MTV ONLINE
The Artist Formerly Known As Prince/New Power Generation
Newpower Soul
(NPG Records)

It's just like the man. After he's almost completely slipped under the general population's cultural radar, The Artist decides to go ahead and drop the album that everyone's been waiting a long, long time for. An album that's funky. An album that's accessible. An album that's sexy. An album that manages to wrap his extraordinarily, uh, unique personality around songs that folks other than insatiable and diehard fans will actually want to hear this year.

Granted, he's come close to this sort of release in the relatively recent past, most notably on the Purple Rainesque Gold Experience. But Gold, as great as it was, also possessed that Prince-ly "I'm gonna show you everything I got" diversity that seems designed to confound the average, heavily-formatted radio listener.

New Power Soul, on the other hand, is by far the most consistent album the Artist has released since the much-maligned, streamlined Batman soundtrack. Thankfully, it's also far better than that effort: leaving the soundtrack's stripped-down tone behind, NPS is a full-blown funk jam, notably light on guitars and heavy on thickly-textured grooves.

Straddling sublime balladry, roof-raising anthems and purely danceable funk, New Power Soul states its aims succinctly on the title track: "Keepin' the crowd movin' is my one and only duty, with the New Power Soul." The Artist approaches his task with his trademark cocky smile and the jams to back it up, dishing out what may well be the party record of the year. Between grinding grooves like the hilariously self-explanatory "Mad Sex" and the brilliant, Camille-esque "Come On" (probably the most sublimely sexy song he's done since "If I Was Your Girlfriend"), as well as four-on-the-floor late-night stompers like "Push It Up!", "Freaks On This Side" and "Funky Music," you can almost picture the empty wine bottles and stray underwear scattered around your house the next morning. The goose-bump-inducing ballads include an almost-saccharine-but-still-beautiful "The One," and a song that will surely wind up on a million "Please-don't-break-up-with-me" tapes, the swooning "Until You're In My Arms Again."

And then there's the extra track (skip to #49), the only song here that hearkens back to the days of Prince: the creepily romantic "Wasted Kisses," about someone who's dead. Real dead.

This is not the record that "Prince fans" have been dying for. There's little here resembling oblique spirituality, complex musicality or ego-stroking personality. And, well, Doug E. Fresh is on two tracks. But it's still a hell of a record, one that is just about perfect for Jeep-jamming all summer. And, for those searching for a reason to listen to The Artist in 1998, this album should just about do it for you, because, as with everything else he's done, it's always better than what's out there now. In the end, people just gotta remember who he is, and what he's meant to music for so many years, and they'll groove on his latest. Like the lyric for "Come On" goes: "I got the butter for your muffin, I just need the keys to your room."

-- Jason Ferguson

TheDigitalGardener said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

hmmmm I just noticed, Mayte was not dancing anymore after the Gold Experience

She was pregnant in '96, then the death of the child. Dancing was probably low on her list.

lol right, It's that the 2 didn't register for some reason. i wasn't a big follower of Prince's scene then, so images and information are just coming together for me.

FA Official NPG Prince 1999 Tour Calendar

OldFriends4Sale said:

Gorgious.

undertheesea said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Gorgious.

the music might not have been all that but his look was sharp, not as messy as the previous Gold Experience

Mad Sex is one of those Prince songs that could have been one of his greats but his lyrics make it hard for me to listen to. Such a great groove and the basics of the chorus work. The whole bushy head milato dirty up another room stuff just grates on my like nails on a chalk board. If he took some time to fix the lyrics this could have been a classic hit like gett off. Come on has much better lyrics and is another stone cold funk classic. Mad Sex almost hits the same mark.

July 30 ,1998
Paisley Park Chanhassen
Video Beautiful Strange
Interview with Mel B (Spice Girls)

MattyJam said:

Mad Sex is my jam!! One of his dirtiest, brilliantly obnoxious songs. Love it love it love it.

Yeah, such a great track!

TrevorAyer said:

i am gonna come out and say it ...

nps is the last prince record ..

much better than most critiques say .. put it on in the back ground and you will be dancing .. some of the raps are not horrible .. and the simplicity of many tunes make them decent enough .. come on is his last stone cold funk jam that is worth anything .. the one is practically a standard its so classic .. some sweet cheesy ballads on this .. mad sex has some shitty lyrics but the groove is great .. and of course wasted kisses is everybodies favorite .. jams like push it up and freaks on this side are pretty good .. i like funky music is not too bad but the mix is kinda bad .. prince could have polished this record a few more months and called it a prince record and it would have been a hit

way better than emancipation .. i consider it prince true last gasp before leaving us forever

Yeah, indeed this record (seen as a throwaway by most) is much better than Emancipation IMO. At least it had a lot of funk(y) jams. I agree the production could have been much better: it sounded plastic-y then and even more so now. But most of the tunes just groove, and that is all I can ask for i the end.

TrevorAyer said:

Mad Sex is one of those Prince songs that could have been one of his greats but his lyrics make it hard for me to listen to. Such a great groove and the basics of the chorus work. The whole bushy head milato dirty up another room stuff just grates on my like nails on a chalk board. If he took some time to fix the lyrics this could have been a classic hit like gett off. Come on has much better lyrics and is another stone cold funk classic. Mad Sex almost hits the same mark.

Somehow lyrics are the very last thing I notice in a song, I just want to hear a good groove and some good singing and melodies/solos, and Mad Sex has plenty of that. Maybe it is because I am Dutch and not a native English speaking person.

'98... Europe got two tours that year...

OldFriends4Sale said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

very interesting time in Prince world, kinda reminds me of http://www.youtube.com/wa...HaEY81NfTU

Cx