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4 discs of purple glory all boxed 4 you

Lynn Saxberg
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, December 14, 2002

One Nite Alone ... Live!

*** 1/2

Prince (NPG Records)

The Prince concert at the National Arts Centre last spring was one of the best shows of the year in Ottawa. The after-show jam with Prince and his band at Carleton University's Oliver's Pub was probably even better, but we weren't among the Rainbow Children/fans lucky enough to find out about that show.

Oh well. Now everyone can relive the Prince experience in all its purple glory with this four-CD boxed set of live recordings taken from another leg of that tour. Didn't get to the NAC? Listen to the two main CDs, packaged in the same jewel case and titled, One Nite Alone ... Live!

Saw the show but went home and hit the sack? (It was, after all, a school night.) Stop kicking yourself and check out the aftershow disc, It Ain't Over: Up Late with Prince and The NPG. Judging by the similarity of One Nite Alone ... Live! to the NAC show, it's a safe bet that It Ain't Over is pretty close to the campus pub aftershow. And for an entirely different side to the little guy, dive into the fourth disc, One Nite Alone ... Solo piano and voice by Prince. That's my favourite session, partly because it is a distinct change of pace.

This is where I should confess that after catching three shows on Prince's excursion through Canada, my mind was spinning from trying to keep up with the complex swirl of music I heard each night. The concerts were intense, fiery and challenging -- which is well captured on these discs -- and it's a rare treat to go back and listen more carefully.

The tracks here are taken from shows in the United States last March and April. The lineup was the same as the band Prince brought to Ottawa (drummer John Blackwell, saxman Maceo Parker, trombonist Greg Boyer, keyboardist Renato Neto and bassist Rhonda Smith) but includes saxophonist Candy Dulfer and an appearance by George Clinton during an aftershow track recorded in New York City.

"It must be Saturday night or something," Prince says during a blistering funk jam on 1+1+1=3 (in Lakeland, Florida). "Somebody get me another suit. I'm about to sweat this one out."

The main set is terrific, although a little disjointed because the producers have taken material from different nights and spliced it together. "Good night, Portland," Prince declares, just four songs into the 17-track second disc.

One reason the stripped-back piano concert on the solo disc is so good is that it's intact. It was recorded live-to-tape at Prince's Paisley Park studios in Minneapolis so it's a complete show unto itself. Plus it's a refreshing change from the ferocious intensity of Prince with his band.

While you have to respect Prince and his musicians for that intensity, the other CDs in this boxed set make you realize the limits of their improvisation. The structure of each show was open enough to allow plenty of jamming within each song, but it didn't give them much opportunity to stray too far from the set list.

Come to think of it, though, that must be how Prince is able to mix and match the best live tracks and have the final sequence sound a lot like the show we saw in Ottawa. Or the one in Calgary or Edmonton, and probably every other city on the tour.

© Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen

ThePez said:

Which in my mind is a little sad.

so wait... it comes with the piano cd?

someonefuckedup.