Hey, does anyone have any preferences between these two albums. I'd have to go along with New Power Soul - a bit hit or miss sometimes but still some nice tunes. Rave goes on a little too long. Any thoughts?

I like NPS the best, it's just hipper!

I dug Rave on release but with the exception of 'Strange But True', it's easily his most unmemorable. As for NPS, I just heard it recently for the first time and the reports of its crapness are fully exaggerated. It's a cool atmospheric album that bubbles up with funk every once in a while and is full of sounds that are crisper and more 'modern' (whatever that means) than I'm used to on Prince albums. Really like it.

Whilst Mad Sex, Wasted Kisses and Come On are all great tracks, Rave is by far a more co-hesive and focused work. There is something very slap-dash about NPS... as if he had four or five funky jams and tossed together a load of filler to make an album.

Rave - despite it's flaws - has some truly magnificent moments... from the shockingly autobiographical nature of I Love U But I Don't Trust U... to the greatness of potential hits like Wherever U Go and The Greatest Romance... it's brimming with well-crafted songs with great melodies. I really believe Rave could've been huge if there hadn't of been so much record company politics going on behind the scenes.

I like "Rave" better. It just does more for me.

24chas said:

I prefer Rave as well.

Fiona01 said:

I like the quote from Prince. What was going with him musically when he made this statement?

Rave seems a little mushy and love sick to me, snap out of it Prince, nobody's that P-whipped, Mayte really put it on him back then. NPS was much more likable in my humble opinion

i've pondered this one as well. I've also pondered which eye to poke out, my left one or my right one.

The answer for both questions was the same...

can I choose neither?

excessex said:

don't forget cap'n crunchier and almond joyous, and mochalicious.

NPS! Shorter, funnier and free of the desperation & sell-out feel of Rave...

NPS isn't bad but I am in love with everything Rave!

Love'em both,but I listen 2 Rave more,so I'll have 2 go with that 1!

Fiona01 said:

Well said. I can't stand NPS except for The One. Rave gives you an inner glimpse of what was going on in his life at that time.

I don't like Rave whatsoever. I actually deleted it from my computer. I'm not saying New Power Soul is an excellent album, but it had more songs on it that I liked as compared to Rave. I really loved "Come On." And "Wasted Kisses" is such an interesting song. I don't think it was ever decided what it was truly about, was it?

Hey, has anyone heard any of the earlier versions of Rave unto the Joy? Didn't he originally record the song back in the 80's?

I don't care what none of y'all say. I'm crazy about NPS and both Raves. So there.

Newpower Soul isn't just better than RUTJF but it's more enjoyable than quite a few other albums. It has a higher ratio of good songs to bad than any other of his 90s albums:

Mad Sex
Come On
The One
Wated Kisses

...all absolutely classic songs.

The only two songs I really like from RUTJF are 'Eye Love U But Eye Don't Trust U Anymore' and 'Prettyman'. The rest are average at best or at worst unmitigated crap.

NPS. Then, now, forever. It was a decent side project album at the time, it just got caught up in lot of hate (post-Emancipation let-down, CB, Larry, Prince on the cover of a side-project album inflating it's purpose).

Even the tracks that by rights should be standout on Rave end up lost in that nasty puddle of diarrhoea. At least NPS is a hard, firm log.



.
[Edited 9/11/07 15:34pm]

NouveauDance said:

Wow. That post is the shit!
[Edited 9/11/07 15:56pm]

I love Rave and dislike NPS.

Rave is a decent album which just lacks some good up-tempo jams. The ballads on this album are gorgeous and amongst some of his finest... it really is the up-tempos which let the side down.

The title track sounds out-of-place (well, it is from 1988), Hot Wit U and Baby Knows are crap, Everyday Is A Winding Road is a cover and So Far So Pleased isn't as spectacular as it thinks it is. The only up-tempo which is up-to-standard is Strange But True.

It's a shame really, as The Greatest Romance is a gorgeous record (I love Mike Scott's little intricate guitar parts), Wherever U Go Whatever U Do is really quite moving, The Sun The Moon & Stars has a great beat and is some of Clare Fischer's best work on a P record and Man O War and I Love U But... are two of his most sincere, heartbreaking ballads to date.

All it needed was two or three killer up-tempos and it would've been a great album.

And I like the cover so:

You certainly picked two of the worst Prince albums to compare. It's a hard choice but I guess I like "Rave" over "New Power Soul".