Prince is back. Sure, his name is now O+->, but the music he's putting out is pure Prince. After a big battle with Warner Bros. and all kinds of rumors about the demise of Paisley Park, The Gold Experience has finally been released a year or two behind schedule. After tons of speculation and previews on distorted bootlegs, fans can finally celebrate because O+-> has picked up where Prince left off with Lovesexy way back in 1988.
Everything that made Prince an incredible force in the 80's shines through on The Gold Experience. "Endorphinmachine" is a straight-up, guitar drenched romp that ends with a "Let's Go Crazy" flair. Wendy and Lisa's influence during the Parade and Around the World in a Day era is recalled in the sparse, exquisite song called "Shy", and then there's "319" which sounds like "Darling Nikki" meets "Housequake". "319" is a nasty little piece of funk about a pornographic picture shoot in a motel room. O+-> even dives into his pre-_Purple Rain days for "Billy Jack Bitch", and treats us to the early keyboard sound that made his first few albums so distinctive.
The Gold Experience ups the ante from the classic Prince by capitalizing on the promise of Diamonds and Pearls and O+->. For those who couldn't get enough of "Sexy MF" or "Gett Off", "Now" is a funky-dope, dance track that works you up into a slamming, screaming frenzy by the last beat. O+->'s NPG Records single, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", is included and represents the best of O+->'s ballads. "Shhh" is an incredibly sexy slow song which lets his younger contemporaries know who's in charge. With any luck, these ballads signal the end of an era dominated by insipid tracks like "Money Don't Matter Tonight" and "Morning Papers".
The first single from The Gold Experience, a soul ballad called "(eye) Hate U", adds a little dementia to the album in the spirit of "If I Was Your Girlfriend" when O+-> takes his protagonist to the courtroom of love. Unfortunately, most of the courtroom naughtiness is edited out of the radio version, and the cliche'd "(eye) love U because (eye) hate U, (eye) hate U because (eye) love U" theme is pretty weak when left by itself.
The selection of the radio singles from The Gold Experience has left this incredible comeback album virtually ignored. "Dolphin" and "The Gold Experience" are the only two other tracks I've heard on the radio, and they represent, along with "(eye) Hate U", the weakest songs on the album. Both "Dolphin" and "The Gold Experience" are typical of O+->'s "good" twin, and their esoteric spirituality and fluffy orchestrations can be vaguely catchy but do little to excite the eardrums.
The truth is that, while the singles may be weak, the other nine songs on this album are 100% pure Prince. They are funky, freaky, and phenomenal in the way that only the old Prince could have delivered, and The Gold Experience sounds like the album that should have followed Sign O' the Times or Lovesexy. In getting rid of his name, the artist formerly known as Prince sounds more like his old self than ever. Those fans who lost faith in the past few years can finally rejoice... Prince is back.
