http://www.warr.org/prince.html
"We listen to lousy records so you don't have to"

Long Review, but its all Prince, It's worth it

Prince

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Reviewed on this page:
For You - Prince - Dirty Mind - Controversy - 3 x 2 = 6 - 1999 - Purple Rain - Apollonia 6 - The Glamorous Life - Around The World In A Day - The Family - Parade - Sign O' The Times - 8 - Jill Jones - 16 - Black Album - Lovesexy - Batman - Graffiti Bridge - Times Squared - Diamonds & Pearls - - The Hits/The B-Sides - Goldnigga - 1-800-NEW-FUNK - Come - The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale - The Exodus - Child Of The Sun - Gold - Girl 6 - Chaos And Disorder - Emancipation - Kamasutra - Crystal Ball - The Truth - New Power Soul - Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic - The Rainbow Children - One Nite Alone... - One Nite Alone... Live! - Xpectation - N.E.W.S. - Musicology - 3121 - Planet Earth - LotusFlow3r - Mplsound - Elixer



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His popularity, personality quirks, and public persona have led many to dismiss the self-described "skinny motherfucker with the high voice" as just a less-successful Michael Jackson, which misses the point. By any other name, the man born Prince Rogers Nelson is a consummate musician, one of the best singers, guitarists and bassists in music today. Plus he has a rich musical vocabulary and manic thirst for new sounds, which keep him from being stuck in one bag (or even four or five). And he's an intelligent lyricist and makes the sexiest records I've ever heard.
After early success on the R&B charts, he sailed to multiplatinum status with 1999 in 1982, then became the Next Big Thing when his album and movie Purple Rain hit in 1984. He's never again approached that sales level, but has continued a flood of hit singles and albums until beginning a public feud with his record company, Warner Bros, in 1993, the year he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol. In 1996, he married backup singer/dancer Mayte, got out of his contract, and had his first child, all of which inspired the triple album Emancipation; he spent much of 1997 and 1998 on the road, while compiling an outtake compilation and working on albums by childhood idols Chaka Khan and Larry Graham. Then he declared war on his internet fan community, filing lawsuits against a passel of websites and threatening the rest. After a failed 1999 attempt to copy Carlos Santana's "vet-plus-current-stars" comeback, he changed his name back to Prince and shifted focus to his internet-only NPG Music Club, where you could pay $100 a year to get a few unreleased songs and videos per month. Then he started making one-off distribution deals with major labels for major releases, while continuing to use the internet to manage the overflow. In late 2007, he launched another round of lawsuits at internet fan sites, which led the sites to band together as Prince Fans United, which led Prince to write a diss track, "PFUnk," which is the funkiest jam he's released in years. He marked the start of 2009 by announcing three new albums, all due in March.

Around the site you'll also find reviews of his side projects (some are here, while The Time and Wendy & Lisa have their own pages), a recent concert review, and a review of one of the many books about him on our wonderful Book Reviews Page. The best Net resource left is www.prince.org, and there's always Usenet.


The lineups: Prince and the Revolution (Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Parade) featured Wendy Melvoin, guitar; Lisa Coleman and Matt Fink, keyboards; Brown Mark, bass; Bobby Z, drums.
The Lovesexy band: Matt Fink, keyboards; Sheila E., drums; Levi Seacer Jr., bass; Miko Weaver, rhythm guitar; Boni Boyer, keyboards and backing vocals
Prince and the N.P.G. (or New Power Generation) (Diamonds and Pearls through Chaos and Disorder: Michael Bland, drums; Sonny T., bass; Rosie Gaines, keyboards and vocals (Diamonds and Pearls only); Tommy Barbarella, keyboards, and Morris Hayes, keyboards; Levi Seacer Jr., guitar (Diamonds and Pearls and only); Tony M., spoken vocals (Diamonds and Pearls and ); Mayte, "Spanish vibe and backing vox" (not present on Diamonds and Pearls or Chaos and Disorder)
Vanity 6: Vanity (now Denise Matthews), Brenda Bennett, Susan, vocals.
Apollonia 6: Apollonia Kotero, Brenda Bennett & Susan, vocals.
Madhouse: Eric Leeds, sax; Sheila E., drums; Matt Fink, keyboards; Levi Seacer Jr., bass


(P.S. I've never known of an artist whose fans disagree so much about what his best and worst efforts are. So if you totally disagree with my ratings, you're not the only one. I'm not trying to say which records are the "best": more than anything else, I'm trying to guide people who are new to his music to where they should start.) (DBW)

Then they go on to the record review.....

And, they're really cool guys who answer e-mails, too. Really dig their reviews.

a nice review from non biased purple sheep

ThreadBare said:

you emailed them?