JediMaster said:

I agree with pretty much everything you've said.

Just ordered it thru Amazon. Can't wait to hear it. All this debate is making me excited to hear it.

doctamario said:

How very disappointed you're about to be.

PurpleKnight said:

Don't listen to him - listen to me! It's great and better than most of the 90s stuff!

BinaryJustin said:

It typifies the worst of Prince in the 90's.

Am I the only one that cries when I hear Until U're In My Arms Again ? Not crying because it is bad, but because it is sad...(as in the lyrics)

PurpleKnight said:

Nope - that would be Graffiti Bridge.

Mad Sex is funky and funny. Until U're In My Arms Again, though schmaltzy is memorable. When U Love Somebody has that groovy latin breakdown. Come On is basically Camille's last outing. The One features some of his most soulful vocals ever. Wasted Kisses is uncharacteristically bitter.

The chanty, partay stuff isn't as bad as everybody makes out, at all.

For years, this was the only Prince album since Controversy I hadn't bought, because I had heard nothing but dreadful things about it. Finally, about 6 months ago I found it used for $5. I listened to it non-stop for the next two days.

And it was so painful, so horrible, that I literally took it back two days later - having to drive to the other side of LA, which is a pain in the ass, mind you - just to sell it back. I got $2 in credit. It wasn't about the money, but rather, simply the knowledge that this album could not exist in my collection for one minute longer. It just couldn't. It was the most painful of a painful era.

I enjoyed New Power Soul, krystal. It's not necessarily his greatest CD, but that doesn't make it trash.Gems like The One, Wasted Kisses, Come On, New Power Soul make it worth having and playing. I loved the funk. But that's just my opinion.
Enjoy krystal. I know I do.

BinaryJustin said:

from the

Its just hip to bash this album. It has more keepers than Graffiti Bridge, The Rainbow Children, and Batman. Peer pressure is cool.

blackwell1 said:

Hey thanks! I don't know about some Prince fans. Damn, not everything has to be a masterpiece,musically complicated production to be good. Sometimes you just want something fun to dance to!!

PurpleKnight said:

I can't be disappointed. I bought it new for $0.98 on amazon.

BinaryJustin said:

Graffiti Bridge IS a weak collection, but that's more to do with the songs really not fitting with one another. Still, with the exception of the title track, there is nothing on GB that is as bad as the majority of NPS.

DarkKnight1 said:

That's a really silly argument. Just because the majority of fans don't like it, doesn't mean that its about peer pressure. Hey, I've defended P's cover of "Everday Is A Winding Road", so its not because I wanna be like other fans.

As for your assertion that it has more "keepers" than GB, TRC and Batman, again, I don't agree. TRC is WAY better, at least musically. GB is weak, but has "A Question OF U", "Joy In Repetition", "Thieves In The Temple", "Elephants & Flowers" and "Still Would Stand All Time", all of which are better than ANYTHING on NPS.

As for Batman, its a pretty crappy album, but I still prefer it to the crap-fest that is NPS. Nothing on Batman reaches lows like "When U Love Somebody".

JediMaster said:

Finally. Someone else to notice this thing too. That song would have been indeed a total kick-ass of a tune with proper drums and no crowd chants included. Better than a lot of stuff from the 80s even.

JediMaster said:

Co-sign. I don't bash NPS becuase it's the "hip" thing to do. I genuinely don't like it. And I defend "Rave Un2 The Joy" CD that many bash, along with "Life O' the Party" on Musicology.
Everyone here is not mindless.

Novabreaker said:

Agreed. Of course, that's the problem with the entire album. The whole thing is a half-baked affair. Most of those songs have potential, but it seems that Prince took very little time in crafting them. I would love to hear "Mad Sex" remixed with a live vibe (it kicked ass in concert, its boring on record). I would also dig "Push It Up" if some more work was done on it to give it a heavier sound and the tempo were picked up. The beat is just plain dull.

Of course, there are certain songs on the album that there is no helping them ("When U Love Somebody" will always suck ass, no matter how much remixing you do).

1sexymf said:

Damn straight.

Regarding Rave, I've long argued that the album, while not a great one, is still a decent spin. I really think that Emancipation and Rave wouldn't have gotten the bad rep they did if they hadn't had NPS floating in between them like a turd in the punch bowl. Neither one is amongst his greatest works, but they are decent. Unfortunately, since they aren't stellar, they get lumped in with NPS.

