My Take On Prince's New 'Age'

I'm looking forward to seeing Prince perform on Saturday Night Live tonight, promoting his new album, Art Official Age. 

The new album marks Prince's first release on Warner Bros. Records in nearly 20 years following an acrimonious split in the late '90s. Prince was so mad at Warner Bros. for refusing to grant him ownership of the master tapes of his extensive catalog that he notoriously went around with the word "Slave" scrawled on his cheek.

But as the show-biz saying goes, everything can be renegotiated.

 

Here is my informal review of Art Official Age, comparing several of the tracks to Prince's classic Warner Bros. albums from the '80s and '90s:

"Artificial Cage," the opening track, has a techno dance feel. Prince has veered into this territory before, mixing his trademark funk with "house music," as he did on "Melt with You" from the '92 Love Symbol album and on "Loose!" from the '94 Come album.

"Art Official Cage" explores a familiar theme in Prince's music: how technology is affecting relationships between people and the world, in general. This theme goes back as far as 1982's "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" from the 1999 album to "Computer Blue" on the '84 Purple Rain soundtrack to "My Computer" on his '96 Emancipation album.

"Clouds" is a laid-back R&B track with a funky underpinning. It's reminiscent of "Letitgo" from the Come album. And like "Letitgo," it's kind of hard to figure out the meaning of the lyrics of "Clouds." Is it a love song? A breakup song? A psychedelic head trip like The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"?

"Breakdown" is a ballad that seems to be a reflection on Prince's decades of fame: "I used to want the house with the biggest pool..." It brings to mind to mind another introspective tune: "The Ladder" from '85's Around the World in a Day album. It also reminds me of Madonna's contemplative "Drowned World (Substitute for Love)" from her 2000 Grammy-winning Music album.

"The Gold Standard" is a dance groove that recalls "Party Man" from the '89 Batman soundtrack.

"Breakfast Can Wait" is one of those classic Prince "love doctor" grooves like "Do Me, Baby." Similarly, "This Could Be Us" features his familiar falsetto and seems to be a lament about how great a relationship could be if only the other person would put forth a bit more time and effort.

"This Is What It Feels Like" is a mid-tempo tune about a relationship on the rocks in the vein of "Strange Relationship" from the '87 Sign o' the Times album. "This Is What It Feels Like" also shows Prince's propensity for clever rhymes: "Been a couple hundred hours since I got your call/Used to treat me like David, but now I feel like Saul."

"Funknroll" is a party jam that is a throwback to "Housequake" from Sign o' the Times, complete with Prince's slightly speeded-up, odd-sounding vocal.

"Affirmation I, II & III" feature a female voice with a British accent offering commentary. This is another common technique in Prince songs, with the voices of Revolution members Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin prominent on "Computer Blue," his then-wife Mayte Garcia and TV star Kirstie Alley talking over several tracks on The Love Symbol Album, and an unknown woman greeting listeners with the phrase "Welcome 2 the dawn" on '95's The Gold Album.

 

It's interesting that the woman's voice  on the "Affirmation" tracks refers to Prince as "Mr. Nelson," one of the few times he's publicly acknowledged his last name. Obviously, the Minneapolis genius continues to evolve.

 

Next week, in a post I plan to publish on Friday, Nov. 7, I'll review PlectrumElectrum by Prince's band 3rdEyeGirl.