Prince LOtUSFLOW3R, MPLSoUND & Elixer
Review of New 3-CD Package Exclusive at Target, feat. Bria Valente
May 3, 2009
Prince has been a musical tour de force for over three decades. Few artists have been as successful and prolific as this musical genius from Minneapolis. Fewer still have been as uncompromising and controversial while racking up hit after hit on the singles and albums charts.
On new project LOtUSFLOW3R, distributed exclusively through Target stores in America and via his website in the rest of the world, Prince gets his groove on two of the discs with varying flavors, while leaving the vocals to his new protégé Bria Valente on the third disc Elixer, written and produced by the Purple One.
Prince - LOtUSFLOW3R
Like any Prince disc since the 80’s, it’s best to proceed with caution. The album opens with an unnecessary instrumental before banging into “Boom”, a track that could have fit nicely on Diamonds and Pearls but hardly stands out as the artist’s best work. The album really gets started three cuts deep with his cover of “Crimson and Clover”. The track remains faithful to the original but with just enough Prince injected to make it one of the stand out tracks on LOtUSFLOW3R.
The rest of the album shifts between the usual Prince shades of funk, pop and jazz. “4ever” casts Prince in the role of romantic leading man for this slower jam, “77 Beverly Park” feels like a breezy interlude while “Feel Better, Feel Wonderful” recharges the album with funk. “Colonized Mind” and “Wall of Berlin” drag and should have remained in the vault along with “Love Like Jazz” which sounds like a bad 70’s sitcom opening theme.
Over all, LOtUSFLOW3R’s not a bad album, though a little soft in the middle.
Prince - MPLSoUND
Ever the wallflower, Prince opens MPLSoUND with a funkadelic jam called “(There Will Never B) Another Like Me”. That track sets the tone for the rest of the album. Swamped in familiar sounds such as programmed drums from his Purple Rain era, MPLSoUND gorges on the Prince’s cocktail of religion, funk and sex, though unlike former records, the sexual content is only hinted at.
The newly reformed Jehovah Witness compares sex to a “Chocolate Box” – possibly the best track on the entire set, and candy on “No More Candy 4U”. While his raunchiness is missed, Prince still has a twisted mind. On “Valentina” he sings to an infant to tell her mother to call him sometime (said mom being Salma Hayek). “B4 you came on2 the scene it was a Hollywood mess, Ur mama was a movie queen,” Prince sings to the child.
While not all the tracks on MPLSoUND rock, this set by far outweighs LOtUSFLOW3R and Elixir in the potential hit category. Stand out tracks include the aforementioned “Chocolate Box”, “Dance For Me”, and the soulful ballad “Better With Time”.
Prince could have made a tight one disc album with this effort, substituting the bland “U’re Gonna C Me” and “Here” with the better tracks from LOtUSFLOW3R. As it is, MPLSoUND plays as an uneven, yet highly enjoyable, clean Prince album.
Bria Valente - Elixer
Bria Valente may have lent her pipes to this disc, but the choice of music, production back-up vocals and everything else about it reeks of Prince in his stickier-sweet mode. Lead track “Here Eye Come” begins with the sound of a thunder storm, however this disc is neither a tempest nor the calm before.
Compared to the Prince discs-proper included with this package it’s more of a soggy morning. Bria Valente has a pretty voice that seems all but devoid of emotion and originality, making her hard to get excited about.
While not a bad album with a couple of stand out tracks such as “2nite” and “Everytime”, the mid tempo groove that dominates the bulk of the disc lends itself more to background music for dinner parties or cafes than anything one would sit down to listen to seriously.
Prince’s three disc collection LOtUSFLOW3R is sold exclusively via Target stores in the United States and via Price’s official website in the rest of the world.
 |
 |
 |
