Not at all. They simply loosened up in the studio and made a crazy funk record, with disparate styles and feels. If you compare to, say, early Prince, then it doesn't hold up very well, but on its own merits it is actually very very good. i brought Prince up because he does seem to loom large as the major influence of the album. As Melstar says, it is different from their first album, which was as close to perfection as you can get. In terms of maintaing that form, I guess the sophomore curse has struck to some degree, but at least they aren't treading water. It may sound messy and lazy at first, but once I absorbed the subtleties and details of it, I became addicted.
