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Found this at: http://www.wfnk.com

Very interesting and promising read for musicians.

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Prince: The Rainbow Children

Longevity is a strange thing in the music business. While continuing to sell concert tickets and greatest hits collections, not to mention picking up new generations of fans, is an amazing accomplishment for any musician, from a critical standpoint longevity is a difficult topic.

While we all want to love the newest material from our favorite classic artists, it’s often the case that he classic material continues to be the benchmark for the artist’s musical output. Many artists are never able to gain the critical success of their first several years. The funk genre is no different, with artists like James Brown, P-Funk, War, Ohio Players and Kool & The Gang peaking in the first decade of their multi-decade careers.

Prince, while coming on the scene a few years later than those artists mentioned above (1978 to be exact), can definitely be considered a classic funk artist. Many conneseurs put the purple one in the same league as Sly Stone, James Brown, and the P-Funk team of George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, and Bernie Worrell when it comes to being timeless and prolific funk gods. But Prince, like his legendary contemporaries, seemed to sputter after about 10 years on top.

By the late 80’s his original band The Revolution was dissolving, his historic legal battles with the business side of music industry were beginning, and the 80’s electro-funk sound he helped pioneer was pushed out of the spotlight by two opposite ends of the funk spectrum: new jack hiphop on the ‘street’ side and old-school acid-jazz swing on the ‘purist’ side of the fence.

Prince responded with the New Power Generation – a finely tuned if not antiseptic band of studio pros. His albums throughout the 90’s became increasingly obtuse and detached from reality. While there were nuggets of serious funk from his 90’s albums (if you could actually find one in a retail store), anyone who followed The Artist knew that the real funk was to be found in his live show.

Increasingly turning his live show into an old-school jam session with funk all stars like Larry Graham and Maceo Parker sitting in, the potential to catch that excitement on CD was never fully realized. Ambitious projects like the 3-CD Emancipation set would have been a great single CD as there were about 10 good songs scattered through the 3 CD’s, but the weight of the whole thing, and the outright Ego apparent in the whole project left an odd aftertaste in the mouth of everyone but the pure disciples of all that is Prince.

In 1999 an important change occurred – The Artist signed to a major label Arista (but for 1 record only, please!), loosened up his collar a bit on the promotional circuit, and put out a decent album of concise and interesting jams called “Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic” whatever that means.

Beyond the official switch back to the name Prince, the just released “The Rainbow Children” admittedly doesn’t look promising on paper. It’s a full-blown concept album that follows the story of ‘The Rainbow Children’ – some sort of mystical chosen group of all the worlds people of color that must overcome oppression and follow the everlasting one to salvation. I’d be lying if I said I fully follow the story or honestly care that much about it. The album’s themes flow well and are apparent track to track, but I can’t comment much more on the story because I have yet to fully grasp it. Hey, it took me a few years to get intimate with the concepts of Star-Child, Dr. Funkenstein, and Sir Nose, so who knows, maybe the concepts behind The Rainbow Children are similarly important.

The thing that makes this a great record is one of the hardest to describe – it’s feel. It just feels right – it’s warm and cozy while being adventurous. It’s ambitious yet satisfying. It’s feels like a multi-course meal prepared by a gourmet chef served to you in your own dining room. It’s something that no other artist of Prince’s age has been able to accomplish – a completely mature album that still jams, performed with live instruments and a swagger and confidence that is not at all misguided. After listening to this album you believe the hype about Prince. He is truly a national treasure and one of the finest artists of our time.

The songs themselves are strong, but each is still a piece of the whole. Some highlights include the funky flow of “1+1+1=3”, the JB getdown “The Work”, the heartfelt and catchy “She Loves Me 4 Me”, the 8 minutes of lowdown fusion-funk of “Family Name”, and the GCS-like soulful rock of “Last December”.

Also notable is the recording sound on the album and the (as usual) stellar musicianship. Prince handles most of the playing himself and handles it in a way that should cement him as one of the finest guitar players ever. This cat simply does not get the credit he deserves for his skills on guitar. The drums (live – yes!!) are another high point, with all the skins layed out by the amazing John Blackwell. Sax and flute is covered by Najee, The Hornheadz handle the rest of the horn work, and Mr. Larry Graham holds down the bottom on a few choice tracks.

Back to the recording sound – this album sounds like albums in the digital age should sound - clean yet warm. I always thought the promise of the CD was to allow me to hear every single nuance in a drum set, not replace it altogether. Same thing for Prince’s guitar performance – I think this is the first time I’ve heard his Purple Holyness leave a fret-rub in a final mix down! The bass is genuine and chunky, the horns actually sound real, and the electronics are used tastefully. Combine with a great vocal performance from Prince and the aforementioned magnificent drumming and the whole thing sounds just about perfect.

Is this Prince’s best album? Probably not. But it deserves a place on the short list of great Prince albums. There is a whole lot to offer to both lifelong Prince fans and those wondering what the big deal is with this little man. I know I am loaning it out to my brother so he can finally ‘get’ Prince. The entire album manages to uplift your spirit and shake your booty, something that is increasingly rare in this masochistic world we have made for ourselves.

Congratulations to Prince – you’ve successfully come out of your mid-life crisis the true genius I always knew you were, and you’ve layed down one of the finest funk concept albums ever. Hopefully it will inspire up and coming funk artists to take the shackles off their music and subject matter and blow us away with the next great classic. An added bonus would be to inspire Sly, George, Bootsy, and your other contemporaries in the same way.

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[This message was edited Thu Aug 21 19:02:49 PDT 2003 by NFO]

Amen

Damn, a review I whole-heartedly agree with! This guy knows his funk and as always it helps to know where the music came from before you can appreciate where it is going.

Album of the day for me The Meters "New Directions". Too much funk for yo rump!

Get this moved to the Prince music Forum or news, excellent bit of writing.

wow

The

Review Said:

I agree 100,000 %. Absolutely stellar.