By JOSHUA M. BERNSTEIN

http://www.nypost.com/ent.../17672.htm

March 28, 2004 -- His name is Prince. He is funky. And he is back.
After a decade in which he pulled away from the music industry, holed up in his native Minneapolis and became a Jehovah's Witness, 46-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson has re-emerged to become the biggest rock star of 2004.

Though he hasn't had a hit since 1994's "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," he was invited to open the Grammy Awards in February - snagging the most prestigious slot of the entire broadcast. He performed a medley of his greatest hits before Beyonc?oined him on a staggering version of his 1984 smash "Purple Rain."

"He stole the [Grammys]," says Rick Krim, VH1's executive vice president of talent and music programming. "He's still as vital as ever."

Just one week ago, Prince opened the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame celebration, performing "Kiss," "Sign o' the Times" and other hits while outfitted in an elegant white suit and black shirt. The crowd was studded with such rock royalty as Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards and Bob Seger. (Prince was inducted by OutKast and Alicia Keys.)

"Prince is reclaiming the crown that was his all along," says Howard Kramer, curatorial director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. "I've been to eight induction ceremonies, and it's the first time I've seen the crowd on its feet from the first note."

"[These] recent performances are jaw-dropping reminders of how great he is," says Joe Levy, deputy managing editor at Rolling Stone.

Indeed: He embarked on a national tour last night - his first in six years - in Las Vegas (he'll play Madison Square Garden July 12-14, Continental Airlines Arena July 16 and 18 and Nassau Coliseum July 20).

Tomorrow, fans who paid $15 for the privilege will watch a live simulcast of his L.A. show at the UA movie theater at Union Square (a gimmick borrowed from Elvis Presley's 1973 "Aloha from Hawaii" concert and pre-pay cable boxing matches). If you don't have a ticket to the simulcast, you're out of luck - it's sold out.

This past Thursday, Prince inked a deal with Columbia to release his new record, "Musicology," in April. This is a striking move for a man who has distributed his music mostly via the Internet since 1996. It was then that his relationship with Warner Brothers Records soured; he scrawled "slave" on his cheek and changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol. (He previously dubbed himself "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince," then "The Artist" and finally went back to plain Prince).

"Musicology" will hopefully mark a return to Prince's halcyon days - his recent output has been critically panned, including his four-CD "Crystal Ball" set and 1998's funk disaster "New Power Soul," which New Musical Express called "ripe tripe on a silver platter."

Yet despite his mediocre output over the past decade, critics are not surprised that Prince has remained a relevant artist since bursting on the scene with his 1979 self-titled debut. He went on to star in and write the soundtrack for "Purple Rain," the 1984 semi-autobiographical movie in which he starred (Eminem ripped off the concept wholesale for 2002's "8 Mile.")

"Prince has never made a record that has sounded like anyone else's," says VH1's Krim. One reason: Prince famously writes and produces his own material, and often plays every instrument on a given track - an ability Krim calls "a lost art."

Prince has high expectations for his latest effort. "It is long overdue to return to the art and craft of music - that's what this album is about. School's in session," he has declared.

What's more, he's promised fans that, on this tour, he'll play his greatest hits - like "Let's Go Crazy," "Little Red Corvette" and "When Doves Cry."

(Over the past six years, he has favored last-minute "secret" shows at small clubs, often starting after 1 a.m. and indulging in obscure material.)

Still, several hits may go unsung.

In 2001, Prince - one of the sexiest, raunchiest rock stars ever, and whose 1984 song "Darling Nikki," an ode to masturbation, caused an outraged Tipper Gore to form the Parents' Music Resource Center - became a Jehovah's Witnesses. He also got married to a woman known only as Manuela. (He divorced his first wife, his former backup dancer Mayte, several years ago). But in the '80s and early '90s, Prince was also known for playing Svengali to a string of women including Carmen Electra - whose name he changed from Tara Fitzpatrick - and Kim Basinger.

