I like Newpower Soul. Especiall I Like Funky Music, Come On and The One. Mad Sex is good too.

rialb said:

Others have touched on this already but I think part of the problem is that the fans had high expectations after he left WB and Newpower Soul was fairly mediocre.

For me I had become a fan of Prince in the summer of 1996 with Chaos and Disorder. I quickly picked up some of his recent albums (Come and The Gold Experience) and loved them. Then came Emancipation and I really loved it, it's still one of my top five favourites. Crystal Ball was a bit of a letdown and The Truth was good, but a bit lowkey, not like a "real" album. My expectations for Newpower Soul were sky high and the album just did not deliver. I loved the performance of "Come On" on The Tonight Show but I was a little disappointed by the album version, it was a bit too sedate. I love "Wasted Kisses" but otherwise nothing on the album really grabs me. The next year we got Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and I really started to worry. It wasn't until Musicology that I really started to enjoy Prince's music again and I've quite liked every album since (even Planet Earth).

I think that Prince kind of led us to believe that once he was "free" he would be making much better music but that was not really the way that things worked out and the stuff he made as a "slave" was much more enjoyable.

This is a pretty accurate description of the mind frame many Prince fans had at the time. People were just sort of confused and baffled that he'd put out a record like "Newpower Soul" instead of going into a new direction with his music like he had been talking about.

billymeade said:

NewPowerSoul sounds like Emancipation leftovers to me, like he was cleaning out the last of the outtakes.

"New Power Soul" uses "Big Fun" as its base

"When U Love Somebody" recycles the guitar from "In This Bed I Scream"

"Shoo-bed-ooh" is a ripoff of "White Mansion"

"Push It Up" is a remix of "Jam of the Year"

"The One" and "Come On" are definitely classics; I find as I get older I like The One a lot more than I originally did.

"Wasted Kisses" is a "coulda-been" classic - just when you think it might get interesting, it stops.

To this day, I have never listened to the entirety of "(I Like) Funky Music".

The artwork is classic out-of-touch Prince - dude, you're 40 years old, nobody wants to see your fake tattoo and holding a cartoon gun.

Sorry for the long post... I think much of the hate comes from what could have been. We stood by Prince through his Warner Bros battles, and the sound of freedom turned out to be plastic drums and leftover sound effects. If you pick it up for the first time today, you kinda lose the context of what was going on in Prince-land at the time.

co-sign

Mad Sex is a sorry song... just dreadful... in my opinion.

ParanoidAndroid said:

Is it credited as Prince or as NPG album?

NPG .

Recorded at Paisley Park, Produced by NPG ( de-facto- Prince)

Released thru NPG records.

[Edited 2/28/11 14:54pm]

[Edited 2/28/11 14:57pm]

Spinlight said:

It is what it is, which is basically just everything he wanted to touch on during Emancipation, but didn't for whatever reason.

Highlights: Mad Sex, When U Love Somebody, The One, Come On

Misses: Freaks on This Side, Push It Up, I Like Funky Music

The rest can be taken or left. People nut all over Wasted Kisses, but it's only half a song and, like someone else said, it ends before it really begins.

People were pretty pissed at Prince at the time, though, for reasons illustrated above. In typical Prince fashion, though, he didn't take the hint and continued to release material that was completely antithetical to what his audience wanted. That's a big missing piece of his career's puzzle to this day.

When U Love Somebody is actually a really great song-the horns are bad ass! To bad the song really never gets discussed.

nursev said:

Spinlight said:

It is what it is, which is basically just everything he wanted to touch on during Emancipation, but didn't for whatever reason.

Highlights: Mad Sex, When U Love Somebody, The One, Come On

Misses: Freaks on This Side, Push It Up, I Like Funky Music

The rest can be taken or left. People nut all over Wasted Kisses, but it's only half a song and, like someone else said, it ends before it really begins.

People were pretty pissed at Prince at the time, though, for reasons illustrated above. In typical Prince fashion, though, he didn't take the hint and continued to release material that was completely antithetical to what his audience wanted. That's a big missing piece of his career's puzzle to this day.

