mirror'', the newspaper marketing the album. He wrote that it was "as good as rince'sall-time classics like '' Purple Rain'' and ''
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
'' " and that it's "his best record since ''
Sign o' the Times ''Sign o' the Times'' (often stylized as ''Sign "☮︎" the Times'') is the ninth studio album by American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. It was first released on March 30, 1987 as a double album by Paisley Park ...
'' 23 years ago." Joachim Hentschel, writing for the German edition of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', viewed the album as Prince's best effort since 1992's the ''
Love Symbol Album ''Love Symbol'' is the fourteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the second of two that featured his backing band the New Power Generation. It was released on October 13, 1992, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Rec ...
''. Jason Draper of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' gave ''20Ten'' a 4/10 rating, stating that while it "has its moments", the album was "no way" his best in 23 years, but likely his best in four years. MusicOMH writer Luke Winkie gave it 2 out of 5 stars and described it as "one of the slightest albums the man has ever recorded; fluffy, anti-climatic, and utterly boring". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
gave the album 2½ out of 5 stars and wrote that its songs feature "enough of a shape to be attractive from a distance, not enough to withstand closer scrutiny... hooks don’t sink in, funk jams are stuck in low gear, sensuality only simmers, the rhythms are somewhat stiff, and Prince’s deliberate mining of the past only highlights how he’s stripped the freakiness out of his entire persona".


Track listing

Notes: *Tracks 10 to 76 contain five to six seconds of silence.


Personnel

*
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
 – all musical performances, except as indicated below * Liv Warfield – background vocals * Shelby J – background vocals *
Elisa Dease Elisa Fiorillo (born February 28, 1969, Philadelphia) is an American singer, best known for appearing on the 1987 Jellybean song "Who Found Who", which reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. Personal life Fiorillo was born into a musical fa ...
 – background vocals *
Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many o ...
 –
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
* Greg Boyer – horns * Ray Monteiro – horns


Release history


References


External links

*
20Ten
' at
Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...
{{Authority control 2010 albums Prince (musician) albums Albums produced by Prince (musician) NPG Records albums