This is from the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. I've done the translation myself, so sorry if there are language errors here and there:

Prince
Musicology

3 out of 5

I can't remember who it was, but during the latest and quite inaccessible phase of Prince's career, somebody asked a relevant question. The person in question wondered what had happened to the melodies and the funk from the albums "Sign O The Times" and "Parade". Prince replied that he can write that kind of songs in his sleep - it's neither challenging nor interesting.

It is therefore nice to see that he is finally sleepwalking again. Sometimes His Royal Badness seems to be in total hibernation on the mixing board in that studio he's using when he writes, produces and arranges his music. Because all of a sudden he conjures up straight-forward pop songs, neon-funky jams and blue ballads as if everything after 1991's "Diamonds And Pearls" was a confused delirium.

"Cinnamon Girl" has nothing to do with Neil Young. It's just a ridiculously simple and irresistible pop song of the sort I didn't think Prince could take seriously anymore. The down-toned "Reflection", where the love-struck singer asks the lady he loves to turn up the stereo so that they can hear their song better, is in the same vein.

"A Million Days" is reminiscent of the desperate hymns of love and jealousy on "Purple Rain". And with "Call My Name" - the most fantastic track on the album - the artist, who over a quarter of a century ago was known as Roger Nelson, hits home with one of those impossibly beautiful ballads that almost only he can achieve. It's just him and D'Angelo that have been able to produce weightless soul pieces like that in recent times.

The fact that the new songs more or less clearly revives Prince's lost eighties doesn't automatically mean that it is a question of a mighty resurrection. It is rather like "old favorites revisited" and a reprise rarely makes the same kind of an impression as a premiere. I'm just grateful that he isn't trying to prove his musical independence through repulsive fusionjazzmonsters like "The Rainbow Children" or "N.E.W.S." - two albums that were, are and always will be as cryptic and humorless as a hieroglyph.

Vibrator said:

Maybe for NEWS, but The Ranbow Children had "Wedding Feast" and the "Psyche!" in the middle of "The Everlasting Now"