Turning up the jazz ratio in his funk rock, Prince’s first studio album of the 21st century opens with the ~10-minute title track, digging into expanding sax riffs and gospel-like counterpoint chorus, before flowing into mellower instrumental work to set the pace for the rest of the album.  Trimming down on electronics aside from vocal modulation, the music is some of Prince’s most spontaneous-sounding material outside of live albums and his Madhouse side-project, with the supporting band getting a rather large amount of focus in comparison to Prince’s usual output. 

Horns, electric piano, live drumming, and flute join the staples of electric guitar and lots of bass in the compositions, which ride a fine line between feeling highly rehearsed and allowing for slight improvisation in the recording room.  Prince’s vocals, whether tender or didactic, keep a smoky edge that plays interestingly against the crispness of the wind instruments, and the infrequent spotlighting of a single instrument makes for a neat thread through the album.  The interspersed narrative of the rainbow children, told by a down-pitched voice, is somewhat less than engaging, but the bridges from that to the full songs are entertaining, and at times amusing.  An oddly balanced album, but quite nice when taken in one piece.

Here’s the alternate cover art used in Taiwan.