Does anyone have N.E.W.S. 2003 if so, how was it (it's the only cd I'm missing)?

How was it?


terrible, instrumental junk imho...

It's an interesting listen, not releaseable in my opinion. Especially when you compare it to some of the other stuf he was doing at the time, like the ONA Tour Euro set-list which should have been released.

Well. The project is one of my favorite. As someone said in prince.org "is like a Miles Davis album without Miles Davis". It is a good summary.

There are a lot of good sounds, good ideas, strange experiments (EAST over all)... but at the end af all something is missing: Prince. It is a "choral" work but the Prince input is too febble and the other musicians inputs are real good, but generic.

It is not a bad album, it is one of my favorite, but it shows the limits of Prince as musician. The guitar work in the album, for example, is not impressive at all.

The lyircs are terrible.

It's a very very good instrumental album, don't always go by the sales and popularity of art. It was even nominated for a grammy and lost out to ry cooder, if i remember correctly. it's a must for your collection.

I really like it and play it often, especially when I am working.

I enjoy it

I think it's a masterpiece and I love it

m33kn3ss said:

Does anyone have N.E.W.S. 2003 if so, how was it (it's the only cd I'm missing)?

Why don't u just download it for free and see for yourself before making a purchase decision. None of our opinions are going to be of any use in regards to how YOU will enjoy the album

Funkyalien said:

It's a very very good instrumental album, don't always go by the sales and popularity of art. It was even nominated for a grammy and lost out to ry cooder, if i remember correctly. it's a must for your collection.

One case of a very justifiable loss.

Billmenever said:

Billmenever said:

Billmenever said:

Real musicians, real music and true FUNK. By the way, where did all the 's go? That band of music bandits was tiiighht.

steakfinger said:

Funkyalien said:

It's a very very good instrumental album, don't always go by the sales and popularity of art. It was even nominated for a grammy and lost out to ry cooder, if i remember correctly. it's a must for your collection.

One case of a very justifiable loss.

Could be, though I enjoy N.E.W.S. I just mentioned that in passing. People tend to get impressed by these things. The grammys go by sales pitch anyway. A better-selling, more-promoted album will more often than not trump a low-key release in the very mainstream grammys. I was surprised N.E.W.S. made the cut.

fabriziovenerandi said:

Well. The project is one of my favorite. As someone said in prince.org "is like a Miles Davis album without Miles Davis". It is a good summary.

There are a lot of good sounds, good ideas, strange experiments (EAST over all)... but at the end af all something is missing: Prince. It is a "choral" work but the Prince input is too febble and the other musicians inputs are real good, but generic.

It is not a bad album, it is one of my favorite, but it shows the limits of Prince as musician. The guitar work in the album, for example, is not impressive at all.

I don't find it generic. It doesn't "sound like Prince" but I find generic a little tough here. I mean IDK, Sheila E.'s 2000 and 2001 smooth jazz albums are generic, not NEWS. The guitar work isn't supposed to be impressive, Prince left a lot of room to the band to improvise and they pretty much blow the listener away. I mean this isn't supposed to be The Undertaker, pt. II, Prince's guitar isn't the main focus here.

I think it shows Prince's skills as a musical mastermind, in fact. I mean the album was recorded in one take save a few obvious overdubs and still the tracks are credited to Prince as the sole composer, which tends to indicate that he gave relatively clear directions to the musicians one way or another. IDK if they rehearsed a lot, if he just gavce spoken instructions or recorded some guide demos that he gave them beforehand but in the end the structure of the tracks is pretty complex and the band is supertight and cohesive.

When this was released after Xpectations, I really had high hopes that Prince would embark on something more experimental and release albums like that on a regular basis. NEWS is one of the very few album where Prince goes outside of his comfort zone and I just wished he'd done that more often, regardless of the quality/relevence of the result. I still remember my AMAZEMENT when I first heard the intro of East. I was like "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! FUCK YEAH! Prince is going experimental! Prince is doing some Bill Laswell kinda weird shit!". I was so totally surprised and delighted!

Love this album. I'm a big fan of instrumental music leaning towards jazz, funk & experimental sounds. I feel like this fits in with exactly what I was getting into at the time of it's release, ie Medeski Martin & Wood, Soulive, Galactic, Perpetual Groove, John Scofield. I wish he'd release more music like this! Totally better than most of the Madhouse music imo.

A beautiful musical adventure. Everytime I hear it, it suprises me, because it I enjoy it so much.

it's great !

I love "N.E.W.S". I wish he would do another one.

WOW - Thanks everyone - I will get the cd now.

Played it once, and now Im too scared to take it our of its case in case I rip one of the flaps!!

Mostly unremarkable jazz lite