A CELEBRATION: NEWS

Continuing on the one album a day discussion of Prince's music we arrive at NEWS. For other albums being discussed thus far visit http://prince.org/msg/7/312438

N.E.W.S.

I had seen the online teaser campaign that announced N.E.W.S. containing four new tracks each 14 minutes long. Straight away I placed my order, and when it arrived at work I placed it into my ibook and listened to it while I worked.

With the opening watery tinged bass of NORTH I submerged myself in the sound. With its hypnotic repetitive melody it just washes into your soul like fresh waves crashing on the shore. The song builds like a gentle storm brewing away in the distance and threatening to break. With the sax and intermittent guitar solo the track builds and builds to the brink of a crescendo before easing off, to be replaced by the tinkering keys of the piano. North always reminded me of storms in the night, that comfort of being safe and sound in your room while it approaches. Just waiting for it to break.

EAST with its synth-laden intro echoes the feel of the title. With a dash of mystic melody we are thrown into the path of the shuffling rolling beat of Mr Blackwell. This is his track. Allowing his skills as a drummer to work the kit to be more than just a backing instrument and allow it to become more melodic – check out the work over the hi hat gets. Similarly to North, at the 8 minute mark East changes direction. At this point it really gathers a full head of steam and moves more solidly into a jazz fusion track. And once again the skins of Mr Blackwell are at the fore, well at least right along side the purple strings of P. The last section of east seems to slowly untangle like the melody is being pulled apart thread by thread, unravelling itself to make way for the new.

The opening strains to WEST remind me a bit of dolphin of the gold experience. This is perhaps the most cohesive song oriented piece on here – and by that I mean it feels like a song ready made for vocals rather than an exploration of music. The first 3 minutes sooth and seduce you like a classic P ballad before stepping it up and blending in some more jazz fusion. For some reason the main section of this song reminds me of something of Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters album. Just that mix of a simple melody line played to within an inch of its life that captivates before it even comes close to be tired or overplayed. The piano solo deserves special mention here for its free form playing. The final phrasing of the song just lets it tease you with moments of ebb and flow and it goes from a full boil to a smooth simmer.

For me SOUTH is the jewel in the crown. With its funk lead main groove it travels to the highs of bliss before dipping into the shallows of pure melody. I especially love the moog synth solo with a bass line that bubbles and tweaks before taking the track into a moment of epic rock, then before it gets too carried away slides back into the main groove only to climb again. At the 5 minute mark the power makes way for the silence as the song slows and wanders in a field of experimentation before finding its way to the safe haven of a jazz song the rides the final waves of highs and lows before washing away on that classic of all classic end notes.

I wasn’t 100% sold on N.E.W.S. when I first got it. Each song had moments of brilliance but didn’t seem to be able to sustain the 14 minutes dedicated to each direction. As a result it found its place amongst my collection rarely to be brought back out to play. However listening to it now, I can find new highlights in each song that I had missed before.

Its funny that if people discuss Prince’s work as an artist this is an album that doesn’t immediately spring to mind, but here is the true study of an artist. As we all know a Prince instrumental fusion album was never going to be a big seller, but rather than clamour for a smash, he followed where the music lead him. And the true beauty is that here is a free artist, afterall Warners or any other major label would have been totally reluctant to release it. But being a true independent Prince had the freedom (and maybe even the luxury) to present this new direction to us all. And whether or not it is an album that is played often or rarely, we are richer for the chance to hear it.

So what was your take on NEWS? Did it surprise, delight or disappoint?

Swa
[Edited 7/17/09 0:40am]

I love NEWS. I'm a big fan of Prince's instrumental stuff. I love Xpectation. I love Madhouse. I even enjoy Kamasutra, though Scissors makes me nervous.

