Though late, on 31 December 2001 the best quality newspaper in the Netherlands (NRC) published a review of TRC (by Bernard Hulsman - that is not me!). As far as I know it is the first review in a Dutch newspaper. In translating I wanted to pass the message of the review so it is not an literal translation...

http://www.nrc.nl/cultuur...69072.html

In general: TRC is compared to Bach's Matthaus Passion and except for the lyrics (which I knew beforehand that they would be ridiculed...) the album got a positive review. Also the article is a lot about Prince and the Internet.

Title of article:
Prince is Jehova's 'funk'-Witness on Internet

Intro: In all silence Prince released a new CD a short time ago. The cd is full of religious outbursts and bends to madness. Still, the music is very impressive.

The review:
Prince converted to Jehova Witnesses and to memorize this
important step in his life, he dedicated a full new album to this: The Rainbow Children.
The album turns out to be very religious with future visions about the destiny of the rainbowchildren. With TRC Prince says goodbye to his past odes to unbridled sex. Even the 'what the fuck' is trimmed with not saying the last word, or replaced with 'duck'.

The album was released end of November in the shops without any marketing or advertising. Compared with the media bombardment of Michael Jacksons new album the silence with the release of the new Prince album couldn't be a larger contrast.

Weeks before the shop release the album was downloadable over the Internet through his www.npgmusicclub.com website. For $8 per month (or $100 per year) the 70 minutes long album can be downloaded.

While most mediacompanies are cutting on Internet investments, the medium turns out to be the best place for Prince to reach his fans in all silence. Other artists, such as the hiphop band Public Enemy, used the Internet to make music available without being bothered by the large record companies. Since the IT crisis in the spring of 2000 many artists lost their interest in using Internet. Not Prince! Since last year his internet-activities has expanded enormously.
[...follows a piece about his fight with WB, release of
Emancipation, Crystal Ball, NPS and Rave...]
[review continues]
Rave did not lead to the major comeback as expected by Arista and Prince... For the cd-buyers in the world it seemed as if Prince did not care at all, not knowing that the silence since Rave was only true for cd in the shops and definitely not for Internet.
After the launch of the music club early 2001, members have been able to download many new tracks of Prince: each month 3 songs and in October the new album in its total.

And this album is a strange one... the slowed down voice of
Prince with high aspiring lyrics ('deconstruction of the digital garden' for example) connects the songs but also destroys enjoying the album. The overt religious lyrics ('accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father will bring Everlasting Now') are unbearable and bends to insanity.
But, as every atheist who regards Jesus as a charlatan can enjoy Bach's Matthaus Passion, so is also the music on TRC very impressive and enjoy-able. The cd proofs again that lyrics are totally unimportant and indifferent in pop-music.

The conversion to Jehova Witness has not changed the musician Prince. Still he is the extreme eclectic that wants to control all styles. The jazzy opening song - most likely naive to jazz-purists - shows a loose and relaxed Prince. Gone are the very precise arrangements that made Rave so clinical.
The majority of TRC sounds like aftershow recordings. Prince regularly plays small concerts after midnight following an official concert. In the aftershows Prince demonstrates the master in music he is and jams and improvises through his and others repetoire with ease and excitement.

[On TRC] Prince' guitar playing is more lyrically and exuberant than ever before showing once more that Santana has had more influence on his guitar playing than Jimi Hendrix.
After the jazzy title song 13 other songs follow in a broad range of music styles: from James Brown funk to symphonic rock and in between grotesque musical sound that is close to kitsch.
But overall the sound of TRC is determined by Prince' classic funk, demonstrating in '1+1+1=3' that Jehova can also be praised with the best and most to-the-point funk of the last years.

Music of Prince is downloadable at: www.npgmusicclub.com.
Membership: 8 USD per month.