Pretend NewPowerSoul was the album shelved instead of the Black album. I truly believe it would have garnered as much critical praise and fevered bootleg mania as BA. What BA had going for it, and fueled it, was it's story...Prince having this spiritual epiphany to halt the BA, the spooky electric/Camille thing, copies of the record being so rare and being worth so much money, etc.

Also Prince was still commercially successful and among those years that many orgers think were his peak. But put all that aside....

If NPS started circulating in bootleg form, after being pressed and shelved, in the same manner as the BA, in 1988, or possibly even in 1998, I think a majority of fans and critics would be going crazy over it. It's actually quite similar to the BA...short in length, one ballad, a party record and funky as all hell!

As much as alot of people dog on it and say NPS is Prince by the numbers, plastic drums, and him not even trying, I disagree. NPS has lots of very different and creative musical ideas, lots of horns, lots of weirdness(and I mean the kind we love Prince for), and once again, funky..funky...FUNKY!!!! Even the dogged on cover art harkins back to Parliament type cover art.

What do you think? Take it out to your car, drive, crank it up, and tell me you ain't lettin' your head bob!

p.s. fan since 82, hardcore since 87

[Edited 5/4/11 12:40pm]

"The One" and ? "Shoo B Doo" or "Wasted Kisses"? I always just considered them mid-tempo.

[Edited 5/4/11 13:06pm]

princeiscool said:

What do you think? Take it out to your car, drive, crank it up, and tell me you ain't lettin' your head bob!

I have it in my multi changer atm, and i must say I love it more now than I did in 98. I like it when he's funky and like u said about the head bob, it's a disc for that.

princeiscool said:

Warner Brothers never would have approved that piece of crap.

BlackCandle said:

princeiscool said:

"The One" and ? "Shoo B Doo" or "Wasted Kisses"? I always just considered the mid-tempo.

No. Until U're In My Arms Again...

yeah, i guess I can see where you're coming from...but over all a funky party record. I mean there is nothing as sinister as Bob George on there, but if I can remember right, didn't he record some of the black album to play at Paisley for Sheila's B-day?

I don't get these threads. NPS was recorded by the Prince of 97/98 - with all the experience and previous output - these songs wouldn't exist as they are had they been put together from a bunch of 86/87 odds n sods.

If you're asking if NPS had been withdrawn in 1998, would it have achieved the same status as TBA did in 1988, the answer is no.

NouveauDance said:

I don't get these threads. NPS was recorded by the Prince of 97/98 - with all the experience and previous output - these songs wouldn't exist as they are had they been put together from a bunch of 86/87 odds n sods.

If you're asking if NPS had been withdrawn in 1998, would it have achieved the same status as TBA did in 1988, the answer is no.

I understand, things went down as they did, the BA is part of the great Prince history and trust me, I was caught up in the Black Album fever as much as anyone else. Stepping back from the BA after all of these years though, it seems to me that most of the fame surrounding the BA, was more about the albums story than it was about it's content. We were waiting for it, we didn't get it, Alphabet St. had "Don't buy the Black Album. Sorry." in the video, articles came out about 4th, 5th, 10th generation dubs of it and it became a quest for Prince fans to acquire it and become part of the club of those who had it. Critics were hailing it as a masterpiece and how it was a shame that most music fans would never hear it.

Nowadays, the fame continues over the legend of Prince's epiphany, how he saw the word "God" that night, how he may have been trippin' on E, etc. etc.

Years later, it was released with little fan fare, and if I can remember right, critics or the general public were unconcerned. The story was no longer hot other than for P fans. I guess what I am saying is that NPS, imo stands up against the BA. I love both records, and I thinking if NPS was shelved in 88, we would be shaking in our shoes to get it. By 1998, the internet was starting to push music in a different direction.

Totally disagree. This is like sacrilege!

If NPS was shelved mosts fans would applaud. The Black Album was genuinely good and imaginitive, its one of my favourite albums....

[Edited 5/4/11 13:57pm]

The fact of the matter is, TBA is a cracking album, where as NPS is pants.

