On the org some people seem to think that this is a great, funky album and even include it in their top 5, but most seem to say that this was his first step down in the direction of the "even worse" Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.

I always said I liked it, simply because I fell in love with The One, Come On and Wasted Kisses right from the start and I felt those songs were so great they would make up for anything on any album. The rest was never bad to me, but I had to be in the right mood to enjoy the plastic, crazy arrangements of some songs and the overall weird production.

Today, when I was cleaning my room, I decided to blast the record through my speakers and I was very impressed by what I heard. You see, I'm the kind that can also enjoy what many people on here call "over-produced" records, with hundred little sounds, layers and melodies buried perfectly into the mix, so that you could here something new every time you listen to a song. I love that, as long as it doesn't distract from the idea and force of a song, but add to it. And that is something Prince has always been great at, in my opinion; especially on The Gold Experience, for example.

As I listened to Newpower Soul I actually realised how fucking freaky this record is. It has a really cocky and flashy "fuck-you!" attitude all over it, but this "fuck-you" is different from the ones on TGE and Chaos. On here, it is simply mad and fooling around. Take the title song for example and listen to all the little melodies buried in there. It is amazing how he layered so many different melodies into one chord progression and made it sound all so tight, somehow.
The madness continues with Mad Sex. Good lawd. The way it starts already with that trashy drum programming; - this track is so in yo face!. What struck me most about all of the rather up-tempo tracks on this album is that they intentionally lack the overt production energy of tracks like Now, for instance. They are stone-cold and very compressed (especially tracks like Mad Sex, Push It Up and Fraks On This Side), which makes it very difficult to understand the track itself, but easier to move away from looking for stereotypes in the music.

"Anti stereotype" seems to be the keyphrase for this record. Nothing is "normal" or "usual" on Newpower Soul; not even for Prince's standards.
A good example would be the three rather "heart-felt" songs on there (Until U're In My Arms Again, The One, Wasted Kisses). Yes, he does use the "ballad reverb" on Until U're In My Arms again and the strings are so beautifully arranged (especially in the 9th to 12th bars, when the motive repeats) that one would be tempted to call it a "classic" Prince ballad. Well, in my opinion, it is, but it has nothing to do with classical Prince music and that is what makes it so special. That synth bass line, walking up, creating new chords with its own melody. The backing vocals (all over the record) producing new chord progressions. Apart from that, the bridge on Until.. is simply amazingly creative.

The production on When U Love Somebody is also very good in my opinion. And Shoo-Bed-Ooh is one of the songs that screams "feeling" for me. It captures something, I'm sure many people feel it too, but we don't know how to describe it. Brilliant chord progression again (especially the bass during the chorus; deep in the mix, underlining the whole song, but still somehow unexpected)!

Push It Up and Freaks On This Side are just fucking sick tracks. I'd even go as far as calling this one of Prince's most experimental pieces of work (the whole album actually). You see, there's a difference between making something sound experimental (jamming around and knowing what sounds weird to the average listener, even if it's just a special minor chord at the right time) or making something sound rather conventional on the one hand, but being completely sick and border-crossing on the other, when you look at the bigger picture and "get wild, get freaky...".

Come On has, again, fantastically experimental and weird chord progressions (that chorus with those vocals and the bass is working so well, I mean ) and that track was a single, y'all! Plus, I find the lyrics on this track really good and clever.

The One is pure magic. The ones who think so too know why, the others have some serious close listening to do. Clearly one of his 10 best tracks of all time, in my opinion.

I Like Funky Music is probably the sickest track when it comes to arrangement. The horns, those keyboards going down half notes during the chorus, the trashy drum-programming and those backing-vocal-chants (found on other songs too, and as far as I know, only on Newpower Soul album-wise!) - so cunningly weird.

Wasted Kisses is also pure magic and very well produced.



Overall, I'd say this is one of his most interesting records. Not as touching and classy as Purple Rain, 1999 and SOTT, but it has its own charm and therefore is worth being listened to more closely! Also, because it definitely is more daring than most of his other albums, even if one wouldn't notice (or want to notice) at first listen.







