Part 1 - The comeback...

OK. MPLSound. Lets deal with what it is firstly. As part of the Lotusflow3r set, its instantly gonna be overlooked by fans as the throaway album, whereas LF is the real gem and Elixir is the one you'll use when you cant find a mirror. Sad but true. However, it doesen't nessecarily mean that i think its weak. Quite the opposite, i prefere it to LF. Its just Prince fans on the whole are notoriously miserable and havent truly liked a Prince album since 1987...

The comeback trilogy of Musicology, 3121 and Planet Earth are, lets be honest, not the most populer albums of he's career. The aount of "Lets make a 16 track album out of he's last 3 albums" threads dont exactly show a fondness for the albums that put Prince back on the commercial map. Starting with The Rainbow Children in 2001, Prince had almost dissapered from musical stardom. Remembered as "the purple midget from the 80's", tours like 2000/1s "Hit n Run" Tour didn't exactly help, the newest song played being 1991's Cream. Then suddenly in the 2nd leg comes "The Work pt.1", Prince's new sound. And he was all but dead in the eyes of casual fans and critics.

Whilst The rainbow Children was interesting, it is strongly dissagreed on by fans over whether it was a move in the right direction or a disaster. Either way, it sold in its 1000's. Odly, the following "One Night Alone" tour was seen as something of a success and the aftershows of that era are fondly remembered. But once again, this tour was something for the "fams". Screams at his concerts for him to "Play purple rain!!" were not exactly encouraging. Next came the ONA album. Seen as a follow up to 1998's The Truth, this album saw Prince alone with a Piano. Only unlike the Rainbow Children, this album sold even less, not exactly helped by the fact it was limited to an online only release.

So, by 2003, you can how Prince fans felt. Was Prince ever going to return to he's funky roots and do a "Proper" album? Not yet. Next up was NEWS. 4 tracks of 15 minute jazz escapades. Practically ignored on its release by Prince, suddenly things took a turn inthe right direction. Prince was to tour asia and austraila, only this wasn't a jazz showcase, this was Prince & The Band playing the songs that made him famous! Showing that he still had a desier to apeal to the mass public, he even dropped a new song on the tour. Although Life O The Party was played over Hot Pants by James Brown didnt help show Prince's new songs were ready to stand on the own, emphasized by him evetually only playing two regually from his new album.

So, 2004, and Prince is back once again. An amazing chart debut of no.3 shows that Musicology hit all the right keys and was what prince DESPERATELY needed, a hit album. Followed up by 3121 and Planet Earth, he's almost fallen in the a cycle and formula. And not nessecarily a good one. The trilogy of come back albums were something his 80's work was never, samey. The title track opener, the rock song, the ballad... etc... However, this was all about to change.

part two coming soon