Prince proves that pop royalty still reigns

By SONIA MURRAY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/01/04
http://www.accessatlanta....rince.html

At the start of Friday evening, it was easy to feel discouraged about pop music royalty.

Earlier in the day self-anointed King of Pop Michael Jackson appeared in — rather than reigned over — court, facing child abuse charges. One-time queen Madonna was nowhere to be found in the 200 listings on the Billboard pop charts.


But the third member of that once-high grouping?

He gave us reason to hope.

Next week he'll debut in the No. 3 position on that Madonna-devoid chart, moving more units of his new CD "Musicology" in one week than his other CDs had in years. Days earlier he appeared on BET, MTV and VH1 simultaneously — something no one else on that chart had done in recent memory. And he was out on his first arena tour in six years, and there wasn't an empty seat among the 19,000 in Philips Arena.

Oh yeah, in the the words of one of the singer-songwriter-musician's uncharacteristically goofy tunes, his name is Prince. And he was funky.

In fact, one would have to struggle to come up with a more wonderful celebration of pop music's possibilities. And this 45-year-old was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a tribute that implies that this wonder's career is headed toward the finish line.

Hardly. The only thing dusty — or dare we say, orthopedic — about Prince's stop here was the thick-soled shoes the usual high-heeled sex symbol was wearing.

As promised, he opened this greatest-hits tour in such a whirl (with new number "Musicology") that by the second tune, 1984 hit single "Let's Go Crazy," the confetti pouring from the ceiling didn't feel unwarranted.

The bare-bones stage in the middle of the venue gave fans the sense of having a seat at Prince's infamous Paisley Park studio in the middle of his nine-piece band's loosest, most heated jam session.

From bits of Alicia Keys' R&B ballad "Fallin' " he quickly found funk staple "Let's Work," then "U Got The Look," which he recorded with Sheena Easton. (When's the last time you saw her name in a review?) The tune he penned for R&B firebrand Chaka Khan ("I Feel For You") segued into protegé Shelia E.'s tunes "A Love Bizarre" and "The Glamorous Life" and then Atlanta rap duo OutKast's "The Way You Move." And alone with an acoustic guitar, he was at his most beautiful, playing "Little Red Corvette," "Adore," "Raspberry Beret" and Khan's "Sweet Thing."

As many have heard by now, the man who appeared on the scene 26 years ago in briefs and a raincoat a la a flasher and rightly titled his X-rated third album "Dirty Mind," has put all of that profane sex talk behind him.

That meant no "Sexy M.F.," "Gett Off" or "Darling Nikki."

And the tunes that once brushed up against the blue line, like "D.M.S.R." were reworked so that "work your body like a whore" became "work your body like you want some more." And later, "strip right down to your underwear" became "shake that body to the morning light."

That was the only thing that could have been considered off-putting in this otherwise stellar return.

"Georgia," he declared early on in the two-hour set, "I don't know what y'all heard. But you're about to spend the best night of your life!"

Amend that a bit to "best musical night," and it would be hard to differ.