P.S. This is a Prince record - we all know that. That is why it belongs here and not to another forum.
[Edited 1/25/12 5:56am]

Dave1992 said:

Personally, I think Rave is far better.
Newpower Soul is take-it-or-leave-it for me.
Definately not on my rotation.

I'm not saying there aren't problems with this album, or that it's up there with the best. But I have never bad-mouthed this album like Rave or Musicology (similarly cheap, nasty sounding records), because it's simply, FUN. I've always enjoyed this album, and I admit a slice of my liking for NPS is rose-tinted because it was out at a time when I was really hardcore into Prince and I enjoyed the shows and collecting, etc.

Nothing ground breaking, but some nice fun pop-funk songs. I would take NPS over 3121 any day.

I like the album a lot, and it continues to grow on me. I think Mad Sex, The One, Come On, and Wasted Kisses are brilliant. Everything else on there is solidly great, except When U Love Somebody and Until U're in My Arms Again, which are a bit too much on the lite-pop side--but even so, they're still not bad.

How would I know, I don't have it yet

However, I do agree The One and Wasted Kisses are pure magic. I fell in love with The One when I first heard it as well.

I also liked Until U're In My Arms Again and When U Love Somebody

I must start getting the albums I'm missing

Acrylic said:

I feel the same way. I can listen to Rave all of the way through. I can't with NPS.

Dave1992 said:

i love how you love a prince record!!! you are a true fan... great!! thats the org...

Aelis said:

What r u waiting on? U can get it for less than $2.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/...ition=used

great cd one of the underrated classic prince cd's

daPrettyman said:

Well, thanks! I actually have some kind of a deal with a person that is no longer a fan and has various copies of all albums, we should just arrange the shipping and all when we find the time!

Great post, Dave, and I agree.

That album gets very little love, but the horn and vocal arrangements R KILLER material.

"NewPowerSoul", "Madd Sex", "Push It Up", "Freaks On This Side"... all solidly slammin'.

"Freaks On This Side" even has a Go-Go feel in the rhythm track.

I like this album "Shoo-Bed-ooh" is a very underated song, this also could have been a strong r&b hit in the summer of 98". This album will always hold a great place in my memory bank, me and a lady friend of mine use to dance, shed clothes, and make love to this album all the time.

I like this album..."When U Love Somebody," is my favorite song, and I love, "The One," a lot 2. A few of the songs are a little on the rough side, but I like the funky edge to them.

LondonStyle said:

Co-sign 'O' the Times

To this day I've never listened to "I Like Funky Music" all the way through... God that song is awful. It's also not a CD you can share with non-Prince fans, as the lyrics are pretty cringe-inducing (especially from a 40 year-old)

I think what scares me most is that this CD is already 12 years old!

Giovanni777 said:

Agree about the arrangements. Mad Sex is pure brilliance (it doesn't get enough love on the org!) and so damn rhymically clever. Timbaland, Neptunes, Outkast should have taken notes.

I think he was going for funky, ear candy hooks, but a not too deep release, after the draining Emancipation circus.

I had these friends 10 years ago who were a lot in2 James Brown, Herbie Hancock, Sly Stone, etc. and they didn't like Prince that much... he was too "pop" or too "rock" for them...

& i remember that one party when i had them listening 2 "NPS"... from that day on, they realized that Prince was "black", too...

Thing is that "NPS" is probably Prince's funkiest, blackest album ever...

& that's why most Prince fans hated it...

& that's why most Prince fans should go back listening 2 their U2 & Radiohead albums, because that's what they love & Prince doesn't have much 2 do with that...

In the meantime, we funky people r gonna keep groovin' ^^

databank said:

Prince can't be pigeonholed. He can't be put in a box. And he was born Black- there's no music fan/critic/wannabe that's going to change that. He can do U2, he's played Lacrosse...and have you checked out his "Creep" cover?