But the musical implications of Prince's religious conversion are potentially catastrophic. Jehovah's Witnesses (who believe in Christ, but do not celebrate Christmas or Easter) hold moral standards in high regard, and Prince has announced there are songs in his catalog that he will no longer perform.

According to J.R. Brown, national spokesman for the church, the Witnesses did not force Prince's hand. "It's his personal decision," Brown says. "However, it would not be appropriate for someone in the field of music to go in an unseemly direction."

Subdued or not, Prince has always had one of rock's most loyal fan bases. His members-only New Power Generation club ( www.npgmusicclub.com ) has 400,000 members. Prince charges a one-time fee of $25 for a lifetime membership; members get free MP3 downloads, first crack at concert tickets, passes to pre-show sound checks, after-parties and unannounced gigs. In 2000, Prince even hosted a private concert at his Paisely Park homestead in Minnesota, for members only.

Yet, will casual fans be willing to fork over about $100 to see an eccentric performer play 20-year-old hits - and just the clean stuff?

"If he no longer wants to play 'Erotic City,' well, that will be a shame," Levy says. "I sincerely thought he meant it when he said 'we could f- - - until the dawn.' "
[This message was edited Sun Mar 28 0:36:41 2004 by July]

's gonna be a long thread....

lazy...lazy..LAZY!!!IM GETTING BORED OF THIS BULLSHIT!so called average output?
yep nps got panned..but crsytal ball got some amazing reviews..as did the truth...as did rave.
average output my hairy arse

"Subdued or not, Prince has always had one of rock's most loyal fan bases. His members-only New Power Generation club ( www.npgmusicclub.com ) has 400,000 members. Prince charges a one-time fee of $25 for a lifetime membership; members get free MP3 downloads, first crack at concert tickets, passes to pre-show sound checks, after-parties and unannounced gigs. In 2000, Prince even hosted a private concert at his Paisely Park homestead in Minnesota, for members only."

Possessed: The Rise and Fall of PRINCE

I was surfing around Borders and found this book, Titled - Possessed: The Rise and Fall of PRINCE.

States not yet published, but shows available April 2003.

Anyone know anything about this book?

Yaw, right now we know ALOT about it! Alex Hahn, WHERE U B NOW??? Did I just hear Alex hahn say : "Im afraid all I've done is awankened a sleeping giant and filled him with a great resolve" Rolling Stone (Top 100 guitarist) you're next!!!

I thought it was FUNK until the dawn

cbastriani said:

Exactly! People read into Prince's music whatever they want. "Funk" is the most prominent word used, but I'm willing to bet money that if you strip down the vocal mix to the song, he's also saying "fu*k". In either case, it's obvious that Prince is having fun with the word-play.

The article is proof positive of what we (the fans) have been saying all along. The fans all know and understand why Prince is so great. But for the average music listener, they clearly have not seen Prince "in all his glory"... which is usually in a live setting, and that is why getting a rare glimpse at him at things like The Grammys and the Hall of Fame performance is so stunning for them.

After I watched the Hall of Fame performance and Prince displaying his brilliance on guitar, I realized immediately that a lot of people would be blown away by his performance... especially on guitar, because I know most people have no idea just how good he really is. Then I thought about how even if a casual listener thought after seeing the HOF performance "WOW!, that was a great!, I want to hear more of that from Prince", there's really very little available commercially that someone could pick up in a store that would be on the same level as what he displays live. On the one hand, I think that is a good thing, because I think it makes the live performances more special and memorable. But on the other hand, because a causual listener can't just go pick up an album in a store that will remind them of what they saw and heard at the HOF performance, then it is also easy to see why Prince is easily forgotten by the masses for several years.

there be a lotta chronological and factual errors in the article, like someone didn't fully do their homework.

This story is filled sith SO many factual errors:

“ Originally posted by aknate on 28-03-04 at 10:11

Indeed: He embarked on a national tour last night - his first in six years -
”



Wrong. The One Night Alone Tour in 2002 was a national tour, wasn' it?