BlackCandle said:

princeiscool said:

"The One" and ? "Shoo B Doo" or "Wasted Kisses"? I always just considered the mid-tempo.

No. Until U're In My Arms Again...

Oops...sorry, BlackCandle, my bad...when you were saying "Until U're In U're Arms Again", I kept thinking of "When U Love Somebody". Must have been a brain fart. LOL

[Edited 5/4/11 15:10pm]

NPS should have been shelved.

Genesia said:

Warner Brothers never would have approved that piece of crap.

NPS is one of my favorite Prince albums. Top Ten.

NPS is a great album. Period. I loved it then and I still love it now!

NPS = very underrated.

let's make a crappy EQ'd version and see how it feels as a bootleg.

I think the difference is that the Black Album had that all important but evasive ingredient: character. New Power Soul...didn't, IMO.

The Black Album was just so...out there. Prince not just namedropping super models, but explicitly writing songs about them and their furry melting things. Prince going batshit crazy and recording one really weird, disturbing track...at least we wondered if it was his voice. (Bob George made the Black Album great, I feel.) And then all the hoopla and rumors surrounding the shelving of the album made the stories about seeing God and evil albums and whatnot believable (to the believers, at least). All of the commotion would have been just strange and contrived, a mere publicity stunt, had it been directed at NPS. Centered on the Black Album, you really had to wonder what the heck was going on.

This isn't to say NPS doesn't have its merits; I can't really say, it's been years since I've given it a spin. I remember it being loud and party'ish, but just not really interesting. Just my opinion.

Black Album is still to me, Prince's crowning album. The one I just can't knock in any way. The one that obsessed me. The one that truly seemed original and not pandering to ANY current trend of that day.

ufoclub said:

let's make a crappy EQ'd version and see how it feels as a bootleg.

NPS is one of my favorite prince albums ever.

I think the only reason it's so unpopular is because it's one of Prince's most "R&B" album, and a lot of Prince fans r white folks who listen to Radiohead

It's the only possible explaination, as it's, in terms of pure funk, one of the funkiest thing prince has ever done.

So why do those white folks that listen to Radiohead like Prince's other "R&B" albums then?

novabrkr said:

So why do those white folks that listen to Radiohead like Prince's other "R&B" albums then?

They don't

its really more of a what if....not really which album is better. I like both albums. My main thing is that they were handed to the world differently. You're right, TBA was out in 88, but it was famous and genius before most even got the chance to hear it. Plus all the drama behind it.

NPS on the other hand was released at a time that most people didn't give a care. Then again, when TBA was released officially, it was at a time where most people didn't care. I've never looked at the numbers, but I would take a leap of faith to say that both NPS and TBA probably sold similar

amounts just out of the gates, and that was to hardcore fans and completists. And they are probably still the ones buying them if either are still in print.

thanks to those who have stepped up to the plate for NPS. And for those who think any Prince cd shouldn't be released, thats a shame. I didn't care for several songs on Rave, but very much appreciate the oppurtunity to jam to songs like undisputed, tangerine, Rave, and one of my all time favorite P songs, "Strange But True."

[Edited 5/5/11 13:41pm]

ufoclub said:

let's make a crappy EQ'd version and see how it feels as a bootleg.

LOL. The bad thing is, when the official release of The Black Album came out, it really didn't sound much better. I have a bootleg version of it on cd that I got around 1990, and the sound quality is far superior to the official one.

databank said:

NPS is one of my favorite prince albums ever.

I think the only reason it's so unpopular is because it's one of Prince's most "R&B" album, and a lot of Prince fans r white folks who listen to Radiohead

It's the only possible explaination, as it's, in terms of pure funk, one of the funkiest thing prince has ever done.

I think your theory is deeply flawed. I suspect that many of Prince's white fans, even those that listen to Radiohead, enjoy albums like The Time and What Time Is It? which are two of the funkiest albums he has ever done. For me it's just a weak album filled with poor songs. If Prince wants to deliver a funk album that's fine as long as the songs are great. Also, the album is usually hailed as one of his best albums of the '90s and it's got a lot of funk in it.

ufoclub said:

let's make a crappy EQ'd version and see how it feels as a bootleg.