Be honest. Be brutally honest. A love one's life depends on it. Chaos and Disorder has got defenders; Rainbow Children has defenders; there are even a few of you out there brave enough to admit you like NPS. But NEWS?! Jazz fusion or whatever the hell it is, each "song" going on for a day in a half. Please explain to me how crap like this gets released and yet songs like "Moonbeam Levels" sit in a dusty vault somewhere.

Yeah, I know it got nominated for a Grammy. But so what? Can we all just get it off our chest and admit that it is Prince in neutral or even reverse. Can those of you who say you like it just to impress people about your breadth of musical taste just come out of the closet and say, "NEWS sucked!"

You're among friends, fess up. Who thinks this album is crap?

i don't care for it, but there's people 'round here who do like it.

I certainly wouldn't call it his best work but I wouldn't call it the worse I've ever heard either. I've only played it once and still can't remember where I put it, but one of these days when I come across it, I'm going to give it another listen.

I like it.
I listen to it often.
I don't classify it as jazz or fusion.
Its muzak from The Purple Lounge.
Its the noise that bounces around inside Prince's head.

i think it's good for background music at a dinner party or sumthin

Yup I clean my apartment to it.

Krystal666 said:

I cleaned my toilet with it ,I mean to it, once.

My bad

I like how it takes you several places (at least it does with me, and I'm not high). I do like it, I'm not going to lie.

And you know that vault IS NOT dusty.

i like it.

Anxiety said:

[b] dissapointed i didnt hear the purple 1s voice but he plays the instruments well.Its another cd 2 have.

Yup - love this album! I don't see why so many people have a problem with jazz or fusion. Hell, fusion is what Prince has been doing almost his entire career.

And it was what I was waiting for - an instrumental album by Prince! How many other star vocalists can you name that have done that? And what do you think are the chances of any of his contemporaries being brave enough to release a purely musical (ie instrumental) album, huh? I mean MJ? Madonna? Come on. the'd be laughed off the block

I like it...nuff said.

fox69 said:

yeah, but i got a bunch of other albums to listen to if i wanna hear his voice...and he put one out a year later with his voice all over it. i'd like to hear more instrumental albums, as long as they don't upstage the stuff he does with vox - i enjoy his lyrics too much, even when they have me scratching my head and rolling my eyes. at least it's never dull, i'll give him that much...

thedoorkeeper said:

I like it.

Hell, yeah! I have loved the album ever since it landed in my CD player. I am serious; not being a great jazz aficionado (I only listened to a few records by Miles Davis) it was nevertheless easy for me to get into the music (I know, some people don't consider NEWS jazz at all...). I love the piano playing, especially in North, I love the richness of guitar textures and their variety, I love the funkiness of South. This is an album I listen to in my headphones and with which I forget about the entire world.

I recently pulled this CD off the shelf and listened to it while reading...I will admit it I enjoyed it. Although it's still just good background music for me...

Wow - endorphin74, howya doin' man?!!!! It has been far too long (but then, I ain't been around for a while)

Okay, so far the 12 people who bought it have chimed in.


Only a few naysayers, yet. Come on my NEWS-hating brethren and sistren...make your voice heard:

North, South, East, West
What's the One I Like the Least
NEWS, NEWS...CRAP!

GottaLetitgo said:

NEWS would've been okay as a harmless internet-only album that you download.

But it's an absolute crime that Chocolate Invasion gets that treatment while NEWS is an official release available in stores.

Its the noise that bounces around inside Prince's head.

Exactly! Oh....you meant that as a good thing?

I really DO love NEWS, but it took a long time to get there.

It's definitely a headphones album and it's an album to explore, rather than just put on for a quick fix.

Sort of instrumental Lovesexy, if you will (not musically, but in terms of fascination and exploration).

I never took to Xpectation, though.

PurpleKnight said:

Mindflux said:

DUDE! I was wonderin if you were the same Mindflux!

I still owe you a CD

I like it. I use it to trick people who think they don't like Prince or that they know what his music sounds like. I put it on and they get intrigued and ask, "Who is this?" and I hit em with "It's Prince! See you like him after all."
[Edited 3/23/05 12:15pm]

It has some moments of beauty. The guitar work on EAST is insane.

I like NEWS a lot. I am sure a lot of u could listen to Coltrane or Miles and dismiss their work as crap also. Your reaction to NEWS has much more to do with your on expectations and limitations than the actual music itself. There are many works that I didn't appreciate as a youth that I love now (its called maturation). Some of u will eventually like it years down the road, some wont. That's life.

tricky99 said:

Okay, I do not consider most of Coltraine or Miles crap. I just think that NEWS is like one of those jam sessions that goes on and on and I grow bored with it. How could I possibly have high expectations after The Rainbow Children, which also disappointed me. I knew the man wasn't bringing his A game when I bought NEWS but it disappointed me because it sounded so insular. I didn't feel like Prince was sharing anything with me. He laid down some tracks, put it out, probably made a decent amount of pocket money because he didn't have to share profits with anyone and there you go.

It looks like a lot more people liked it than I thought (which is cool, that's why I put the topic out there). I just consider myself a pretty astute Prince fan who has heard just about every style he has had to offer and liked most. But I didn't like NEWS...and don't think it will ever grow on me.

Some of it's really good. I think Kamasutra is the one that deserves the bashing.

The problem is that he could've stretched the best stuff out and made an entire album out of it. But he insisted on having each song build very slowly, with the exception of South, which starts out funky.

It's actually a very balanced record. The references to the Earth are appropriate. The whole album is definitely not Mt. Everest. In fact, North begins with the Sahara Desert (guess he meant North Africa)!

West is my favorite. I think Eric Leeds' moments are the best parts of the album. But I must say that right now I don't have the patience to get to the good parts very often.

NEWS has its moments but it is a little boring with a few exciting bits here and there, especially 'East', which is very good. I think prince was proud of his band after the ONAL tour and wanted to repay them by giving them a bit more voice in the studio, as well as to scratch his slightly more advanced jazz/ rock world fusion itch, hence NEWS. Must admit I rarely listen to it, though. I'd much rather he'd released a CD of the lovely 'Xpectation', with the C-NOTE instrumentals plus the unreleased studio version of 'Xenophobia', and put NEWS out for download only.

Or even if he'd released the best stuff from 'Chocolate Invasion'/ Slaughterhouse' and other download/unreleased late '90s early 00's goodies on a double CD. That would have been good.