Description
HITnRUN Phase Two is the thirty-ninth studio album by Prince! Produced, arranged, composed & performed by Prince & The New Power Generation, the companion album to ‘HITnRUN Phase One’ was originally released exclusively on the Tidal streaming service in December, but since that, physical copies were only available to fans that attended dates on the recent ‘Piano & A Microphone’ tour.
“HITnRUN Phase One seemed to focus on where Prince wanted to go – EDM-inflected bangers, poppy dance cuts – but Phase Two, with its brassy, buoyant arrangements and cheeky lyrics, embodies the artist in his natural state as a soul-funk master. It adds up to his most consistently engaging album in years, blending in echoes of the ghosts of Prince past (à la “Sexy MF” and “Come”) while still sounding refreshingly modern. The Freddie Gray tribute “Baltimore” is among his catchiest latter-day singles, and he never loses sight of hooks on “Stare,” “Black Muse,” and “Screwdriver.” Better yet, he seems like he’s having fun: On “Look at Me, Look at U,” Prince jokes that “even Ray Charles can see” the chemistry he has with a woman (“Stevie Wonder can too”), and deep into the elastic “Stare,” he says, “Can I get a kiss?” before playing his iconic guitar scratch from “Kiss.” Elsewhere, he goes all-the-way horndog. “Whenever you need someone to take a shower with, call me up,” he proposes on “Xtraloveable.” The chorus to the James Brown-ish “2 Y 2 D” goes, “She’s old enough to do you/But too young to dare.” Hey, he told us years ago that he had a dirty mind. But it never gets in the way of his musicianship; Prince’s crisp, bluesy guitar solos shine throughout (see “Baltimore” and “Revelation”). As eclectic as he can be, Phase Two is what he does best. – Album review Rolling Stone Magazine, Jan 28, 2016
