A voice from the past with a view from the present, Friday’s release of the first posthumous album by Prince is more than you expect from an artist who you never knew what to expect from.
   Recorded in 2010, during the Obama administration, Prince was writing and singing about what’s going on now.
   In the matter-of-fact lyrics on Welcome 2 America, throughout the album Prince explores themes of racism, religion, celebrity, corporate greed and life as he saw it, then.
   We get to hear it now, eleven years after it was recorded, five years after the man’s untimely death.
   It was worth the wait.
   Welcome 2 America has more than a soulful, lasting quality.

08/01/2021                                             j.g.l.