Prince makes five-star record and hides it from Warner

Two new records in one day? Thirty years after Purple Rain? That involuntarily evokes memories of the days of Guns 'n Roses and Bruce Springsteen in the early 1990s. Back then, Prince was still under contract to Warner, but his quarrels with that company were notorious. Four records in a single year went way too far for Warner at the time, as did triple albums. The disagreement ran so high that Prince put Slave on his cheek, Warner had to make do with sloppily put together albums after which Prince started for himself. With varying degrees of success. And the triples Prince did subsequently release were anything but consistent.

Then again, that does suit Prince. First he embraced the internet, even releasing a large number of albums and songs digitally only, but a little later his royal badness declared that same internet obsolete, sought refuge in the old media and gave away an album via a limited number of European newspapers. No, U2 has never invented anything on its own.

Meanwhile, Prince's studio output, temporarily That Symbol, was, to put it mildly, rather shaky. It never became toe-curling, especially in this century, but Musicology (2004), 3121 (2006), Planet Earth (2007), Lotusflow3r / MPL Sound (2009) and 20Ten (2010) contained not only highlights but also sneering and facile repetitions.

[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_5443d7afb5519_selected-products" products="1000004003088907″ name="musicology" sub_id="" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_colour="FFFFFF" border_colour="D2D2D2″ width="250″ cols="1″ show_bol_logo="undefined" show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]

Live, however, Prince has been in absolute top form for the last decade. Blueprint for many of his concerts is the 2004 US tour, but where that tour was largely the same night after night, 'anything goes' has been true since his 21 Nights In London Tour. For three concerts in Chicago in 2012, Prince approached Hannah Ford, married to keyboardist Joshua Welton who had previously worked with Prince, as a guest drummer. Guitarist Donna Grantis was found via youtube, paired with bassist Ida Nielsen, who had been playing with Prince since 2010, and suddenly there was a new power rock trio: 3RDEYEGIRL. Two great singles, Rock And Roll Love Affair and Screwdriver, followed in 2013. But Prince remains unpredictable, so these are missing from the albums now in shops, released by... yes, Warner.

[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_5443d7fec739d_selected-products" products="9200000032419403″ name="3deye" sub_id="" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_colour="FFFFFF" border_colour="D2D2D2″ width="250″ cols="1″ show_bol_logo="undefined" show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]

Vintage Prince

Art Official Age - please stop playing with words in such a bland way, just like swapping numbers and letters, you're approaching sixty, and the CAPSLOCK at 3RDEYEGIRL is also downright tiresome - is vintage Prince. So: all sung and played himself, with only sporadic guest contributions. With 'Welcome home class, you've come a long way', Prince opens a futuristic concept record, but then again, that concept is so far-fetched that it is better to forget it immediately. What does follow is a sample of Nile Rodgers funk cut with an almost flat house beat, baroque choruses and an unexpected appearance by Prince's falsetto-singing dark alter ego Camille. WTF? thinks the fan.

However, Prince does not offer time to recover, as immediately followed by the laidback funk of Clouds, his best ballad in years Breakdown, and the irresistible The Gold Standard (horns!). The bare production on U Know and Breakfast Can Wait works wonderfully, but after that it seems to sink in. Seems, because Way Back Home puts together brilliantly, as does Funknroll, which suddenly sounds here as if Prince wants to teach Pharrell a lesson in modern production.

Hey hey hey.

Clunky funk rock?

Funknroll's identical intro can also be found at Plectrum pick, but there it funks and rolls on like Mother's Finest in their heyday. No wonder, as this record was recorded additionally live in the studio with 3RDEYEGIRL. But where the version on Art Official Age sounds too clinical and contrived, the version here is too clunky. And this album suffers from that more often than not. The instrumental title track undoubtedly does well live, but is just unnecessary here. Opener Wow bangs out of the speakers, has a nice build-up, but lacks the tension of prize song Another Love, which also starts off as a soul ballad, but when the chorus kicks in and the throttle is stepped on towards the end, sounds more and more like the ultimate sequel to Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way.

[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_5443d84f16fd6_selected-products" products="9200000032419405″ name="princeart" sub_id="" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_colour="FFFFFF" border_colour="D2D2D2″ width="250″ cols="1″ show_bol_logo="undefined" show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]

The other highlight Fixurlifeup reads "Girl with a guitar is twelve times better than another crazy band of boys" and at moments like this, everyone agrees with the sneer at all the thirteen-in-the-dozen boy bands, with or without guitar, but this is also offset by songs like the dull Boytrouble. The ballad Tictactoe, on the other hand, is again brilliant and naturally evokes memories of the best work with Wendy & Lisa.

Five stars

Live, depending on who all is on stage, it will sound very different again and most likely even better, as evidenced by concerts at Paradiso and the Ziggo Dome and Funknroll's performance at Arsenio Hall - watch especially from 2:40 onwards. Both records are better than most of Prince's official output over the past two decades, but it's hard to escape the impression that hidden in these two albums, with a changed arrangement here and there, is one true five-star record.

But then again, who buys records anymore? The vinyl lovers, maybe, but Warner has decided not to release both records on vinyl for the time being. Marketing music, it's still a business.