Star Tribune http://www.startribune.co...26055.html
Published Dec. 13, 2002

Although his way of doing -- or not doing -- business still has some of his fan-club members cheesed off, Prince is more likely to win back listeners with the release of his invigorating new box set, "One Nite Alone . . . Live," which officially comes out Tuesday.

Perhaps as a sign that this is one of his more normal and coherent efforts of recent years, the singer is returning to network TV tonight to promote the collection on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (10:35 p.m., KARE, Ch. 11). It's been a couple of years since he last did any of the talk shows. Word is he won't do any talking tonight, surprise surprise.

Prince genuinely nails one out of the park -- Paisley or otherwise -- with the three-CD collection, which, believe it or not, is the first official live release of his career.

The first two CDs are culled from his "One Nite Alone" tour from last spring, including dates in Portland and Washington, D.C., which the fans seemed to agree were some of his best. Disc Three comprises some of his "after-show" jams and includes guests such as George Clinton and Larry Graham. Some boxes also may come with a previously fan-club-only solo piano recording.

Together, the discs show that Prince still has "it" as a performer. When he's enthused and energetic, as he is throughout this box set, he can draw you in like few others. Disc One makes a strong case for the tunes from last year's "Rainbow Children" CD, which seem less mystical and quirky in concert. Disc Two, in particular, shows off the chemistry with his current band, in versions of "Nothing Compares 2 U," "Starfish & Coffee" and other oldies.

Of course, it wouldn't feel like a Prince release if there weren't a little controversy involved. Members of the singer's $100-a-year NPGMusicClub were filling up the prince.org site last week -- the unofficial fan club that allows negative discussions in its chat sessions -- complaining that their box sets had not arrived.

The music club had said the CDs were coming months ago, and the idea was that fan-club members would get them long in advance of any public sales. Now, some may not get the CD until after it hits stores. Mine came through my NPGMC membership two weeks ago, but apparently I was lucky.

Prince is trying his luck in Las Vegas this weekend. The last show of the "One Nite Alone" tour is Sunday at Aladdin Casino.

Followup article on the way

well the complainers got what they wanted, the club is shut down with no sign of a 2003 club coming anytime soon. Happy now? When Prince is gone, is Prince.org guy Ben going to record CDs for you?

WTF? I have obviously missed something here, or is this a bit of drama? Prince closing down NPGMC due to complainers? Are you sure?!!!

xenophobia said:

I bet Ben would ship the CDs 2 'his' Members on the promised release date without any lame excuses tho...

xenophobia said:

Oh, come on... If the club shuts down, it's beacuse they never were able to satisfy the members, nerver alne to be honest and to respect the contract. Please, be realistic...

xenophobia said:

what an over-dramatic fuckwit of a post !

"when prince is gone" - what he's going to commit suicide over a Star Tribune article.

grow up and get a life for gods sake

freakyfeet said:

give it up 4 freakyfeet :)damn purple kool aid drinkin fanatics lol

No interviews for years!! WTF!!

I suppose the TWO nights on Leno last year with a performance and chat on each were just our favourite London based impersonator!!

Finess said:

amen!

at least we got press...

I could be wrong, but hasn't the NPGMC shut down at the end of the year for the past couple of years? Then when it re-opens it has a new look and new design. If this were the first time something like this had ever happened, I would wonder what was going on, but I think this is just standard procedure for the website and the way Prince wants it done.

Besides, it's not like there's a wealth of information posted on the site for fans anyway. We never seem to find anything out from the NPGMC until the very last minute (if then) anyway. Truth be told, the site really won't be missed that much. The music would missed (if there's a connection between the two), but not the website.

abucah said:

well put.

The club was the only way for Prince to get some fresh cash to finance his future projects.

If the club was to close it would be a major failure for him.

Apart from that Prince has too many cynical fans : they are normally people who listen too much to his music. They are totally saturated. Many Prince fans should stop buying or downloading bootlegs. You can't then be satisfied with anything he releases : "I prefer the version from the aftershow in wherever, the guitar solo is better here than there, I've heard this tune too many times, he should do this, he should do that, he is washed up, he has never done anything good really it was all due to Wendy and Lisa who are a million times more talented than him, I'm sooo fed up with him and everything he does is wrong but I post or check the posts on amp and prince.org every fucking day because I can't admit I'm totally addicted to his music blablabla..."

You can't go anywhere with such pricks walking with you along the way.

VINCENT said:

dude fans stick with prince BECAUSE of bootlegs.

Abrazo said:

Yeah right like all these people who say TRC is shit and the ONA tour was boring and who own all the bootlegs of the tour!!! How pathetic is that honestly.

When I dont like something I move on. When Prince released NPS and Rave I just forgot about him for 3 years.

There are so many contradictions in this prince haters who buy every fucking bootleg and still say he is a piece of shit.

xenophobia said:

This is a good point, losers

I'm still gonna be supporter (because ONA Live is fantastic). I'm not sticking around because of some shitty sound quality bootleg...

VINCENT said:

This is the nature of Prince haters and this is why most are worthless, greedy losers.

interesting its in the papers
[This message was edited Fri Dec 13 12:23:08 PST 2002 by Sdldawn]

I think people do the bootleg thing etc is because he is addictive. he can be frustrating-but those people who fall away but keep taking a look do so because thay know they have heard weird brilliance before and maybe it has come back-which I believe it has. I was not that keen on Rave-but not because I didn't like it-if somebody else had released I would have thought it was brilliant-but knowing what P saya he stands for and the avant gardness he can bring the whole project just sounded cyncical-and he did walk away with 11 million dollars. ultimately if P released shit for the rest of his life i would probably buy it just on off chance and even his worst would probably give something better to listen to. he will never be repeated and that is a completely addictive concept.

Man You Guys take a few words and take off running Don't YA!

I didn't see any where they said The Club was closing down and I didn't see where anyone said he wouldn't do any interviews this next year.

Obvious you have some major issues to deal with!
Bottle Fed or Breast Fed? Gimme a Clue!

BLACKMF said:

look in a mirror and say that again.

I don't think it helps much for people to go to the newspaper and whine about not getting your box set. Now there's some negative press out there to fuel the fires and just get people more worked up. it's just not that serious.

Flame away.

... I'm sick of everyone of you...

VINCENT said:

don't generalise. Many people who do have bootlegs don't comlain or just a little. Many people who don't have boots or few also complain or are not happy. Some bitch real hard, some of them have lots of bootlegs. Some of them have supported prince for 25 years.

LuvU said:

well no'one knows for sure.. but eye will say this.. they emailed me and said, The site has been takin down. (duh) but whatever u can get from that statement.. whether it means, technical difficulites, or just "see ya later"

.....
[Edited 6/6/08 15:38pm]

. . . . . . .
[Edited 6/6/08 15:38pm]

xenophobia said:

Do
U
Even
Know
what
Xenophobia
means
?

LadyCabDriver said:

cry babies cry babies. i have been a fan of p from day 1 and nothing he does surprises me. he is still the best out there and i will still continue 2 rock with p no matter what!