With the build up and tease leading into Lotus Flow3r I was wondering if it would be all hype and no follow through. Being one of the few who signed up to LF.com on the day it opened I willingly forked over my $77 to start downloading 3 Cds that wouldn’t be available in Australia for a few more weeks.

It was a weird experience watching those tracks make their way to my hard drive. Each offered so much promise, but would they be fulfilled.

Kicking off with [u]From The Lotus…[/u] I was greeted with a jazz funk fusion that took you on a smooth little journey around the newly formed purple galaxy. Driven by the ringing ride cymbal and hypnotic guitar solo it set up what was to follow, and delivered you safely to…

BOOM with its Darling Nikki co-opted lyrical melody the track is beautifully layered with a floating one minute thumping the next groove. Intrigue abounds in the chorus as we hear snippets of Prince speaking in reverse (another nod to Darling Nikki). And when you ascend the bridge the track just takes flight and swirls around the heavens before blasting off in a fuzz tone guitar solo before quickly segueing into…

The Morning After, a bright pop rock ditty that has all the fun and innocence of For You era tracks and the balance of guitar and keys just makes it a definite head bop and toe tapper. While the CD featured Crimson and Clover in its place, TMA feels like it jolts you from the soothing groove of BOOM, whereas Crimson and Clover takes it a step further and delivers a truly psychedelic experience.

From the opening piano build up and vocal of 4Ever I was reminded of one of my all time fave Prince songs “Starfish and Coffee”, but this isn’t a carbon copy but a brilliant track in its own right. It’s joyous, optimistic, lovelorn, and yet finds solace in the ever after rather than the now. The arrangement in this track is just sublime and should be a single.

If 4ever was the light side of funk pop, Colonized Mind got deep. With a tweaked vocal treatment akin to 3121 the track informs rather than preaches and has a chorus that should be repeated more than it actually is. This had instant classic written in every bar, the soft crawl of the guitar solo that works more on melody that flashy tricks, the choir building chorus that proves once and for all that the man can still write some of the catchiest tracks around. Hearing this makes you ache to hear it live.

So here I was track 6 and so far I was floored at how cool this album was. Just when I thought it couldn’t get better Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful pumped through the speakers. Given its first airing just before the close of 3121.com the track is a return to the feel good funk that the tile promises. This is the jam of the album, and that is saying a lot.

Maybe it is working with the right musicians here, but this album holds together much better than some more recent releases. Love Like Jazz benefits from the musicianship displayed by all those around him, letting everyone step up and instead of trying to overpower another, they compliment perfectly. With a jazz bosa nova groove the track is all the things that were missing from other balladesque attempts and the final phrasing in the last minute just takes a perfectly arranged track and makes it sublime.

Just when I thought this album might be the most consistent in recent times, 77 Beverly Park came on. And what started well soon drifted into a soft piece of drivel. It reminded me too much of listening to some band play in a Mediterranean restaurant, who are trying to entertain without being offensive but it is just bad all round. I am sure some may love it, but for me its just drivel.

Thankfully Wall Of Berlin brings the funk back with a beat that is too good to sit still to. The track bristles with funk rock and packs a punch and just build with intensity with every passing chorus. Again the whole band brings their a-game to the party and the track benefits from everyone working to the same objective – to blow the roof off the joint.

Ok well $ is a track that didn’t get me first, third, tenth listen. I mean it’s a cool rockabilly style track but I’m just not feeling it the way I know I should. I am sure live it will hit with those horns. Listening to it now I think it’s not the music that is making me not grab it, but more the vocal delivery that doesn’t do it for me.

Dreamer with its Jimi Hendrix inspired (some may say stolen) riff is a return to the cool funk rock that is peppered through the album. It has such a power to it, a depth in the music that doesn’t overpower the lyric but holds it up and gives it the proper support. As much as I would love to hear it live, I am sure it would be hard to mix just right to give that balance that makes the track just infiltrate you and take over. Even in the climatic swirl of the guitar solo the mix is perfectly balanced. This is production, playing and performance and its finest.

It’s like Prince knows that after such a strong set of tracks the listener needs to be revived. And he does it by taking us Back 2 the Lotus. It’s fitting that this reprise brings us full circle and returns us to our own private worlds as the whole album has been like a journey, taking in the sights of brilliant music and a true return to form.

Swa

this is a genius album.....

full of classics,,,,
crimson and clover
4ever
colonised mind
feel good
dreamer

this album is cohesive..and a exspirience..
not rehashing old themes but creating a new atmosphere...

nyse said:

OMG I almost spit my water at the screen from laughing so hard at that. LOL Thanks for the laugh, I needed it.

no problem ern....I owed u a good laugh...

Cause I crack up every time u diss the masterpiece that is
THE RAINBOW CHILDREN....ha ha ha



.
[Edited 7/20/09 17:57pm]

nyse said:

Yeah, cuz that's such a treasure.

The opening cymbals of "From the Lotus" remind me of "Crucial" so much!

"77 Beverly Park" could've been a classic hard-rock jam, but then it turns into a bore.
[Edited 7/20/09 18:09pm]

over all, i absolutely adore it. the only ones i'm prone to skip are The Morning After and 4ever, though i like the former well enough.

FB,FG,FW grates on my nerves occasionally, and i like Love Like Jazz, but it seems like it belongs on some other album.


Boom, C&C, and Dreamer got me all crying & shit when i heard them on the album the first time.

I guess this is as close as I'll get to the all rock album I would love to hear from him.Dreamer is the song that does it for me(and still does). Crimson is cool but i'm tired of the cover songs.Overall its a good album and was well worth the $11 from Target.

the first time Prince has managed to bring out a brilliant album-then slowly kill it by adding sooooo much bullshit to the project you get lost in it all so personally-i did like the ambums-but I can't listen to it-and deffo can't heap praise on it while i'm so aghast at the awful-AWFUL pr disaster that is everything Lotus.....

the last official album Prince will get a penny from me for

polkadotbliss said:

It is a shame that many of the stand out tracks on here won't get a singles release - would be wonderful to think there was more juice in this tank, but I think Prince may have moved on.

Swa

I do really like this album. I do have to skip 4ever (too drippy), The Morning After (too wimpy), and Love Like Jazz (too cheesy).

The rest is all good with Boom, Colonized Mind and $ being favourites.

Love the album, absolutely despise Colonized Mind.

I LOVE this album. Highlights for me are "Boom," "The Morning After," "Wall Of Berlin" and "$." For me "Crimson And Clover" is tacked on the end as a bonus track. It's a decent enough take on the song but I prefer "The Morning After."

rialb said:

I'm with you on The Morning After over Crimson and Clover - i'd rather hear an original than a cover any day.

Swa

I just found the c.d. in Australia, and I must say it's a great c.d. mplsound too.

susanscourt said:

Nice to see a fellow Aussie digging the funk.

Swa

Swa said:

always have, way before.

Finally a good Prince album.

Highlights for me: Colonized Mind, $, Dreamer, Crimson & Clover.

lowpoints: the instrumental intro & outtro.

I would give both LF & MPLS: 8/10.

thedance said:

Colonized Mind is one of his greatest songs period.

Swa