The more I hear the new stuff, the less enthralled I am. There is nothing that excites me quite like a good new Prince song, so this is very disappointing.

Crimson & Clover is the best of the bunch, which is sad considering it's a cover. The guitar and vocal effects are wonderfully executed.

Let's start with the worst, which is undoubtedly the dreadful Another Like Me. Contrived canned beats and self-effacing egotism? An insincere attempt at sounding hip and fun? Why, it's the unwanted return of late 90's Prince!

Forever follows not too far behind with some of the most uninspired romantic generalities Prince has ever written. To top it off, it has a lazy hook for a chorus and a one-dimensional overall sound. Prince has had a multitude of romances, including two marriages, and yet he has nothing profound or even interesting to say on the topic. Amazing.

Wall of Berlin has a catchy rhythm to its chorus and some lyrically interesting moments but is otherwise pedestrian in its come-ons. Likewise, the guitar work, while technically impressive, lacks any memorable hooks to merit repeated listens.

Colonized Mind has fittingly somber guitar and builds to a nice climax of frustration, but the lyrics nearly kill it. The major problem is that Prince thinks he's being a lot more insightful than he really is. The messages here are embarrassingly mundane. We need God, democracy only entails limited freedoms, etc., etc. These are the pontifications of a religious teenager who just took his first political science course.