The "black" enough comments are so Reagan era.

new power soul is def one of his better later period works i cant listen to rave much the remix is almost tolerable at times but nps i end up dancin too it before too long at first i thought it was too simplistic strait up photo copy funk template but even so a lot of it really works ... i think it takes getting past the production and some really really gut cringingly bad lyrics at times and he makes it easy. mad sex would have been as big as gett off if not for some poor lyric choices ... sometimes its embarassing to play for people yo ... 'come on' i really dont like the production but its a hot song anyway ... i really enjoy a gritty live tape of this one it takes away the cheesy sounds a little .. great dance groove shoulda at least been on a greatest hits record or sumthin .. ok so maybe nows the time to ask WHY DO U THINK HE DIDNT SPELL IT .. THE 1 instead of the one? strange eh .. another piece o the prince puzzle hmmm ... i think i heard until ur in my arms again was about tha kid they lost so that kinda reopened my ears to that tune right there and yeah that was cool when the crowd was singing freaks on this side on the jay leno show .. i wonder if he staged that or if it just happened??? i must be in a detective mood today ... its that mango i bought for batman got me in a snoopy mood ..

so fuck yeah man more legend than a new acura push it up push it up to the sky u dont have 2 have an aeroplane to fly

oh yeah and that creep cover is on!!! i dont get how he can just destroy that song and then drop that doo lotus x3 ... he looked like bria just dumped him for some taller guy like right before the show .. thats how i look when i just got dumped then i go destroy a song like creep live and i feel better ... yup im sure thats what happened now that i think of it ... so thanks bria that was just the right juice for our man prince mutha fuckin prince yeaaaaa!!!

Dave1992 said:

Great review - here are my thoughts - sadly not as in love with it as some, but still some worthy high points.

A CELEBRATION: NEWPOWER SOUL
With Crystal Ball still rotating its way through my playlist, the word came out that a new album was due to drop. Credited as a New Power Generation release NewPower Soul I was curious how much of it would be a group workout and how much of it would be pure .

Slotting the cd into my player, I loaded up NewPower Soul. And as instructed the groove did make my head bop, up and down up and down. As if hypnotising me into the groove. While lacking the punch of some of the other album openers the bouncy vibe laid the work for the album – focused on dance grooves and fun rather than reinventing or pushing musical bounds.

Case in point, Mad Sex, a slithering little song that just kicks back in the groove of the track. Nothing overwhelming about it, the track quickly lost my attention and ended up being background music. Saved for the lyric book that tried to entice me back with every new verse.

With its ethereal vibe Until Your In My Arms Again is a song that shows off the artistry of song writing, of laying down on a page the truth, in all it’s painful glory. The longing is tangible, the pain real. The sadness ever present despite the beautiful arrangement and vocal.

When You Love Somebody to me always feels like it would have been more at home on emancipation. It has a Disc 1 vibe to it, sliding up next to somebody’s somebody. Now you know I love SS, so I was bound to fall for this track too. A playful track punctuated by horn stabs and carried by a hopeful though that you accept the good and the bad in relationships and a flip side to the whole “why do you put up with such $hit” line. What the final breakdown has to do with the song I don’t know, but it’s funky so I let it be. Lol.

When I first heard Shoo-bed-ooh I was hooked on the stripped back feel of the track, but now whatever appeal it had has overstayed its welcome. It just feels lightweight. Shame, cause I once really loved this song.

Unfortunately lightweight is how I would describe Push It Up! Unfortunately by referencing “Jam of the Year” it just highlights what the song isn’t, a kick a$$ funk jam. Instead it comes across undercooked and under baked.

Thankfully Freaks on This Side with its sample of “Now” does justice to the comparison. With a modern funkadelic feel, the track warbles along through the verses and hits with a hook in the chorus. A smile raiser.

From the first note of Come On I was there. The prancing beat, and slinking synth bass line had me. Then that playful melody danced across my speakers. So before a word was spoken I had bought it. Thankfully the chorus lived up to the catchiness of the groove. And was I ever so pleased it was the lead single with the remixes that came along with it.

The sex you up title has be awarded to The One. It had always been a hidden gem in the catalogue with its simmering seduction and enchanting arrangement. Lost on many during the 2003 live tour of Australia I for one was happy it was in the set. Reminiscent of The Question of U, it’s one of my favour ballads.

