RAVE UN2 THE JOY FANTASTIC, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (Arista)



Die-hard Prince supporters have argued for years that he keeps spreading
himself too thin with these box sets. If he'd just focus on one single
CD, he could produce a "Purple Rain"-like masterpiece.



Oops. What's our story gonna be now?



Actually, it may just be time to give up like the rest of the world did
around 1990. Soon you'll be able to fill one of those 100-CD players with
nothing but latter-day Prince albums and be able to program maybe a dozen
great tracks.



While "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic" isn't the stone cold ripoff that the
contract-fulfilling "The Vault" was earlier this year, it hangs in the
same bad neighborhood. It's an uninspired slice of generic funk, with a
handful of guest artists (Sheryl Crow, Gwen Stefani, Ani DiFranco) that
neither add nor detract from the final outcome. But these are people who
Prince should be blowing away, not merely keeping pace with.


Like nearly every Prince release since the 1980s, there are a couple of
gems and a bunch of filler here. The title track, a show-stopper at
Prince gigs a decade ago, has been rendered stilted and slow, as far from
the "rave" concept as you can get.
The single "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" is as soulless as its title.
You think the music's hit a low point until you get to track 17 and
discover that he's actually tucked a 43-second spoken "commercial break"
into the disc, hawking the Web site where he sells coffee mugs, perfume
and clothing.



The gems among the filler? "Baby Knows" is good old Prince. "Wherever U
Go, Whatever U Do" is a warm rock ballad in the vein of his overlooked
classic "Don't Talk 2 Strangers" from the "Girl 6" soundtrack a few years
back. The hidden track "Pretty Man" would have been a great throwaway
track on "Parade," but here it's just another depressing reminder that he
used to do this stuff in his sleep. Then again, maybe he still does.



Grade: D-plus.



Mark Brown is a reporter for the Denver Rocky Mountain News.