Picked up the 3-disc package today at Target.
Listened to both of Prince's albums once through (the third disc is from his protegee, Bria Valente, which I'm saving for another day). To put it simply, Prince is back. Back like the confident, assured, genetically-blessed maestro that was an unstoppable force in the '80s. There are tunes on both LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND that make my heart race because they're so damn brilliant and fiery in their execution. If you want Prince's guitar pyrotechnics in all of their unabashed glory, LOtUSFLOW3R will undoubtedly satisfy. Tunes like 'Boom', 'Crimson and Clover', and 'Dreamer' run on the energy of awesome riffage from The Purple One, hearkening back to the time when it was fairly common for him to strut his guitar skills, ala Purple Rain. The first three and last two tracks on MPLSoUND remind me of the funky party anthems Prince trademarked effortlessly all over 1999. If the other four tracks had shown the same level of authoritative artistic hunger (though I like them for their harmonies if nothing else), this could've been a classic.
The great thing about the new music--still sounds as fresh and innovative as ever. He's not recycling his past glories, but only redefining them in a new era. He's still the one, the only, Prince.
