Prince's new site LotusFlow3r.com offers the 2 new Prince albums LotusFlow3r and MPLSound for download and also the Bria Valente debut Elixer. It is perhaps the worst website ever constructed from a user friendliness point of view, so I wish you good luck and a lot of patience if you decide to dive in. (hint: find the ticket on the rock and then enter: 1986, LA). The albums will also be released as proper CDs if you decide to wait instead.
The LotusFlow3r album is partly a rock album with references to Hendrix and Santana. It also has several more pop-oriented tunes on it and even a bit of funky stuff. I guess I should be very happy and filled with joy since I've been asking for a Prince guitar album ever since the excellent never-released-as-an-official-cd The Undertaker [1994] album. But somehow this bag is a little too mixed for me to fully enjoy.
I have played the album many many times now and I certainly don't dislike it. It might even grow further in the years to come. But after listening to it for about a week now, it's just not quite the rock album I'd been wishing for. It ain't no new The Undertaker. It has some guitar and then a lot of other stuff in between.
My favorite tracks would be Colonised Mind and Wall Of Berlin, both tracks we already knew from various internet downloads. A pop tune like $ is also really catchy and happy. Another example is Dreamer which pretty much sounds like a Hendrix song with a Lenny Kravitz production. Great guitar but not that overwhelmingly interesting to be honest. Worth noting is that Crimson & Clover is not included on the album which feels like a weird decision since it is a great cover version and would have fitted in perfectly.
Oh, the lyrics you say? Well, I don't have a clue what he is babbling about. Probably some Jehovah bullshit mixed with other weird shit. Prince lyrics don't really interest me anymore. They are not like in the good old days of Sister, Head and Darlin' Nikki.
I wouldn't really call the album consistent due to the many genres that collide but somehow it doesn't feel like a complete mess either. At the end of the day it is certainly not the worst Prince release in recent years and there is even the possibility that I may actually learn to appreciate it more in the years to come. I would have loved to award the album with 5/6, but for now it will only earn 4/6. Maybe I'll change my mind about that at a later point.
Rating: 
Band: Prince
Record Title: LotusFlow3r
This Release: 2009
Record Format: Download
Content Type: Record Review
Language: 
Updated: 2009-04-03 11:43
Created: 2009-03-27 12:07