When U Love Somebody is actually a really great song-the horns are bad ass! To bad the song really never gets discussed.

It is a really good song. I can do without the rap (I cut it off by editing). The horns and the lyrical and vocal arrangement are on point. Sounds like something that could have came out in the 89- 92 era too.

"Who needs love

When u got protection?"

Quote unquote your point of view

All my partners say that I need to dismiss you

Until they see you smile

[Edited 3/1/11 6:25am]

paisleypark4 said:

nursev said:

When U Love Somebody is actually a really great song-the horns are bad ass! To bad the song really never gets discussed.

It is a really good song. I can do without the rap (I cut it off by editing). The horns and the lyrical and vocal arrangement are on point. Sounds like something that could have came out in the 89- 92 era too.

"Who needs love

When u got protection?"

Quote unquote your point of view

All my partners say that I need to dismiss you

Until they see you smile

[Edited 3/1/11 6:25am]

I really like this song. I don't even mind that it's re-tread of In This Bed I Scream, because I love that song. I don't even mind his balls going round-and-round.

What ruins the whole thing for me is when he says "and you know this!"

I cringe.

paisleypark4 said:

nursev said:

When U Love Somebody is actually a really great song-the horns are bad ass! To bad the song really never gets discussed.

It is a really good song. I can do without the rap (I cut it off by editing). The horns and the lyrical and vocal arrangement are on point. Sounds like something that could have came out in the 89- 92 era too.

"Who needs love

When u got protection?"

Quote unquote your point of view

All my partners say that I need to dismiss you

Until they see you smile

[Edited 3/1/11 6:25am]

I pass the rap part too Wish I could edit it out, but other than that a great song!

Feels like a WB contract filler to me. some ok songs but mediocre production leaves in D.O.A like the flatline in Wasted Kisses (which is the only goodie on it, oh and Come On).

Dandroppedadime said:

Feels like a WB contract filler to me. some ok songs but mediocre production leaves in D.O.A like the flatline in Wasted Kisses (which is the only goodie on it, oh and Come On).

the sad part is that this is isn't WB contract filler. the WB contract filler (C&D and The Vault) were much, much better. this is the kind of stuff he was just DYING to release when he was free from Warner Bros.

errant said:

Dandroppedadime said:

Feels like a WB contract filler to me. some ok songs but mediocre production leaves in D.O.A like the flatline in Wasted Kisses (which is the only goodie on it, oh and Come On).

the sad part is that this is isn't WB contract filler. the WB contract filler (C&D and The Vault) were much, much better. this is the kind of stuff he was just DYING to release when he was free from Warner Bros.

Therefore ethically in a business sense it was a good move.

And for him maybe just a personal venting.

Xtraordinary said:

Mad Sex, When U Love Somebody, Shoo-Bed-Doo, Freaks on this Side, Come On, The One , Wasted Kisses (classic)

Ok, I agree you have the customary Prince filler cuts but there’s some merit in those. (Kinda off point but worth pointing out, the Dougie is all the rage now and Prince was pushing that Dougie Fresh vibe 11 years ago. And what about the lyric in ‘Come On’, which reads, “20 days in London and U don’t gimme no love, Could it be another brotha that you’re thinking of?” This 9 years before Michael announced his “This is It” Tour in London and 10 years before Prince sold out the 02 Arena for 21 nights;much love shown). But hey, I digress; where some feel this album is trying to be funky I feel it succeeds! The bass and horn lines are ridiculous and the production is spot on.

So tell me, why is there so hate for this album among Prince fans?

I like NPS. It's one of his more funkier (old definition, not the new) efforts. I love "Freaks on this Side" It has a P-Funk kind of feel to it. Also, "The One" is one of his best ballads, IMHO..

Bass players: Is that an accoustic upright being played on The One?

[Edited 3/3/11 13:46pm]

novabrkr said:

rialb said:

Others have touched on this already but I think part of the problem is that the fans had high expectations after he left WB and Newpower Soul was fairly mediocre.

