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Prince - Lotusflow3r / MPLSound
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AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Left to his own devices, Prince will indulge in his peculiar vice of releasing
triple-albums. He celebrated his freedom from Warner with Emancipation,
following that with another triple-disc in Crystal Ball, which just happened to
be the provisional title of the scrapped three-LP iteration of 1987's Sign o' the
Times, he had a triple-live set in 2002, and now he's navigating the rough
waters of online distribution and exclusive contracts with big box retailers in
2009 with another triple-disc set called LotusFlow3r. Technically, one of the
three discs here isn't a Prince album: Elixer is the debut of Bria Valente, the
latest in a long line of sultry soul protégés. Many of Prince's hand-picked
singers have been largely ignored even by his loyalists since about 1987, so
Prince pushes Bria by bundling her record with his own LotusFlow3r and
MPLSound, even going so far as to list Elixer first among the three on the back
of the CD's slim cardboard sleeve. This attempt at old-fashioned star-making
might have worked if Bria Valente had a smidgeon of star charisma, but she's
merely a pleasantly breathy crooner, slipping easily into Prince's shimmering,
quiet storm production. Her slight personality shifts the spotlight to Prince's
versatility, which is part of the point of the whole set. Each album serves a
different function: Elixer is his smooth soul exercise, LotusFlow3r his guitar
showcase, and MPLSound a revival of his '80s funk. By its very nature, the
Bria Valente disc winds up as the most consistent and least interesting of the
three, never straying from its seductive template, but that doesn't mean it's
the worst; it just lacks the highs of the other two, but it also lacks the lows.
Of the three, MPLSound winds up with the greatest number of both highs and
lows, while LotusFlow3r is constrained by its guitar-heavy concept, offering
great moments instead of great whole songs. This suggests that LotusFlow3r
has moments of fury akin to the closing solo of "Let's Go Crazy" or the glorious
passion of "Purple Rain," but apart from the Hendrixian "Dreamer," the album
is nearly as smooth as Elixer, with even the clenched, pumping riff of "Feel
Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful" soon giving way to an amiable funk work-
out. Amiably pretty much defines all of LotusFlow3r, which winds up being all
about groove and fleeting bits of six-string color which may be enough for the
faithful, but not many others. Those less-dedicated listeners -- i.e., those
who prefer tightly written songs and varied production -- will be drawn to
MPLSound, where Prince takes his retro-mission seriously enough to offer up a
few songs nervy enough to be singles, even if the synthesized thrill of this
handful of tunes is undercut by a bunch of slow-burning ballads that do their
best to rival "The Arms of Orion." It's best to focus on such tight, funky
electro grooves as "(There'll Never B) Another Like Me" and "Ol' Skool
Company," two songs that spotlight Prince's impish humor, a quality that's
largely absent on the rest of the triple-disc set (it's not entirely a coincidence
that these are the only cuts that address the modern digital world, either).
But as good as these two cuts are, they're not as imaginative or as vigorous
as the best of 3121 or Musicology, a flaw that illustrates yet another strange
fact about Prince: after all these years, he's now far weirder when he knows
people are paying attention than when he's off pursuing his own surprisingly
earth-bound flights of fancy.
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Elixer - Disc 1
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Artist...............: Prince
Album................: Lotusflow3r / MPLSound
Genre................: Pop/Funk
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 2009
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: LAME 3.82
Version..............: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality..............: Insane, (avg. bitrate: 320kbps)
Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Information..........: http://www.allmusic.com/album/lotusflow3r-mw0000814079
Ripped by............: Grad58 on 9/28/2016
Posted by............: Grad58 on 9/28/2016
Included.............: NFO
Covers...............: Front Back
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Tracklisting
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1. Prince - 2Nite [04:59]
2. Prince - All This Love [04:26]
3. Prince - Another Boy [03:53]
4. Prince - Elixer [03:57]
5. Prince - Everytime [03:47]
6. Prince - Here Eye Come [04:25]
7. Prince - Home [04:23]
8. Prince - Immersion [03:59]
9. Prince - Kept Woman [04:12]
10. Prince - Something U Already Know [05:41]
Playing Time.........: 43:47
Total Size...........: 102.47 MB
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Prince - LotusFlow3r - Disc 2
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Artist...............: Prince
Album................: Lotusflow3r
Genre................: Electronic, Rock, Funk / Soul
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 2009
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: LAME 3.82
Version..............: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality..............: Insane, (avg. bitrate: 320kbps)
Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Ripped by............: Grad58 on 9/28/2016
Posted by............: Grad58 on 9/28/2016
Included.............: NFO
Covers...............: Front Back
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Tracklisting
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1. Prince - $ [03:54]
2. Prince - ...Back 2 The Lotus [06:01]
3. Prince - 4Ever [03:44]
4. Prince - 77 Beverly Park [03:01]
5. Prince - Boom [03:16]
6. Prince - Colonized Mind [04:45]
7. Prince - Crimson And Clover [03:49]
8. Prince - Dreamer [05:27]
9. Prince - Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful [03:50]
10. Prince - From The Lotus... [02:43]
11. Prince - Love Like Jazz [03:46]
12. Prince - Wall Of Berlin [03:54]
Playing Time.........: 48:16
Total Size...........: 113.16 MB
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Prince - MPLSound - Disc 3
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Artist...............: Prince
Album................: MPLSound
Genre................: Funk / Soul
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 2009
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: LAME 3.82
Version..............: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality..............: Insane, (avg. bitrate: 320kbps)
Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Ripped by............: Grad58 on 9/28/2016
Posted by............: Grad58 on 9/28/2016
Included.............: NFO
Covers...............: Front Back
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Tracklisting
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1. Prince - (There'll Never Be) Another Like Me [05:59]
2. Prince - Better With Time [04:51]
3. Prince - Chocolate Box [06:11]
4. Prince - Dance 4 Me [04:55]
5. Prince - Elixer [03:57]
6. Prince - Here [05:12]
7. Prince - No More Candy 4 U [04:11]
8. Prince - Ol' Skool Company [07:27]
9. Prince - U're Gonna C Me [04:33]
10. Prince - Valentina [03:56]
Playing Time.........: 51:16
Total Size...........: 119.61 MB
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