PLECTRUMELECTRUM (2014)
1. WOW
2. PRETZELBODYLOGIC
3. AINTTURNINROUND
4. PLECTRUMELECTRUM
5. WHITECAPS
6. FIXURLIFEUP
7. BOYTROUBLE
8. STOPTHISTRAIN
9. ANOTHERLOVE
10.TICTACTOE
11.MARZ
12.FUNKNROLL
Released in tandem with the more experimental and electronically tinged Art Official Age, PLECTRUMELECTRUM presented itself as the yang to that record’s synthetic yin. But rather than an extension of Prince’s late-career renaissance, it stands more accurately as a platform for his then-backing trio, 3RDEYEGIRL—a tightly wound, all-female power unit with a fondness for live, analogue swagger. If Art Official Age was a conceptually chaotic dive into cyberspace, PLECTRUMELECTRUM was rooted in something far simpler: the joy of loud guitars, tight rhythm sections, and no-nonsense rock grooves.
Yet for all its volume and velocity, the album is curiously uneven. There is a rawness to it—an almost garage-band enthusiasm—but it lacks the compositional clarity of Prince’s earlier guitar-driven excursions. Where albums like Chaos and Disorder or even select cuts from LotusFlow3r channeled energy through focused songwriting, much of PLECTRUMELECTRUM feels like rehearsal-room jamming polished just enough for release. The arrangements are tight, the playing sharp—but the songs themselves don’t always land with the necessary impact.
The sequencing doesn't help. The early tracks, led by Prince himself, come across as mechanical, almost perfunctory. One is left with the impression of an artist dutifully walking through the paces—delivering crunch and flair, but rarely fire. It is not until WHITECAPS, a track led by 3RDEYEGIRL’s vocals, that the album begins to loosen its shoulders. From there, the momentum picks up. The band’s contributions inject an unexpected emotional tone into the mix—so much so that one could be forgiven for forgetting it’s a Prince record at all.
This may well have been the point. Prince, ever the cultivator of protégés, here steps back just enough to let his ensemble claim their own space. Tracks like TICTACTOE and STOPTHISTRAIN stand out precisely because they sound less like traditional Prince cuts and more like a collaborative venture. His guitar work remains omnipresent—fluid, expressive, commanding—but the spotlight is shared. And when it works, it works surprisingly well.
Which makes the album’s shortcomings all the more frustrating. With a bit of editorial discipline—or perhaps a reordering of tracks—the entire project could have landed more convincingly. As it stands, the front half plods while the back half finally discovers its pulse. One gets the sense that had Prince combined the best elements of PLECTRUMELECTRUM with the more musically ambitious moments of Art Official Age, the result could have been one of the most coherent and vital releases of his later years.
Still, there’s value in what’s here. The album may not be a career high, but it is far from a misfire. At its best, it showcases Prince not as a solo auteur but as a bandleader willing to defer, willing to let others shine—even if it’s to the accidental detriment of his own spotlight.
In retrospect, PLECTRUMELECTRUM may not have been the album people expected, but in its better moments, it was the album his band deserved.
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