For me I had become a fan of Prince in the summer of 1996 with Chaos and Disorder. I quickly picked up some of his recent albums (Come and The Gold Experience) and loved them. Then came Emancipation and I really loved it, it's still one of my top five favourites. Crystal Ball was a bit of a letdown and The Truth was good, but a bit lowkey, not like a "real" album. My expectations for Newpower Soul were sky high and the album just did not deliver. I loved the performance of "Come On" on The Tonight Show but I was a little disappointed by the album version, it was a bit too sedate. I love "Wasted Kisses" but otherwise nothing on the album really grabs me. The next year we got Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and I really started to worry. It wasn't until Musicology that I really started to enjoy Prince's music again and I've quite liked every album since (even Planet Earth).

I think that Prince kind of led us to believe that once he was "free" he would be making much better music but that was not really the way that things worked out and the stuff he made as a "slave" was much more enjoyable.

This is a pretty accurate description of the mind frame many Prince fans had at the time. People were just sort of confused and baffled that he'd put out a record like "Newpower Soul" instead of going into a new direction with his music like he had been talking about.

I will go back and listen now. At the time I was expecting some mind blowing Parade/Around the World in a Day level music. Instead it was more of the same. So I honestly never actually sat down and listened beyond "The One" which was the direction I had hoped he would go to.

novabrkr said:

Xtraordinary said:

[...] and the production is spot on.

So tell me, why is there so hate for this album among Prince fans?

Because the production is far from being "spot on":

Inane drum sounds that do not help giving much of a sense of groove to the tracks, sampled audience chants that sound entirely detached from the music, Prince singing not too well on many songs, the lyrics being mostly about how good he is or how good the NPG is, the choruses not being up to much and there's just a general sense of awkwardness throughout the record. There's some nice "quirkiness" on it, but too often it just interrupts the flow of the tracks.

It could have been a good album with some of these aspects corrected. For example, "(I Like) Funky Music" has all the makings of a Prince party classic, but the production style just makes it sound dull and tacky in the end. Unfortunately, a lot of the same shit got carried onto "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic", although thankfully some of the tracks on that one also pointed a way out. He really redeemed himself with TRC by reconsidering the production values he was employing.

[Edited 2/24/11 22:55pm]

billymeade said:

NewPowerSoul sounds like Emancipation leftovers to me, like he was cleaning out the last of the outtakes.

"New Power Soul" uses "Big Fun" as its base

"When U Love Somebody" recycles the guitar from "In This Bed I Scream"

"Shoo-bed-ooh" is a ripoff of "White Mansion"

"Push It Up" is a remix of "Jam of the Year"

"The One" and "Come On" are definitely classics; I find as I get older I like The One a lot more than I originally did.

"Wasted Kisses" is a "coulda-been" classic - just when you think it might get interesting, it stops.

To this day, I have never listened to the entirety of "(I Like) Funky Music".

The artwork is classic out-of-touch Prince - dude, you're 40 years old, nobody wants to see your fake tattoo and holding a cartoon gun.

Sorry for the long post... I think much of the hate comes from what could have been. We stood by Prince through his Warner Bros battles, and the sound of freedom turned out to be plastic drums and leftover sound effects. If you pick it up for the first time today, you kinda lose the context of what was going on in Prince-land at the time.

I agree the album is a postscript to Emancipation nore than a new standalone creation.

I have to say though, even you point out it has 2 classics! That is really not too bad!

I don't love the album, and actively don't like some moments, but overall it's pleasant enough.

DecaturStone said:

novabrkr said:

This is a pretty accurate description of the mind frame many Prince fans had at the time. People were just sort of confused and baffled that he'd put out a record like "Newpower Soul" instead of going into a new direction with his music like he had been talking about.

I will go back and listen now. At the time I was expecting some mind blowing Parade/Around the World in a Day level music. Instead it was more of the same. So I honestly never actually sat down and listened beyond "The One" which was the direction I had hoped he would go to.

It always shocks me to hear fans claim that they only listened to an album once or never even listened to the whole album. I'm not a fan of Newpower Soul but I've listened to it many, many times. For me even the "bad" Prince albums/songs have interesting bits in them.

novabrkr said:

rialb said:

Others have touched on this already but I think part of the problem is that the fans had high expectations after he left WB and Newpower Soul was fairly mediocre.

