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The drum machine hallmark of his 1980s heyday is a staple of MPLSound, a disc that hauls that sound into the present with mixed results.
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On MPLSound, 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.'
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MPLSound could be a thank-you note to those Parade-era purists patient enough to have stuck around.
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The beats do the heavy lifting, often making the album sound like a throwback to the ’80s funk he helped define.
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MPLSound is (surprise) momentarily enjoyable and completely inessential, happy to provoke Palovian responses since the hard work of honestly juicing your head, heart, or hips is antithetical to the whole idea.
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On an individual song-for-song basis, the lyrical hooks are even shallower than they are on LOtUSFLOW3R.
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Third disc MPLSoUND is the strongest of the bunch, though that's faint praise; even standouts like the teasing, breathy 'Chocolate Box' and the bedroom-ready 'U're Gonna C Me' feel, at best, like pale lavender imitations of better times.
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'Dance 4 Me' cribs the throwback electro beat of 'Erotic City,' while 'Here' should be served with a tall glass of wine to wash down all the cheese. 'Valentina,' the album's most unintentionally hilarious song, is a musical valentine to actress Salma Hayek.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 19
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Mixed: 1 out of 19
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Negative: 6 out of 19
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MarkLMar 31, 2009