Whoa! Its 1982 again in Prince land. Right down to the keyboard. This is old school Prince if ever and I do think if you listen you'll hear a bit of the soundtrack of Purple Rain. No lie this song is a time warp to the ghosts of Prince past and I am not complaining but..
Yes but.
It sounds dated. It sounds as if Prince hasn't done squat in 30 years or ran back to the familiarity of his big ticket days. There comes the moral debate. Is it OK to go back to the original sound and will it still pay if you do? I say yes. I say there are enough 40+ or even 50+ year olds who are going to hear this and instantly feel young and cool again. The brilliance here is that Prince Rogers Nelson has not aged. Like a purple glittered Peter Pan he is exactly the same. I do think that the sunglasses hide the age but hell that's quite alright.
The all girl band is lame but that's his shtick. The babes behind the tunes cuz if you remember there was Wendy and Lisa and Sheila E and all his stable of lingerie girls. That's the Prince style and in returning to his originals he brings the 'chica' with him. May I say the horn section is awesome and I love that in this video they're on the sideline like wallflowers at Prom.
Love the vibe, love the song, and forgot how much I loved Prince's music. This will no doubt coax me into re listening to his work. Hes a cool cat for sure.
So is Prince "back". Well, that remains to be seen considering this is one song. I don't think he is going to take over top 40 radio but I think its a nice tap on the shoulder to his old fans who will scoop up his work and his live acts with a purple passion.