Since many of you have called for some reviews of "Shockadelica", the 81 track/5 DC-box where Norwegians saluted Prince for his 50th birtday, here's another one:
Dagbladet is Norway's second biggest newspaper, and the name of the journalist is Sven Ove bakke. He gave it 5 p out of 6 (and he's known as a brutal reviewer)...
Here's the link (and it's also attached a PDF-file from the paper):
http://www.dagbladet.no/t...ockadelica


Dagbladet 03.06.08.

A wonderful overdose
81 Norwegian Prince-coversongs sounds like much. Very much. But it appears to be just a perfect amount.

If you're gonna make a tribute-album, it's best to accegerate. To gather 15 Norwegian artists and ask them to do a Prince-cover for a 50 years birthday-gift is no big deal. To gather 81 different constellations and do the same, may seem like an overambitious thought. We're talking Christer Falck as the person behind this album, and a lot of potential bad and average tracks.

Quality/quantity

I don't say that this 5 cd-box doesn't contain a lot of average tracks (even tho it's just a few really bad ones) . But something happens with this quality/quantity-perception as you have came halfways in the box. The traditional "tribute-album" is usually very predictable, both construction- and implementationwise, often with a lot of big stars, trying too hard to make their own version of the track, which often results in a self-centered creativity. Coversongs should be done with both respect and own artistic integrity. The chance for a 15-track cover-cd to be unfullfilled, with too many weird tracks, stars who dissapoint you or haven't "understood" the track or obvious tracks that no-one wants to pay, is big.
Christetr Falcks wonderful "Shockadelica"-project manage to avoid these classical traps, because of it's massive eclectic width and enormous extent. It mirrors the whole of Prince career, where even his scolded 90's albums are well represented. But with 81 tracks you have to, mathematically, score more than on an average traditional tribute-cd.

Known and unknown

The quantity on this album will, however what a paradox it may sound, is the albums quality assurance. The generousity and the love of music who surrounds this album , makes the attributions that normally wouldn't "fit" out of space-, profile- or "starquality"-factor, are allowed to compete for attention with big artists like Morten Abel, Silje Nergaard, Espen Lind and Lene Alexandra. The celebrityfactor isn't that big in itself, but it's not necessarily automatical choises to include Loch Ness Mouse's Steely Dan-ifcated "Money Don't Matter 2 Night", Ulvers magnificent goth-soul-version og "Thieves In The Temple", or the Aftenposten-journalist Loacim Lunds surrprisingly successfull Country/murderballad-version of "Sign 'o' The Times". And improv-artist Maja Ratkje would probably not be able to open the cd with the albums most challenging track "Solo".
The wide scope also gives the box-set a more meaningful width of genres...a "normal" single tribute-cd is often a very "constructed" experience. On "Shcockadelica" you'll find long passages with bands and artists with heavy metal-background and you have enough soul and gospel-tracks to fill a double cd. And if you start to eliminate, you'll also find a nice and straight "pop-album". And of course, the less successful and the more over-anxious contributions is given a bigger whole to hide in. And even rarities like Christer Knutsen's Phil Spector-saluting "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" finds it's natural place here. The initiator Christer Falck gives the buyer the editing-role, based on their preferances; which Prince do you like, and who would you like to deconstruct him. After all, "Shockadelica" is to consider a lifetime-project for the "Survivor"-celebrity and the musicbusiness wrangler Christer Falck, and if you add some qualitywise slack, "Shockadelica" is fulfilled and more!
Here are my personal favourites from "Shockadelica":
Maja S.K. Ratkje feat. Rolf Erik Nystrøm: «Solo», El Caco: «I Feel For You», Lukestar: «Raspberry Beret», Ulver feat. Siri Stranger:
«Thieves In The Temple», KORK & Jarle Bernhoft: «The One», Anne Marie Almedal:
«Paisley Park», Thom Hell: «Crazy You», Sofian feat. Ole Staveteig: «The Truth», King Midas: «Take Me With U», The Loch Ness Mouse: «Money Dont Matter 2 Night», Minor Majority: «If I Was Your Girlfriend», The White Birch: «Purple Rain», Morten Qvenild: «Under The Cherry Moon», Anneli Drecker & Bugge
Wesseltoft: «I Wish U Heaven», Jens Carelius & The Mainstreams: «The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker », Kaada: «P. Control (Pussy Outta Coltrol Remix)».