http://www.startribune.co...26055.html

Star Tribune
Published Dec. 13, 2002

Although his way of doing -- or not doing -- business still has some of his fan-club members cheesed off, Prince is more likely to win back listeners with the release of his invigorating new box set, "One Nite Alone . . . Live," which officially comes out Tuesday.

Perhaps as a sign that this is one of his more normal and coherent efforts of recent years, the singer is returning to network TV tonight to promote the collection on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (10:35 p.m., KARE, Ch. 11). It's been a couple of years since he last did any of the talk shows. Word is he won't do any talking tonight, surprise surprise.

Prince genuinely nails one out of the park -- Paisley or otherwise -- with the three-CD collection, which, believe it or not, is the first official live release of his career.

The first two CDs are culled from his "One Nite Alone" tour from last spring, including dates in Portland and Washington, D.C., which the fans seemed to agree were some of his best. Disc Three comprises some of his "after-show" jams and includes guests such as George Clinton and Larry Graham. Some boxes also may come with a previously fan-club-only solo piano recording.

Together, the discs show that Prince still has "it" as a performer. When he's enthused and energetic, as he is throughout this box set, he can draw you in like few others. Disc One makes a strong case for the tunes from last year's "Rainbow Children" CD, which seem less mystical and quirky in concert. Disc Two, in particular, shows off the chemistry with his current band, in versions of "Nothing Compares 2 U," "Starfish & Coffee" and other oldies.

Of course, it wouldn't feel like a Prince release if there weren't a little controversy involved. Members of the singer's $100-a-year NPGMusicClub were filling up the prince.org site last week -- the unofficial fan club that allows negative discussions in its chat sessions -- complaining that their box sets had not arrived.

The music club had said the CDs were coming months ago, and the idea was that fan-club members would get them long in advance of any public sales. Now, some may not get the CD until after it hits stores. Mine came through my NPGMC membership two weeks ago, but apparently I was lucky.

Prince is trying his luck in Las Vegas this weekend. The last show of the "One Nite Alone" tour is Sunday at Aladdin Casino.

Hmmm? 8)
[This message was edited Thu Dec 12 21:16:52 PST 2002 by july]

I had to see who is the writer of this review. I knew it wasn't CJ for several reasons.

1)No mention of the word Symbolina
2)The writer has a NPGMC membership. Well alright!
3)No snotty-ass remarks,actually a nice review.

Two thumbs up 4 Chris Riemenschneider.

The ONA Live box set really does ROCK!!

I was a bit unhappy a month ago when I first heard that we would not be receiving other cds that were mentioned in the back of the tour book. However, I am VERY PLEASED with this box set. The music sounds great and reminds me the ONA concert I attended earlier in the year. The packaging is also superb.

More backhanded praise.
It seems as though it would kill some reviewers to just come out and admit how great Prince really is.
So far, out of all these "reviews", Brendan's has been the best and most in depth.
It makes me wonder just how musically inclined many of these professional reviewers really are.
And how does he know Prince isn't going to talk. And did any Minneapolis reviewers even mention Prince's last appearances on Leno? He was on 2 nights in a row, but I don't think the press there had much mention of it.
Anyway, long after Prince is gone, I think Minneapolis is gonna do Prince the way Seattle has done Jimi. Sad.

july said:

Understatement of the year right there. Negative discussion is not allowed, its EXPECTED!!
Miserable Orgers have been swamping this place recently. Lets hope after hearing the set for a while, a little happiness may come back...