CD Review: Prince’s Lotusflow3r
Prince
Lotusflow3r (NPG)
The good news is that Lotusflow3r is the best Prince album since 2004’s Musicology. It’s his most guitar- and rock-oriented in years — perhaps ever — and includes a few songs that deserve consideration for the upper echelon of the Prince canon.
The not-so-good news is that Lotusflow3r is inconsistent and acts as a general reminder that Prince’s genius appears to be a spasmodic proposition. Lotusflow3er, part of a three-CD set sold at retail through an exclusive agreement with Target, is further proof that we’re not likely to get anything like a masterpiece from the mercurial artist again.
Let’s quickly dispense with Lotusflow3r’s sidekicks: Prince’s MPLSound is a collection of mostly brainless dance-funk, only partially redeemed by a couple of seductive soul ballads. Elixer, a Prince-produced disc by the latest of his ingénues, Bria Valente, is destined for the dustbin of R&B divas.
It’s worth noting that the three-disc package costs just $12 at Target, so if Lotusflow3r is the only one worth spending time with, it’s not exactly a rip-off.
