ART OFFICIAL AGE

In 2014, Prince released two LPs simultaneously: the 3RDEYEGIRL collaboration PLECTRUMELECTRUM and this solo outing. Ostensibly a concept album about a man who wakes up 45 years in the future, ART OFFICIAL AGE is a sprawling, spacey R&B fantasia. While the techno beat and airhorns that adorn the playful “ART OFFICIAL CAGE” slyly wink at the era’s fascination with digital recording technology, the album is also a return to form: The slinky, funked-out stunner “CLOUDS” and the pop-ballad odyssey “BREAKDOWN” feel like classics from a bygone era.