It’s a shame Funky Music follows it. This run of the mill funk groove did nothing to me back then and fails to move me today. Dressed up in all the production value it can muster, it just fails to impress.

Am I alone in thinking the most interesting track on the set is Wasted Kisses? I remember when I first listened to the album, Funky Music lost me and I pressed stop. It wasn’t until I played the album a second time later that night as I was drifting off to sleep that after a few minutes of silence I was jolted upright by the song. There is a great deal of sadness inherent in this track, and I think that is the appeal. Addressing the same issues as I Hate U, but done with a darker funkier edge it remains a favourite of mine.

In whole the album was disappointing. I remember it not sticking around too long amongst the stuff I listened to that year. And to be honest it was the start of a sense of apathy that crept into my appreciation for Prince / . From here and the next few releases I would buy them religiously, listen to them find a gem or two and then kind of park the album. It was a time where if I wanted to really feel the funk I was delving back into the catalogue than relishing the new material. Even today as I relisten to the album I can’t help but think it is a tad disjointed, almost a rushed collection of individual songs than a cohesive set. Sure there are some wonderful songs on here, but as an album it just doesn’t sit right.

Swa

Thought is was OK in '98. It's seriously grown on me. The dark, funk chant songs are my favorites along with Wasted Kisses.

One of the worst Prince albums ever. The only thing tolerable on it is "When U Love Somebody" and "Until U're In My Arms Again". Too much shit hop on the album. One shit hop track is one too many but this album is infested with it.

Prince was so much better under Warner Bros.Emancipation, NPS, Rave un2, the two NPGMC albums... All way too bland and uninteresting as a whole. A poor time in Prince's creativity, especially after such an awsomely inspired period that was the early 90's.

Then TRC came along and a new direction was found - unfortunately, he has been cruising along steadily ever since without any of the X factor that he used to have.

In the context of his music over the past 2 decades, NPS sits somewhere in the middle in terms of quality. In terms of the music of the early 90s leading up to NPS, it sits way down at the bottom.

I have always liked the album.

Prince even says "It's the Jam of the year, you think it ain't, but it is"

Sorry I don't agree, I love some of his 'overproduced albums' like Symbol and Emancipation, but these have something that Newpowersoul dosent. That being good songwriting and well crafted hook infused melodies. The songwriting on this album is trash, none of the songs go beyond sex and dancing except wasted kisses and the one. But even these sound like a cast off for a protege rather than a track worthy of being on his album.
Not as bad as the Rainbow Children, but this album is pretty terrible, its one of the few albums I don't and refuse to own of his.

Mad Sex is one of my all time favourites. It's so badass.

I agree with the top 3 on there (The One, Wasted Kisses, Come On). They're beautiful.

But after reading your post, I'm gonna give the rest of it another listen over the weekend.

From best to worst:

01. Purple Rain (10)
02. Sign "☮" The Times (10)
03. 1999 (10)
04. Lovesexy (10)
05. Parade (10)
06. Around The World In A Day (10)
07. The Gold Experience (10)
08. Dirty Mind (10)
09. Controversy (9)
10. Diamonds & Pearls (9)
11. Love Symbol Album (9)
12. Come (9)
13. Black Album (9)
14. The Rainbow Children (9)
15. Graffiti Bridge (8)
16. Prince (8)
17. Crystal Ball (8)
18. Emancipation (8)
19. For You (8)
20. Batman (8)
21. LotusFlower / MPLSound (8)
22. Musicology (7)
23. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (7)
24. Chaos & Disorder (6)
25. The Truth (6)
26. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (6)
27. The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale (6)
28. The Chocolate Invasion (6)
29. Slaughterhouse (6)
30. 3121 (5)
31. Planet Earth (5)
32. Newpower Soul (4)
33. ONA Piano (3)
34. N.E.W.S. (2)
35. ONA... Live (2)
36. Indigo Nights (2)
37. Kamasutra (0)
[Edited 2/19/10 3:08am]

thedance said:

There's all sorts of things wrong with that list for it to be a categorical answer to the OP