I love this album. It came out when I was in college and into my grunge phase, so it didn't strike a chord with me back then. Now that I'm all grown up, I absolutely adore this piece of funky fun. Yes, it's not 1999 or Parade, but simply fun, with a lot of musical moments. If I had to do a one-line review of this album, I'd borrow a line from blind willie mctell: "She look like a lump of lawd have mercy!" Also, public opinion can be so different from critical perception: this album has 4 stars on amazon. Obviously lots of people love it. I've done my share of bashing this album too, so not interested in that anymore. Anyone still enjoy this forgotten piece of pure pop magic?

[Edited 8/14/15 6:06am]
[Title edited 8/14/15 10:36am langebleu - moderator]

I think it has 3 great songs for the time period... However as an ALBUM as a whole, it just isn't strong enough...

feeluupp said:

I think it has 3 great songs for the time period... However as an ALBUM as a whole, it just isn't strong enough...

Ya, i know.....it's one of my guilty pleasures. there's something about liking an album which isn't universally recognized as a masterpiece or whatever....I think it's one of prince's most cohesive albums (sound-wise) of the 1990s. most of the other albums are simply all over the place production-wise. This one sounds tight and tailored, could almost fit into an LP, and is a nice-enough foot-tapping diversion. some songs have an edge, like freaks on this side. was there ever an LP of any sort? even promotional ones?

[Edited 8/14/15 5:53am]

[Edited 8/14/15 5:56am]

Funkyalien said:

I love this album.

.

You love it soooo much you can't get the title right.

BartVanHemelen said:

Funkyalien said:

I love this album.

.

You love it soooo much you can't get the title right.

it's called new power soul. u got a problem?

thedoorkeeper said:

There are remixes for Come On that I enjoyed. You should try & find them.

Ya, thx for the reminder, I've heard them. will dig them out again. I think 'come on' and 'when u love somebody' are the only two songs I liked when it first came out. now i don't think every prince album has to be christ's second coming, so I enjoy this one for what it is!!

Funkyalien said:

NorthC said:

Funkyalien said:

it's called new power soul. u got a problem?

What Bart means is that you should have written newpower as one word. Apparently, that's very important. I don't like it all that much myself, but I remember talking to the journalist who reviewed it for Dutch magazine Oor back then. He was a big P-Funk fan and gave it a positive review. The P-Funker liked it better than the Prince fan!

In that case the guy is right. It should be spelt as one word. i totally understand the OCD among hardcore fans...yes, I have another story...I was thinking about my college days at the top of the thread, and some metallica and guns-and-roses fans (separate lot) who hated prince seemed to like some of the (non-guitar) songs on the album like mad sex and freaks, which I took as a good sign of these people now going on to buy batman and around the world, etc.

At that time I thought it was a lazy, generic album for prince, which it probably is in some ways. But with so many years having passed, and popular music being all about the beyonces and beibers, I do think it holds up as a nice pop-myth-branding dancefloor venture, with distinct prince touches. If a 13 or 14 year old or even a 17 year old with interest in today's pop mainstream stuff wants to get into prince, this is a good introduction to the whole new-power syndrome he had going on in his head back then. and what a voice. what a voice.

The point is, sometimes you might like an album which isn't the artist's best, and you might like it in spite of knowing that.

[Edited 8/14/15 9:32am]

I was somewhat disappointed when it was first released, but I had a lot of fun listening to it & grew to love most of the album. The One is prob one of my least favorite songs on the album, it's not a bad song, just goes on & on, much like TCBU. Hated the album cover then & hate it now.

I admit it has grown on me over the years.

A fine record indeed . Every song is decent, even Eye Like I've grown to love (ok like ). I can KINDA understand the hate for it, but I just can't relate .

Funkyalien said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

You love it soooo much you can't get the title right.

it's called new power soul. u got a problem?

Ignore the pedants. A greatly underappreciated album, IMO. Some of the best horns in Prince's catalogue.

nosajd said:

I was somewhat disappointed when it was first released, but I had a lot of fun listening to it & grew to love most of the album. The One is prob one of my least favorite songs on the album, it's not a bad song, just goes on & on, much like TCBU. Hated the album cover then & hate it now.

