Prince is one of the most prolific artists in music history. Thirty-one albums in 30 years. That’s a lot of music. His latest 3-disc (one is a collection of songs written and produced by Prince for his new protege, Bria Valente) collection, Lotusflow3r/MPLSoUNDs, is funky, sassy, in places, brilliant, and shows off the fact that he is an incredible guitarist.
On Lotusflow3r, Prince’s gets all political and religious (he’s now a Jehovah’s Witness) on the excellent “Colonized Mind,” which features a smoking guitar solo. He channels James Brown on the ultra-funky “Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful,” and Jimi Hendrix on “Boom. He gets mellow and rockin’ all at the same time on the Tommy James tune “Crimson and Clover” that also features a little “Wild Thing” thrown in for good measure.
MPLSoUND’s features a lot of songs that could have appeared on older Prince albums. It opens up with the funky, sassy “(There’ll Never B) Another Like Me” that sounds like a Sign O’ The Times outtake. “Chocolate Box” and “Dance 4 Me” could’ve been 1999 b-sides, “U’re Gonna C Me” is reminiscent of the Purple Rain era and the funky “Ol’ Skool Company” is screaming for those classic 80s Prince lyrics that descriptively talked about getting laid.
As for the Bria Valente disc, I haven’t listened to it. I’ll get to it eventually. As for Prince, he’s knocked it out of the Paisley Park with this excellent collection.
30 Days Out 