I'm not much of a fan of Prince's instrumental albums. Not necessarily because they are instrumental more because I don't think they are very good. Now, a (mostly) instrumental song like the unreleased "U Gotta Shake Something" from 1985 I absolutely love so Prince can make instrumental music that I enjoy. Unfortunately I find that most of his instrumental albums have a "fake" jazz sound to them that I can't get into. I forget exactly what Eric Leeds once said about Prince and jazz but I think it was something along the lines of Prince only having a surface knowledge and appreciation of jazz and therefore the music is not as good as it could be. For me an album like Xpectation is much better than N.E.W.S. because it sounds like a bunch of actual songs with depth and structure rather than made up on the spot improvisations. It seems like the songs on the Xpectation album are much more fully developed and distinctive. To my ears N.E.W.S. largely sounds like aimless drifting, almost like Prince, Eric, John, Rhonda and Renato recorded several hours of spontaneous music and cobbled the best bits together as an album. If you took top level jazz players and attempted something like that the results might be worthwhile but I don't think that Prince is that level of jazz player. I do like to see him stretch and try different things but I did not particularly enjoy the results this time. That does not mean that I think N.E.W.S. was a mistake, quite the contrary. As I said in a previous thread, I think from 2004-2009 he has been playing it a little too safe and, despite the fact that I really enjoy a lot of his recent music, I would love to see him try something outside of his comfort zone.

Total waste of a CD.

johnart said:

I love NEWS. I'm a big fan of Prince's instrumental stuff. I love Xpectation. I love Madhouse. I even enjoy Kamasutra, though Scissors makes me nervous.

ernestsewell said:[quote]Total waste of a CD

DICK

this cd is brillaint-out of any CD i wanted this one to win the grammy

this will be looked at in years time very very favourably in his canon

jonylawson said:

ernestsewell said:

ernestsewell said:

jonylawson said:

Genesia said:

johnart said:

I love NEWS. I'm a big fan of Prince's instrumental stuff. I love Xpectation. I love Madhouse. I even enjoy Kamasutra, though Scissors makes me nervous.

It's called Cutz, dingdong.

But you're right. That track is a bad haircut.

Love, love, love NEWS, though. One of my favorite writing and chilling albums.

Genesia said:

johnart said:

I love NEWS. I'm a big fan of Prince's instrumental stuff. I love Xpectation. I love Madhouse. I even enjoy Kamasutra, though Scissors makes me nervous.

It's called Cutz, dingdong.

But you're right. That track is a bad haircut.

Love, love, love NEWS, though. One of my favorite writing and chilling albums.

Listened to this the other day for the first time since it was released. I didnt like it much at the time but I really got into it this week.I think it deserves more credit than it gets

ernestsewell said:

N.E.W.S. is a large, steaming pile of ox droppings. You don't have to agree with it, but don't you shit on someone else's the way N.E.W.S. shits on all things good about music.

Genesia said:

ernestsewell said:

TheEnglishGent said:

NEWS is a great album. Totally fantastic. I just wish I could get a copy of the other Prince instrumental albums:(

ernestsewell said:

tricky99 said:

I wish Prince would record more stuff like N.E.W.S., I was kind of afraid to buy it but I sure didn't regret it. I really love listening to it.

I really like NEWS, but I didnt expect to. I didnt think 4 lenghty instrumental 'jazz' tracks would hold my attention, but its a nice album. A totally different listen than most of his other work. I still listen to it quite often - its good for relaxing

jcurley said:

I love NEWS..
Prince went so out of the box with this some can't handle it.


My favorite is "West" love it!

ernestsewell said:

N.E.W.S. is a large, steaming pile of ox droppings. You don't have to agree with it, but don't you shit on someone else's the way N.E.W.S. shits on all things good about music.

ernestsewell said:

jonylawson said:

well....it didnt offend me

newbies should be banned from talking shhhh to those in the musical know

I'm not newbie, son, and neither is the original poster, most likely. Swa has went through every single Prince CD thus far, and will continue I suspect.

N.E.W.S. is a large, steaming pile of ox droppings. You don't have to agree with it, but don't you shit on someone else's the way N.E.W.S. shits on all things good about music.

NO News is good news.

Terrible music.

Hello... I'm Come funkateer 'Danceelectric'
from Housequake.com

^ not great , but surely not terrible

West is great

overall on a scale of 1/10 i'd rate it 6.5

rialb said:

ernestsewell said:

It's a good sleeping pill though.