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Prince - MPLSound
| Vibe. |
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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....full text |
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| Nytimes |
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Prince has called his own shots for much of the last two decades, making plenty of odd, stubborn choices along the way. Here comes his latest: a three-disc album, self-released, with one disc devoted to a protégé, Bria Valente. Part nostalgia trip, part futurist manifesto, it’s available either at Target (for under $12) or through a subscription to lotusflow3r.com (for $77). The choice between thrift and indulgence reflects a familiar paradox for Prince, who presents himself on the album(s) as both a sensualist and a scold. It’s no mystery which side wins out in the end. There may be some satisfaction in hearing Prince rail against the Wall Street bailout in “Ol’ Skool Company” or attack empty fame (along with “all the haters on the Internet”) in “No More Candy 4 U.” But neither of those tunes — from “MPLSound,” the funkiest of the three discs — transcends its own hectoring. The put-downs aren’t half as good as the come-ons. One bit of good news about the album, then, is how many come-ons Prince delivers, in his voice and through Ms. Valente’s. (Her disc, “Elixer,” which he produced, presents a palatable but undistinguished batch of slow- to medium-tempo R&B fare.) On “Chocolate Box,” which sounds deliriously like a club track from the 1980s, Prince declares his own delectability. On “U’re Gonna C Me” he luxuriates in a simple vow; on “Dance 4 Me” he does the same with a simple request. And in “Love Like Jazz” he woos his quarry with a perfectly audacious line: “I want a lover who can improvise.”...full text |
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| Latimes |
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By now, most music fans are well aware that Prince will self-release three albums that will sell in one $11.98 bundle at Target and on the artist's website starting Sunday. Which one you fancy the most depends on what flavor of Prince "u" prefer -- the nasty antiquity of "MPLSound," the guitar-hero antics of "LotusFlow3r" or the VIP-lounge purrs of his protégée Bria Valente on "Elixer." "MPLSound" is a valentine to Revolution-era traditionalists. The nine-song collection pays homage to Prince's beloved Minneapolis and trades in nostalgia, lifting the syncopated drum machine beats from "When Doves Cry" and name-checking Rick James. But it's not all naughty retro: "MPLSound" also incorporates Prince's faith as a Jehovah's Witness, like when he shouts "thank you, almighty" and "hallelujah" to a lover in "Dance 4 Me." All three albums have a touch of the spirit, an abiding cleanliness that elevates sex to heavenly communion, but "MPLSound" might be the most pristine for what it ultimately lacks: the sense of real, lusty sin. Ballads "Better With Time" and "U're Gonna C Me" leak syrup all over the soundboard, but "Chocolate Box," a strutting bit of funk braggadocio set in the club with a guest spot from Q-Tip, is electrifying. In "Valentina," Prince addresses Salma Hayek's daughter: "Tell your mama she should give me a call." Hayek might be one of the world's most voluptuous movie stars, but new mothers and their "nightly feedings" are not the typical pop subjects. Possibly the album's most notable track -- for reasons fine and regrettable -- is the spirited romp "Ol' Skool Company." Here Prince, his voice doctored to sound like he's taking hits of helium, lets his curmudgeon rip for more than seven minutes, longing for an "old-school melody when God, his son and the love of family ruled in the community." Valente, Prince's latest in a storied line of beautiful muses, has a lovely voice that matches his current tastes for the clean line. Her soundscapes, produced and arranged with Prince, are lighter than her mentor's, traipsing from velvet-chaise funk to street tales of girly crushes to dance-floor siren calls. The problem is that not enough of "Elixer" sounds strong or fresh. Her single "Another Boy" is sweetly reminiscent of '80s freestyle icons Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam, but it doesn't have that group's rhythmically inventive backbone. In "2Nite," Valente whispers "disco," a genre that needs at least one modifier to not sound mummified in polyester -- and then reports that there are "no drugs or guns up in this place," just "old-school jazz put a smile on your face." It's one of the many times when Valente feels uncomfortably like the mouthpiece for Prince and his oldster agenda....full text |
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