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Details from Blender Reviews [It's a cool magazine! Buy a copy. Anyhow, the following is Copyright (C) 2001 Blender...]
Magazine "BLENDER" has a review for 'every' Prince CD. Blender is a new music magazine from MAXIM. The reviews are in the Premiere Issue June/July 2001. Reviews were divided into 5 catagories "Blender Approved", "Great", "Check It Out", "Be Careful!" and "Just For Fans" ----- EVERY ORIGINAL CD REVIEWED - PRINCE He scored four number 1 albums, made us believe Sheena Easton was funky, changed his name too many times and released more music in the last 20 years than most people have time to sift through. Luckily, 'Blender' is at hand to separate the great Prince moments from the less than great - by Keith Harris ----- BLENDER APPROVED ----- SIGN O THE TIMES (5 stars) Stamina - the ability to funk until dawn - has always been Prince's strong suit. So while this double album runs the gamut from house to Hendrix, R&B Ballads to shimmering power pop, its creator's energy nver seems to flag. And never has his curiousity about women strayed into so many unpredictable corners. A masterpiece. STANDOUT TRACKS : "U Got The Look", "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" DIRTY MIND (5 stars) No messianic delusions yet, no tedious narrative song cycles - just the confessions of a sex junkie. Eight concise blasts of new-wave funk, by turns as lively as the Cars ("When You Were Mine"), as bionically aroused as early techno ("Partyup") as as squiggly as Parliament (the title track). Followers of all three can dig it equally. STANDOUT TRACKS : "Dirty Mind", "When You Were Mine" ----- GREAT ----- THE GOLD EXPERIENCE (4 stars) The first Prince product credited to the Glyph languished in the can for two years while its creator fought the brass at Warner Bros., it's his strongest record of the '90s, a mix of newly stripped-down funk and delicate balladry that reasserts Whatshisname's dynamic range. STANDOUT TRACKS : "P Control", "Now" PURPLE RAIN (4 stars) Prince's first number-1 album (it topped the 'Billboard' charts for 23 weeks) taught Tipper Gore about masturbation (via "Darling Nikki"). The rock-funk rave-up "Let's Go Crazy" is radio-friendly; the haunting edge of "When Doves Cry" manages to be both therapeutic and chart-tastic. STANDOUT TRACK : "Let's Go Crazy" THE BLACK ALBUM (4 Stars) Prince's attempt to court a black audience he felt slipping away. When its release was blocked, fans shrugged and bought the bootleg. The generic R&B slow jam "When 2 R In Love" and the hip-hop-bashing "Dead On It" misfire; thankfully, "Bob George" hitches sharp lyrics to gnarled funk. STANDOUT TRACKS : "Le Grind", "Bob George" ----- CHECK IT OUT ----- 1999 (4 stars) Prince's first double CD. "1999"'s keyboard licks ensure pitch-bent synths would be described as "Prince-like" forever. "Little Red Corvette" fuses poetic sex to pop melodies. STANDOUT TRACK : "Little Red Corvette" CONTROVERSY (4 stars) Prince's first attempt to get you to love him for his mind, not just his body. Refines the propulsive funk of previous albums and adds treatises on religion, work, nuclear war and Abscam. STANDOUT TRACK : "Jack U Off" PARADE (4 stars) Number-1 sountrack to Prince's poorly recieved second movie, 'Under The Cherry Moon', makes a pop cavalcade out of the same psychedelic affectations taht torpedoed 'Around The World...' This time is works. STANDOUT TRACK : "Kiss" EMANCIPATION (4 stars) The Artist's kiss-off to Warners. Too long (especially jam-crazed disc three) but worth it for the randy "Sex In The Summer" and a cover of the Stylistics' "Betcha By Golly Wow". STANDOUT TRACK : "Sex In The Summer" DIAMONDS AND PEARLS (3 stars) Hip-hop eludes him again, but with help from R&B backing band New Power Generation, "Cream" and "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" give his sound a credible '90s update. STANDOUT TRACK : "Cream" ----- BE CAREFUL! ----- PRINCE (3 stars) Prince's second disc (it reached number 22) has more organ vamps than grooves and more chants then come-ons. The man on the mic is still not the diminutive Casanova he'd become. STANDOUT TRACK : "I Wanna Be Your Lover" LOVESEXY (3 stars) 'The Black Album's commercial replacement is lightweight fun, but Prince doesn't sound like he's enjoying himself - aside from the thumping "Alphabet Street". STANDOUT TRACK : "Alphabet Street" BATMAN (2 stars) This movie tie-in consists of tossed-off party jams. Still, it contains some quality electrofunk and one great schlocky ballad ("Arms of Orion"). Topped U.S. charts for six weeks. STANDOUT TRACK : "Vicki Waiting" GRAFFITI BRIDGE (2 stars) Self-produced pop-R&B collect with The Time, Mavis Staples and newcomer Tevin Campbell, bookended by two new Prince tracks, including his last great single ("Theives In The Temple"). STANDOUT TRACK : "Theives In The Temple" CHAOS AND DISORDER (2 stars) Music Prince never wanted you to hear : a loose, guitar-crammed rock record cobbled together to fulfill obligations to Warner Bros. STANDOUT TRACK : "I Rock Therefore I Am" ----- JUST FOR FANS ----- RAVE UN2 THE JOY FANTASTIC (2 stars) Prince's return to pronounceablility (and his Arista debut); guest-stars Chuck D, Sheryl Crow and Gwen Stefani. Proves that his talent hasn't uterly dried out. STANDOUT TRACK : "Baby Knows" COME (2 stars) The Glyph revives the 'Prince' moniker to fulfill more contractual obligations. Great horn-led grooves. No songs. The lyrics are perfunctory pseudo-seductive nonsense. STANDOUT TRACK : "Letitgo" FOR YOU (2 stars) Prince's naive first album doesn't sound half bad for a 19-year-old one-man band. Prince's sex fantasies would flesh out more once he got a little real-life action. So would his bass lines. STANDOUT TRACK : "Soft And Wet" SYMBOL (2 stars) Stellar James Brown tribute ("Sexy M.F."), serviceable NPG-backed dance-funk, awful "conceptual" interludes with Kirstie Alley voiceovers and synthesized Wagnerian flailing. No! STANDOUT TRACK : "Sexy M.F." AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY (2 stars) A three-week chart-topper. Prince wanks his guitar, makes "exotic" keyboard noises, stretches tracks past eight minutes over plodding beats. STANDOUT TRACK : "Raspberry Beret" | |
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