Prince Loring Park Sessions 1977 Album Review

​Prince
Loring Park Sessions
1977


As an instrumental album, the stage is cleared for the elaborate jazzy funk musical mastery of Prince, who in his younger days made a massive impact on the virtuoso musician scale, raising the bar for many names of the time and inspiring many more in years to come. That Red Hot Chilli Peppers groove was born in this era, and Prince was doing it long before they were. Here we have a noted composition of brilliance, opening with a paced and home hitting flurry.


With a 19 year old Prince on guitar and keys, accompanied by a band, this timeless jam like album forms a journey of sound with every bar. There're no samey formulaic repetitions with this work, each new moment makes something new from the old, and although we get treated to familiar timings and structures, they just melt away into key shifts, riff variations, and simple but effective changes which make it a dynamic but rewarding experience.


It's a real head mover, and toe tapper, the meat on the bones is given with a twist of classic energy that acts like a gravy, all sweet and tangy. Just at the right time, another shift in melody pulls us into a new phase over and over, meaning we are never left to wonder what is coming next. It's given to us on a plate every time we're hungry. The intuition is remarkable.


New sounds and experimental keyboard melodies and voices give the album a flavour of the era, which remains true to the theme of jazz and funk, and they repeated use of time old scales that cause us to wobble inside make it really entertaining. Sit back, enjoy, or drive home after work, make the dinner, or do what you like. It will be better with this early session album.  It was never released for sale, but it is available on Youtube to listen to. 
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