A CELEBRATION: THE TRUTH

THE TRUTH

Part of the joy of Crystal Ball was the unannounced bonus discs of The Truth and Kama Sutra. If Crystal Ball was a peek into the Vault and the glory days of the past, then The Truth was an intimate glimpse into the present.

Even before the first note sounds Prince gears up the voice – is it a grunt or a clearing of the throat? Then the crystal clear strings of the acoustic guitar hit and we are invited to explore The Truth. With deep questioning lyrics, The Truth doesn’t come across as a demo as other acoustic tracks can, and despite the stripped back feel it still feels lush and rich. And the purity in Prince’s vocals come through almost as though he were sitting in front of you. Of course you’d get a bit of a fright when he hits that trademark scream but that would be half the fun. A perfect opener to this set.

Don’t Play Me had an instant hook in the rhythm of the strums, and once again the lyrics seemed more honest, as if Prince was willing to lay himself out without a myriad of verbal word play and allusions. My fave line – Don’t play me, I’m the wrong colour and I play guitar, my only competition is, well, me in the past.

With each passing song the overdubs and embellishments slowly creep in . With Circle of Amour we hear for the first time backing vocals, percussion, and a layering of instrumentation. A wistful song it portrays a true innocence of growing up and all that comes with it.

3rd Eye brings out the funk with a running bassline and raggedy guitar that jingles and jangles through the track. Initially I thought this was a reference to the eye of the mind, but the line “between Adam’s thighs and he tries to release up eve a nectar, the injector tries” place the geography a little below the belt.

Dionne is a truly playful tune right down to the sliding guitar plucks. Here someone is dealing with “tease” issues but delivered with the tongue firmly placed in the check. A fuller arrangement featuring layered vocals, effects, and the introduction of synths for the first time this song feels like it could have been placed in the jovial mood of Under The Cherry Moon. A “bring a smile to the face song”

Man in a Uniform never really hit me and even listening to it now I kinda think, yeah ok, what next.

Thankfully what is next is one of Prince’s most intriguing tracks. Probably the most “produced” track Animal Kingdom features treated vocals, animal noises, whale calls, and effects. Laying out his argument for veganism, Prince makes a catchy argument with this intriguing arrangement and song.

As if to counter the heavy message or intent of Animal Kingdom, the upbeat The Other Side of the Pillow is seductive and playful with Prince’s falsetto skirting around a blues meets jazz inspired track. So smooth. Bubbly bubbly. Wonderful backing vocals.

When I first heard Fascination I was reminded of Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon in the way the vocal of the title is delivered. But that’s where the comparison ends. The most plugged in song on the album, it’s a simmering funk groove with quirky singsong lyrics. Immediately I bought into this song and it’s vibe. Funny how an anti-drug song could be so intoxicating. One of the stand out tracks on the album for me.

With its seductive build, One of Your Tears is a blissfully spiteful song about betrayal. How can someone make heartbreak sound so appealing with one line “sometimes I wanna die and come back as one of your tears”. With bright melody most artists might turn it into a sappy love song, but here we delve into the darker side, and taste the bittersweet. And don’t it taste good.

Comeback is the haunter of the album. Dealing with death and the longing for reassurances the lyrics hit me hard “if you ever lose someone dear to you never say they words their gone, they’ll come back”. A wonderful sentiment and if on cue a tear dropped from my eyes just as filtered through my speakers.

For many us Welcome 2 the Dawn was a deliverance of such. With the wish of “may you live to see the dawn” littered through Prince’s work, W2TD was the arrival. A mix of faith and salvation both spiritual and in a sense in the Artist and his struggle, W2TD brought us into a new era of Prince’s musical journey either by design or by fate. It’s just a shame that along with the other stand out tracks on this album, W2TD doesn’t even register on most Prince “fans” radar let alone on the general listening public.

In a sense stronger as a complete disc than it’s Crystal Ball counterparts, The Truth heralded in turn in the career of Prince/The Artist. Where, for a period, his music would be more for the selective than the masses not only in the way it would be distributed but also in the way it would challenge the perceptions of what the next release would or should sound like.

So for all of you that have, like me, not taken this cd out of the fourth tray of the Crystal Ball circular setting as often as it deserved to be, do so now. And let us know what you’re thinking.

Swa

I've always found The Truth to be an odd album. Certainly the music is worthwhile but for some reason this always seemed like one of his lesser albums. That may have something to do with the way it was released. You almost had to be a hardcore fan in order to hear it. For whatever reason, probably the relatively stripped down nature of both albums, I've always viewed One Nite Alone...Piano as a bit of a sequel to The Truth. This was probably the last new Prince album that I enjoyed until Musicology.

I always considered this my little secret gem..i acknowledge that many didn't like this,but i loved this album..i heard about this months earlier and since i loved acoustic songs i was ready to see how Prince approached it.As you can tell by my signature that "Dont Play Me" is one of my favorite songs he ever did..It was so honest..he almost sounds broken,defeated or just accepting that his time on top has past. "dont play me I already do in my car"..aww poor guy needs a hug. True more tracks were laid down for other songs and i wanted just him and his guitar,but i lived with it.."Circle of amour" was an interesting song about four schoolgirls licking no each other.."Man in a uniform" was dead on because me and my lady at the time got our roleplay on!.."Dionne" was delightful,"Animal Kingdom" was crazy! and the before i knew it "Welcome 2 The Dawn" was on and then it was over..It was great sunday morning drive music and i still listen to it on the Ipod..it was the last album of his that i never skipped a song after the first listen, my little gem indeed considering i stopped drinking the purple koolaid by then and was into OutKast
[Edited 7/7/09 18:58pm]

Haven't listened to it in years, and for good reason.

ernestsewell said:

I could be mistaken but I believe this album was the last to feature foul language so in that regard it was the end of an era.

Swa said:

I was never able to get into the album. However, Some of the songs are great live. I enjoy "Cool" quite a bit and absolutely love "The One" when it is mixed with Question of You and Fallin.

Circle of Amour is great.

stone cold classic.....a great great album

dont mention "fascination" was about a certain deceased"postar" though.....

jonylawson said:

billymeade said:

Its quite good, Prince alone with the acoustic guitar, and he sounds so raw and real, its a mood he has not captured since Dirty Mind even if the results are not as quite hard hitting. Absolutely love Animal Kingdom (Thats not a song, its a manifesto) and also liked the first two tracks The Truth and Don't Play Me and Dionne, overall his best in this period

C+ (If with one A+ song - Animal Kingdom)

first 2 tracks ...and last 2 tracks...awesome. the rest ok

I love this album...The guitar work especially...