Lotusflow3r (2009)
Prince travels to the sulphur mines of Jupiter to commune with the soul of Jimi through a fug of lotus-petal smoke. He returns with Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (Slight Return) – a spiritual collaboration between two rock gods that only want to see you bathing in the Purple Haze. A lot of Prince’s music demand to be heard on headphones, as intricate subtleties that transform filler into killer are otherwise lost. Dreamer isn’t one of them. This should be played ear-bleedingly loud through speakers and the more lo-fi the better. It was dedicated to the late comedian Dick Gregory and picked up a grammy-nomination, but lost to boomer-idol Bruce Springsteen who won with some MOR dirge. Both nominations had dream in the title but while the Boss endlessly tells us he’s “working on a dream”, Prince graphically references MLK’s murder then stands next to the American dream and chops it down with the side of his hand. It was obvious which would receive The Establishment’s baubles.
