http://www.robertchristga...j/pj03.php

Here's a good example of Christgau's style. Certainly there are times when I wish the guy would cut to the chase, but he's been writing for forty years. It's not terribly realistic to expect him to change his style...
[This message was edited Tue May 4 19:56:10 2004 by flipwilson]

good review but he hardly talks about the album til the end really.

bkw said:

I've been reading him long enough to be pretty sure he'll give this at least an A- when he adds it to his own site:
[This message was edited Wed May 5 6:19:50 2004 by MendesCity]

this guy has his hand "on it" as we would say in Australia.....in fact I think his ego is bigger than Princes.....to read that twaddle was excruciating

OK, reading it again, it makes a bit more sense, but a few questions linger: First, what the heck is "horn chart"? I googled it and I still can't figure that out. Second, why does he go on to praise the late Warner stuff as an explanation for why he changed his mind about the unreleased stuff. Am I being dense? What does one thing have to do with the other (and, wasn't NPG membership 100 bucks in 2000?).

Finally, the biggest eyebrow raised is his weird assert that his conversion to JW will damage his significance, even though he's just given siginificant praise to his newest CD. I guess he's trying to separate the idea of capital-S "Significance" and real, lasting JB-style significance? I will say, he always gets me thinking more than most rock critics.

I just don't like when he criticizes Prince by saying his political views are poorly informed. He does speak to brotherhood. Sign O' The Times is a testament to this. One time I was listening to that song and my older brother was like, " Yeah I remember the disciples them motherf@ckers were bad at that time." I was amazed at how my brother actually knew this and how the song brought back memories of that. Prince speaks to brotherhood. That is just one example of what I'm talking about.

"The Gold Experience [Warner Bros./NPG, 1995]
After two or three plays, convinced that "P Control" and "Endorphinmachine" slam harder than any hip hop I've heard in years, I shrugged and recalled that, after all, I already knew he was the most gifted recording artist of the era. But this album documents more than professional genius rampant--all of them do that. This album is a renewal. It's as sex-obsessed as ever, only with more juice--"Shhh" and "319" especially pack the kind of porno jolt sexy music rarely gets near and hard music never does. And you'd best believe "Shhh" and 319" are hard--not for years has the auteur (as opposed to some hired gat) sounded so black, and not for years has the guitarist sounded so rock. As for the ballads, they suffer only by their failure to dominate. One of them has already stormed the radio--and another, good for him, takes too many risks to follow. A

Chaos and Disorder [Warner Bros., 1996]
Always a slippery devil, he's damn near vaporized commercially over the past few years, as has his promotional budget, basically because he's reached that certain age--way too familiar for ye olde shock of the new, way too boyish for intimations of immortality. So it's understandable that what's sworn to be "the last original material recorded by [File Under Prince] 4 warner brothers records" has been ignored all around. But anybody expecting a kissoff or a throwaway radically underestimates his irrepressible musicality. Apropos of nothing, here's a guitar album for your earhole, enhanced by a fresh if not shocking array of voices and trick sounds and cluttered now and then by horns. Theme song: "I Rock, Therefore I Am." And right, WEA, it wouldn't have been a hit even with some muscle behind it. A-

Emancipation [NPG, 1996]
Writing the book for the young turks of a reborn, historically hip r&b--three disks and hours of liberation, hubris, divine superfluity, and proof that he can come all night even if by six in the morning it takes too long and he never actually gets hard. Yet although there's not a bad track in the 36, I bet he himself would have trouble remembering them all, and hear nothing that tops the Delfonics and Stylistics covers, which latter wasn't the debut single for nothing and flopped anyway. Great grooves abound, however. As does great singing. Harmonies too. Did I mention that the horns are surprisingly cool? And hey, the little guy has a sense of humor. A-"

Robert Christgau.

Ro

Universaluv said:

No, he's saying the opposite. He's implying in trying to crossover Prince created the half black/Half whatever else myth. Which to be fair, prior to PR in interviews and in PR itself, Prince appeared to do. For whatever reason.

2freaky4church1 said:

First of all every 90's Prince cd, i mean most of them with WB's was hyped the same way. And every so called Icon whether it's Elton John or the Rolling Stone's get the same hype, so this 'aint nothin special. That's what a hype machine does, get u in the mainstream which is what P wanted. Music 4 the masses and not just NPGMC! So the writer says it's a good album but not a masterwork, what tha "F" does that mean. Most peeps on the ORG have said that Musicology is a "good" album that should do well on the charts period! And then "P is playing to this fraud/it's just a play 2 sell records" Duh! That is what P does man is sell records. That's the bizness he's in. Question? Does the elevator go alway 2 the top? Prince is doing the same thing that U2,Madonna,JJ,MJ,Elvis have all done 2 sell records. Hell all of their albums 4 sure was'nt so called masterworks. Mr.Christgau does'nt understand P's music any better than me, but he is entitled 2 his own subjective opinion. More qualified than ELBOOGY, heeeelllll Naw!