I've included a review of The Rainbow Children from the Sunday edition of my local newspaper. The paper attributes the article to Josh Dickey of the Associated Press, so this article may have appeared in other local papers and may be a repeat review. I apologize for any overlap.
[Actually, we didn't seem to have it yet... -Ben]

The Rainbow Children
Prince

First of all, Prince doesn't care what you think, because he's cooler than you. Never mind that every album since 1991's "Diamonds and Pearls" has been positively radio repellent.

That said, the born-again, named-again purple pixie of pedantic pop has self-published a new album, and he doesn't care if you like it, or if the evangelistic overtones make you squirm, or if you're creeped out by the cryptic preaching of the super-slow-motion voice that introduces just about every track.

According to the accompanying minicomic book, "The Rainbow Children" is "intended 2 [be] xperienced in its entirety." Thanks, Prince, 4 the xplanation of a concept album.

Pardon the megalomania, exacerbated by the record's digital-age biblical allegory. Like from the title track: "The Rainbow Children rise/ Flying upon the wings of the New Translation. ... Who is ur real father?/ The everlasting one." It's never really clear what this record is all about, but it just doesn't matter.

That's because Prince can flat out wail--on guitar, keyboards, vocals, whatever--and despite the enigmatic concept, the music itself is accessible and consistently brilliant. There's jazzy rock, sick funk to satisfy old-school Prince fans and the psychedlic guitar to rival the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana.

But don't wait for the radio to provide a sample, because Prince doesn't care that you want him to make singles.