Prince has always been a futurist. The Purple One peddled his Crystal Ball album through the Internet as early as 1997. His trademark abbreviated, alphanumeric spelling style has unexpectedly become the lingua franca of text messaging. And most importantly, the very best songs from his sprawling catalog, like “Kiss” and “When Doves Cry,” groove just as hard now as they did thirty-odd years ago.
So it’s no surprise that Prince has devised yet another unorthodox way to sell records. Sidestepping the iTunes behemoth, he’s lumped together three albums, two of his own and one of his protégé Bria Valente and is selling the three-disc set through Target for $11.98 beginning on March 29. If you have $77 a year to spare, you can also access his newly designed psychedelic website lotusflow3r.com for supplementary lyrics, artwork, photos and music videos, as well as vintage content. He’s scheduled to perform at three different venues in L.A. on one night to promote the project.
But enough about the bells and whistles, what’s good with the music?
LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND and Bria Valente's Elixer is exclusively at Target on 3/24/09
Overall, it’s a solid offering of tightly conceptualized tunes. The first disc, Lotusflow3r, begins with an intergalactic prelude, shimmering with trembling cymbals, click-clacking rims shots and a soaring guitar solo that builds to a crescendo. From there, the album alternates between arena-flooding guitar chugs and introspective melodic moments.
For every Jimi Hendrix inspired psychedelic riff, there’s an unexpected and genre sprinkled betwixt. “Love Like Jazz” floats on a cool Herb Alpert-esque samba, as Prince’s nimble guitar now tiptoes along a sinuous fusion line. Then there’s the puzzling “77 Beverly Park,” named after his studio—an all-instrumental tune that sounds like a pasta commercial with its nostalgic Italianate lira. Meanwhile, “Wall of Berlin” is a Princely take on punk rock with high-octane speed metal guitar phrases and crystal meth-fueled drum patterns.
This first disc concludes with “Back 2 The Lotus,” a laid-back denouement that seems designed for a post-coital cigarette. Working the wah-wah pedal on his guitar and manipulating pitch along with weird spacey sound effects, the music sounds like Venusians trying to communicate their message of love and sexiness through a wall of distortion.
Track Listing for LotusFlow3r
1. “From the Lotus…Boom”
2. “Crimson and Clover”
3. “4EVER”
4. “Colonized Mind”
5. “Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful”
6. “Love Like Jazz”
7. 77 Beverly Park”
8. Wall of Berlin
9. $
10. Dreamer. . .Back to the Lotus
Track Listing for Elixer
1. “Here Eye Come”
2. “All This Love”
3. “Home”
4. “Something U Already Know”
5. “Everytime”
6. “2Nite”
7. “Another Boy”
8. “Kept Woman”
9. “Immersion”
10. “Elixir”
If after swallowing that Elixer, you still have the stamina for more, you will be amply rewarded by Minneapolis Sound, or as Prince spells it, MPLSoUND. True to its title, the album basks in the trademark funk rock sound that Prince himself originated and so many others replicated a few decades ago. There are organic yet peripatetic drums that conjure visions of the Time two-stepping behind Prince in high-heeled boots. Hammering percussions and skin-tight funk guitar strokes reappear on “Box of Chocolates” and “Dance 4 Me.” And lyrically, Prince is just as erotic as ever, rapping seductively to a MILF on “Valentina”: “Tell ur mama she should give me a call/ when she get tired of runnin’ after you down the hall/ and she’s all worn out from all those late night feedings/ And she’s ready for another rock’n’ roll meeting.” No matter what technology holds and the future brings, some things are better left unchanged.
Track Listing for MPLSound
1. “There’ll Never B) Another Like Me”
2. “Chocolate Box”
3. “Dance 4 Me”
4. “U’re Gonna C Me”
5. “Valentina”
6. “Better with Time”
7. “Ol’ Skool Company”
8. “No More Candy 4 U”
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