Prince has another surprise for us; he has released the excitable, synth-laden and guitar powered rendition of “Funknroll” which will appear on his solo record, Art Official Age, due to be released at the end of this month on Tuesday, September 30th. Although he premiered the song earlier this year with his all-female backing band, ThirdEyeGirl, as a rock ‘n’ roll version that will be on his album with ThirdEyeGirl, Plectrumelectrum, this second version is somehow even more raucous and instigative. It opens with a signature Prince squeal of a howl. His lyrics stay to true to his form, full of wordplay, including the phrase, “anotha motha furtha,” which (for you Prince trivia lovers), is a variation of the title of funk rock band Mother’s Finest’s album, Another Mother Further, whose song “Baby Love” Prince covered live on his 2008 album Indigo Nights (and yes, there will be a quiz later on this).
Prince has been releasing previews off of his two upcoming albums over the past year, starting with “Breakfast Can Wait,” as a Twitter demo, and then as a music video in October of 2013. In February of 2014, the Plectrumelectrum version of “Funknroll” was premiered in New York at a late night listening session along with some songs that didn’t make the cut onto either album, including “Skrewdriver,” and “Fallinlove2nite,” featuring Zooey Deschanel. When he announced that September 30th would be the release date for not just one, but two LPs, he dropped “Breakdown” and “Clouds” to instantly gratify fans who, too excited to wait any longer, had preordered the albums via his ArtOfficialAge.com website store. At the beginning of this month he put out two more new tracks from both albums; “U Know” from Art Official Age and “Whitecaps” from Plectumelectrum.
From all the sneak peeks Prince has steadily been releasing, it clear that his solo LP will be classic, easily recognizable as Prince’s funky, R ‘n’ B self, whereas Plectumelectrum will be much more of a rock album, with ThirdEyeGirl as the live backing band. Drummer Hannah Ford, guitarist Donna Grantis, and bassist Ida Nielsen recorded the album with Prince on analog, without separate or digital tracking, giving the album the feel of a live rock show. Prince told Rolling Stone in reference to ThirdEyeGirl, earlier this year that, “No one can play like this band. People are going to try, but they won’t be able to.” Preorder Prince’s albums here.