Moonbeam said:

Brilliant, exciting review. One of your best yet! I'm gonna put that album on, just cuz you made it sound so good.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

What's on October 8th?

GangstaFam said:

Thank you!

Natsume said:

Oh Pam! I've missed you! It's hard to fault much, if any, of Prince's work from 1978-1986.

Hey Ian, do you mind if I use some of these for information in the gallery?

I'll of course credit you wherever they are used. Org note me.

Great reviews!



Where's that Sign The Times review?

Can't wait!













Úberfunky-edit
[Edited 8/1/05 12:02pm]

Moonbeam said:

Bump both of those dates back a couple years.

Moonbeam, you seem like a nice person, but what sets a critic apart from the usual music fan is a sense of balance. I'd say your reviews are a bit biased in favor of Prince--better that you read independant reviews of his work and get a sense of what the outsiders of our purple realm think. Overrating Prince's work is a flaw in your otherwise well written reviews.

2freaky4church1 said:

You can only fairly rate with your own opinion though.

And I don't think he's overrated any of these with the possible exceptions of Rave, Crystal Ball and Controversy.

His reviews for 1999-Parade were especially well done and I agree with most of his assessments.

"Around the World in a Day [Warner Bros., 1985]
It's pretty strange, given that he looked like a visionary not long ago. But this arrested adolescent obviously don't know nuthin about nuthin--except maybe his own life, which for all practical purposes ended in his adolescence, since even for a pop star he does his damnedest to keep the world out. So while his sexual fantasies are outrageous only in their callous predictability and his ballads compelling only as shows of technique, they sure beat his reflexive antinomianism and dim politics. Which suggests why the solid if decidedly unpsychedelic musical pleasures our young craftsman makes available here don't wash. Only the crass "Raspberry Beret" and maybe the crooning "Condition of the Heart" are worth your time. B-"

"Prince: Lovesexy [Paisley Park, 1988]
He's a talented little guy, and this has plenty of pizzazz. But I'll take The Black Album's fat-bottomed whomp over its attention-grabbing beats and halfway decent tunes any day, and despite appearances it sure ain't where he explains why sexiness is next to godliness--lyrically it's sloppy if not pseudo if not stupid. This is doubly bothersome because added religious content is what it's supposed to have over its not terribly shocking alternative. Leading one to the obvious conclusion that the real reason the little guy made the switch was that he was scared to reveal how, shall we say, unpop he could be. B+"

"Prince: Emancipation [NPG, 1996]
Writing the book for the young turks of a reborn, historically hip r&b--three disks and hours of liberation, hubris, divine superfluity, and proof that he can come all night even if by six in the morning it takes too long and he never actually gets hard. Yet although there's not a bad track in the 36, I bet he himself would have trouble remembering them all, and hear nothing that tops the Delfonics and Stylistics covers, which latter wasn't the debut single for nothing and flopped anyway. Great grooves abound, however. As does great singing. Harmonies too. Did I mention that the horns are surprisingly cool? And hey, the little guy has a sense of humor. A-"

Robert Christgau

2freaky4church1 said:

What's your point oh 'enigmatic' one?

BananaCologne said:

Sure thing, nana!

GangstaFam said:

I haven't gotten to SOTT or Lovesexy yet. Can't fault those either!

2freaky4church1 said:

That's why I'm not a professional reviewer.

Moonbeam said:

I think you should be. You're good at it.

You rank Rave the same as 1999.

This does not make sense, even for a fan. I'd say Prince's albums from Dirty Mind to Lovesexy rank between 3.5 to 5 stars. Afterward, you get a range between 4 to 2 stars, with maybe one or two exceptions.

Anything to say about TRC?

Waiting with bated breath.

The Rainbow Children--

Self indulgent, soft jazz twaddle from a guy who used to raise the roof and make the clouds stand at attention. The religious aspects of the disk and the deep, ominous voice of doom that commands us to be God's little bitches are so overbearing and preachy, you start to think Prince did this, so that his guru, Larry Graham would allow him more rope, on his choke leash.

The songs--if there are any--are middling and boring attempts at mixing otherwordly jazz and pop/funk filligrees. The sap with the purple Jesus robe, has the funk, but funk works best when it goes for the crotch, not the cross.

Maybe Prince needs to look into the New World Translation and look up half assed. That is one sin, even I would agree, should send you to hell.

Let me rephrase that...

Anything INTELLIGENT to say about TRC?

You know I was spot on, Heiress.