looking at two sides of rock royalty prince

8/10/2019 Looking at Two Sides of Rock Royalty Prince

1/5

Looking at Two Sides of Rock Royalty

Prince Releases Art Official Age andPlectrumElectrumByJON PARELESSEPT. 30, 2014

Photo
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/jon_pareles/index.htmlhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/jon_pareles/index.html


2/5

Prince has released two albums on the same day, Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum.CreditNPGRecordsContinue reading the main story

Continue reading the main storyShare This Page

Email

Share

Tweet
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1


3/5

Pin

Save

More

Continue reading the main story

Princehas made his career as syncopated as his music, juggling silence and noise,arena sellouts and secretive recordings. His latest confounding move is thesimultaneous arrival of two albums: Art Official Age, a studio production billed as hisfirst solo album since 2010 (though he had help) and PlectrumElectrum, on whichhes backed by the three-woman rock trio he has been touring with, 3rdEyeGirl.

The pair of albums represents two sides of Prince: the futuristic studio whiz and theomnivorous music historian. Art Official Age playfully acknowledges the gleamingartificiality of current studio sounds, while PlectrumElectrum flaunts the real-timemuscle of vintage power-trio rock. And like Princes overwhelming output since hestarted his own NPG label in the mid-1990s and began releasing music whenever he

wanted including triple and quadruple albums both albums are hit and miss, thework of a great musician whose songwriting doesnt always live up to his skills.

The hidden link between the two albums is Princes collaborators. Art Official Age isambiguously credited as recorded with Chris James,a musician, producer andsongwriter based in Los Angeles, andJoshua A.M. Welton,a producer and songwriterfrom Illinois. Mr. Welton is married toHannah Ford Welton,the drummer in3rdEyeGirl, and has played keyboards on their tour.

The one song that appears on both albums, an invitation to party called Funknroll,shows how disparate Princes strategies can be. Starting from the same intro, a big riff

with audience noise simulating an arena stomp, 3rdEyeGirl bears down on the electricbass while Art Official Age suddenly thins itself down to scattered blips and synthetichandclaps.

Art Official Age comes across as a concept album diverted by second thoughts. The

immediate agenda of its opener, Art Official Cage, is the way it riffles through recentelectronic dance music sounds, like the pealing piano chords of trance, a four-on-the-floor drumbeat, an air horn hoot, a wobbly synthesizer bass and, most amusingly, thekind of quick-scrubbed rhythm guitar funk that Daft Punk learned from Prince andChic.

Amid that technical display, Prince sings about a place in heaven far off in the future.Soon, spoken-word interludes have him waking up from suspended animation 45 yearsfrom now, in a new culture where there are no such words as me or mine. A few songscontinue the concept: Way Back Home and affirmation III, plush ballads with a

backing chorus that could come out of a Philip Glass opera.

Photo
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1http://movies.nytimes.com/person/107105/Prince?inline=nyt-perhttp://movies.nytimes.com/person/107105/Prince?inline=nyt-perhttp://beaconnews.suntimes.com/2014/09/03/aurora-native-goes-local-talent-show-working-prince/http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/2014/09/03/aurora-native-goes-local-talent-show-working-prince/http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/2014/09/03/aurora-native-goes-local-talent-show-working-prince/http://www.hannahforddrums.com/biography.htmlhttp://www.hannahforddrums.com/biography.htmlhttp://www.hannahforddrums.com/biography.htmlhttp://www.hannahforddrums.com/biography.htmlhttp://beaconnews.suntimes.com/2014/09/03/aurora-native-goes-local-talent-show-working-prince/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/107105/Prince?inline=nyt-perhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-1


4/5

Art Official Age is a solo album by Prince, who was backed on PlectrumElectrum by

3rdEyeGirl, a trio he has toured with. CreditNPG RecordsBut Prince didnt write that full-length sci-fi album, which is probably a relief to thosecalculating its commercial chances. Most of Art Official Age sticks to Prince staples:slow-motion seduction and dance grooves, though this time he makes a point ofpraising long-term romance. The standout song was released as a single last year; its

Breakfast Can Wait, a teasing, single-entendre song about early-morning options.

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story

Continue reading the main story

Elsewhere Prince reaffirms his expertise at ultraslow tempos. In Breakdown, hebrings his falsetto and sparse, hovering piano chords to lyrics repenting too manydrunken parties: Give me back the time, you can keep the memories, he sighs.Clouds, a ballad with a springy funk backbeat and two basses playing in tandem,mingles advice on flirtation with philosophizing about reality and performance.

This Could Be Us bemoans a womans hesitancy to make a long-term commitment, aswhooshing synthesizers and percussion mimic heavy breathing. Time pulls together a

lurching beat, a polytonal pileup of harmonies and a growled vocal that harks back tothe Sly Stone of Family Affair. And in U Know, which gets part of its rhythm from a

woman saying uh-huh uh-huh, a fast-talking Prince interweaves thoughts of pleasureand the music business.

Yet while the production details of each track are full of lessons in musicianlyingenuity, only Breakdown has a melody that lingers. The others are overshadowed

by Princes back catalog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHbyNrGXpAAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHbyNrGXpAAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHbyNrGXpAAhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-4http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-4http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-4http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Uzikag7Xohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Uzikag7Xohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Uzikag7Xohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Uzikag7Xohttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-4http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-4http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/prince-releases-art-official-age-and-plectrumelectrum.html?_r=0#story-continues-4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHbyNrGXpAA


5/5

Prince placed himself in a different format with 3rdEyeGirl: not digital layering butanalog, live-in-the-studio performance,according to the band members.The self-imposed limitations removed opportunities to tinker, and they gave Prince a chance toreconstruct the basics of guitar, bass and drums; the songs are tauter, more focused.

They also recognize a feminine presence and perspective; Fixurlifeup contends, Agirl with a guitar is 12 times better than another crazy band o boys. The bandsummons the sinewy tension and release of Jimi Hendrix in Wow, the roar of LedZeppelin or Crazy Horse in Fixurlifeup, the spaces and pounces of the Police inAnotherlove and the blare of punk in the brief but pointed Marz, with lyrics thatpoint to ghetto desperation: We never owned the streets that we kept defending. Afunk workout, Boytrouble, features guest rappers, and theres also a promising ballad,Whitecaps; unfortunately, Prince handed lead vocals over to 3rdEyeGirl.

What constrains PlectrumElectrum is its rigorous, deliberately retro back-to-basicsmandate. Prince at his best doesnt just collect and recreate genres; he smashes themtogether. If Prince can meld the concision of PlectrumElectrum with the sonicimagination of Art Official Age past plus future the possibilities are wide open.

Correction: October 2, 2014

An earlier version of this article misidentified one of the people given a recorded with credit for the ArtOfficial Age album. He is Chris James, a musician, producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, notthe producer Chris James who has worked with Deadmau5.
http://www.gigwise.com/features/94753/princes-3rdeyegirl-live-only-in-the-nowhttp://www.gigwise.com/features/94753/princes-3rdeyegirl-live-only-in-the-nowhttp://www.gigwise.com/features/94753/princes-3rdeyegirl-live-only-in-the-nowhttp://www.gigwise.com/features/94753/princes-3rdeyegirl-live-only-in-the-now

looking at two sides of rock royalty prince

Documents