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excerpt:
Sunday, December 23, 2001

Records Under the Radar
Four great albums deserve
more attention than they got

By JIM FARBER

Record stores are flooded every fall with a downpour of releases, so it's only natural that even some of the most buoyant records would go under. The sets here all fell below the waterline for listeners and the press. Consider this an airlift.

PRINCE, "THE RAINBOW CHILDREN" (NPG RECORDS).

You could say the guy who is going under the name Prince again sank his own career. Having briefly given himself a hieroglyphic for a name, refused to play footsie with the major labels, halted all formal tours and put out so many releases it could overwhelm even his stalkers, it's no surprise that he fell into a pop void.

True, two years ago Prince made a high-profile pact with Arista Records to distribute his last album, "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic." But it turned out to be his least focused record since 1996's all-too-aptly named "Chaos and Disorder."

Believe it or not, those aren't the only reasons nobody paid attention two months ago when the diminutive star put out fresh music featuring a new band. He initially released it on the Internet, which is like sending out a message in a bottle.

That's a shame, since this happens to be Prince's most eventful music since his underrated 1996 triple set, "Emancipation." It doesn't sound like any of the 9 million albums Prince has recorded before. Never has he made such a spontaneous-sounding, jazz-oriented work. Yet even its longest tracks, sporting the most adventurous jams, have the purposefulness of pop. The music sounds like a lost cousin to Steely Dan's latest album, or a song-oriented brother to "Bitches Brew." It's new-century funk/rock/jazz fusion, performed with flair.

Prince found a great collaborator in the one-named Najee. His expansive flights on sax and flute give the songs freedom. And the album contains some of Prince's catchiest melodies in years, especially "Last December," which ranks as his best shot at a classic-rock staple since "Little Red Corvette."

Of course, this wouldn't be a Prince album if it didn't go flaky on us. For a motif, "The Rainbow Children" features a portentous voice-over, who, I guess, is supposed to be God. The way this God (and, by extension, Prince) sees women would make a fundamentalist proud. And his jargon could challenge even the most scholarly Harry Potter fans. Likewise, Prince's lyrical theology claims a belief in Christ, but he presents certain ideas only a Buddhist would buy.

Then again, how many listeners look to Prince for religion? Everyone else should just be thankful he has finally tried to write at length about something other than sex, and that he has broken his funk cliches with trickier rhythms and more elaborate tunes. Those music fans who dropped out of the Prince parade years ago should jump back in here.