Nice, thx for the response. I guess you're not used to long, indulgent songs? Don't like greatful dead's dark star from live/dead? The One is a pop song, but it's not all verse/chorus/verse and shit, but it's not simple. it's a very complicated vocal structure for a pop song. me likes, guilty pleasure. album cover is not bad compared to the gold experience, has more character. also, does it hide a hearing aid in the form of an ear piece?

on another note, some people want prince to be normal, reasonable, honour his contracts, be well-behaved, not go back on his word, be perfect. in short, they want him to be a normal guy like us. if he was normal, he wouldn't be the numero-uno pop-myth-making machine he is today. if he was normal, we would not have any music we could obsess over. yes, he is cult and he never wants to be. he wants to be mainstream, elvis and beatles. but he can never be. i like prince's imperfections. it makes him what he is. that said, i hate baltimore

give me new power soul any day.

[Edited 8/14/15 13:55pm]

I've always loved this album. There are a few weaker tracks on here, but I still love it.

thebanishedone said:

Some of the best horn lines are on that album.what makes it weak is sloppy weak drum programing

i wouldn't want an analogue sound on that album. the drum programming is prince on auto-pilot. strangely, i now like the repetitive, cold, metallic, plasticky vibe of the drum programming on mad sex, freaks, new power etc. very different from prince. i think, at the time it came out, i only liked when u love somebody and the segue with partly-exhaled breath to shoobedoh, and come on and wasted kisses. the one was traditional prince, so it was okay. imagine a larger album with more pain in it, like slaughterhouse and silicon. prince never visited this sound again, it was very mainstream. but i can listen to this album and i can't stand somebody's somebody. that's prince, i guess. or just me. but the voice, the voice. oh, wha a voice. everything else is redundant.

[Edited 8/14/15 13:22pm]

[Edited 8/14/15 13:25pm]

MIRvmn said:

It's not a bad album, it's better than Musicology, 3121, 20ten and PLEL

true. it has vibe.

How is liking an album a guilty pleasure? Surely a guilty pleasure woud be something like cluibbing seals or masturbating to hentai?

Anyway, I like half this album. I don't believe it's a shit as most make it out to be.

As an album it doesn't hold up but some of the songs are really good. I hated the lame/tame/stale drum programming at that time but I have gotten used to it now. Mad Sex, Come On and Wasted Kisses are topnotch if you ask me, the rest of the songs I can't really be bothered with.

Aside from The One, Come On and Wasted Kisses, and maybe Mad Sex this was Prince at his lowest, you can tell he was clearly depressed creatively and personally.

It was one of his most auto-pilot album ever because, excuse him, his life had fallen apart.

Prince is too private to let us know how he really felt about his stardom, the regrets he had, his trials and tribulations. To me, it's obvious Prince was in no state to record an album but he did anyway and we got at least three great songs out of it.

[Edited 8/14/15 16:35pm]

BartVanHemelen said:

funkaholic1972 said:

As an album it doesn't hold up but some of the songs are really good. I hated the lame/tame/stale drum programming at that time but I have gotten used to it now. Mad Sex, Come On and Wasted Kisses are topnotch if you ask me, the rest of the songs I can't really be bothered with.

Sums it all up in that one sentence.

NPS not a GOOD ALBUM at all.

Has three very good songs especially for the late 90's time period. The One, Wasted Kisses, Come On.

THE END.

eck! I have taken better dumps than NPS! Matter fact...i will be right back!

It's not a guilty pleasure. New Power Soul is a GREAT PLEASURE for me! There is so much energy on this album with a diverse collection of songs.

LOVE IT!

HA!! was gonna say GUILTY Pleasure?!! Just don't state on the Org.. then realized.. this is the .org... Its an Excellect album!!!

Aerogram said:

Aside from The One, Come On and Wasted Kisses, and maybe Mad Sex this was Prince at his lowest, you can tell he was clearly depressed creatively and personally.

It was one of his most auto-pilot album ever because, excuse him, his life had fallen apart.

Prince is too private to let us know how he really felt about his stardom, the regrets he had, his trials and tribulations. To me, it's obvious Prince was in no state to record an album but he did anyway and we got at least three great songs out of it.

[Edited 8/14/15 16:35pm]

Yes, come to think of it, we haven't seen a heartfelt Prince album, reflecting his current state of mind, since the Rainbow Children. And before that? Maybe Chaos, I don't know...