thedance said:

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

vivid said:

Vivid, does it mean NPS is actually in your Prince album- top 20?

imo. NPS is not in top 30, it's one of the worst Prince albums ever.
[Edited 2/19/10 4:00am]

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 to 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 instancee. 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.

I'm so w/ you about Come On, The One, and Wasted Kisses. Those are some of his best 90s songs. There are a few more tracks that are really good too. Some people hate Freaks on This Side but I don't know why; it has such a great vibe!



I think its because a lot of people want more than just vibe from Prince, and really this album was a fuck you to his fans, in regards to the melodies, lyrics, songwriting and musical chops.

Its a great underground deep funk album - which means most of the mainstream pop (a good part of which is european) will simply not get it. Still don't. I thinkit wa a great period with Chaka Khan's Come 2 My House (a hidden gem) and GCS2000 in the box set.

Its a great underground deep funk album - which means most of the mainstream pop (a good part of which is european) will simply not get it. Still don't. I thinkit wa a great period with Chaka Khan's Come 2 My House (a hidden gem) and GCS2000 in the box set.

Am I the only person who has mad love for Mad Sex?

Am I the only person who has mad love for Mad Sex?

MattyJam said:

Nope. I love it. And the remix!

There's a remix for Mad Sex? Where can I find it?

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 to 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 instancee. 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.

jdcxc said:

No I have never heard of an official remix to "Mad Sex", maybe he meant the remix to "Come On"??

this was released on cd single...

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' ^^

Brofie said:

Those 3 albums worked perfectly together.
Especially Come 2 My House!!!