If it has already been done, would a kind orger post address to thread here! Thanks! I'm on the verge of thinking it might be listenable, so any favourable remarks get considered and might push me over the edge, then I can start listening to it as if it were a new CD (can't afford to actually buy any new CDs right now, so I'm revisiting old ones).

I have new ears for "The One" after hearing it live last month.

While we wait for IstenSzek's analysis, here's Q's review:

*** out of *****


"Yes, it's Prince by yet another nom-de-disc - this time letting Paisley Park acolytes New Power Generation, play some of the instruments, although make no mistake, the diminutive one is in charge of proceedings here. The career of the artist fleetingly known as Victor may have stalled - "enslavement" by Warner Brothers notwithstanding - but some things remain immutable in the man's ever-burgeoning canon - namely the marrying of Sly-meets-Parliament funkadelicism with lashings of lyrical prurience.

Thus things kick-off predictably enough with the propulsive groove of Gemini Rising On The Seventh Day and the difficult-to-misinterpret Mad Sex which details a typical litany of groinular encounters over a snapping snare-drum-led, although it's ultimately a pedestrian funk jam.

Until Ure In My Arms Again revisits the saccharine pop-soul of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, while Shoo-Bed-Ooh starts promisingly, like a slippery re-working of Sly & The Family Stone's Family Affair before demurring to an insouciant chorus that The Real Thing might have thought twice about.

After such an opening, Push It Up! and Freaks On This Side - the latter featuring an angular horn arrangement worthy of Neal Hefti - come as something of a relief, both being easier on the steamhammer rhythmic assault and multi-overdubbed Princely harmonies.

Come On, Gett Off's laid-back cousin, contains some deliciously elastic guitar chops and contrastingly cheesy string synthesisers and Prince's apparently helium-assisted vocals describing an unconventional love triangle in London.

Further respite arrives on the leatherette-smooth muzak-ballad The One, although its airbrushed blandness is hardly a cause for celebration.

Much better, despite the less-than-groundbreaking title, is the closing Funky Music wherein loquacious clavinets and popping percussion vie for dominance over a dance-groove.

Buried deep in the run-off groove, or CD equivalent thereof, is an uncredited bonus track, possibly titled Why Do I Waste My Kisses On You, that sees our narrator getting into a lather about burgundy stockings over some suitably sleazy jazz-funk stylings.

So no change there, then. It's a meticulously executed exercise in treading water. It's been the case for too long now. More artistry next time, please."


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Reviewed by David Sheppard (Q)


[This message was edited Wed Nov 12 20:58:19 PST 2003 by PANDURITO]

he was going to post a review but suddenly he realized that he actually HAD to listen to it again and thought better

My Review of NPS:



















































It's shit.Avoid.