Ben Thompson 

Prince: HitNRun review – deliciously gritty… eventually

It takes a while to get going, but Prince’s ‘hen party’ album boasts three belters
  
  

Prince, HitNRun review
Prince at Detroit's Fox theatre in April on his HitNRun tour. Photograph: Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images North America Photograph: Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images North America

Trailed in some quarters as “Prince’s hen party album”, HitNRun initially struggles to live up to that promise. The tempting morsel of Let’s Go Crazy, which precedes clunky opener Million $ Show, adds insult to the injury of a largely mediocre first six tracks. Just as the jury threaten to return an “off with his head” verdict on producer Joshua Welton, Prince redeems himself with three absolute belters – the deliciously gritty X’s Face; an authentically slinky update of Imagination-influenced fan fave 1000 X’s & O’s; and the instant classic June: “Pasta simmers on the stove in June – makes no sense yet, but it will soon”.

 

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