Album Review- Prince

 Everyone knows the legend. Prince has an endless amount of music that has never been released. I will say I have been very happy with Piano and Microphone 1983, Originals and Welcome 2 America and at this point, I would be pleased with one new Prince album a year for the next half century, which seems possible.

Now, although we picture some lost treasure lode, we know all about lost tracks, right? There are rarely classics that never left the shelf. What we may find is some extra songs from an artist’s fertile period (“Scarlet” by the Stones comes to mind). But the process of discovery is exciting.

I would add that even if there is a stigma around otherwise half-baked songs, there probably shouldn’t be. While not considered in serious discussions, I am a huge fan of Bob Marley’s “Iron Lion Zion” and the Beatles “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”

21st Century Prince isn’t particularly fruitful. Not his fault, of course. Almost every artist with that many albums has used their bag of tricks. Expectations are too high for reality. It is bad enough that we want it to be as good as Dirty Mind or Sign O The Times or Purple Rain, but also as good as Stankonia or Let Love Rule or The ArchAndroid

Like Bowie and Lou Reed, we as fans almost immediately realized how hard we were on the artist, and would give anything for even a new three star album of material. Pitchfork recently did a feature where they re-reviewed albums (an exercise that made me like them less than more) and they bumped up 3121.

I’m not quick to name any 21st Century Prince as essential, but you may already know I particularly love his Plectrum Electrum collaboration with 3rd Eye Girl. I also rate Musicology over the slightly more loved 3121 as towards the top of the Prince album list.

Welcome 2 America gets big points for feeling like a record that Prince would write in 2021. Although, the idea of a theme is a bit overplayed in reviews, it does generally feel like what one would imagine Prince writing circa Black Lives Matter, George Floyd and related news headlines.

So we can quickly mark that this isn’t as good as his 80s albums and not as good as his 90s albums, but W2A is better than most of his recent output.

I think a point in favor is that this seems to be shaped with the purpose of an album. A bit of conventional wisdom is that the album was recorded with Tal Wilkenfield with a power trio in mind, but when she couldn’t tour to support, it was shelved.

I’m not sure how much to credit Wilkenfield or Morris Hayes, but I tended to think even though Prince could do everything on his own, he often sounded more inspired when working with collaborators. Nor do I know what shape the tapes were when Hayes got them, though the sound is contemporary and full, surely this is at least partially to his credit.

I suspect the parts make the whole better. The opener is what you might expect to set the theme, followed by Running Game and Born 2 Die -none of which might stand up as singles but coalesce as a strong political statement. All three song mostly spoken as much sung, Born 2 Die is the apex of this three song start- a bit more light jazz than you might hope for, at least at this point, Prince has your attention.

The album continues the next two tracks with its vibe with Prince sharing center stage with his three NPG singers. Hot Summer is too short to reach Classic Single status as well but it’s got the right feeling.

At this point, the album peaks with one of Prince’s strongest late-career songs Stand Up and B Strong. Like another late classic Anotherlove, this song ironically is a cover. As many great original songs as Prince wrote in his long career, at the end he knew how to find a great song and make it his (as others had done to his songs).

While one might not be surprised that Prince covered a Minneapolis artist, picking what is basically a Bon Jovi-esque anthem from a band’s ninth album is an unlikely pick, he (and quite frankly the band) really make it something transcendent (the original song is better than my description makes it out to be, but it pales in comparison).

The album’s back end is less notable, even if the songs are catchy, they don’t necessarily stand out. Despite critics claiming otherwise, the social thread does manage to flow through the entire record. These songs do fit in, though, which goes to recommending the album.

As someone who anticipated every new Prince album and usually felt slight disappointments, Welcome 2 America ultimately is on the list of better albums in the latter part of his career. I would to think Prince would be happy with it.