In anticipation of the two new albums he’s putting out at the end of the month, Prince has shared the giddy, guitar- and synth-powered version of “Funknroll” that will appear on his solo record, Art Official Age. The song, which the artist premiered with his backing band ThirdEyeGirl on Arsenio earlier this year, will also appear as a different version on his album with ThirdEyeGirl, Plectrumelectrum. Both albums are due out September 30th.
Over the past year, Prince has been slowly sharing songs from both LPs, though Art Official Age was not announced until June. Last October, he made a video for Art Official Age’s “Breakfast Can Wait” – a song he released as a demo via Twitter – and, this past February, he allowed a late-night listening session of Plectrumelectrum in New York, where that album’s version of “Funknroll” got its premiere along with a few songs that didn’t make it on either album, like the Zooey Deschanel–featuring “Fallinlove2nite” and a tune called “Skrewdriver.”
When Prince announced the release date for both records, he also offered up the instant-gratification tracks “Breakdown” and “Clouds” (a clip of which is streaming here) for people who pre-order the albums through his ArtOfficialAge.com web store. Individual album pre-orders also include the Art Official Age tracks “U Know” and “Breakdown,” and the Plectrumelectrum tracks “Pretzylbodylogic” and “Whitecaps.” He also plans to hold a series of special events around the world, which have yet to be announced, to celebrate the albums’ release.
“No one can play like this band,” Prince of his 3rdEyeGirl bandmates earlier this year. “People are going to try, but they won’t be able to.”
