PlectrumElectrum

He and the girls trade off vocal duties, creating a bold, dynamic playfulness.

The sound of him working with a lean combo is so refreshing, and a welcome first in his mammoth catalogue. [Nov 2014, p.107]

The 3rdEyeGirl album has a much cleaner sound, and a sharper focus, than Prince’s solo album.

Hardcore Prince guitar-freaks--those who yearn for an entire album of six-string slash-and-burn in the mold of Jimi Hendrix, Ernie Isley, Eddie Hazel and Prince himself on "Purple Rain" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"--will find much to love on PlectrumElectrum.... Though the 3rdEyeGirl rhythm section of Donna Grantis, Hannah Ford Welton and Ida Nielsen provides a solid foundation, and shares some lead vocals, the songs feel slight, a touch predictable.

Taken as a whole, PlectrumElectrum is a fantastic rock and roll party record (although there are some more serious lyrical themes sprinkled throughout). But when you really pick apart some of the pieces, it becomes a little less interesting.

This is a commendable album and the two acts clearly work together incredibly well and challenge one another. But the most magic always happens when Prince’s presence is at its strongest.

This is a more conventional album. [Dec 2014, p.104]

PlectrumElectrum, the band set, although rockier and fuller, is just as random [as Art Official Age]. [Nov 2014, p.90]

What constrains PlectrumElectrum is its rigorous, deliberately retro back-to-basics mandate. Prince at his best doesn’t just collect and recreate genres; he smashes them together.

The formidable 3rdEye ladies want badly to be a raw, stripped-down rock band, but despite their chops and the analog production, the performances are slightly anodyne, scrubbed of menace.

There are no songs here to touch past glories, [3rdeyegirl's] excitement in the studio is captured.... They just remind you he's still around; short of a tune, but the unique inhabitant of a purple planet all his own. [Nov 2014, p.80]

If the songs on PlectrumElectrum don't stick the way those on Art Official Age do, it's nevertheless a quiet thrill to hear Prince spar with worthy partners, as he does throughout this record.

3rdEyeGirl are an impressively tight funk-rock band, and their presence inspires Prince to some imposing soloing on the instrumental title track and at the conclusion of Anotherlove. The issue with PlectrumElectrum is the variable quality of the songwriting on offer.

Neither Art Official Age nor PLECTRUMELECTRUM aims to be a legendary Prince record, but both hit their marks anyway.

While Art Official Age is assuredly the more melodically assured of the two discs, PLECTRUMELECTRUM is at times way more fun, with Prince unleashing his iconic guitar skills in a litany of rockers that call to mind early cult favorites like 1979’s “Bambi” before falling into a generic pop spiral that he never really recovers from.

He and band move through riffs, guitar solos and drum fills with a compact tightness that shouldn't surprise; Prince is a legendary taskmaster. The problem, though, is that half the songs, most obviously "White Caps," don't pop, don't scream for replay and should have landed on the cutting-room floor.

Prince does his Hendrix thing over turgid live-band grind, and songs like ''Whitecaps'' and ''Aintturninround,'' where 3rdEyeGirl step out front, have a New Age-y alt-rock feel, like No Doubt in a Funkadelic phase.

What [3rdEyeGirl] don’t have is much of a personality. Recorded live in the studio using analog equipment, the album is nevertheless too proficient, too slick, and too professional to come across as much more than anonymous.