Prince – Hitnrun Phase One
THE Purple one is back with a new album that's being released exclusively via new streaming music service, Tidal.
Hitnrun finds Prince drafting in a selection of guest vocalists and the musical programming skills of engineer/co-producer Josh Welton to help make this one of his less ego-centric offerings.
Much of it seems aimed at a club crowd: Judith Hill fronts the opening, R'n'B-inflected Million$Show, allowing Prince to get down on guitar while spewing out all manner of pitch-manipulated commentary, Ain't About To Stop brings in Rita Ora to add a little female sass to its noisy bump 'n' grindage and the sparser beats of Like A Mack feature a peppy lead vocal from LA pop duo Curly Fryz.
While the slow 'n' heavy beats of Shut This Down seem aimed at the twerk brigade and Fallinlove2nite's funky disco could easily have been on one of Kylie Minogue's last few albums, some of Hitnrun's best bits come when Prince stops playing 'partyman'.
Slow jam This Could B Us and shimmery ballad June afford the Minneapolis maestro the opportunity to get croonsome: the former features some impressively fiery lead guitar work while Prince just about manages to make lyrics about accidentally burning his dinner seem deep and meaningful on the latter.
Hardrocklover's hilariously overwraught ode to the aphrodisiacal qualities of Prince's electric guitar is one of the obvious stand-out moments – but be sure to check out his rare, mostly acoustic 1997 LP The Truth elsewhere on Tidal for a soulful counterpoint to Hitnrun's club-orientated antics and histrionics.
:: Tidal.com.
