Sorry if this has been posted already. AMG gives "NEWS" 2 stars.

Here is the review:

"Recorded on February 6 (presumably 2003), N.E.W.S. consists of four 14-minute instrumentals, "North," "East," "West," and "South," performed by Prince on guitar, keyboards, and percussion, with Eric Leeds on baritone and tenor saxophone, John Blackwell on drums, and Rhonda Smith on acoustic and electric bass. ("North" includes string samples "courtesy of" Clare Fisher.) The seemingly improvised music ranges from funk to jazz to new age without any apparent direction or intention. There are attractive passages here and there, such as some solo piano work on "North" and Leeds' warm horn playing throughout. Needless to say, this aimless studio jam is not what Prince fans are used to hearing from him, even given his eclectic and exploratory nature, and this is not the kind of album he might have been expected to deliver if he were still working for an established record company instead of putting out his own discs. But that may be the point. The listener, who will have to be a particularly rabid aficionado of all things Prince to be interested, must throw out all expectations and simply revel in the joy of hearing the musician and his cohorts experiment with relaxed musical textures for 56 minutes. Of course, no one else needs to bother. -- William Ruhlmann"

Doesn't P's work get thrashed every time anyways?

Personal opinions of NEWS aside, All-Music needs to treat Prince a lot better.

Until very recently, this review wasn't up. A lot of the details of his releases are missing, there is inaccurate information, some things are out of order, and only a handful of his songs are actually reviewed. This is compared with other artists who have every song on almost every album reviewed.

At any rate, on thing I've noticed about All Music, is that their reviews often seem to have no connection to the star rating they gave.

Like for this, they give NEWS 2/5, which translates to big piece of crap.

and yet this passage:
The listener, who will have to be a particularly rabid aficionado of all things Prince to be interested, must throw out all expectations and simply revel in the joy of hearing the musician and his cohorts experiment with relaxed musical textures for 56 minutes

seems to contradict the rating. I was actually expecting this release to get 3 stars from AMG. I mean, consider this:

The releases of ever Backstreet Boys album got between 3 and 4 stars on AMG.

Every Britney Spears release got between 3 and 4 and a half stars on AMG.

Every New Kids on the Block release got between 3 and 4 stars on AMG.

Those were the first three pop acts that came to my mind. Is there music more worthy of 3 stars than NEWS. I say hell no.

Please give us a break, AMG is a fantastic website with very detailed, independant and challenging critics most of the time. They treat Prince VERY well (quite a few of his albums get 4 to 5 stars).

Just try to get used to opinions that differ from yours ...

PS: and BTW, I don't agree with their view on NEWS, which I find highly under-rated

AMG is a great source of information, but I wouldn't put too much stock in reviews as anyone is allowed to write one.

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture; it's a really stupid thing to want to do.

Elvis Costello

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I love that!

I'm glad they finally reviewed it though.

There are a lot of inconsistencies on that site. But when they're on, I get some major insight from it.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I've heard this quote attributed to so many people...I read Steve Martin came up with it and then I read that Frank Zappa came up with it. You sure it's Elvis? No matter, it's a great, classic quote.

I think music criticism is a two-way street: on one level, writers need to really know about music and the people who listen to it in order to do justice to the task of judging someone's work; by the same token, people who enjoy reading music reviews need to know how to read this stuff with a grain of salt, taking from it the information and insights that can help inform the reader's decision to purchase or re-visit a particular album, and then knowning what part of the critic's writing is just biased amateurish blather (something even the more established music critics are guity of).

That said, I agree with a lot of what was said in the NEWS review - I like pieces of it, and there are some really nice sounds and ideas sprinkled through it, but as a whole, I think it's ironic that it's named after a compass, because I don't think there's a whole lot of direction to it.

stymie said:

Co-sign.Some of thier reviewers are terrible.

DrD said:

As I said before, my personal opinions of NEWS aside, I found that they really seem to have differing degrees as to what a good album is defined as. That is of course in part due to the seemingly broad range of critics.

AMG is a great resource to be INTRODUCED to any artist, and I probably visit the site 4-5 times/ week, but there are quite a few errors and omissions on the Prince page at least.

hmm I usually enjoy AMG's reviews.. this one isnt too swell.. not because they gave it two stars, but it didnt sound like they payed to much attention to it.. but who does

DrD said:

What Savoirfaire said is on point when it comes to the AMG site - even without his Prince critique. I used to use that site for a job I had years ago, and found a lot of inaccuracies, and went to some of the sources to make sure I was right. It's certainly not a site without any merit, in fact I still check it out sometimes. But when it comes to album credits and dates, it's not always accurate.

Moonbeam said:

Well my sister is not a rabid aficionado of all things Prince - she's not really even a casual fan but when she heard Xpectation and NEWS she wanted to get the CDs. How can this guy say this music only has value to hard core fans? Wouldn't it be of value to anyone who appreciates modern Jazz? Or for that matter anyone who needs the sustenance of something different.

Hey peoplez,

get me another site with hundred thousands of albums referenced and I'll quit AMG

I know there are often inaccuracies, some heterogeneity in album reviews due to a large number of reviewers and styles covered, but all this can easily be forgiven given the amazing amount of work required to put up and maintain a site like this. That's why I find it fantastic despite its flaws.

10 years ago I could not even dream about a site like this!

well, I don't give a shit what anyone says... I happen to LOVE the NEWS CD!!!



I listen to it alot, especially when I'm trying to relax. It's a great CD to play in the bathtub...




Diana

DrD said:

Did somebody tell you to quit AMG?


A cop out. When Prince is listed as a songwriter of a Louis Jordan song...but whatever.


æ
[This message was edited Wed Oct 1 19:29:09 PDT 2003 by Supernova]