Four years have passed since Prince "released" his last album by offering it free with some daily newspapers. But far from being a forgotten force, he's now working again with "slave" label Warner Bros, packing fans into late-announcement arena gigs and rediscovering his sporadic creative focus on Art Official Age.
Sometimes the ideas trip over themselves on the way to the production desk, as contrasting sounds, snippets, tape tricks and musical hooks pile up one after the other, stopping a song from settling into a groove. When he builds up the elements as coherent layers, however, the old magic returns. Clouds takes on modern urban/R&B superstars such as Frank Ocean and wins hands down; The Gold Standard and Breakfast Can Wait get the funk party started; Way Back Home is pop from the sharp end of the songbook.
That's more than can be said for PlectrumElectrum, the simultaneous album release from Prince and his female backing trio 3rdEyeGirl. This is a band album, not a piece of studio craft, a rocker with massive old-skool riffs plus a few deviations into reggae and pop-funk. But it's less original in thought and deed, and none of the songs lingers beyond its running time.
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