For me I had become a fan of Prince in the summer of 1996 with Chaos and Disorder. I quickly picked up some of his recent albums (Come and The Gold Experience) and loved them. Then came Emancipation and I really loved it, it's still one of my top five favourites. Crystal Ball was a bit of a letdown and The Truth was good, but a bit lowkey, not like a "real" album. My expectations for Newpower Soul were sky high and the album just did not deliver. I loved the performance of "Come On" on The Tonight Show but I was a little disappointed by the album version, it was a bit too sedate. I love "Wasted Kisses" but otherwise nothing on the album really grabs me. The next year we got Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and I really started to worry. It wasn't until Musicology that I really started to enjoy Prince's music again and I've quite liked every album since (even Planet Earth).

I think that Prince kind of led us to believe that once he was "free" he would be making much better music but that was not really the way that things worked out and the stuff he made as a "slave" was much more enjoyable.

This is a pretty accurate description of the mind frame many Prince fans had at the time. People were just sort of confused and baffled that he'd put out a record like "Newpower Soul" instead of going into a new direction with his music like he had been talking about.

Funny I went through the same disappointment during Gold & Emancipation. I like them now, but I expected something more than collections of decent songs. Lovesexy is 1000 times more creative than Gold (even if it is not a better collection of songs).

I was over it by NPS and ready to simply enjoy the music. It is one of my least favorite Prince albums, but not as disappointing as Emancipation--for my own personal expectations.

Don't overuse the word "hate". Nobody wants to be overinterpreted negatively.

What if is not hate, but just sheer total boredom - and the disappointment over Prince being able to deliver such boredom.

This is the case for me, anyway.

I am listening to the title track, there is so much going on in that song. It is like a miniature symphony. A vapid and plastic symphony, but still insanely rich with musical ideas from beginning to end.

NDRU said:

novabrkr said:

This is a pretty accurate description of the mind frame many Prince fans had at the time. People were just sort of confused and baffled that he'd put out a record like "Newpower Soul" instead of going into a new direction with his music like he had been talking about.

Funny I went through the same disappointment during Gold & Emancipation. I like them now, but I expected something more than collections of decent songs. Lovesexy is 1000 times more creative than Gold (even if it is not a better collection of songs).

I was over it by NPS and ready to simply enjoy the music. It is one of my least favorite Prince albums, but not as disappointing as Emancipation--for my own personal expectations.

I gotta disagree but I've always felt that Lovesexy was pretty overrated. I guess I fall in to the camp that believes that he spent too much time on Lovesexy and that it would be better if it was a bit simpler. The same charge could be leveled at The Gold Experience but for me the songs are strong enough to stand up to the polished production but on Lovesexy they are not.

rialb said:

NDRU said:

Funny I went through the same disappointment during Gold & Emancipation. I like them now, but I expected something more than collections of decent songs. Lovesexy is 1000 times more creative than Gold (even if it is not a better collection of songs).

I was over it by NPS and ready to simply enjoy the music. It is one of my least favorite Prince albums, but not as disappointing as Emancipation--for my own personal expectations.

I gotta disagree but I've always felt that Lovesexy was pretty overrated. I guess I fall in to the camp that believes that he spent too much time on Lovesexy and that it would be better if it was a bit simpler. The same charge could be leveled at The Gold Experience but for me the songs are strong enough to stand up to the polished production but on Lovesexy they are not.

yes, lovesexy is more about the sound and the music and the inspiration than the songs. But that was what I was into. There were crazy sounds on Lovesexy that I'd never heard before. That is what i mean by "creative," creating something new, not just creating something competent.

I thought Gold was pretty empty in terms of creative inspiration, but full of cool, well written, energetic, live sounding songs. But what I wanted was a new revolution, and it was not that. It was more like Diamonds & Pearls part 2.

[Edited 3/3/11 14:28pm]

NDRU said:

rialb said:

I gotta disagree but I've always felt that Lovesexy was pretty overrated. I guess I fall in to the camp that believes that he spent too much time on Lovesexy and that it would be better if it was a bit simpler. The same charge could be leveled at The Gold Experience but for me the songs are strong enough to stand up to the polished production but on Lovesexy they are not.

yes, lovesexy is more about the sound and the music and the inspiration than the songs. But that was what I was into. There were crazy sounds on Lovesexy that I'd never heard before. That is what i mean by "creative," creating something new, not just creating something competent.

