TRC Review in "The Vancouver Sun"

The Vancouver Sun
December 6, 2001 Thursday Final EDITION
SECTION: QUEUE, Pg. C14

HEADLINE: Music: CD Review
BYLINE: Kerry Gold
SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

PRINCE
The Rainbow Children
NPG Records
Rating 3

Prince's highly anticipated new album The Rainbow Children is a follow-up to 1999's Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, Prince's Arista debut that followed his much-publicized disastrous relationship with Warner Bros.

The feisty and multi-talented Minneapolis native turns in a characteristically creative, at times bizarre, alternately ordinary and satisfying blend of funk, jazz and R&B offerings. His signature flamboyance turns up in the liner notes and the theatrically delivered lyrics, which betray an ultra-traditional belief that there's the "Wise One" at the top, followed by "Man," followed by "his woman." It's Prince at his most personal and spiritual, the ongoing work of an obsessive reclusive who could be written off as arrogantly self-indulgent if his precocious talents didn't consistently save him.

The Rainbow Children, which set some kind of record for downloads after it was released by Prince's NPG Music Club, won't sell big or dominate any charts. It is old school in its good-times cover graphics, its homage to James Brown slow-simmer soul, in your-face politicking (Martin Luther King is sampled) and its refusal to satisfy radio prerequisites.

But the album doesn't pick up steam until the last third, when Prince combines wiry guitar riffs with techno effects, jazz horns, steamy, uplifting harmonies, rap-inspired lyrics and some seriously funky jams. On the negative side, the booming narrator voice is difficult to understand, over-used and irritating. As well, not every funk inspiration succeeds -- some tracks are pleasing enough, but most are boring.

It takes patience and a couple of listens, but when he hasn't got an axe to grind, Prince's sincerity of effort demands that you listen the old-fashioned way. In other words, this is all album, without the singles.