interesting boston globe article today about your boy.

http://www.boston.com/ae/...n_is_news/

Before it's archived and inaccessible...

Prince's return is `N.E.W.S.'
By Renee Graham, Globe Staff, 9/30/2003

Almost all singers and musicians, at some point, utter the old line about making music for themselves. If the public and the critics enjoy it, that's all right, too -- but ultimately, they'll claim, true artists create music to meet their own exacting standards and personal satisfaction.

Every musician says it, but only one lives those words with complete conviction -- Prince.

You remember Prince, don't you? Little guy from Minneapolis, plays guitar like he sold his soul at the crossroads, wrote huge hits about God, sex, and little red Corvettes. He could be as soulful as James Brown, as funky as George Clinton, or rock as hard as Jimmy Page. His creativity and abilities were so boundless that calling him a genius seemed an understatement.

With his long absence from radio, MTV, and the pop charts -- all of which he once ruled -- it probably seems that Prince has faded into the misty purple of a self-imposed exile, a self-indulgent recluse whose weirdness finally capsized his career. Yet Prince has continued churning out new music, even if few seem to notice or care.

With none of the fanfare that used to accompany his every move, his latest album, "N.E.W.S.," was released July 29. Its four songs -- "North," "East," "West," and "South" -- are all instrumentals running 14 minutes each, and tend more toward experimental and contemporary jazz than toward the rock-inflected funk and soul that made him an icon two decades ago. Joined by Eric Leeds on saxophones, John Blackwell on drums, Renato Neto on piano and synthesizers, and Rhonda Smith on bass, Prince plays guitar, keyboards, and percussion.

As has been the case with his last few albums, there's no video, no single, no promotion. The album is available in stores (and to subscribers to his online NPG Music Club), but don't look for fancy, eye-catching displays -- Prince doesn't even appear on the CD's cover. Compared to such classic albums as "Sign `O' the Times" and "Dirty Mind," "N.E.W.S." seems a trifle, albeit one with some interesting moments. With its clashing time signatures and jutting sax accents, "East" hints of Jaco Pastorius-era Weather Report, and the spacy bass-nasty "South" is the closest thing here to a standout track. Given that there are no vocals, one might have expected a sky-scraping guitar extravaganza, but Prince doesn't go there.

Mostly, this is background music with an attitude. It isn't inaccessible, but neither is it inviting, since it's so removed from the music that made Prince the most stunning artist of his generation.

He was only 19 when he recorded his 1978 debut, "For You," a one-man opus on which he composed, arranged, produced, and performed every track. Six years and five albums later, the precocious potential of "For You" blossomed into the fulfilled promise of "Purple Rain." By the time his debut film and accompanying soundtrack were released, in 1984, Prince was one of the biggest stars in the world. "Purple Rain" sold more than 10 million copies, featuring such songs as "Let's Go Crazy," "When Doves Cry," and the anthemic title song. He even picked up an Academy Award for best original song score.

"Purple Rain" was his commercial zenith, but for years each Prince album would be an event. Through the neo-psychedelia of "Around the World in a Day" to the shimmering funk of "Parade" (and especially the hit, "Kiss") Prince was one of the few artists about whom one could always believe the hype. Still, by the 1990s, legal tussles with his former label, Warner Bros., and his subsequent public protests -- which included changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol and scrawling the word "Slave" on his cheek -- largely obscured his music.

Even after he extricated himself from his Warner's contract and released the rambling three-CD set "Emancipation," in 1996, much of his audience had disappeared. Whether they were turned off by his eccentricities or simply more interested in younger, newer artists, no one seemed interested in Prince's music.

No one, that is, except Prince. He's 45 years old, and he could still enjoy a major comeback, though he might counter that he's never really gone away. Whatever one's feeling about Prince and his music today, there's something sublime about an artist unshackled by the need to conform. He releases music on his own label, NPG, and if doesn't sell the way it once did -- a press release says "N.E.W.S." has sold about 70,000 copies -- at least it isn't compromised by those who view art as only as product.

Without a hit album since 1991's "Diamonds and Pearls," you get the feeling Prince is unswayed by chart positions. Instead, he manages something few musicians can claim. He makes his music his way, even if it means there are far fewer people enjoying it.

Renee Graham's Life in the Pop Lane column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at rgraham@globe.com

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

The writer is certainly well-informed; and seems to be balanced and objective in her take on both "N.E.W.S." and Prince's career.

i agree.

mochalox said:

mochalox said:

thank you!

mochalox said:

WOW I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT HE SAID:"at least (the 70,000) wasn't comprised by those who view art only as a product."

RIGHT ON!

I live in Boston, and I love Renee Graham's column. The name of it ("Life in the Pop Lane") always reminds me of "Pop Life." Yeah, well, I can work a Prince reference into pretty much anything.

FunkMistress said:

Oh comon girl, it's not exactly rocketscience to think of the song "Pop Life" with such a column name ...

that piece was right on point. i have always commended his musical standards (even if his personal/business ethics infuiriate me). he's done it all and usually its because he wanted to. even the bad stuff, at most times, was better than a lot of stuff out there.

great article