New Power Soul – A Review



If Prince has a gift for anything, it’s for surprising his audience. He’s taught fans never to “expect” something from him, less you be confounded in doing so. After the media blitz of Purple Rain, listeners like myself were completely shocked that he followed it up with a sometimes downtempo, often confusing, Around the World In A Day . And by the time ATWIAD grew on me, PARADE was looming with even more surprises. Prince, the ever brave and inspiring “Edge Artist” had just enough of a following to make all of these twist and turns in his music much talked about events. And they very well should have been—they were great albums.

In the 90s we started seeing “good” albums that had their fair share of surprises. No longer as innovative as he was in the 80’s , we started to see a Prince who often blended different styles (As he always did) with a certain spirit of imitation over innovation. Yet, because of his incredible ear for music and a good pop tune, his works always show some genius despite constant gear shifting.

As a change in gears, New Power Soul is no different in spirit, but very different in context. The album is dubbed an “NPG” album, but there is no mistaking Prince’s signature throughout the songs—he’s everywhere on it. The most notable thing about NPS is that it doesn’t emotionally swing in different directions. The neurotic, spiritual, completely self-absorbent Prince does not shine through on this album. Instead, we get a comfortable musician riding the wave of a funky vibe. And, yes, at times, the album is funky. But it is equally repetitious and bland.

Tracks like “Come on” , “The One” and “Wasted Kisses” are good songs deserving of a better album, while tracks like “we Like Funky Music” and “Mad Sex” are better left to live late night jams they seem to be inspired from. Prince has been many things in his career, but standard and boring ?? Perhaps he didn’t want an album credited to a band overshadowing his “Prince” recordings. Perhaps, he just got tired of media expectations and wanted to have a little fun—he certainly deserves it after the VAST collection of brilliant music he’s blessed the world with. But , he could have done better.

New Power Soul rides the wave of slick studio production that Emancipation & COME debuted, but it does so with a lot less emotional breath. It’s an album of Prince “doodles” backed by a first class band that is (again) riding a vibe instead of spreading its wings.

Thank you.


Also, do you think that Prince’s prolific album recordings in the 80’s and 90’s is in anyway an indication that he might be gay?


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[Edited 8/8/05 18:17pm]

good review -- thanks for sharing

It's true that we can never really expect what the next Prince album will be like, but we should at least be able to expect it to be a good album with more than a few noteworthy songs. NPS done let us down! And for me personally, it let me down because Prince was so spiritually cool at the time -- with the L4OA site and charity, the friendly chats, and deep spiritual discussions. Then comes an album titled New Power Soul (a phrase from Lovesexy days) and a lead-off single called "The One" -- but was any of it spiritual?? The liner notes contained some "thank yous" to some GOoD friends, but did the album even hint at what was really going on with Prince and those friends during that time? Nope. When that album came out, I lost a friend. L4OA was closed online and at the studio. Charity work ceased. And a big tall wall was built to keep us non-JW believers away.

Come on , The One and Wasted Kisses are among my all time favorites.

thats quite a good review for a crap album.

I don't think P always at all times needs to be 100% innovative for his music to be enjoyable and he doesn't always have to make serious music. NPS, like Come IMO is just a fun album. Doesn't have to be compared to any of his "better" albums, because that isn't the point.

That's a pretty good review.

Being a fan of NPS, I just find it to be an easy-going album to listen to. An album that you can kinda chill to. Even though I could do without the cover, I think it's a nice album. NPS, Mad Sex, Shoo-Bed-Oh, Freaks On This Side, Come On, The One, (I Like) Funky Music, and Wasted Kisses are jams.

It seems that most folks despise this album, but it actually has the best "urban contemporary" drum programming and KILLA horns.

The one thing most folks don't get, is that Prince plays most all parts on this album, and he was responsible for most all of the drum programming, which kicks.

I love the horns on "Freaks On This Side", one of my favs, and Marva's voice should've been on a few more Prince albums. She gave me the chills on "Push It Up". Between "New Power Soul", "Madd Sex", "Push it Up", "Freaks On This Side", and "The One", you've got some groove 2 get with, peeps... that's all.

Peace.

G.

Giovanni777 said:

G, You've made some interesting points about the album. Eventhough it wasn't one of my favorites, it definitely was creative and for that I can fault P at all. One thang for sure is that he know his was around a groove among other things.
[Edited 8/9/05 15:08pm]

NPS is when Prince became a bad Prince impersonator.

That particular P. era is one of my least favorite.

The cover scares small children.

GottaLetitgo said:

Your avatar scares straight men.

AsianBomb777 said:

George and Andy showing their eternal bond as Wham! beats phony tattoed, etch a sketch P. cover any day.

NPS is a non album for me. Its one of the few records he's released that simply doesn't have the breadth of songs on it to make it a good album. The first and final tracks (not counting wasted kisses) are lame, and you need one or both IMO to make a good record. The One and Come On I think are fantastic songs, but most of the album sounds like barely developed song ideas. I actually like the production on a lot of the songs (unlike the production on Emancipation which I hate), but there isn't the quality of songs that You usually associate with a prince album.

Considering this came after The Truth it is a massive disappointment. In fact The Truth is the only highlight of that miserable run of albums that was Chaos & Disorder to Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic. A true crappo nadir in his career, and a difficult time to keep perspective of his genius.

Its strange that as soon as Prince had the freedom and ability to start releasing triple disc albums as he'd always wanted, he seemed to loose the ability to fill even one album per year with quality songs. I for one am glad he takes a little longer with his albums now. I now its wrong but i always lump my favourite songs from NPS and Rave Un2 onto one CD and pretend they're a real album. You can actually make a really good album with the best from each. The better songs on both were definitely brought down by some of the embarassing filler.

Imagine if he released an album now with Come On, The One, I Love U But I Cant Trust U & Pretty Man on it

GottaLetitgo said: