Look, we love Tommy James and the Shondells’ classic hit “Crimson & Clover†as much as anyone, and we certainly don’t mind hearing Prince sing the song, but it doesn’t exactly inspire our confidence in his new material that his cover happens to be the lead single from his new trio of Target-exclusive albums. Prince’s version is by no means bad — his voice sounds lovely, and we totally appreciate the way he integrates a bit of the Troggs’ “Wild Thing,†but it does feel a bit wanky, and more unnecessary and irrelevant than even some of his most egregious duds over the past two decades. Given the guy’s habit of going waaaay out of his way to keep his content off the Internet, the video for his cover version may not be online for very long, but in the meantime, you can watch it and let us know what you think.
NEW PRINCE VIDEO - “CRIMSON & CLOVER†[Stereogum]