Art Official Age
by Prince
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
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  1. Classic Rock Magazine
    Dec 16, 2014
    60
    Tunes and sound both stay below the Gold Standard. [Dec 2014, p.104]
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  2. Mojo
    Nov 7, 2014
    60
    [A] confusing, sprawling grab-bag. [Nov 2014, p.90]
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  3. Slant Magazine
    Oct 3, 2014
    60
    Art Official Age's main takeaway is that His Royal Badness has started to make peace with being past his prime.
  5. NOW Magazine
    Oct 2, 2014
    60
    Once you get past the air-horn headache that is opener Art Official Cage, the album settles into a pleasant rhythm that plays up His Purpleness’s knack for whispery weightlessness and deep grooves.
  6. The New York Times
    Sep 30, 2014
    60
    While the production details of each track are full of lessons in musicianly ingenuity, only “Breakdown” has a melody that lingers. The others are overshadowed by Prince’s back catalog.
  7. Uncut
    Sep 29, 2014
    60
    Too many average slow jams.... They just remind you he's still around; short of a tune, but the unique inhabitant of a purple planet all his own. [Nov 2014, p.80]
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  8. New York Daily News (Jim Faber)
    Sep 29, 2014
    60
    Nostalgic fans will no doubt lap up Prince’s old-school falsetto preens and funk beats. But such a sustained recoil from the current world has a consequence. It can seem regressive or overfamiliar.
  9. AllMusic
    Sep 29, 2014
    60
    If the album doesn't offer any startling surprises along the lines of the furious "Black Sweat"--there's not much abandon here--there's joy in hearing Prince embrace his lyrical eccentricities as he accessorizes his smooth jams and coiled, clean funk with such oddities as laser blasts and spoken introductions from what appear to be British nurses.
  10. The Guardian
    Sep 29, 2014
    60
    What follows are flashes of brilliance interspersed with stuff that just wouldn’t have made the cut 30 years ago.
  11. Consequence
    Oct 13, 2014
    58
    Neither Art Official Age nor PLECTRUMELECTRUM aims to be a legendary Prince record, but both hit their marks anyway.
  12. Q Magazine
    Oct 3, 2014
    40
    Art Official Age, regrettably, is something we have heard before: an overlong, pan-generic concept album. [Nov 2014, p.107]
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Awards & Rankings

59
#59 Most Shared Album of 2014

User Reviews

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User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 58 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 58
  3. Negative: 9 out of 58
  1. MrErw
    Oct 1, 2014
    8
    This could very well be the best we can expect from Prince at this stage of his career. Surprisingly fresh and confident, he's undeniablyThis could very well be the best we can expect from Prince at this stage of his career. Surprisingly fresh and confident, he's undeniably 'Princey' while at the same time embracing current musical trends. Trend-setting? Not anymore, but that's ok, he's past that and how could one hold that against him?… Full Review »
  2. Viktor85
    Aug 1, 2021
    8
    Criminally underrated, there are no weak tracks on Art Official Age. Prince was exciting til the end.
  3. more
    Oct 14, 2014
    7
    How hard it seems for Prince (cough... cough...) to be sincere and true for a minute.
    Just like his productions, he's packed in some cheap    How hard it seems for Prince (cough... cough...) to be sincere and true for a minute.
    Just like his productions, he's packed in some cheap plastic condom, far from the real thing.    … Full Review »
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