Oh master of the funky fresh, jammer of the hottest of jams, why in the name of God hast thou forsaken us, Artist-Formerly-Known-As-And-Now-Back-Again-To-Prince? I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it, but this album really isn't worth a lick of your time or money.
Tom's review:
Sure, you present the interesting cover of "Crimson and Clover" that provides a simple distraction from the overwhelming awfulness the rest of this record consists of. As further proof, there's the constant unyielding presence of his Purpleness hitting up the auto-tuner a little too hard, no small sin coming from the man who put on a Super Bowl half-time show, against which all others must now stand up.
Isn't there an ounce of decency or artistic legitimacy left in you, Prince? Apparently not, considering your album is a collection of featherweight, lifeless R&B tunes on cruise control. After your previous album, "Planet Earth," I really expected better. Doing the Pepsi challenge on this one doesn't quite make the cut, especially when we consider that this is coming from the same guy who brought us the pop masterpiece "Purple Rain."
But enough about past transgressions - let's move on to the current sins inflicted on mankind by this album. Getting past the egregious use of auto-tuner there's also a distinct lack of clarity in the vision for the album. Though "LOtUSFLOW3R" is only one disc in a set of three, the music inside feels like a jumbled incoherent journey through lost musical genius. "U're Gonna C Me" is a ballad that clunks instead of soaring; "Colonized Mind" seemingly has no lyrical focus; and "Wall of Berlin" can't decide whether it wants to be an average studio-produced rock song or an average studio-produced piece of candy-coated pop. Maybe it's all this indecision that has Prince stuck in this black hole of sheer musical banality, or maybe the well has run dry. Either way the listener doesn't benefit from the situation, and returning to the idea that Prince should stick with making pop music with that slight-enough guitar edge is inevitable.
Alright, so now you've seen all I want to really discuss regarding Prince's latest effort. Why don't you listen to something good instead? In particular, "Purple Rain." From that album it's easy to infer that Prince is a man not afraid to take chances. Unfortunately, with his latest effort it sounds less like taking chances and more like conforming to the modern sound of auto-tune. It's also a sad possibility that Prince's time might have passed him by. It's fascinating to see how a man who has scaled the highest musical peaks of the pop mountain has now succumbed to its lowest musical valley. Listen to "Purple Rain" after this train wreck and you'll thank me.
Grade: D -
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