“
a live simulcast of his L.A. show at the UA movie theater at Union Square (a gimmick borrowed from Elvis Presley's 1973 "Aloha from Hawaii" concert
”



Wrong. This is being done a good bit by different artists now. Kenny Chesney a country music star is doing the same thing around the same day as Prince.


“
(Over the past six years, he has favored last-minute "secret" shows at small clubs, often starting after 1 a.m. and indulging in obscure material.)
”



Wrong....they weren't "secret" and he didn't "favor" them as he did many more regular gigs with lots of hits in them.

“
He also got married to a woman known only as Manuela.
”


Wrong....they never kept her last name a secret and most people here could name it.

“
In 2000, Prince even hosted a private concert at his Paisely Park homestead in Minnesota, or members only.
”


Wrong...only the 2002 Celebration was only open to members. The first celebration was in 2001.....there wasn't one in 2000.

This story is just another reminder of how most stories you read in the news are written by hacks and are filled with errors.

Ruperts said: Wrong...only the 2002 Celebration was only open to members. The first celebration was in 2001.....there wasn't one in 2000.


Well...2 put it nicely...WRONG. The first Celebration was in 2000. It featured nightly concerts at Paisley Park...Macy Gray...Mint Condition, and ended with 1 Prince concert at U of M, where The Revolution re4med minus Wendy and Lisa.

The 2nd Celebration was 2001...with Nightly shows with Alicia Keys, Morris Day...etc...and ended with 2 Prince shows at Xcel Energy in St. Paul

The 3rd..and hopefully not final Celebration was 2002 with 7 Prince concerts at the Park, and opening acts like Norah Jones, Erykah Badu.


In 2003, there was no Celebration...or even an announcement that there would or wouldn't..causing people like me to waste time getting vacation approved by my superiors And then not needing the days...
[This message was edited Sun Mar 28 9:28:27 2004 by stillwaiting]

And here I always thought Joe Levy saved all his really stupid comments for those VH-1 shows he's always on.

mmmm...factual and chronological errors...


this cat's 3 months too early. ol' boy's still 45 till june 7th.

th' hell happened to for you the year before then?

ha! not often.

"an ode to masturbation"...ooooo-kay.

"known only as"...and her full name has been mentioned in several other press releases. that's rich.

has he? damn, i must be late--anybody here have that list he put out of the shit he ain't gonna sing no more?

forgot the other couple years--s'was pretty much for everyone first time 'round, far as i can remember.


:dorkenfresh:

Why are you defending Prince Deja? Aren't you sad that he won't do Head no mo?

2freaky4church1 said:

why the hell do you keep following me on every single post i make? back off.

The good 90s Prince albums are:
1) Graffiti bridge
2) The hits?the b sides
3) Come
4) The Exodus
5) The gold experience
6) Crystal ball (because of the 20 min dead space on each CD it was a rip off. It was really a 2CD album spreaded out on 3 CDs to charge more money. I still liked it)

7) The truth

The good albums for the 00s are:
1) One nite alone (Online fan requested piano based studio EP)
2) One nite alone live.

Rainbow children sucked. Alot of think it's good just because he used real drums. As for musicology it will tank based on the title track, what more can I do and call my name. I heard all of them and they sucked. Reflections is OK, but it's not a hit, unless he's trying to play up to the Lilth fair type audience. He should go for the High (NPG downloads) type of sound, but with much better syth and drum machine programs, with live drums. Like judas kiss/smile. That would be a great song if it didn't have all that eletronic stuff in it.

I'm not a hater. I'm a Prince fan who get's pissed off seeing Prince make a fool of himself with bad music and blowing his chances for a real come-back with shit like rave and that crappy musicology single and video. I'm a Prince fan who wants to see Prince do good and make it back on top. I bet this is the way evilwhitemale feels. He just doesn't like Prince for the hell of it. It's fustration with a great artist who can do great things, but refuses to. You guys who use the words hater are just Prince's yes-fans. I'm not going to PRETEND to like everything he puts out, just because it's him.

