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Rating: By now, it might seem embarrassing.
Perhaps a psychologist could explain and analyze it better than a musicologist, which we are not anyway.
Here, we're just old lovers, passionate, extremely vulnerable every time we hear that little scream, that guitar, that falsetto, and those sounds...; so, a good dose of self-hypnosis is needed before writing about it.
And also listening, "chewing" for a long time, understanding... Even though the exegesis of Prince's work today can almost be considered a job, even evaluating exclusively the official studio work, since - just a random fact... - in the past year he has released an impressive four albums... (three under his own name, including this one, and one lending the vocals to the current pretty boy Bria Valente).
As enthusiasts, and with the futile effort for a minimum of objectivity, we proceed with the analysis.
One thing immediately catches the ear, upon the very first listen: the sound. Unanimous and uniform more than ever (from this point of view we have undoubtedly abdicated versatility...), the sound is perfectly halfway between "1999" and the subsequent work with the Revolution.
So? So, if one wants to criticize, it can be immediately noticed that Prince is stuck, and that he looks back, as almost all the greats do today.
Lack of ideas, end of inspiration, of innovation? It can be correct as much as the opposite, including the sophistical theory that the lack of innovation today is the highest degree of innovation (sophistical as well as a decent mental exercise, I would say...).
The fact remains that the drums are the same, the guitar sound is too, and especially the keyboards. This leads one to think that the choice was indeed to reproduce the sound of that time, probably only playing instruments from back then (even recording them as they did back then...? ...who knows...).
The final result almost tastes of a forgery of an original work. A self-cloning just like a continuous self-quotation. The question we should ask ourselves (or perhaps should we not...?) is: is it okay like this? Should we make peace with ourselves concerning Prince's inventiveness, his ability (demonstrated for at least a decade and a half) to always look forward, and never back...?
Let's try to give ourselves a plausible answer and not an a priori negative one, and evaluate the product for what it is, for how it sounds, without too many mental exercises.
And, I must say, this time more than many others, and after some disappointments, I find myself nearing the concept of satisfaction.
The album is - as I said, studiously - very "Prince-like". Especially when looking at the Prince of the first five-six albums. Stuff made mostly at home and all by himself. With those sounds, with that allure, with that inevitable funk. And that desire to be, or simply be, exquisitely vintage, stuck between the seventies and the eighties.
There is also a noticeable greater effort towards "singability" and catchiness in each track. Many unnecessary baroque elements are abandoned (some remain, betraying the age...) and every other little incident is entirely negligible.
In short: a good Prince album. Inferior to any of the latest live bootlegs (in my opinion, the Little Prince is now more than anything else a gigantic monument to himself "live") just as it is immensely inferior to the golden period 1978-1988...but it's probably foolish, today, to expect more.
The album is original in its absolute lack of originality, and it is more than pleasant to listen to. Should we be satisfied?
Tracklist
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