As for "Life O' The Party", I think the track is entertaining, if not great. I think it's actually the sound P was going for on NPS, but wasn't quite achieving. Just a fun, silly party tune. The argument I always hear for NPS is that it wasn't suppossed to be anything more than a fluffy party disc. Well, that's all well and good, but you can still put a little effort into it. No, it doesn't have to be another Sign O The Times , but it should at least be listenable. Personally, I think he pulled this off with "Life O The Party" (I do understand why some people hate the tune, even if I personally like it). Its a fun, mindless tune with silly lyrics, but it has a good beat. Plus, the bit about "all the purple hippies bang yo heads on the one" sells it for me!

thisbediscream said:

I love this version, it really kicks ass! I'd like Prince to make a "live in the studio" album with his band, I think that would bring a very good album.

PurpleKnight said:

I know this has nothing to do with music, but I think it's interesting that your avatar is from the NPS era, isn't it?

The subject has been beaten to death, but I think the average quality of the songs reflects the fact that it's not an official "Prince" album. It's a fun record that reminds me of seeing the songs live in early '98.

The songs are not that great, but I like the vibe of the album as a whole. I think it's funner, not better, than Emancipation or Rave.

andyman91 said:

Well, it not being "official" hardly matters, with his face & symbol emblazoned across the cover. Unfortunately, it reminds me of seeing those songs played live as well. I remember how much BETTER they were live!

funkaholic1972 said:

That version is definitely superior. So is the remix version.

JediMaster said:

I think it not being official is the whole point. It's just some music. Like an aftershock or a ps of Emancipation and the tour. Sometimes artists release their lesser stuff as ep's. Prince just can't release that few songs.

The songs were definitely better live, but most music is. I was really disappointed that he didn't do more songs from Emancipation because I thought they'd be so much better live. Sometimes I imagine him singing songs I don't like live, and it makes me like them better--Hot Wit U, the Max, most of NPS.

The only song I really don't like is the beginning of When U Love Somebody--and I like the end.

1sexymf said:

Exactly. I just happen to really dislike NPS. There's no attempt to fit in or anything. Hell, I think Chaos and Disorder is a pretty kick-ass Prince album, and it gets bashed almost just as much as NPS does.



Yeah, I just really dig the way he looks in the pic, and I love the silky red shirt.
[Edited 3/8/05 13:57pm]

JediMaster said:

I can appreciate your conviction about "Everyday" because it goes against the norm. Its pretty obvious though, that some folks are afraid to express their opinions due to the fear of getting pounced on. I think NPS has a good little collection of songs. The One, Come On, Wasted Kisses, and the overly sappy Until Ur in my arms again are all songs that I go back to now and again and always appreciate. Some of it is poor "Jughead" crap, but those good tracks outweigh the bad.

This album would have been the bomb if the same energy were poured into it as "Exodus". Prince went from a kick ass band effort to fake, computerized lifeless funk. I mean he handed off programming to Kirky J. Although I'll never diss Wasted Kisses, Come On or Mad Sex.

JediMaster said:

I also would love to hear what they played during the breaks! He really looked like he was having fun when he was there. And that funky ribbon hairdo... what was with that?

andyman91 said:

Exactly - That's why I've always thought of Newpower Soul as "The Black Album" of the 90s.

Remember that the "Black Album" was going to have zero promotion, only be credited to "Somebody" on the Warners release schedules and was never intended to be some huge life-changing experience?

Well, that's how I see Newpower Soul. It's a Prince party album masqeurading as an NPG album.

In the 80s he would have given the better songs like Mad Sex, Come On, Wasted Kisses to one of his protogee acts. He just did it himself this time around.

And yes, Newpower Soul has a higher ratio of good songs to bad songs than any other 90s release.

Yes, it is not his best album.

Yes, the album as a whole sounds uninspired.

But, rating it "unlistenable"? Come on, folks, that's slightly too much. Some tunes on this record make it worth buying just for these songs.

And, it was a side project record. If he had a regular record being released at the same time or just in the same year, no one would give a damn cent thinking about the quality of NPS. But it stood alone in 1998. If "Exodus" (which really IS better!) had been released in 1998 and NPS in 1995, who would write a word about the quality of the songs on NPS (with a record like TGE being released in the same year)?