REVIEWED: Prince - 20Ten

This is Prince's best album since Diamonds and Pearls.

I was seriously dubious when a friend pressed a copy of "20Ten" into my hand. Let's be honest, Purple Yoda, His Royal Badness, The Purple One - whatever you want to call him, just simply went musically AWOL for so long that people just assumed that he would never do anything with any weight ever again. I think Prince fans (not the rabid ones) got a bit let down after album after album of absolute self-absorbed shite was rolled out. "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" sounds like, Jesus it's too depressing to even bring up. Oh hang on, "Black Sweat" from 2006's "3121" was an amazing track, but the album was.........yeah.

Thankfully, Prince has finally got some semblance of his mojo back. This is largely due to the fact that, while sniffing sprigs of fresh lavender and playing with his pussy, he re-discovered his Linn Drums. Linn Drums are rather famous electronic drums that defined all of Prince's 80's catalogue, and which are present on all the massive hits that get bootys shaking the world over. They are his sound, the very engine of his being. Without them he's a spare purple prick at a wedding. As a musician, it's bordering on sacrilege to use the same sounds - it's like perving on someone else's girlfriend. I found there to be one or two annoyingly shit songs that if left off, could've made the album a far more pleasurable experience. But having said that, for this late in Prince's game, this is a damn good effort.

Oh and I'll just warn you - there's only 2 types of songs on this album - uptempo "Contraversy" type jams, and down tempo "Diamonds and Pearls" type numbers. Sounds good to me.

The album storms out of the blocks with "Compassion". The first time I heard those Linn Toms my world got a little better. The song isn't the most amazing thing you've ever heard, but you can dance around the room to it. My only advice to him would be to never mention Polar Ice Caps in a song ever again. Not the best start but the next track more than makes up for it....

"Beginning, Endlessly" is the SHIT. This is what I'm talking about. This is vintage purple. The slightly menacing in a sexy way synths; the dope drums; his phrasing is vintage - it's amazing that this guy is 52 yet can still sound like he's 25. No auto-tune here. The guy is still a freak. This song would slay a dance floor. There's not much more I can say about this tune - for me it's the best cut on the album. I'm ashamed to say that I don't even pay attention to what the hell the lyrics are, my arse is too busy doing things. Oh and when he busts in with his trademark clean guitar funk riff it's well wicked.

"Future Soul Song" shimmies up to you unnanounced in a real Diamonds and Pearl kinda way. It's like being gently slapped about the face with a velvet towelette. It's just got his brand of sex all over it - and that's why so much of this album works. He's got his sex back. I can't imagine anybody getting it on to any of his albums from the past god knows how long, but people will be laying it down under the sheets for sure to this LP. He's still not singing about Scarlet Pussies but this is almost as good. This is some new brand of Prince. I'm at 3:40 now and it breaks in like a beast with sub bass and smooth low backing vocals. It's purring at me. Alright, enough with the pussy jokes.

Shit me again and again "Sticky Like Glue" is fast becoming my fave Prince song, EVER. EVER? Yeah it's that good. It's "Head" for the noughties It's got that stuttering funk, classic hooks and the Linns to get me through. It's The Gap Band, The Dazz Band, Zapp and Morris Day all rolled into one. And more importantly, and I can't stress this enough, IT HAS REALLY WACK RAPPING IN IT TOO. I love it when Prince raps. He sounds so wack-ly cool. Perfect. Actually the sexual monster IS back - one of the lines is "I can't get to sleep unless you're sticky like glue." Ewwwww. I was wrong.

"Act Of God". This is a really dope tune in the only way that Prince can make a really stupid story sound interesting. Something about banking and tax - yeah I dig you man but just stick to, oh hang on a minute he just sang "I tell you man freedom ain't free." That's pretty wack.

"Lavaux". OK this is more like it. "Take me to the village of Lavaux". Alright. It's a World Heritage Site on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland famous for it's vineyard terraces that can be traced back to the 11th Century. Holy shit, don't tell me he's on the piss now? I'm liking this new Prince. First off, that someone can be singing about some old vineyards and make it sound sexy deserves an immediate 50 points. I want to be there in a Ferrari with my girl, in a tux etc etc. Secondly, thank you, you mad bastard, for writing a song entirely about an old vineyard. WTF? It is actually refreshing to hear a song about such a stupid subject. It bounces too. One of my faves on the album.

"Walk In Sand". This song is shit.

"Sea Of Everything". This song redeems aforementioned puddle of poo. Listening to this song is like watching Prince undo a couture dress with his teeth. The bath has been running for a good 10 minutes. He's checking the temperature. It's not too hot, not too cold. He licks his fingers. Maybe some soft music on the stereo. Now he's popping a bottle of champagne (from Lavaux) with his teeth, but not drinking any of it, it's just dribbling down his arms onto the thighs of his lady who by now is reclined in the nude on some satin sheets. She dwarfs him by a good 3 feet but he makes up for it with 4 inch high purple stilettos. Now they are on the terrace and he has a Spanish guitar on and not much else. It has "Only for us 2" engraved on it oh shit the songs over........

"Everybody Loves Me". Dude. Purple dude, don't put this song last. It sounds so out of place after "Sea Of Everything". Put it at the beginning. You've just left me with such an enduring image of your nightly sexual exploits and then you shatter it. Following on from the night before, now the poor woman is in the control booth while you show off a song from your NEXT album, and she's yawning and trying to think of a way to get the fuck out of dodge. Actually no, I'm too harsh. This song isn't that bad. Indeed, it gets better with every listen and as dancefloor fodder it's better than a shitload of stuff out now.

Hmmmm. I love three quarters of this album. That piece is a beautifully funky return to form. I only wish he would exercise a bit of corn control. Just cut out those albums in between Diamonds and Pearls and now and we'd be all good. But those years are there, and I'm sure he saw them as profoundly important moments of his life. To us, they were profoundly boring, but I think he could be back. His next album will be the test. If it takes the next from this and moves on then hell yeah, I'll say proudly that he's back. If he suddenly veers back into the Dark Years then i'll be happy that he took the time out to return to his 80's roots if only for one album.

I'll be spinning this for a while i think.