I agree that what he's been putting out after 1988 is garbage. Now Come, the exodus and the Gold experience were great albums ruined by Prince's bullshit single picks.
[This message was edited Sun Mar 28 11:49:07 2004 by thedog]

thedog said:

Oh please spare me, your argument (if I can call it that) is soooo tired.

thedog said:

In your argument, you failed to mention the phrase "in my opinion" even once! sad.

cbastriani said:

you need ur ears tested or a new stereo!

This is a much better article.

http://www.prince.org/msg/7/86688

BOSTON GLOBE March 28th: Prince is back -- just in time



http://www.dfw.com/mld/df...291717.htm

By Renee Graham
The Boston Globe
Sun, Mar. 28, 2004

Absolutely nothing in this still-nascent year in music has been as deeply satisfying as the glorious re-emergence of Prince.

Looking great and sounding even better, there he was at last month's Grammys, opening the show with a medley of Purple Rain, Baby, I'm a Star and Let's Go Crazy. (Oh, and Beyonce was also there to shake her hair and get in the way.) Normally considered publicity-shy, he's made several recent television appearances, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Today. Next week, he launches his first major national tour in six years, including an April 2 stop at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Last week, as a 2004 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he kicked off the ceremony with another sizzling medley featuring Let's Go Crazy, Sign O' the Times and Kiss, plus a snippet of the Sam and Dave classic Soul Man. And he wasn't done. During the tribute to fellow inductee the late George Harrison, Prince offered a blazing guitar solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, which had other onstage musicians such as Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Harrison's son Dhani staring in wide-eyed amazement.

Did we even know how much we missed Prince? If we didn't, maybe it's because it seems he's ever-present in one form or another.

On Clay Aiken's current tour, the American Idol runner-up has been performing When Doves Cry. The Foo Fighters' cover of Darling Nikki has been an alternative-rock radio staple since last year. On her 2001 debut, Songs in A Minor, Alicia Keys had a hit with How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore. And the influence of Prince's musically expansive worldview is stamped all over OutKast's sprawling Grammy-winning CD, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Not surprisingly, OutKast's Andre 3000 and Big Boi and Keys were invited to induct Prince into the rock hall.

"Back in the day, entertainers were singers, they were dancers, they had great style, they had great personality," Andre 3000 said in his introduction. "We've lost a lot of that today, and so when it comes for me to do music, Prince is definitely one of my greatest inspirations."

The precocious prodigy named Prince Rogers Nelson was only 19 when he rewrote music industry rules with his debut, 1978's For You. He composed all the songs, played all the instruments and produced the album. No one that young, let alone an untested artist, had ever been given so much creative freedom. But it was immediately apparent that this kid would be a legend.

An expressive, versatile singer and virtuoso guitarist, Prince churned out hit song after hit song, hot album after hot album.

His music encompassed funk, soul, jazz, gospel and rock, and tipped freely between the profane and the sacred. He even made movies, including the pop classic Purple Rain.

Then, after a protracted fight and finally his release from his former record label, Warner Bros., he seemed to disappear in a purple haze. He changed his name to that weird symbol for a while, and people were ready to write him off.

But the music never stopped. On albums distributed through his Web site, he continued to push himself with concept albums such as 2001's The Rainbow Children and the all-instrumental N.E.W.S., released last year.

And now he's back in the spotlight, as resplendent as ever and ready to show everyone the way it's supposed to be done. He's got a new album, Musicology, that Sony Music picked up. Whether the market, currently preoccupied with Justin, Britney and Beyonce, will make room for a 45-year-old whose best commercial days were in the 1980s and early 1990s is a valid question -- but only if you're talking about fellow 1958 babies Michael Jackson or Madonna.

Mired in mediocrity and redundancy, the music industry unquestionably needs Prince's full-on, full-out musical genius now more than ever.
[This message was edited Sun Mar 28 16:42:33 2004 by July]

Much, MUCH better article. Someone at least did their homework at the Boston Globe, and didn't get caught up discussing trite information.

How is Darling Nikki "an ode to masturbation"? He only mentions it once in the song!

PurpleKnight said:

One bad release, such as New Power Soul, can undo any positive momentum that he might've had.