Prince Art Official Age
Prince hasn’t been the most prolific recording artist in recent years, but he’s making up for lost time in 2014. The follow-up to his previous studio album, 2010’s 20Ten, is not one but two records: a solo effort, Art Official Age, and a band-focused record with his all-female troupe 3rdEyeGirl, PlectrumElectrum. While there are natural similarities between the LPs—the song “Funknroll” appears as both a percolating Midwest hip-hop throwback (Art Official Age) and a bluesy throwdown (PlectrumElectrum), in fact—each record possesses a distinctive identity.
Prince PlectrumElectrum
The 3rdEyeGirl collaboration is an old-fashioned rock ’n’ funk revue full of white-lightning guitar solos and jagged riffage, although the album wisely makes room for select deviations, which end up as standouts: the watery, psychedelic neo-soul ballad “Whitecaps”; ’90s R&B trifle “Stopthistrain”; and the kicky, Nicki Minaj-esque girl-gang sass-off “Boytrouble.” Art Official Age, meanwhile, is a collection of throwback soul/R&B/funk with one eye toward the bedroom at all times. “Clouds” is ’70s chill-out funk with a dash of ’80s bubblegum pop; “The Gold Standard” boasts Funkadelic-style grooving; and “Breakfast Can Wait” is an instant classic, a minimalist R&B seduction boasting breathy Prince falsetto.
PlectrumElectrum is a shade better than Art Official Age, mainly because of the energy derived from the interplay between Prince and the trio. Additionally, the latter album’s instances of modern production touches—as heard on sugary electro-pop jam “This Could Be Us” and the hi-NRG disco aerobics of “Art Official Cage”—already sound unpleasantly dated. Still, you really can’t go wrong with either record—and that’s a feat few artists can pull off.