I thought Gold was pretty empty in terms of creative inspiration, but full of cool, well written, energetic, live sounding songs. But what I wanted was a new revolution, and it was not that. It was more like Diamonds & Pearls part 2.

[Edited 3/3/11 14:28pm]

Wow, you are killing me! I love The Gold Experience but Diamonds and Pearls is one of my least favourites. With Diamonds and Pearls it seemed like he was desperately trying to get a hit but The Gold Experience, while it is very commercial sounding, sounds like Prince being Prince and writing a batch of great songs. I like some of the songs more than others but I can easily enjoy the whole album from start to finish while Diamonds and Pearls has far too much substandard filler. I believe that The Gold Experience would have been huge if Prince wasn't fighting with WB at the time.

rialb said:

NDRU said:

yes, lovesexy is more about the sound and the music and the inspiration than the songs. But that was what I was into. There were crazy sounds on Lovesexy that I'd never heard before. That is what i mean by "creative," creating something new, not just creating something competent.

I thought Gold was pretty empty in terms of creative inspiration, but full of cool, well written, energetic, live sounding songs. But what I wanted was a new revolution, and it was not that. It was more like Diamonds & Pearls part 2.

[Edited 3/3/11 14:28pm]

Wow, you are killing me! I love The Gold Experience but Diamonds and Pearls is one of my least favourites. With Diamonds and Pearls it seemed like he was desperately trying to get a hit but The Gold Experience, while it is very commercial sounding, sounds like Prince being Prince and writing a batch of great songs. I like some of the songs more than others but I can easily enjoy the whole album from start to finish while Diamonds and Pearls has far too much substandard filler. I believe that The Gold Experience would have been huge if Prince wasn't fighting with WB at the time.

I don't know, take away Tony and what you have is 2 albums with catchy and energetic pop tunes. There is the serious spiritual tune (Live 4 Love or Dolphin), there is the greasy Prince tune (Cream or 319), there is the big monster beat tune (Now or Gett Off), tHere is the cheesy ballad (TMBGITW D&P), there is the funk jam (Push or Billy Jack)...

Neither has a ton of filler, neither has any real theme, they are just slick collections of songs, and not my favorite ones at that.

I'd give Gold the edge, but they are like brothers to me.

I think the difference, now that we are talking about Gold, is that it has good songwriting compared to New Power Soul

New Power Soul is more of just a musical experience, but it is not nearly as cool as The Black Album, which even less in the way of songwriting but has very interesting music.

I have found New Power Soul to be more instantly likeable than Emancipation, but it did not age as well. But I think it is underrated just as Gold is overrated. Certainly Gold is better, but the difference is not quite as big as some here would have us believe.

An more importantly, I don't think it was intended to be anything great. It was just meant to be a fun diversion. That is what made Gold & Emancipation a little disappointing to me. They were meant to be his greatest albums ever, and are not close to that in my mind.

[Edited 3/3/11 16:32pm]

it sux moose cock!!

It only has three decent songs. The One, Come On and Wasted Kisses. The rest is very average imo.

When this was released I HATED it...listened to once, and put it back on the shelf where is stayed for at least 2 or 3 years. When I moved a few years ago I transferred all my CDs from their jewel cases and I came upon this CD which I basically forgot about. I ended burning it on the puter and ipod. Later I was running and the title track came on, and for some reason I DUG it. Yeah, its basically a remix of Big Fun, and its repetitious, but it was fun and GREAT to run to. So got home and listened to the whole thing. I don't know why but it all sounded good. No, I agree, its NOT one of his best, not even close...but it isnt bad either. A fun party record, and for me, a good running record. Some Prince albums tend to do that to me...I initially am not crazy over them, but they sneak up and all of a sudden I love em. Dirty Mind, ATWIAD, Lovesexy, and Come all fall into that category.

I dont hate it