{{{I'm not sure if this has been submitted already: http://www.nydailynews.co...5836c.html

Invigorated & animated
Saturday, January 4th, 2003
Prince / "One Nite Alone...Live!" / (NPG Records)

Is it possible that, until now, Prince had never put out an official live CD? That would be like the Grateful Dead never having cut a concert record — or, for that matter, the Allmans or Miles Davis.

It would be a crime if Prince, one of the few modern performers with the chops, charisma and changeability to create something wholly worthy on the fly, had never immortalized a show on CD.

Thankfully, he recently released a whopper, cut during his tour early last year with his band New Power Generation. In fact, "One Nite Alone…Live!" gives us three concert CDs in a boxed set so big it also contains a bonus 10-song studio disk.

It's so much music that it deserves to be advertised like one of those Ginsu knife campaigns on television in which they promise to throw in a potato peeler, juicer and — if you call in the next five minutes — a meat thermometer, too. }}}

Of course, this being Prince, we hardly get four CDs of nonstop bliss. It simply wouldn't be him if the set didn't run the gamut from the inspired to the infuriating. Fortunately, there's far more of the former than the latter.

The first disk, mainly consisting of material from the "Rainbow Children" studio CD Prince released last year, is the most problematic. Although the studio CD featured some of his freest, longest and most involving playing, the concert versions lack such purpose and cohesion. There's too much vamping and audience-baiting. You feel like you really had to be there.

Disk 2, however, nails the vibe and reach of the best Prince shows I've witnessed in the past 20 years. It's a kind of best-of rundown — from "Raspberry Beret" to "Do Me, Baby" to "Diamonds & Pearls." They're refigured into a monster jam that keeps building. The elaborated form makes the songs seem fluid, free and new.

Prince has a great band to help bring this off, highlighted by saxists Maceo Parker, Candy Dulfer and Najee. They're boosted by Rhonda Smith's gargantuan bass lines, Renato Neto's funky piano and glistening guitar solos from the star himself. It's every bit as rollicking as the live Prince we saw in the "Purple Rain" movie or in his 1988 concert film "Sign 'o' the Times."

The spirit continues in "It Ain't Over," which captures an "after-party" show. Stars George Clinton and Musiq join the jam, but even the loose ambiance of this late-night gig doesn't dilute a sense of purpose. B-level songs "Joy in Repetition" and "Dorothy Parker" move up to "A" status.

The fourth CD mines the opposite groove from the live disks, but for Prince fans, it may be the most interesting of the entire set. The star sits alone at the piano, singing original ballads in earnest — an all-too-rare occurrence. Given the breadth of his catalogue, and the range of his ambition, it's frustrating that Prince has so infrequently crafted songs of introspection. Here it's his sole purpose.

Careful listeners will recognize Joni Mitchell as his role model long before they hear his cover of her "A Case of You." Lyrically, Prince may be the anti-Joni — he's as ham-fisted as she is fleet— but vocally, he opens a channel to his soul. Now that he finally has this fun live album out of his system, let's hope the sensitive pieces point this party-hearty star toward a more nuanced future.

What is infuriating on ONA? It's a pitty Prince being characterized as 'being from the inspired to the infuriating'



B-level songs? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Nice review though.

Even though I am waiting to receive my boxset from NPGMC here in the UK it went on sale before Xmas. I decided to buy it for a friend of mine as present but thought I ought to test all the CDs first to make sure they were okay

The retail version in the UK DOES NOT contain the ONA studio CD.

Just wondering if the retail version elsewhere does contain it as alluded to by this review?

If it doesn't then there is our exclusive club only CD!

Is it really in the shops in the UK-I have been around all the ones in Manchester and cannot find it.

justin10 said:

Yep HMV in Oxford Street London had about 20 or so on the shelves (always found them to be a better supporter of Prince than Virgin)

However they might have ONLY had 20 and they could be gone?
[This message was edited Wed Jan 8 5:45:40 PST 2003 by jaypotton]

Yoko "ono" got signed 2 NPG and put out a live cd of her howling??

The article kinda sucks, but the front page photo looks damn cool:

www.chewymusic.com/frcover2003.jpg